Wellness, Natural Balance, Natural Blend and Royal Canin ...

[Mack]

Anyone feed these foods, or have in the past? Am wondering about the digestibility of each, compared to other kibbles. I am currently feeding Canidae to Willy and Hannah and Canidae Platinum to Ivan. They have done well on Canidae products, but I have one quibble. Willy is pooping A LOT on the Canidae, so I feel for some reason he isn't utilizing the food as well as I think he should. I'm probably nitpicking, but I thought I'd experiment a little anyway.

[blazeman]

Jake is on Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato. He loves it! He seems to be pooping about as much as he did before, but it has more substance. He only poops maybe 3 times a day... so I don't think that is excessive.

I plan on feeding Elwood Wellness puppy...

[willsana]

is also on the Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato. She loves it too. Her coat is very shiny. As far as poop amounts, she poops 3-4 times in 24 hours usually. They are firm and not huge. So I don't think it is excessive either. So far it has been easy to keep her trim. But she is still young (1.5 years)

I would like to try one of the other Wellness varieties. But this is the only one I can get locally in the size bag I like. Hopefully the popularity will build and more will be available in the future.

:)

[Meemoo]

Chicken...and Chief loves it. If you feel they are pooping too much, you might try adding a digestive enzyme like PROZYME. This can help.

[TessieMom]

Everyone at my house loves Natural Balance. There is a lot less waste with NB than the other kibbles I have used and it is scarfed down immediately with no questions. Lucy does have a weight problem, so she gets less than she would like and is getting lots of green beans and pumpkin right now. Rena and the Waco 8

[Mark]

Natural Balance here. :)

[Dapple Dandy]

The girls get a combination of the dry and roll. Well that is everyone except Fatty, aka Cindy, she's been on Nutro Natural Lite for the past couple of weeks, to try and get her weight under control.

Mark & Rena - Have you guys ever tried the Duck/Potato? I only get a small bag a month to mix in with the regular. Mine are nuts for it! They literally pick out those pieces and eat them first.

[TessieMom]

Have thought about trying it. We are still on the original formula and happy with it! Rena and the Waco 8.

[Mack]

None of my dogs are having weight problems now. In fact, I have no complaints about anything with Hannah and Ivan. Some of you might recall how I had to get Hannah on a diet the past couple of years; she is at ideal weight now and doing well on Canidae so I am loathe to switch her. I just can't believe how much more Willy poops with Canidae (he gets 1 cup a day) compared to Hannah (who gets 3/4 cups a day).
I will look into the Prozyme. One store gave me a small bag of Natural Blend Adult (Royal Canin's holistic brand), so I am giving Willy that for a while to see how he does.
For those of you whose dogs need a low-salt diet, I did find out the Natural Blend Senior has a dry-weight salt content of .10, which is excellent. I might let Ivan try that for some variety. He's currently on Canidae Platinum.
Finding true low-sodium dog food (less than .18 dry weight content) is very hard.

[Meemoo]

of prozyme...if you pay for s/h....here's the contact info.



or call us toll-free at 1(800)522-5537.

[Dapple Dandy]

a cup of food a day, no wonder he poops a lot!

My girls only get a 1/2 cup of food per day, Cindy's getting between 1/4 & 1/2. They get half of that in the morning and the rest in the evening. I don't scrimp on the veggies and there is an occasional treat, maybe twice a week.

I learned the hard way that it's easier to plump them up, than trim them down! :( Poor Cindy!

Here's an email I received from Natural Balance a long time ago when I inquired about sodium content. Hope it helps.

Dear Tammy,

Here is the sodium content of the rolls, all formulas: 0.9% as fed

Ultra Premium dry dog Food: 0.3% as fed.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.
Sincerely,
Betsy Martin
Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc.

[Mack]

But Willy maintains his slim figure. You say it is easier to plump them up ... well, that is true for most dogs, but Willy has always been thin. He is very active, much more than Ivan or Hannah, so maybe he really burns the calories.

As you see with the Natural Balance meat rolls, they are loaded with sodium at .90. They are highly digestible, though.

[Dapple Dandy]

I've never been a math wiz, but doesn't .9% convert into .009? Maybe I've been looking at this wrong all along! :eek:

[Mack]

I'm not sure if the numbers given in the dry weight analysis are expressed in percentages or not. Regardless, .17 salt content or lower is considered "low sodium,'' according to my vet. The .9 you have for the meat roll is consistent with information I have gathered on Red Barn, which was like, 1.1, nearly 11 times higher than low sodium food -- and this was confirmed by a Red Barn representative, who even told me that if the vet has recommended low sodium, do not use his food.

[importgf]

do your dogs eat dry?or do you all mix it with soft?

[Mack]

I might consider 25% canned for Ivan, my senior boy at some point -- but the trick would be finding canned that had low sodium.

[Heidismom]

but I do feed a combination of dry kibble and wet food. I use Solid Gold Hund'n'Flocken, and I use Sea Meal, plus a tsp. of pureed no-salt green beans, and then a heaping tsp. of Solid Gold wet (canned). I just got an email from Solid Gold, and their wet has a sodium content of 0.08%, as fed. 0.08% = 8 hundredths, by the way.

[Mark]

each pupper their portion of Natural Balance kibble and mix a tablespoon of pure pumpkin in each bowl. There coats are great, stools well formed & regulated and it has been easy to maintain their *ideal* weight. :)

Prior to this we mixed in some canned, but really like what this combination has done for them.

[Donnette]

When you say "pure pumpkin," do you mean canned like we'd use to make pumpkin bread?

Donnette
Slave to Greta and Carleigh

[Mack]

It should be the canned raw pumpkin with nothing added, NOT the pumpkin pie mix.

[Mack]

Since I started this thread asking about certain dog foods, because I am concerned about sodium content for Ivan and digestibility for Willy, I emailed these companies and a few of the other premium dog food companies to get some facts.

Here is what I found out:

Dog food ** Dry weight sodium ** Digestibility
Canidae ** .33 ** 86%
Canidae Platinum ** .14 ** 82%
Wellness Chicken ** .16 ** 91%
Wellness Chick. Sr. ** .07 ** 91%
Natural Balance (No response :grrr:)
Natural Blend Adult ** .50 ** 84%
Natural Blend Sr. ** .10 ** 86%
Healthwise Adult ** .37 ** Not available
Healthwise Wt. control ** .33 ** Not available
Calif. Natural Ch./rice ** .38 ** 88%
Innova Dry ** .39 ** 90%
Innova Sr. Dry ** .26 ** 88%
Innova Sr. Canned ** .32 ** Not available

I thought it interesting that Wellness and Innova were 90 percent or better digestibility. That approaches some meat rolls like Red Barn, which I believe was 93%