@ncnctv Some are but far less than marketing would have you believe. Grain free rose to power when all the humans thought they were allergic to gluten. Human trends get mirrored in pet food because it’s easy money.
@marissa777 Pro Plan is excellent, both my dogs did very well on that. If you've a costco near you, Kirkland's dog food is good too. /r/dogs have a pretty detailed wiki on this iirc
@imagebeastmarkbeast Well, I'm going by WSAVA guidelines and testing, but let me know when your competing research is published and I'll consider adjusting my views then.
@marissa777 purina [best are pro plan and ONE], hill's science diet, royal canin, iams and eukanuba, are the only dog food brands that meet WSAVA guidelines. boutique brands like the ones you've been using are not well tested, and grain-free foods are known to cause deadly heart problems.
@karmel Though I will note that newer research suggests it is the inclusion of pulses (epsecially pea, lentils, and chicken peas) rather than lack of grains that causes secondary DCM. This article provides a good overview.
While that was suspected at one point, the causation was never established. There is still no clear understanding of the role of food in cases of DCM in non-genetically pre-disposed dogs, but it has not been established that it is due to lack of grains or feeding grain-free foods.
@marissa777 I used Purina One for my Border Collie, who lasted 14.5 years, and now I'm using it for my Lab. We tried Pro Plan Salmon for a short while but couldn't abide the eye-watering fishy farts.
@marissa777 I feed my pot cake Open Farm. She seems to love it and has really good poops on it. I used to feed her Purina ProPlan but made the switch after my connection for cheap food ended. I’m biased to Open Farm because it’s a Canadian company
@british%E2%9C%8C%EF%B8%8F I feed my two Open Farm too. We get the gently cooked packets and they freaking love it! Good poops here as well. As a PR, I also like that it’s a Canadian company. I read Pet Food Politics and decided cheap food wasn’t what I was looking for either. Took me a while to find Open Farm, but I’m a customer for life now.
@marissa777 I’ve tried Purina Pro Plan Calm and Balanced and now the Weight management shredded blend (too many training treats lol!). My dog especially likes the latter with a bit of warm water added. If you get a sale plus Autoship, depending on where you are, it can be much cheaper!
@marissa777 Mine are on purina pro plan, the weight management shredded blend specifically. My reactive girl is picky and likes the shredded bits.
Purina ONE is really similar, but includes turkey and my boy doesn't do as well on it. It's significantly cheaper, so I'd switch if he tolerated it better.
I've previously fed them Fromm gold (it's grain-inclusive) and they did really well on it. But my girl got bored of it.
Purina also has a pro plan version called "Calm and Balanced." It includes the probiotic in their calming care supplement. The supplement seems to help my girl. Surprisingly the food is about the same price as the other pro plan foods. The supplement is pretty pricey on its own. I might have to try switching over.
