and rice is considered less so.

Cathy
when she first came home

I'm going to be trying the Large Breed Super5 formula.. Tuffy's only 5 months so I'm trying to avoid grain free until he's a year old...

Kim
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I appreciate you simplifying this for me. It explains a lot! So if this is so heavy in grains I'm curious why this is touted as an allergy formula...

Kim
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I used Natural Balance over a year switching from the different flavors. We did ok on it, solid stools and little to none tear stains. However, his shedding became a problem. I did research on better food brands. I'm currently switching him over to Wellness Core.

The Dog Food Project explains how to read a label. Here is how to identify the MAIN ingredients in a dog food: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts

Step One - Determine the main ingredients of the food
Contrary to popular belief, it's not always the "first five" or "first seven" ingredients listed that make up the major portion of a product. The number of main ingredients actually depends on the specific formulation of a food and the degree of variety included, so one brand may have only three or four main ingredients, while another could have eight or ten.

What you need to look for is the first source of fat or oil that appears in the ingredient list. This can either be from an animal or vegetable source, there are good and bad ones of both, but more details on that later. Anything listed before that first source of fat, and including it, are the main ingredients of the food. Any other items are present in much smaller amounts to add flavor, function as preservatives, help with the manufacturing process or provide dietary benefits (e.g. probiotics, vitamins and minerals).

so here are the ingredients you posted just past the first source of fat/oil(they use canola oil):

Lamb Meal, Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Rice Bran, Canola Oil, Lamb, Tomato Pomace,

this food is predominately rice in various forms. Rice is a grain.
You also need to keep in mind that the lamb meal listed is in it's uncooked state. Raw meat is over 65% moisture, so the volume is going to be reduced by well over half once it's cooked. They don't have to tell you what's actually in the food your dog will be eating, only what it was before they processed it. Rice does NOT shrink when cooked. It expands.



Cathy
when she first came home

I feed Bison and Sweet potatoe. Mason does really well on this food. If his stool is soft it can also be a sign that he cant digest all the food correctly. I would cut back on how much your feeding a litte and see what happens but it takes at least 2 to 3 months on a food to see how it works for your dog. I would try this stuff but dont keep switching to much, its hard on there system and doesnt give the food a chance.

....Was having problems with loose stools and switched to NB Sweet Pot. & salmon LIT and now have hard stools. Tear stains very, very minimal.

Javier

keep him on it at least 6 weeks to see if it will do any good for him. Anything shorter than that and you run the risk of causing the looser stools...his tummy is going to wind up upset from all the food changes. It takes up to a month for all the old foods ingredients to move through his system and be completely gone...if you switch before a month or 6 weeks is up, you aren't getting a true performance rating of the new food, you are still possibly seeing issues from the previous brand.

I feed Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato very successfully to Sophia. She loves it, has looked great on it for over a year, she has no tear stains at all and her coat is soft and shiny. And her poop is firm:-)

Amy and Sophia

Hi Connie,


Great advice on not switching foods too often. I know it's tempting but I will try my best to stay the course... Glad you found a formula of NB that works for your pup!

FYI...I checked the ingredient list for the Natural Balance Lamb and Rice Limited ingredient formula and it says allergy formula and not grain free. Here are the ingredients:

Lamb Meal, Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Rice Bran, Canola Oil, Lamb, Tomato Pomace, Natural Flavor, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid.

So this means it DOES have grains, correct?

Kim
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I will definitely not be switching to a new food for at least 6 weeks!! Glad you found a good food that works for you. My mom's labordoodles are thriving on the N. Balance sweet potato and fish formula. How old was your dog when you went grain free?

Kim
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It gives me hope...

Kim
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