Wellness Core Original (boxer, retriever, skin, rescue)

[MAK802]

Not sure about your humane society, but ours will not accept opened bags of food.

As far as the Wellness Core goes, it's one of the best foods on the market. I love grainless food and firmly believe that dogs do not need rice and barley to thrive; they are carnivores. On dog food analysis, it's rated a 6 star, the highest rating a dog food can get.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...t=1291&cat=all

Good luck with this one! I hope his poops firm up soon!!

[DawnMTL]

luvmycat -- MAK802 also recommended Taste of the Wild but it was not available at my local shop. I really wanted to find a brand at the place nearby because I had a feeling that I'd have to go back again (and again and again) and keep trying with small bags. Wellness Core is available there and, although even more expensive than the Canidae, something's gotta give here finally! I HOPE!!! Thanks for the good wishes. Artie's bum thanks you. And I REALLY thank you!

MAK802 -- Can you believe this????? I'm really hoping the grainless is the way to go here. I'm going to get a small bag and start transitioning.

I suspect that both of you are right about the open bags. I contacted a local dog rescue as well. I hope that they'll take it because I really hate the idea of tossing out $35 worth of food.

[DreamChasers8]

Sorry you had issues with the Chicken soup brand as I know a few people as well who have great results with it when switching from low grade commercial foods. I have looked at Wellness Core but the price is what took me back. It seems like a wonderful food. We use Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, grain free and it's $65 for a 33# bag...I know still an oouch. I also like EVO and if I could find the Red meat large bites here locally I would switch mine to that one...price is about the same, grain free, with fewer ingredients and I think that's very important. But they do great on Solid Gold anyways!!!
I agree with MAK...anything on the dog food analysis site with a 4-6 star rating is good food 6 being the best. Good Luck and let us all know how your dog does.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by DreamChasers8

Sorry you had issues with the Chicken soup brand as I know a few people as well who have great results with it when switching from low grade commercial foods. I have looked at Wellness Core but the price is what took me back. It seems like a wonderful food. We use Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, grain free and it's $65 for a 33# bag...I know still an oouch. I also like EVO and if I could find the Red meat large bites here locally I would switch mine to that one...price is about the same, grain free, with fewer ingredients and I think that's very important. But they do great on Solid Gold anyways!!!
I agree with MAK...anything on the dog food analysis site with a 4-6 star rating is good food 6 being the best. Good Luck and let us all know how your dog does.

It's funny because the Chicken Soup AND the Canidae are 4 or 5 star rated. So it has to be something; whether it's the milk and grain in the Chicken Soup or the grain in the Canidae.

Seriously, if we get the same results with the Wellness, I'll suspect that he has a chicken or turkey allergy and then I'll be fit to be tied. Nah, who am I kidding? I'll carry on until I find something that he's happy with. As long as it doesn't break the bank.

Thanks for the good wishes.

[Ms. 01 Snake]

We feed it to our Pug and he loves it. We researched it and gave it a try. He eats the seafood one (blue and brown bag).

[FiveHorses]

Use Wellness Core for the cats - super results.

I use Wellness Simple Solutions for I-Am-Allergic-to-Everything-Under-The-Sun Dog. I have to watch it carefully, just because she requires little of it and we start to see an expanding waistline!

I have used Wellness Core for 2 x "normal" dogs, super active, big dogs. Great, fantastic results. Yes, I did switch again but it had nothing to do with the food.

My sister uses Wellness Core after years of battles with a delicate digestive tract in a hound x. Dog is a senior, but has never looked better.

I agree - leave the fish and stick to grain-free easily digestable fowl or lamb (do they do a lamb? Can't remember.). If you think about it, fish would not be a "natural" food for a dog.

Hope this helps. I should get a commission from the company.

Edit: if you aren't seeing any other "reactions" other than less-than-desirable stool firmness, it sounds more along the intolerance lines rather than an allergy per se. See how you get on grain-free... I'll be curious to hear.

[DawnMTL]

Ms. 01 Snake -- That's great! I'm going with the non-fish one (the one I'm going to try is turkey and chicken -- the original). I'm just hoping that the lack of milk products and/or grains/gluten will do the trick.

FiveHorses -- I don't think that they do lamb. Even if they did, I'd worry that it's too rich for Artie. I figure that the original formula (turkey, chicken, and a bunch of other things that even I would eat) is my best shot, if nothing else because of its non-exoticness (new word!).

The only reaction is the less-than-firm stool. And the fact that it's a little more orange in tinge than I think it should be, given the color of his food. I'll most definitely let you know how it goes. I'm going to pick up a SMALL bag of it on Monday (or this weekend if I can) and slowly transition him. I doubt that I'll see any results while transitioning him so slowly, but one can hope, right??? (Oh, and of course, while I'm transitioning him, he'll get no white rice mixed in with his food.)

FINGERS CROSSED! TOES CROSSED! Heck, I'll even cross my eyes if that'll give me luck!

[devney]

My Annie has firm stool now FINALLY. I never thought it was possible. I just started her on Orijen.

She came home from the shelter on Science Diet, then we switched to Blue Buffalo, then Wellness(regular), now Orijen.

I think Core is a very good choice. I chose Orijen because my parents feed it to their kelpie who has tummy issues and skin issues, and they all just miraculously disappeared after starting the Orijen. My sister also feeds it to her mastiffs and swears by it.

I was open to trying something else, but when the owners of the local holistic pet food store said they recommend the Orijen above anything else, I figured with all those positive endorsements, why would I try something different?

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by devney

My Annie has firm stool now FINALLY. I never thought it was possible. I just started her on Orijen.

She came home from the shelter on Science Diet, then we switched to Blue Buffalo, then Wellness(regular), now Orijen.

I think Core is a very good choice. I chose Orijen because my parents feed it to their kelpie who has tummy issues and skin issues, and they all just miraculously disappeared after starting the Orijen. My sister also feeds it to her mastiffs and swears by it.

I was open to trying something else, but when the owners of the local holistic pet food store said they recommend the Orijen above anything else, I figured with all those positive endorsements, why would I try something different?

Orijen is not available anywhere near me.

Why did you switch from Wellness? Was Annie's stool still soft on Wellness Core?

PS. HUGE congratulations on Annie's firm stools! I know how difficult that can be to attain. TRUST ME!

[MAK802]

I can't wait until PC can be on Orijen. Our cat is on that and I believe that it's the best grainless food out there. We tried with the dog, but the protein content is so high in the puppy food (42%) that he had extreme explosive diarrhea for a week, after only eating it for 2 days. We are waiting until he is around 18 months old to switch him back to grainless and have since taken him of Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream, which really is the only grainless suitable for a medium or large breed puppy given the low protein content (24%). He is now on Fromm and loving food again. He gets a different flavor with each 5 lb bag and doesn't get a chance to be bored. I never thought finding a food would be this complicated!