I am going to be changing Bianca's food to see if it helps with her tear staining. Currently she is on Nutro Natural Choice Small bites puppy chicken meal rice and oatmeal formula. she has not had any problems with this food, eats it well.. etc etc. This is what she has eaten since she was able to eat real food.

Ive been reading a lot on here about foods and on other webpages that analyze and give stars to different foods and Im thinking of getting her either one of the Wellness brands or Canidae.

what do you guys think? I know CAnidae is an all stages food but with Bianca being 6 months should i get her the Puppy Wellness or the Wellness Core for all dogs?

I also read that there is a lot of protein in Wellness and in fact may be too rich for her system.. altho i thought cheetos wouldve been too rich for her system yet my mom kept giving them to her (without my knowledge!)

anyway advice would be greatly appreciated

janie

ok for some reason it wont let me edit my post. I just read that Wellness core is for dogs 1 year and over. so I guess i would get the puppy wellness..

so now i just need your opinion on wellness vers canidae.

I just compared the protein/fat/etc content from wellness to what ihave her on now.. Nutro and its roughly the same..It has a little more protein and fat.

for Nutro
Crude Protein (minimum) 26.00%
Crude Fat (minimum) 12.00%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 5.00%
Moisture (maximum) 10.00%
Linoleic Acid (minimum) 3.50%
Zinc (minimum) 240 mg/kg
Vitamin E (minimum) 160 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid (minimum)** 35 mg/kg
Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA) (minimum)** 0.30%
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) (minimum)** 0.10%
Glucosamine Hydrochloride (minimum)** 275 mg/kg
Chondroitin Sulfate (minimum)** 220 mg/kg

for Wellness Puppy
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein Not Less Than 28.0%
Crude Fat Not Less Than 17.0%
Crude Fiber Not More Than 5.0%
Moisture Not More Than 11.0%
Calcium Not Less Than 1.30%
Phosphorus Not Less Than 1.00%
Vitamin E Not Less Than 150 IU/kg
Omega 6 Fatty Acids Not Less Than 3.0%
Omega 3 Fatty Acids Not Less Than 1.0%
Beta Carotene* Not Less Than 5 mg/kg
DHA* Not Less Than 0.13%
Lycopene* Not Less Than 0.25 mg/kg
Taurine* Not Less Than 0.09%
Total Micro-organisms* Not Less Than 20,000,000 CFU/lb

woh, i just looked at the new Canidae Grain Free formula and its got a LOT more protein
Guaranteed Analysis..im guessing this is the equivalent of the wellness core..altho it has on there how much to give to a puppy...hmm

Crude Protein (min.) 34.00%
Crude Fat (min.) 18.0%
Crude Fiber (max.) 4.00%
Moisture (max.) 10.00%
Linoleic Acid (Omega 6) (min.) 3.70%
Calcium (min.) 1.20%
Phosphorus (min.) 0.90%
Vitamin E (min.) 200.00 IU/kg
Alpha Linolenic Acid (Omega 3)* (min.) 0.50%
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) (min.) 50.00 mg/kg
Lactobacillus Acidophilus* (min.) 100 million CFU/lb.
Cellulase* (a) (min.) 100 CMCU/kg

Their normal all/life stages is more in line with the wellness puppy and the nutra ive been feeding her
Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein (min.) 24.00%
Crude Fat (min.) 14.50%
Crude Fiber (max.) 4.00%
Moisture (max.) 10.00%
Linoleic Acid (Omega 6) (min.) 3.70%
Calcium (min.) 1.20%
Phosphorus (min.) 0.90%
Vitamin E (min.) 200.00 IU/kg
Alpha Linolenic Acid (Omega 3)* (min.) 0.50%
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) (min.) 50.00 mg/kg
Lactobacillus Acidophilus* (min.) 100 million CFU/lb.
Cellulase* (a) (min.) 100 CMCU/kg



oh Im sooo confused!!
janie

I believe Canidae changed there formula and manufacturer. Abbie has been on Natural Balance Potato and Duck and her breeders uses that with all her puppies. Abbie has been doing great on it.

Here is some info from the Natural Balance site:

INGREDIENT LISTING
Potatoes, Duck Meal, Duck, Canola Oil (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols), Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, L-Lysine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, 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.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein 21.0% minimum
Crude Fat 10.0% minimum
Crude Fiber 3.0% maximum
Moisture 10.0% maximum
Calcium 1.0% minimum
Phosphorus 0.9% minimum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.5% minimum
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) 0.01% minimum
Omega-6 Fatty Acids 3.0% minimum

for bruno, once i started giving him angel eyes and switched to canidae, his tear stains disappeared. i don't give him angel eyes anymore but he is still eating canidae and his eyes look GREAT!!! it was REALLY bad before i found canidae . Now, he has no tear stains.

since canidae did switch formulas, i wanted to give wellness a shot. bruno wouldn't have it. he still loves his canidae, but mocha loves the wellness!

I tried Mia on the Wellness puppy after she came home to us on Nutro puppy. She got very bad diahhrea. She didnt really like it anyway. She would pick out the Nutro first before she would eat the Wellness. Then I decided to try the Canadae. The feed store near me still had the old formula in stock so I purchased a 20 lb bag. Both my dogs love it and are doing well. We are halfway thru this bag so I have decided once it is gone...we will probably give the Natural Balance a try. My malt is allergic to chicken, beef and wheat so i have to be very careful what I feed him.

Well I’ve my Pup on Wellness “Just for Pups” for over 3 weeks now, and I do notice that occasionally his stools are softer than usual and very smelly. He seems to like the kibble fine though. I was initially going to go with Canidae but since some other company just bought them and altered the ingredient list a bit, I am very skeptical after reading many complains about dogs getting sick etc.

I don’t know if I will continue to use Wellness once the small bag runs out. Sometimes I feel it's just too rich. It’s so hard to find the perfect kibble

i used to feed paddy the canidae kibble and his poo was great, but he never really liked the food all that much.

i mixed it with either canidae's wet, or wellness' and i found the wellness made his poo very soft and smell awful.

i've switched him over to orijen (kibble) and we both adore it! his poo is still nice and firm, his coat feels softer, and he actually gobbles up his food now! i can even give it to him as a treat he likes it that much

i like natural balance vs the two as read alot on nutrition and have read that canidae can trigger diarhea in some dogs on that food and wellness is a good food but have read when owners have opened the bag it had mold in it so because i have read those two things i would steer clear of it and i do not like merrick at all because owner has a rendering plant on same land as pet food manufacturer and he keeps lobbying for rendering parts to be put in pet food and a yorkie on another group was on this food for years and developed a tumor in his stomach so that did it for me with their food.

i ernded up getting Bianca the Canidae all life stages Lamb and Rice. I went with the lamb because she had the chicken in the Nutro and I wanted to try something completely different. Now she has only been eating it for 2 days but she LOVES it. Im so happy i changed. She actually gets really excited when i fill her bowl.. something she never did before. I mixed it half and half with the nutro and she picked out all the canidae pieces and ate them and left the nutro.

One thing I noticed is that her stool is now bigger.. Its the same consistency though.

Im just glad she likes it.. I will let you know if i helps with the tear staining.

janie