# "Great Life" grain-free kibble



## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I went to my local healthy pet food store today to get a few samples of different foods for Preston to try out (dry & dehydrated/freeze dried) since he is really tired of eating the Now! Small Breed formula...he only went through one 10lb bag and he has never been bored with a food before so it must not taste that great. Lol

Anyway, they gave me a couple of samples of Great Life kibble. I just noticed that the samples I got do have grain in them but they also have grain-free varieties on their website which is what I would buy if I wanted to try it. I got a Salmon one and a Chicken one. I viewed their website and the kibble appears to be a combination of freeze-dried raw and baked food. The outer layer is freeze-dried raw food, and the inner layer is baked...it sounds like an affordable solution between dry kibble and feeding dehydrated type raw food. Any thoughts?

I will try part of it in a few days...Preston tried out a 1/2 portion of The Honest Kitchen Embark food tonight mixed with his kibble and loved it. I'm not sure if I can afford to feed it or my 1st choice which is Addiction dehydrated (I am getting a sample of Addiction salmon raw next week, the pet food store ordered samples for me, how nice!) by itself or even 1/2 and 1/2 with kibble but I wanted to try something new out. I want to be able to rotate proteins and would love to combine dry & some sort of wet food. Poor Preston gets so sad watching London get her canned food (she is still on a limited canned diet).

I also got samples of Nature's Variety dry but it's probably not my top choice for dry food but it is still a quality choice.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

The founder of that food is a holistic vet by me. I have met him at pet events and talked to him several times. Alot of pet stores carry this here since it is a local company and I have heard nothing but good things about this food. 

I personally have not used it with mine and if I were to switch lucy and demi who are not on special diets it would be to honest kitchen, dr harveys or sojo but I would definitely consider this food as well. I was just thinking of doing the preference and rotating proteins like bison, venison, chicken, turkey etc. Now that i see how well dex is doing on a home cooked diet I would really like to get to something as close to that for the others but do not want to borrow trouble right now in dealing with dex.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for your opinion. It's good to know that the locals in your area seem to have positive feelings toward it. Preston really loves The Honest Kitchen, but there are only a couple of grain-free varieties so I probably won't purchase it and I'm not wanting to add in my own protein to the Preference! Hopefully the Addiction goes over well with him.


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Lisa, funny that you mention Great Life...before you posted about it, I hadn't seen anything on SM about this food. One of my local holistic pet food stores carries this brand and raves about it. I found it a bit odd that they were endorsing it SO much over the other great brands they carry (literally, this was the first and only brand I would hear them recommend to people, regardless of their pet's condition, age, health, etc and they have a huge section in their store just dedicated to GL products) - that is until I found out they were a distributer for Great Life in this area (then it made a lot of sense haha). Anyways, still I have no doubt it's a good quality food...I considered it a while ago, but I could find very little information about it anywhere so I decided to stick with other high quality brands. I'm not saying it's not a great food...just that I felt more comfortable feeding a food I could find more info and reviews on. By the way, the freeze-dried coating thing is also done by other brands...Nature's Variety Instinct being one of them, I believe and also Canine Caviar. Have you ever looked in to Timberwolf - another brand of kibble that looked pretty good, although I'm not sure if they do grain-free. 

I'm in the process of switching Bailey over to freeze-dried raw. As you know, he has also been on a canned diet for many months now...I slowly started mixing in a little freeze-dried raw over the past month and he's done great with it. I'm transitioning him to The Honest Kitchen's Embark right now...I just love that company. I do plan to rotate between the several varieties of THK and Addiction freeze-dried raw until I figure out what he does best on. THK is not grain free (most of their varieties) but higher in protein and Addiction has several grain-free varieties that are lower in protein - I just need to find what works best for my guy.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I am so glad you posted about the Great Life! I didn't see it on the Whole Dog Journal dry food list for 2011 so I may or may not give it a try to mix in with canned or some form of raw. Funny that you are transitioning Bailey to Embark, Preston has had 3 meals of it and loves it but I'm not very impressed with the powdered look to it (or the bright green color that stains his face!). Maybe the sample bags were just crushed or something. I think the Addiction has a chunkier consistency looking at it online.

I didn't know about Nature's Variety having the freeze-dried coating so that is great to know! I want to try the new Acana Ranchlands food, too. There are so many dry choices and not enough dehydrated/freeze-dried choices! LOL

I am too scared right now to transition London, she has done amazing on the limited canned diet.


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Exactly, Lisa...I couldn't find Great Life on any of the major dog food review websites or the WDJ list either so that's why I decided to stick with brands that were on there. Bailey hasn't been on any kibble for a while now (Fromm was the last one he was on...another great choice and great company) Ever since I put him on the canned diet, he really doesn't even like kibble any more. Every time I tried mixing a little in, he spat it out haha! Acana Ranchlands is the last kibble I tried with him and he seemed to like it better than others actually, but I've decided to stick with freeze-dried raw. 

I'm not wild about THK being green and soupy either but since I mix it in with canned food, it's not a major issue for me...I may continue mixing in a tiny bit of canned even after he's fully transitioned, just to firm up the consistency of it so it's not going all over his face! I've read that THK is made so that you can add a little cooked or raw meat to it if you want...I may do that. Addiction is a little chunkier than THK, you're right...and Grandma Lucy's even more so. I'm glad Preston likes THK - maybe using it a mixer with kibble or canned would be a good idea for him. By the way, I'm so glad London is doing great on canned food...have her tummy episodes completely stopped now??


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Oh and I was mistaken when I said THK wasn't grain-free - Embark, Zeal and Force are grain-free while Keen, Thrive and Verve do have some grains.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Yes, London's tummy issues are 100% gone now! She is feeling great, and loves having the canned food. She actually loves getting a piece of dry kibble here and there, like it's a treat! LOL

Gma Lucy's is impossible to find locally in my area (businesses carry the treats but not the food) so I have ruled that out as an option because I want to be able to go physically buy it if I accidentally run out. But, I can choose from THK, Addiction, Stella & Chewy's, Ziwi Peak (yikes! WAY too expensive!), Nature's Variety, etc.

I mix Preston's THK with a tad less water and it was a good consistency, not runny at all. I don't know, maybe I will buy a box of it today along with some new kibble and mix that in. Preston's poop has NO odor on it, it's so weird. He hasn't had to transition too much on it, I just started out with 50/50 since all I had were 2 sample bags. This morning was his last meal with it and I mixed in a little of the Great Life Buffalo kibble (sample).

He is out of food now so I have to decide on something today, hehe.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

Bailey&Me said:


> Exactly, Lisa...I couldn't find Great Life on any of the major dog food review websites or the WDJ list either so that's why I decided to stick with brands that were on there. Bailey hasn't been on any kibble for a while now (Fromm was the last one he was on...another great choice and great company) Ever since I put him on the canned diet, he really doesn't even like kibble any more. Every time I tried mixing a little in, he spat it out haha! Acana Ranchlands is the last kibble I tried with him and he seemed to like it better than others actually, but I've decided to stick with freeze-dried raw.
> 
> I'm not wild about THK being green and soupy either but since I mix it in with canned food, it's not a major issue for me...I may continue mixing in a tiny bit of canned even after he's fully transitioned, just to firm up the consistency of it so it's not going all over his face! I've read that THK is made so that you can add a little cooked or raw meat to it if you want...I may do that. Addiction is a little chunkier than THK, you're right...and Grandma Lucy's even more so. I'm glad Preston likes THK - maybe using it a mixer with kibble or canned would be a good idea for him. By the way, I'm so glad London is doing great on canned food...have her tummy episodes completely stopped now??


i have read alot on THK and consulted them when dex became ill with kidney disease to check on phosphorus in food but it was too high. I read you need to let it sit for a little while after mixing in water so it becomes more like oatmeal than soupy so that might help. I wouldn't like if it was staining demi's face either  

I liked the preference because it does not have rosemary in it either as rosemary makes me nervous since demi had a seizure on it  I already add chicken on her food as it is as she is picky so why i was thinking adding into preference may not be too bad. I just hate trying anything new now because have had so many issues with mine it makes me nervous if something is working lol


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Lisa, what did you decide to do for Preston? I think Great Life is a good choice, if that's what you decided, but I don't know much about it other than what I mentioned above. Wasn't Preston on Acana? Did you want to rotate for variety or was it causing any issues with him? I think if I ever did kibble with Bailey again, I would choose between Acana, Fromm, Addiction and Now (maybe Timberwolf but I havent done much research on that yet). Acana would be my first choice except that when he was on it a while ago, he gained some weight. Fromm is great too and they make a couple of grain-free varieties which I've heard good things about. 

I think you have some great freeze-dried raw options available locally - Bailey has tried all of those in the past and loved them all (he's not picky at all!) Since he's been on a limited duck and sweet potato canned diet these past few months, I wanted to re-introduce the freeze-dried raw really carefully. So I found one that had duck in it (Stella & Chewy's) and started mixing in a tiny bit of that at a time. He had zero problems with it. Now he's eating turkey canned food with Embark (also turkey) mixed in - I'm trying to keep both foods of the same protein so it doesn't overwhelm his system. 

I'm so glad to hear that London's tummy issues have disappeared completely!! YAY!!! So she'll be sticking to her canned for a while, I guess...but I have heard of dogs with tummy problems doing well on a couple of THK formulas, if you wanted to consider that at some point down the road!


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Preston is currently on Now Small Breed but he isn't thrilled about it anymore, and I don't blame him. I want him to have more variety with rotating proteins as well as a mixture of dry & a moist food. Today I am going to get a small box of THK Embark since he really enjoyed that and mix it with either Acana or Now or Nature's Variety Instinct. At least, until I can try out Addiction on him and the I will probably go that route.

I agree about Great Life seeming like a good choice, but like you, I am a little hesitant to try due to lack of information from reviews, etc. Who knows, maybe I will try it. LOL

I do eventually want to shift London onto a mixture of some form of raw & dry kibble. I want to do it right and take it really slow so I'm trying to decide on what to try her on. Like I said, THK is great but I like that Addiction has WAY more grain-free varieties so I would love to use that. That is why I'm not thrilled with THK...only 2 or 3 varieties to choose from, and the fish one isn't carried in our local stores so I would have to special order it just to try it out. LOL

I get a headache thinking about it all!


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## Hunter's Mom (Dec 8, 2008)

Lisa - your new food sounds like a great choice. We are using Grandma Lucy's still but also keep Fromm's in our pantry for when we travel, are running late, or Hunter needs a little bit of "work for his dinner". He really likes the Fromms and it has grain-free options and various proteins. I'm not sure if it's avaliable in your area but if you aren't happy with your current options I would highly suggest it.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestion, Erin! I do have Fromm's available so I will research online more about it.

I was too overwhelmed at the pet food place today and couldn't decide so I picked up Nature's Variety Instinct Salmon to try. I chickened out on buying Great Life but now I wish I would have purchased that instead I think. LOL

They talked to me about some of the frozen raw they carry, Primal, Nature's Variety, and one called Northwest something or something along those lines. It was just too much info for me at once because I have to look at the cost of everything so of course I couldn't just get one of each to try, hehe.


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

Lisa, I use great life Grain-free salmon in my commercial food rotation. I like the ingredients and that it is grain and potato free. They use tapioca for the starch. My dogs LOVE it. HTH


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

tamizami said:


> Lisa, I use great life Grain-free salmon in my commercial food rotation. I like the ingredients and that it is grain and potato free. They use tapioca for the starch. My dogs LOVE it. HTH


I'm really glad yours love it...I do think I am going to try it next, I think it is basically the same as Nature's Variety Instinct. I would love to try the Buffalo protein variety. I am going to start Preston on a 1/2 kibble and 1/2 canned diet for now...and London is just now getting 4-6 pieces of kibble mixed in with her canned food at each meal so in another month or two I should be able to do 1/2 and 1/2 with her also.


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