Experience with these brands?

I'm ready to make a food switch. Does anyone have experience with Before Grain kibble?

Edited to add: Just realized it's a part of Merrick

How about the Innova EVO red meat? I've used regular EVO and I know it's rich. This is supposed to be a "close to raw" kibble, with cartilage, bone, etc. Not much other "stuff" in it.

I feed my cat the Innova EVO for kitties and he does great on it, sorry I am not much help otherwise.

I've never fed my dogs Merrick but I do have a good friend in Amarillo, TX who goes to the same church as the people who own Merrick. He's fed his 3 Westies Merrick their entire lives and they're all very healthy.

I've tried Evo red meat with Grace. My only concern was that it's rather high in protein. And after I switched her to it, Grace got a nasty UTI. Very possibly could have just been a complete coincidence, but I didn't want to risk that the high protein was affecting her kidneys or urinary tract, so I stopped feeding it. Aside from the high protein, I've never heard any other concerns about it. Good luck - lord knows how much we all love doing the food switches!!

I've fed my guys both the regular EVO and the red meat EVO. They did fine on the regular even though I have one who's sensitive to chicken but their systems couldn't seem to tolerate the red meat EVO. It seemed to upset their tummys.

Jasmine got diarrhea from Merricks dog food (but she easily does that). She's on Eagle Pack holistic now and I just added some Taste of the Wild. Does anyone use that?

Sammy did great on the regular EVO, but the red meat one gave him horrible gas. (LOTS of foods give him horrible gas, though, so I doubt it's a flaw of the food itself! )

He's tried several of the Merrick's foods, although not the Before Grain one. The ones he's tried have all given him mushy poo. Not diarrhea exactly, but harder to clean up than I'd like.

I don't know why I feel like sharing this, but I recently tried Orijen for Co-Pilot, the ingredients are really good, but she poos about twice the amount as she used to and an extra time a day, it's ridiculous, we will be using up the small bag we bought and going back to Solid Gold, we also switch around with Nature's Recipe (I think that's it, I know what the bag looks like) and another I'm not thinking of at the moment, but I change her food up pretty often, it never seems to bother her, but the Orijen, NO THANKS!

Here is the link http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/adult.aspx

And also like Ginger said, I like food that keeps their poo more firm, I think it helps express their glands that way, at least that is why I think CP never has gland issues.

Orijen is actually what I'm feeding now. We don't seem to be having too much of a poop issue with it but we're feeding the fish. Are you feeding the other (can't remember the protein)? I tried that once and we had huge poop issues.

I feed the foster dogs Orijen--but only the fish formula. I had the same increased poop volume with the other formulas, but not so with the fish formula.
My current foster, Chance, is on Natural Balance Duck and Potato and is doing well on it.
Haven't used the BF grains and most of my guys have issues with red meats.

Am I a bad pug mom? I haven't switched Murphy's food. I mean, I've switch flavors and such, but he's always been on Wellness. He started some something horrible from the so-called breeder, then he was in Eukanuba for a little bit, but then I got wise.

Mack and Mattie have been on Before Grain Buffalo for about a year now. It's the only food I can find that helps with Mattie's itchies. They don't have huge poops either. I had tried them on Orijen previously too and their poops were huge.

Amanda wrote:Orijen is actually what I'm feeding now. We don't seem to be having too much of a poop issue with it but we're feeding the fish. Are you feeding the other (can't remember the protein)? I tried that once and we had huge poop issues.

Yep I am feeding the one with fish, chicken and other stuff, not the straight fish. Man she poos a lot. From 2 small ones a day to 3 BIG ones, EW!

Maybe we'll try the fish, but I like her to have more variety, and don't ask me WHY!

The girls (and the kitty!) are all on Innova Evo. So far they all love it, and we've had no problems.

I've been using a food called Great Life which comes Grain free or they have some that has grains in it. I believe the grain free has a lot of ingredients close to raw. Since Tinker is eating it, I don't have to worry about grain free since he doesn't have any problems now, and he is eating the venison.

leslyeb wrote:I've been using a food called Great Life which comes Grain free or they have some that has grains in it. I believe the grain free has a lot of ingredients close to raw. Since Tinker is eating it, I don't have to worry about grain free since he doesn't have any problems now, and he is eating the venison.

I'll have to check that out!

I feed Flint River Ranch Lamb/Rice/Millet. We don't have allergy issues, and it's perfect for Toby's sensitive tummy. All three of My Boys eat it. Freddy Jones has been on Science Diet c/d for a while, but I'm gradually switching him back because I just hate that stuff. The poops here are all nice and firm, minimal quantity. The only one who ever anals is Freddy Jones, and that's very rarely.

Sara, I feed mine Natures Recipe for seniors becuase they aren't that active so I need to keep their calories down. Also with a 15.5 senior, this food works well for him and his stomach. I switched them to Canidae last year and all fo them became pooping machine. The house was a big litter box!

We were using Evo red meats but my concern was the high protein content. We now use Go grain free. It has a medium protein content .

Thurston is on a raw diet. Stella and Chewey's twice a day. He's been on it since he was 6 months old and I'm afraid to change his food. Every time he gets into another dog's food he gets sick.