I used to feed my doggy poison. :D

[Cardinal]

Woah.
My kitty's w tub o lard pretty much; about 16 pounds I think, and nomming my hand a we speak.
Well, where can you get EVO, then? I want something affordable and healthy for my little furball, but I don't want my parents to drive all over town in search of a kitty food for my picky companion.
Like I said, I'll talk to my parents. And if worse comes to worse, I'll save up and buy it for him myself.
Thank you so much for your help guys; I honestly appreciate it, and I'm sure my little Onsers will too. ^^

Innova and Evo are made by the same company, while Evo IS better, it also has a much higher price tag. A good starting place is Innova Prime. Innova is their grain-in line. Innova Prime is their newest grain-free and a big step-up from just plain 'o Innova. Evo is their top-'o the line food. You can try a store locator on the Evo website to find a place close to you. =)

[Jazi]

For cats personally I like EVO. I've tried Innova and TotW as well but Saffron has done best on EVO. She's a grazer and 1/4 cup EVO will last her all day and into the next morning vs TotW which she was pesting for more food after about half a day and One Beyond she'd scarf down and immediately go back to pesting... shows you how filling a food is because unlike dogs, cats either like a kind of food and eat it OR they don't like a kind of food and ignore it. Cats are one of the few mammals that will refuse food they think they don't like until they starve to death. So if she's eating it steadily over time that doesn't mean she dislikes it, it means that it fills her up and she thinks it tastes good anyway.

Since switching off of Science Diet which the shelter had her on and onto EVO I've noticed her ear (permanently damaged due to actions of previous owner) doesn't get infected as much and she has a much thicker softer coat, plus she sheds less dander which is good for me because I'm allergic to dander! She's also a dainty cat and anything that's not grainfree turns her into a 10lb tub of lard, but when on EVO she's 8lbs and muscular.

Oh god, i was at my bf's friends house who has cats and a bulldog. My allergies were SO BAD just being in the house. My eyes were itching.. My nose was itching.. Was so awful. I can bury my face in all three of my cats fur with no reaction whatsoever. D:

I get the same when I visit a buddy's house. She has 7 cats, no one in that house is allergic so they don't vacuum as often (I do daily) nor do they brush as often (daily). And to top it all off she feeds them whatever's in the grocery store which is grocery-store-brand food X_X I've actually had to excuse myself a couple times because it seriously feels like I walk into their house and my nose just turns itself off, my eyes water, and my face swells. Food and upkeep make a huge difference for people with allergies :]

@kyte; I buy Saff's EVO online as there are no stores around me that sell it (unless that mom&pop does... will need to check). Saff likes the fish variety the best, and I feed her kibble because she's a grazer and wet would go bad too quickly for her to finish it. Tried switching her to wet a couple times and it didn't work as she'd take a mouthful, wander off, then come back in an hour expecting her food to still be there =_= if you can convince your cats to do so though, wet IS better for them. Online it's about $25 for a 6.5lb bag which is quite expensive considering store-brand food goes for like $3 but trust me the lessened vet bills plus the fact that I can feed her less of it makes it pay for itself. I'll take a $25 bag of food over a $90 vet visit because she had to have earwax scraped off of her eardrum yet AGAIN (from the previous owner damage).

[Lupen]

It's amazing how much less my dogs shed since I've been feeding them a higher quality diet. They just seem so much more alert as well. It's been probably six or so months since we switched from the crappy food. Just wish I would have known how terrible their food was sooner. They also get raw meaty bones twice a week and they absolutely love it. Their favorite is beef ribs and chicken drumsticks.

My cats shed a lot less as well. Been feeding them blue buffalo as they seem to like it. They also used to throw up, and now they never do, unless they get a hairball. Never realized their food was responsible.

[Cardinal]

It's amazing how much less my dogs shed since I've been feeding them a higher quality diet. They just seem so much more alert as well. It's been probably six or so months since we switched from the crappy food. Just wish I would have known how terrible their food was sooner. They also get raw meaty bones twice a week and they absolutely love it. Their favorite is beef ribs and chicken drumsticks.

My cats shed a lot less as well. Been feeding them blue buffalo as they seem to like it. They also used to throw up, and now they never do, unless they get a hairball. Never realized their food was responsible.

Its pretty awesome, isn't it? ^^;

Do you have any before and after pictures? =)

[.yuanfen]

Dilemma here, so I'll start from the beginning.

My dog is a neutered Bichon Frise and Poodle mix, nearly three years of age { his birthday is next week }, and weighs twenty pounds.

In the shelter we adopted him from, our dog was fed Science Diet. We learned immediately that this was not a good brand to feed him, so we switched to Natural Balance, Lamb and Rice formula. This he enjoyed heartily but it gave him diarrhea.
It was time for another food switch, so we changed to Blue Buffalo Lamb and Rice. He did well on this but began to show signs of allergies, and I read some misinformation that lead me to falsely believe that he was allergic to his food, and we switched to the grain-free salmon version of Blue Buffalo in the hopes that he would not display any symptoms of allergies.
However, it was soon discovered that he detested fish. We bought a small bag of Innova from the pet store, which he enjoyed, but the price is too high for my parents' liking. Thus, we switched yet again to Merrick, Grain-Free Buffalo, which he is eating currently. It is indicated by various sources that his current food is of higher quality than Blue Buffalo, but my parents wish to switch back to Blue Buffalo since he was eating that food consistently { he been having spontaneous periods of irregular eating habits, and we think it's because he dislikes the current food, Merrick }.

So I'm not sure. He enjoys Blue Buffalo more but I don't know about the quality. I'm in favor of feeding partially-cooked meats or a higher-quality brand like Innova, Evo, Instinct, or even Orijen, but my parents say that's too expensive.
Personally, I guess I'd like him to enjoy his food. I don't know if he's being picky because the weather is quite warm right now, or if he just doesn't really like the food. However, I also wish for his food to be of good quality.
Any suggestions/ tips?

[Lupen]

It's amazing how much less my dogs shed since I've been feeding them a higher quality diet. They just seem so much more alert as well. It's been probably six or so months since we switched from the crappy food. Just wish I would have known how terrible their food was sooner. They also get raw meaty bones twice a week and they absolutely love it. Their favorite is beef ribs and chicken drumsticks.

My cats shed a lot less as well. Been feeding them blue buffalo as they seem to like it. They also used to throw up, and now they never do, unless they get a hairball. Never realized their food was responsible.

Its pretty awesome, isn't it? ^^;

Do you have any before and after pictures? =)

Sadly don't have any good photographs of my adult cats or my other dog from before, but I do have some photos of my mutt Rylee.

This is pretty much the only photo I have of her that's somewhat good, that was taken before we started feeding her higher quality stuff. It was taken May 2011. Still wish this one would show her whole body better though.

The more recent photos are a lot better. You can just see how shiny and soft her coat looks nowadays. :) This was back in May of this year, which is kind of neat because it's almost exactly a year between the two photos. But even since May she has continued to improve. Her coat used to be a lot more dull as you can see above, and as I mentioned before, she used to shed a lot more too. There used to be black fur all over our carpets and now there's hardly any.

[Cardinal]

Dilemma here, so I'll start from the beginning.

My dog is a neutered Bichon Frise and Poodle mix, nearly three years of age { his birthday is next week }, and weighs twenty pounds.

In the shelter we adopted him from, our dog was fed Science Diet. We learned immediately that this was not a good brand to feed him, so we switched to Natural Balance, Lamb and Rice formula. This he enjoyed heartily but it gave him diarrhea.
It was time for another food switch, so we changed to Blue Buffalo Lamb and Rice. He did well on this but began to show signs of allergies, and I read some misinformation that lead me to falsely believe that he was allergic to his food, and we switched to the grain-free salmon version of Blue Buffalo in the hopes that he would not display any symptoms of allergies.
However, it was soon discovered that he detested fish. We bought a small bag of Innova from the pet store, which he enjoyed, but the price is too high for my parents' liking. Thus, we switched yet again to Merrick, Grain-Free Buffalo, which he is eating currently. It is indicated by various sources that his current food is of higher quality than Blue Buffalo, but my parents wish to switch back to Blue Buffalo since he was eating that food consistently { he been having spontaneous periods of irregular eating habits, and we think it's because he dislikes the current food, Merrick }.

So I'm not sure. He enjoys Blue Buffalo more but I don't know about the quality. I'm in favor of feeding partially-cooked meats or a higher-quality brand like Innova, Evo, Instinct, or even Orijen, but my parents say that's too expensive.
Personally, I guess I'd like him to enjoy his food. I don't know if he's being picky because the weather is quite warm right now, or if he just doesn't really like the food. However, I also wish for his food to be of good quality.
Any suggestions/ tips?

Why not give Taste of the Wild or Earthborn Holistic Primitive Naturals a chance? I'm personally in love with Earthborn and its become my fall back food when I can't find Evo or Instinct on sale. Taste of the Wild is at a lot of feed stores and Earthborn is becoming more and more popular. They are both about the same price, but Earthborn IS better.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/pets/go ... .76514253/ Here's an idea. It shows the price per lb of some of the most common foods.

It's amazing how much less my dogs shed since I've been feeding them a higher quality diet. They just seem so much more alert as well. It's been probably six or so months since we switched from the crappy food. Just wish I would have known how terrible their food was sooner. They also get raw meaty bones twice a week and they absolutely love it. Their favorite is beef ribs and chicken drumsticks.

My cats shed a lot less as well. Been feeding them blue buffalo as they seem to like it. They also used to throw up, and now they never do, unless they get a hairball. Never realized their food was responsible.

Its pretty awesome, isn't it? ^^;

Do you have any before and after pictures? =)

This is pretty much the only photo I have of her that's somewhat good, that was taken before we started feeding her higher quality stuff. It was taken May 2011. Still wish this one would show her whole body better though.

The more recent photos are a lot better. You can just see how shiny and soft her coat looks nowadays. This was back in May of this year, which is kind of neat because it's almost exactly a year between the two photos. But even since May she has continued to improve. Her coat used to be a lot more dull as you can see above, and as I mentioned before, she used to shed a lot more too. There used to be black fur all over our carpets and now there's hardly any.

Oh no, you can tell a major difference in coat! The other coat looked dry and shaggy. The new coat looks soft, shiny, and flowing gorgeousness. <3 Those muscles, too! Such a pretty pretty dog. Excuse my gushing. LOL.

[Lupen]

Oh no, you can tell a major difference in coat! The other coat looked dry and shaggy. The new coat looks soft, shiny, and flowing gorgeousness. <3 Those muscles, too! Such a pretty pretty dog. Excuse my gushing. LOL.

Lol, thank you ^^

[Jazi]

Dilemma here, so I'll start from the beginning.

My dog is a neutered Bichon Frise and Poodle mix, nearly three years of age { his birthday is next week }, and weighs twenty pounds.

In the shelter we adopted him from, our dog was fed Science Diet. We learned immediately that this was not a good brand to feed him, so we switched to Natural Balance, Lamb and Rice formula. This he enjoyed heartily but it gave him diarrhea.
It was time for another food switch, so we changed to Blue Buffalo Lamb and Rice. He did well on this but began to show signs of allergies, and I read some misinformation that lead me to falsely believe that he was allergic to his food, and we switched to the grain-free salmon version of Blue Buffalo in the hopes that he would not display any symptoms of allergies.
However, it was soon discovered that he detested fish. We bought a small bag of Innova from the pet store, which he enjoyed, but the price is too high for my parents' liking. Thus, we switched yet again to Merrick, Grain-Free Buffalo, which he is eating currently. It is indicated by various sources that his current food is of higher quality than Blue Buffalo, but my parents wish to switch back to Blue Buffalo since he was eating that food consistently { he been having spontaneous periods of irregular eating habits, and we think it's because he dislikes the current food, Merrick }.

So I'm not sure. He enjoys Blue Buffalo more but I don't know about the quality. I'm in favor of feeding partially-cooked meats or a higher-quality brand like Innova, Evo, Instinct, or even Orijen, but my parents say that's too expensive.
Personally, I guess I'd like him to enjoy his food. I don't know if he's being picky because the weather is quite warm right now, or if he just doesn't really like the food. However, I also wish for his food to be of good quality.
Any suggestions/ tips?

Have you tried something without lamb? Lamb is a big one for dog allergies; I've had two dogs already allergic to lamb and they put it in everything so it's hard to avoid. Try one of the game meat varieties of Taste of the Wild or Buffalo Wilderness and if that doesn't work EVO/Innova or Orijen/Acana should. Beef is also up there on the main causers of dog allergies, so watch out for that too. Sadly the dogs in my life are either fed raw (Mocha), "dog soup" (Buster, Baby), or some crappy kibble that I can't get my sister to switch off of (Titan), so I don't have personal experience for what works best as far as kibble anymore. I will say that with Mocha on raw and Baby and Buster on "dog soup", I've noticed even though they have allergies to grass they lose much less hair than they originally were, and most of Baby's coat grew back sparsely at least (she was hit by a car some years ago and never regrew her fur in sections).

[.yuanfen]

{ Cardinal~ I'll try to convince my parents. However, they're tired of switching back and forth between different brands and are { as some of you may know } extremely stubborn about price and such matters.

{ Jazi~ Eh, he's eaten salmon, buffalo, chicken, and beef, and I don't know. Maybe it's an environmental allergy, not a food one.
I get the feeling that he might be licking his paws and armpits out of boredom, but I'm not sure how to stimulate him, since he has a low heat tolerance and isn't interested in playing with his ball or other toys. It's only five minutes until he gets too hot { or tired- he's not overweight... } to play anymore and he'll just go back to licking his paws.
My parents are adamant about not feeding raw or cooked meals because apparently it's too expensive...I would feed him raw or partially cooked meats if I could, but as a child/ young teen I don't have much authority.