# Fromm 4 Star Nutrionals vs Merricks dry kibble vs Natures Variety Praire



## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Well I have come to these foods as a possible replacement for my dogs normal dry, Innova Adult Large bites. They all look like really good foods, and I may try a small bag of each to see what my dog prefers as he is kinda picky on his dry food. I did get a small bag of Merricks Grammy's Pot Pie which is Chicken based http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=14&s=20269. It looks pretty good. Suppliers are limited for each of these brands. Fromms is at a different store than Merricks but the Merricks store also has Natures Variety. I like that all these foods have different varieties designed for rotation without upsetting his stomach. All the foods are pretty comparable to Innova in the protein fat percentages. The only thing that concerns me with the Fromms is that there is tomato pomace which is a filler. Maybe I could use all three in a rotation I do that for my cats. In fact I want to try the fromms on them.


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## philovance (Jan 7, 2009)

Midnight351 said:


> The only thing that concerns me with the Fromms is that there is tomato pomace which is a filler. Maybe I could use all three in a rotation I do that for my cats. In fact I want to try the fromms on them.


FWIW, I am of the opinion that tomato pomace, as far down on the list of ingredients as it usually is, serves as a "pre-biotic," which literally feeds the "pro-biotic" bacteria necessary for gut health. That is not to say that Iams deserves an award for including it or that the pro-biotics sprayed on some foods after extrusion are present in effective amounts. But I think pomace is a harmless ingredient, much like beet pulp, and not an indication of corner cutting. At worst it's an insoluble fiber, a certain amount of which is required for digestive health.


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

I have used all three of the aforementioned foods at one time or another. For my four dogs, I like Fromm 4-Star the best....it's what they are eating presently. They are doing fantastic on it! We will be staying within the brand for rotation. When I fed Merrick, the dogs loved it and did well on it, but I haven't used it for awhile (the dry that is...I use the cans all the time). I understand they recently have gone under a formula change (which is their second change since I've fed it), but that shouldn't affect you, since you have never fed it. I fed Nature's Variety....Prairie, Instinct and Raw medallions...for about 6 months. I still sometimes use the cans. The dogs loved the kibble and their stool was fine, but after some months I noticed severe tear staining and mouth staining. Decided to take them off the food and all that went away pretty much immediately. Great food, but just didn't work for mine apparently. Didn't really nail down what was in the food that caused it, but the montmorillionite clay (sp.) was suspect to me. Anyway, those are our experiences with the food. All 3 are good and your experiences may be totally different. I don't think you can go wrong with trying any of them. Good luck!


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