# Am I the only one who has never seen a difference in food?



## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

With my two they just seem about the same regardless of food. We don't get loose stools, coats seem nice, good energy levels, etc. Summer has some environmental allergies but that's not tied to food. They've been on raw, grain free, grain inclusive, purina, acana, you name it. We can switch foods at the drop of a hat without issue. 

I have not noticed a tangible difference at all with them.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I've never seen any difference in energy levels or coat, but Obi does get slightly loose stools on dry food compared to raw. Nothing severe though. I've also always switched foods cold turkey with no issue, and I also share a lot of the food I eat with them, including junk food, with no ill effects. Or any effect at all actually.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

I have found when ever I tried to switch them over gradually that they picked out the new food anyway because it is different so I just change them over to the new food. Never had a problem with any of my dogs.


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## Emily1188 (Jun 21, 2011)

I see minor differences but nothing huge. The biggest difference I see is between kibble and raw, regarding poop size/quality and doggy breath. Now, I've never had them on kibble more than like... a month at a time, so I guess I can't _really_ talk about coat change, since it takes longer than that, but... yeah. lol. Either way they get coconut oil or Missing Link and their coats are very nice.

Now, with Mackenzy, to be fair, she does balloon up on kibble. It just must be carbohydrates, I guess. Her coat doesn't really change though and her poops, while bigger, are still fine. Energy and all that is the same.

Honestly, when I'm feeding commercial food, I'm not that picky about ingredients because my dogs just aren't sensitive. Blossom has some special fiber requirements because of her EPI but other than that, meh. My dogs do very well on stuff like TOTW, or a good meat +oatmeal/rice formula... I don't see much difference between kibbles as long as it's all decent quality. :O And you will never catch me shelling out more than $1.5-2/lb, I just don't see it being worth it and my dogs eat a lot of food. I also don't see big differences between dogs who are super expensive foods like Orijen or the Fromm 4 Star line, and foods like TOTW and the Nutro Naturals formulas, or even something like the ProPlan Skin and Coat. Of course it will depend on the dog, but I don't buy into the super premium, sexy ingredient list kibbles anymore. I'm all for other people feeding them, I don't think they're BAD, but for the price, and with my dogs eating 5-6 C per day... nope. LOL. 

So yeah, while I see small differences... I don't see huge ones. At all. Especially between brands of kibble.

ETA: I also switch cold turkey between brands AND homemade raw and kibble, AND I give kibble with raw sometimes. :O I'm just the worst. lol And they have no problem with it.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Between whatever Toby was on at the shelter and what Moose's previous owner was feeding him before I got him (Science Diet I think), yeah, I saw differences. Shug was on Ol' Roy when my mom got her, and yeah, BIG difference there. Have I seen a big difference between something "decent" and something "super high quality"? No, not really. Before I got the boys I could afford to get Penny the super premium stuff, and I don't see any differences in her on Diamond Naturals or Kirkland vs Nature's Variety or Evo.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

As a puppy I fed Levi authority from Petsmart because I could get it super cheap and the ingredient list wasn't half bad. IMO while useless, corn and whatever are not the end of the world if your dogs not allergic. But when I started reading about gmo crops I definitely became more careful. I decided to switch when I called the number on the bag to ask some questions about where the product is made and by who and where the ingredients are sourced from. No one could give me even a remote answer. I got a lot of "we just know the bag says made in the USA". That's not a good enough answer for me so that's when I switched to acana. I feel a lot better feeding him this food but I honestly have not seen a difference in him with it. I just feel there's better quality control, but he did well on both.


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## ForTheLoveOfDogs (Jun 3, 2007)

It probably just depends on the dog. I've seen a big difference in poo size in my old dog. Anything with grains in it gave her bigger poos. Some foods gave her bad gas too. She was on Beneful for the longest time, and had a much nicer coat after switching to the higher quality stuff. 

My current dog seems to be kinda tired on lamb formulas and more energetic on poultry formulas? It don't know if that's a thing, but I swear she's a lot more energetic now that I switched her.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

I'm still waiting for the magical tiny poops that raw allegedly will produce. 


I originally started raw because when he was young Squash had a lot of problems with chronic diarrhea and after trying a lot of other things food-wise, that was what worked. Now that he's older, I've had enough "forgot to thaw" experiences to know that he is fine with some kibble in his diet as well but I've been unwilling to experiment with going back completely to kibble with him. Also, Maisy can be a bit of a hard keeper and she eats the raw so much more enthusiastically than kibble that I would likely keep it for that alone. I notice pretty much zero difference in her otherwise, though.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Other than Science Diet resulted in enormous popcorn smelling poop not much difference between kibbles. Both Sassy and Max did fine digesting whatever good quality grainy kibble I bought over the years and eagerly ate them all. Coats, breath and all that were about the same but the lowest end stuff I ever bought was Iams. That, SD, Natural Balance, Canidae, Wellness and Pinnacle are the ones I can remember feeding both dogs. Didn't see any improvement on EVO feeding Max through 2 large bags. I was looking for something to help Sassy's itching and anal sac problems but since it was flea allergy there really was no hope for the one. I was wondering if Max's general strength and fur quality could improve, nope.

On cooked food Sassy improved, those anal sacs stopped filling up finally which meant she smelled better. Both dogs digested it fine and poop size was about the same as on kibble. When Sassy was on double the calories as Max and he was eating raw there was very little difference in poop size as white rice and chicken has very little fiber to plump up the poop.

On raw Max improved a great deal, fur and strength did improve. His poop is smaller than on kibble but not impossible to find in the grass or anything. It varies a lot depending on what he ate too, some are impossible to pick up until they dry out.

Ginger, who knows, she was a mess when she came home with me. Her poop size was enormous but firm and only produced every few days until recently even though she is fed twice a day. Lately she has been producing poop daily and they are smaller. Perhaps it took that long for her gut to adjust to the smaller volume going in? Her runny eyes haven't improved a whole lot on raw, perhaps cleaning her tear ducts will make a difference.

And I have been religiously giving fish oil in capsules for 15 years with a few months off after the sardine=ear infection relationship was discovered. Only improvement I have ever noted was a cyst on top of Max's head goes down if he is on the stuff and swells and bursts repeatedly if he is off. No change in coat or itching ever noted. Guess better not to have a cyst hurting him anyway.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

Grain inclusive foods give Manna minor dandruff, other than that no change unless there's peanut butter in the food, too much peanut butter makes her stools very loose. But I think the peanut thing is a food sensitivity. 

Now with my cat?
well she's pretty much allergic to everything and raw is the only thing that won't kill her. no she's not a very good representative for cats in general.


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## RabbleFox (Jan 23, 2013)

Merlin went from Diamond naturals small dog to Nutrisca/raw. Don't tell anyone but I rotate foods because I find bags on clearance. The current 28lb was $1.38 a pound. Such a good deal. BUY. I also feed raw because I can find meat for ~$1 a pound of varying types. And eggs are easy/fun/cheap to feed. 

I feed kibbles and raw within the same day and the same meal. I also don't thaw my raw. Am I a bad person?

Poos are good, small. No eye boogies. Shiny coat. Good condition. He basically came that way.  Feeding raw and expensive food is basically because I enjoy it. 

The biggest change I found was in my grandmas dog. Small dog chow to Barking at the Moon. She used to have big, soft poops. She used to poo like four times a day. Now they are small, hard, and not that often.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

I forgot my mothers dog, holy the difference between grocery store food she was on for 7 years and now the Acana she's been on for less than a year is just WOW. 
I'm talking more muscle, more hyper, better behaved(seriously she actually listens now), no more accidents in the house, no more poop problems, no more rashes or trouble breathing, her joint pain went way down (based on her zoomies that never existed as a pup), and just wow...


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## Yellowsnow (Feb 5, 2014)

I do notice a difference in energy and stamina when it comes to different foods. I do not see much difference in stool or coats, always seem to be fine unless they get into something like a tub of lard.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I used to babysit for a family whose dogs ate store brand generic. The kids and I would take them for a walk, and holy poops! We had to take like 10 poop bags, for a Lab and a Shih Tzu. I do not know where that tiny dog put all that poop .


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## Emily1188 (Jun 21, 2011)

sassafras said:


> I'm still waiting for the magical tiny poops that raw allegedly will produce.


Come to my house, I'll show you. lol. There is a huge difference in stool volume and quality for my dogs in kibble vs. raw. Wish it weren't so or I'd feed kibble more, but picking up the horse sized poos deters me pretty readily.


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## Emily1188 (Jun 21, 2011)

RabbleFox said:


> I feed kibbles and raw within the same day and the same meal. I also don't thaw my raw. Am I a bad person?


You're almost as bad of a person as I am.


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

I have/have had dogs that do fine on anything.


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## PureMutt (Feb 6, 2009)

I'm pretty sure the real difference will be when they're older and not having major medical issues. For example, a dog fed a higher quality food may not fall into preventable diseases.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Maggie ate Purina, Nutro, Authority and Science Diet and did well on all of them as long as beef wasn't an ingredient - so for her it didn't make a difference.

Zoey has had Orijen, 4Health, Pinnacle, Victor and now Annamaet. It isn't scientific but she is shedding less, doesn't have eye gunk (seemed to have it on Victor) her ears haven't been infected and no UTIs along with her fur seems much softer on the Annamaet. I am interested to see what happens as she loses her winter coat if her fur stays that way - so for Zoey it may make a difference.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

All my dogs in the past I never noticed anything different no matter what they were on, with Royce I do because he has food allergies, I can tell if my daughter snuck him a cookie or a piece of bread.....lol.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Well it's hard to say. There's been minor issues. But I haven't switched often enough for longer periods of time to tell any major differences. I mean, he ate Acana GF from about 1 year of age to... 3?? Then we stopped for a little while and went to some grain inclusive lower fat foods after a bout of pancreatitis-something-or-other, and I DID seem to notice his coat didn't seem as nice and his body just didn't look or feel as muscular. Fromm specifically never gave him a nice stool or body condition (after 6+ months on the food, trying different formulas). Also it seemed more eye goop. So I switched back to Acana Duck and Pear and he's been mostly on that for at least 6-7 months now again and doing pretty well.

I've never went from anything 'drastic' such as Purina to Acana to be able to know a true difference. I'm considering feeding a bag or two of Purina (either Beyond or SS&S) to kind of... see and 'experiment' lol. He would sure like the taste better. But I wouldn't say there's ever been any MAJOR differences between any of the foods I've fed (besides little things that *I* notice, but no one else probably would). But again, all the foods are probably similar enough to not cause a big difference anyway, they've all been different 'high quality' foods. And a bag or two here and there. The only brand he's consistently been fed for long periods of time is Acana and I always end up back on it because it just seems to be the best one for him.


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## Damon'sMom (Aug 2, 2011)

Luna was weaned from her moms milk onto Gravytrain adult dog food which she ate until she was 11.5 weeks old. Her poops were huge and soft. She had scaly, dark, and flaky skin. She also had a few bald spots, and a moth eaten look to her coat. When I got her at 11.5 weeks old I moved her to a new food. Now she has been on Earthborn GF Medow feast and 4Health GF Beef and Potato. Her coat is starting to grow fur back, her skin is no longer dark, and the moth eaten appearance is almost better! She no longer has flaky dry skin either. So I will say that a good food is doing wonders for her. 

Jasper is on a special diet due to allergies and tummy issues. So I can diffidently say I have seen a difference in him. haha No more vomiting, explosive diarrhea, dry coat, red rash/ bumps, etc.


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## UpShift (Dec 29, 2013)

I've noticed a difference. Our rottie had chronic loose stools that we solved by feeding her a 'low residue' food such as EVO. She had horrid gas on Blue Buffalo that the breeder had her on. She has small, formed stools now and little to no gas. We tried Holistic Naturals and she ended up vomiting almost everyday and had diarrhea while on it. We will stick with EVO. Our rescue had dandruff, shedding and a generally poor coat when we got him from the shelter. They were feeding Pedigree. Once we got him on EVO he cleared up. Of course, a lot of that could have also been due just to getting out of the stress of the shelter environment. And as others have said, I think some of the benefits aren't just immediate and visible things. I am hoping to not have my dogs die of cancer or organ diseases.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Since we've had him, Snowball has only been on Kirkland signature, Nature's domain, and frozen raw for any real length of time. I have seen differences, but nothing revolutionary. Snowball has smaller poops on grain-free and raw than on Iams or Kirkland signature lamb, but that could be the formulas of food, rather than whether it includes grain or not. He also has soft poop less often on grain-free foods, and his stools on raw are about the same size, but much firmer than even on grain-free kibble, and his fur got extra soft on raw. I didn't notice much difference in energy over the different foods, and the difference in poops wasn't significant enough for me to want to avoid grains entirely.


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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

For most of my dogs no difference. Poops, smells, coats stay the same. I can open up a bag feed it to them cold turkey without a hitch. Raw out of the question for me due to costs and some other things. Then there is my Doberman. He only gets Earthborn Fusion or Natural Balance. The gas, diarrhea is not worth trying other foods on him. As far as poops, depends on the dog and what they ate. The carcasses I find out in the yard no wonder some have some problems. Or sometimes lack of carcass and the few pieces of fur the telltale sign of a eaten goody. Also, it does help if I keep them away from eating their all time favorite thing-horse poop.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

PureMutt said:


> I'm pretty sure the real difference will be when they're older and not having major medical issues. For example, a dog fed a higher quality food may not fall into preventable diseases.


How would you know if the food caused something or not? I think a lot is genetics. Summer's line lives and has lived on Exceed dog food (mid-tier, I suppose) and typically make it to around 16.



Jacksons Mom said:


> I've never went from anything 'drastic' such as Purina to Acana to be able to know a true difference. I'm considering feeding a bag or two of Purina (either Beyond or SS&S) to kind of... see and 'experiment' lol. He would sure like the taste better. But I wouldn't say there's ever been any MAJOR differences between any of the foods I've fed (besides little things that *I* notice, but no one else probably would). But again, all the foods are probably similar enough to not cause a big difference anyway, they've all been different 'high quality' foods. And a bag or two here and there. The only brand he's consistently been fed for long periods of time is Acana and I always end up back on it because it just seems to be the best one for him.


I am on bag 3 of Beyond right now. They eat it better than the grain free, Summer's eyes seem to be watering a bit less and Mia is less chunky than on Acana. That's part of why I asked, lol.

But Beyond is very different than Beneful for sure. I haven't tried anything like Beneful with them.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

I notice small differences but nothing really drastic. He does have smaller, firmer poop with the partial raw diet. He has less but not completely gone eye boogers as the quality of food increased. Jubel is somewhat prone to random infections and I've seen the frequency of infections decrease. Part of that in also environmental though. Basically he used to get pink eye every month or two when we still went to the dog park so that wasn't food related. His teeth are cleaner with the raw meals.

He's never really had much of an issue with dry skin except in the worst of winter like now. It is so cold and dry out right now he does have some minor dandruff at the moment. Nothing special will be done about it, just wait for the weather to warm up and he'll be back to normal. 

We've gone from Science Diet when I first brought him home to Nature's Select (mid-tier grain inclusive). Then a rotation between ToTW and Earthborne formulas. Now I'm rotating between Fromm formulas, grain free and inclusive, for breakfast and raw for dinner. Once I get my free bag of kibble from the buy 12 get one free deal I'll probably go back to ToTW or something similar as I haven't really noticed a difference other than negative reactions to some formulas. He did not do well on the duck formula.


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## LuvMyAngels (May 24, 2009)

Ive seen a dog that did well no matter what she was fed, a change in a dog that was being fed grocery store food and then upped to slightly better food, and one with food allergies.

This is Lady, my childhood dog who seemed to do well on anything. She was raised on grocery store foods (Puppy/Dog Chow mostly I believe) and given all sorts of table scraps (pizza "bones" were her one of her top favorites). She maintained her weight beautifully (she was close to 10 in this picture), her coat was always soft (though matted easily, especially her pants and behind her ears), and I cant recall any skin issues. The only health issues I have any memory of at all were fatty lumps as she got older. No great genetics behind her, she was part of an oops litter being given away in front of a Southern California grocery store. She was somewhere around 13-14 years old when she died.


This is Tala, my first dog as an adult. She was also raised on grocery store foods. Greasy, stinky, course coat that left residue on the hands of anyone that pet her and we struggled with her weight. It seemed no matter how much we fed her she would always look neglected. We changed her to Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul when she was 5-6 years old and the change was almost immediate. Within the first bag her coat softened, the greasy residue disappeared and she didnt stink. The best part, she finally put on weight. Tala was a BYB puppy, momma was a Yellow Lab (more of the show lab look) and daddy looked like a field bred Black Lab...she had papers, he was a "free to a good home" news paper dog. We lost Tala shortly before her 9th birthday...she was, however, the longest lived puppy from that litter.


Buster is my allergy boy. He came home eating Alpo...not that he liked it! He had diarrhea, itchy skin and, under that soft, plush puppy coat, he was skin and bones. We made a slight improvement to his diet that first week by putting him on Exclusive...he still didnt eat well. On the 2nd bag I realized it contained corn and began suspecting food allergies. At that point we switched him to TOTW...4-5 months old. We also toyed with feeding raw a bit that first year. About a year old I tried to switch him to a grain inclusive food. I spent the next 3-4 months and $100s of dollars trying to clean up the resulting skin infections and probably 6 months trying to get him eating regularly....food became "scary" since it made him so sick. When TOTW released their lamb kibble, we tried a sample bag. About 1/3 of the bag triggered bright red skin...and his first hot spots. Lesson learned, we dont play with Busters food...ever!


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Out of the 5, the only huge differences I see are with weight.

Jack, and to a lesser degree Frost, are skinny and drop weight easily. Bug and Kylie are prone to gaining super easily. Thud - Is just Thud and stays about the same healthy weight no matter what. 

So the RT get Wellness Core, Merrik's before the grain, and some toppers/add ins. They need it to maintain at even a low decent weight. 

Kylie and Bug get 4Health Grain Free. I can not cut Kylie's serving size enough to keep her from getting fat at the higher quality stuff - and I NEED her to be able to have training treats, too. Bug's not far off her.

Otherwise, no. The only difference I see is when Thud gets grain and turns into a poop fountain.

Wait. No. I was wrong.









Frost a week or so ago









Frost shortly before we got him.

His fur actually *changed color* (and texture) after being switched to a higher quality diet. It was dry/fried/overly light. The rest of the changes (build, weight) I'm attributing to exercise.


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## fourdogs (Feb 3, 2014)

I've fed everything from Iams up to Orijen, dehydrated raw to home cooked and raw. As a whole, in my dogs, no, not a huge overall difference, honestly! 

PMR afforded us broken teeth on 2 dogs eating "soft" chicken bones which gave us a nice $600 vet bill. 
Orijen and Evo resulted in super fat dogs who generally had cannon butt.

Iams, Bil-Jac, TOTW gave me a couple of itchy, yeasty dogs.

The Honest Kitchen: OMG itchy scratchy, horse poopin' dogs LOL

Other than that, I rotate around kibbles and canned, add in fresh cooked or raw foods (no bones anymore) and everyone generally stays the same.

It gives me comfort to see other people noticing this too! As I spend a lot of time (unnecessarily) worrying about what I feed.


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## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

The biggest noticeable difference in general condition I've seen was when I switched my dog off of science diet after I first adopted him. Still that was not a dramatic change and could be more related to not being in a shelter and general cleanliness than the food switch. His minor skin rash (grass allergy was what the vet assumed) did go away.

Since then, out of all the various foods I've fed, I've not noticed any real changes but he doesn't seem to have any food allergies and while I pretty much feed whatever I feel like getting/making, I would still consider them all relatively minor dietary changes. I'm not exactly going from Ol'Roy to THK here.

Still, long term, it's hard to say. From an acute perspective, there's a lot that I simply can't notice, but long term, it's hard to say if food was the actual cause of any issues. So a lot of it is maybe just for my own peace of mind.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I see differences within "categories" of food. 
Basically, the cheap grocery store stuff like Beneful or Pedigree is just plain bad. Bad skin, bad fur, bad digestion, eye goop, red itchy ears etc. This is an observation of the dogs I have fostered which did not come directly from a shelter (so separating out the influence of the stressful shelter situation from the influence of food) and the dogs of the handful of people I know that feed the really cheap stuff. 
Example--








She was being fed plenty of food of some really cheap grocery store brand (the guy knew the color of the bag...) and living in a house, not a shelter kennel. Her stomach just couldn't handle it. 
After a few weeks of a food without a bunch of corn, sugar, food coloring, and such









For most of the dogs, either grain inclusive or GF works fine as long as the protein and fat level is high enough. If I drop below about 28% protein and 12% fat, then they start gaining weight -- even keeping the total calories the same, I think it is the carbs-- and coats get drier but they aren't like horrible looking. At 30-35% protein and 15-20% fat, they look amazing.

I fed Purina for several months when I got Chester and when I switched him to a high protein GF, his fur got better, his digestive tract was better (less gassy) and since he went from needing about 5 cups per day to about 3 cups per day, his poop volume lessened.

Chester's the only dog I've fed raw to for much time and he does do really well on it but not much better than on the high protein, high fat dry food. The main differences for him are that his teeth look better and his breath smells better, he gets more water into him, and yep, his poops are tiny. So tiny that the first time my father was walking Chester after he'd been eating raw and Chester pooped, my father was worried something was wrong with the dog because he had "Chihuahua sized poop" 

I've been playing around with both Chester and Eva's food and I think the sweet spot (balancing cost with the visible changes in the dogs) is about 30-40% raw and 60-70% high protein/high fat dry food.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Laurelin said:


> and Mia is less chunky than on Acana


This is why Kylie is eating 4 health. On something like Wellness Core or Acana she goes "POOF" at the drop of a hat. Oomph. Maybe I'll try Beyond for the girls.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

CptJack said:


> This is why Kylie is eating 4 health. On something like Wellness Core or Acana she goes "POOF" at the drop of a hat. Oomph. Maybe I'll try Beyond for the girls.


Beyond actually has more calories than CORE . 454 per cup vs 421. If it's the calories that make her go POOF anyway.


Willow showed HUGE differences between foods. If a food wasn't working for her she'd lose all her hair and lose weight and be generally miserable. But it wasn't really about quality, it was definitely about individual ingredients. As far as I could tell, it was corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and possibly soy. There were not a lot of choices among foods without any of those ingredients 19 years ago. . .


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Willowy said:


> Beyond actually has more calories than CORE . 454 per cup vs 421. If it's the calories that make her go POOF anyway.
> 
> 
> Willow showed HUGE differences between foods. If a food wasn't working for her she'd lose all her hair and lose weight and be generally miserable. But it wasn't really about quality, it was definitely about individual ingredients. As far as I could tell, it was corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and possibly soy. There were not a lot of choices among foods without any of those ingredients 19 years ago. . .


I honestly don't know, but I'm prepared to stick with 4health. 

It's weird, because I"m pretty sure CORE isn't *that* high calorie, but the boys manage to maintain decent weight on it and the girls just get fat. Half of them turn into skeletons and the other half blimp up if you look at them funny.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Beyond is actually fairly high calorie. It surpised me because I would have assumed it'd be a lower calorie option. I'm wondering if it's a rice vs potato thing for her? I'm not sure. She does maintain weight better on raw but I can't get her to eat any of them regularly. And Summer is missing a bunch of teeth so can't eat raw unless you grind it and she hates mushy food.

To be fair, Mia is eating about half her meals Ziwipeak now though.


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

I have seen massive differences with some dogs and others can eat anything without any difference. 

Paisley-just minor, he coat changed, she coat was very dry and brittle feeling when I adopted her, she was being fed a mix of various medi-cal and royal canin skin care foods(I found this ironic...lol) since switching her to Raw, her coat is so silky and soft that everyone who touches her comments on it

Happy-on Purina ONE her coat was flaky and brittle, her skin super dry, she had deadly gas and ate poop like it was chocolate(TMI? lol) was witched to raw with grains after reading that BCs tend to do better with grains, a few things cleared up, but she was still really gassy and her skin really dry, eliminated the grains, and 100% of her problems cleared up and she is has been incredibly healthy ever since. for if I have a grain inclusive food at work for her, no matter the quality, things go downhill instantly, mostly her coat and poops. 

Gypsy-eh, she doesn't handle fish very well regardless of the food, grain inclusive foods again, regardless of the "quality" of the food, tend to make her vomit

Gem-does not do well on all raw, did poorly on a lot of kibbles as well, Orijen 6 fish works extremely well for her, supplemented with some raw for variety. I am terrified to rotate kibbles because she did so poorly on so many! 

Baby-she has so many allergies I cant really answer that lol. of the foods she CAN eat, she definitely does do better on some then others, but minor things like ear wax build up. 

Perky-can eat anything at all with no difference whatsoever

Ripley-there was a HUGE difference when he was switched to raw, he lost weight, he muscled up crazy fast and went from the couch potato lazy house dog we thought we were adopted to a great sport dog. 

Rusty-food plays a big role for him. when I got him he was eating old roy, there was a massive difference in his coat, energy and way he carried himself when switched to raw. when we got lazy and started feeding various kibbles more often he started having seizures, heart problems, he would collapse from time to time, extreme fatigue etc.. took him to the vet, vet found out we fed some raw and told us to cut it out...so we went home and cut out all the kibble(lol) and none of those problems ever happened again. 

Ladybug(RB) when I took her in she was about 12 years old. her breath could clear a room, she screamed when she tried to move and her coat was short and thin, we kept her thinking she would be lucky if she lived to the end of the year(it was october) after 2 weeks on raw her coat had grown long and thick, she had a spark in her eye. her breath was better and she was running around like a puppy..she lived 3 more years. 

Shadow(RB) threw up multiple times a day on anything but Purina, by 4 years old she was so arthritic she could barley stand up and the vet was pushing us to put her down. switched to raw because of Happy, a few months later Shadow was spry and playful, and she lived to 14.

Ladybug before:









2 weeks difference:


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Laurelin said:


> How would you know if the food caused something or not? I think a lot is genetics. Summer's line lives and has lived on Exceed dog food (mid-tier, I suppose) and typically make it to around 16.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


OMG Beneful is a food that whenever Jackson has gotten into it (friends house or whatever), he's just AWFUL. Gas galore, one time my step-mom fed him the kibble while they dogsat one time years ago, and I came home and he was sooo bloated. I was like wtf? He puked like 3x that night. crazyness. Beneful is pretty gross tho.

But yeah Beyond, and Pro Plan, IMO have some pretty stellar dogs on them and the results speak for themselves. I'm probably going to run out and buy a bag tomorrow, so I have a kibble for 'treats' (especially because we are going to be snowed in possibly for a few days).


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

Lucky person!

Scottie is the most reactive dog I have owned. All of mine before have been almost bomb proof in terms of what they eat. He on the other hand has a gurgling stinky tummy within hours of eating anything not labelled "grain free" (of well, you know, is actually grain free - like a meaty bone). If he's on anything commercial which has "grains" in it (rice and corn are ok, barley, cereals aren't) he also gets a greasy, itchy, coat very quickly and a bad body odour (he STINKS like a dog who's never had a bath - and rolled in another un-washed dog).

Luckily - you notice a difference in him within 3 days of being grain free (no more farting, no more oily coat, no more redness, no more itching).

He's also very fussy and we alternate him between 2 or 3 grain free kibbles - you notice a difference in his stools (quantity, quality and colour) within 24 hours when ever we swap him (he gets all 3 in a week)

All that said - no difference in his energy levels or personality. His coat could be better but I struggle to find things he can and WILL eat.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

I think the most common difference I see in dogs when switching from low/mid quality food to high quality food is their coat color actually.

Even my old black foster dog turned blacker LOL.

Sara first week of doing raw -- Notice her hair is light and her fur shorter. She also got matts behind her ears, on her bum hairs and her elbows really easily. She was tearing a lot. She was eating Natural Balance Salmon & Potato. She was a "grazer". She felt a bit too bony/skinyy.









This is a better quality picture, but you can still see the difference. She has darker, fluffier, longer fur now. She was on raw for about 6 months at this point (from this summer). No more matts... I don't even brush her that often anymore. Her tearing is less, but she still does tear a bit. Less shedding. Her weight is exactly the same, but she feels heftier/more muscular:


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

We changed from Acana to a local Canadian brand (for both the cats and dogs) and I've noticed a massive difference in fur. Charlie is GREASY. It's getting kind of gross (which sucks because this food is very affordable). She's also stinky now (Mom makes sure to tell me every day). Same with our cats. Their fur is greasy, clumpy and just gross. Even my family has started noticing how icky the cats look.


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## Cardi4851 (Feb 12, 2014)

None of my dogs have ever had any problem switching foods. The only dog that I have seen any big difference in is my Cardi. When he was younger he chewed is paws some. When we switched him to a corn-free food he stopped. We had also moved though, so it is hard to say which it was. The other difference I see is in weight maintenance. Chekhov is probably one of the only cardigans that have a difficult time maintaining weight.


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## bowie (Apr 26, 2010)

I experimented with a grain inclusive food for my dachshund (Annamaet Option) but it just made him greasy and gain weight. He did much better on grain free kibble but still was itchy. The biggest change I've noticed is going from kibble to THK, and then from THK complete formulas to THK Preference with raw meat. He is super soft on the Preference mixed with grass-fed beef (this dog eats better than I do, I swear), his coat shines, no eye boogers, no smell.


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## moluno (Apr 29, 2009)

I've never seen HUGE differences. Most people would never notice anything, but I do. Just between good quality brands, some give Juno a drier coat, make her poops softer, give her more gas, etc. Kind of small things that would be easy to dismiss or that most people wouldn't even pick up on. But I will pick up on things enough to decide not to feed that brand again. The only time I noticed a big difference was when she was on a prescription diet for a little bit and she had the grossest horse-sized poops. 

Lucy seems to do the same on everything she's been on.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> We changed from Acana to a local Canadian brand (for both the cats and dogs) and I've noticed a massive difference in fur. Charlie is GREASY. It's getting kind of gross (which sucks because this food is very affordable). She's also stinky now (Mom makes sure to tell me every day). Same with our cats. Their fur is greasy, clumpy and just gross. Even my family has started noticing how icky the cats look.


Just curious, which brand? Is it one that is available outside of ON?


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

gingerkid said:


> Just curious, which brand? Is it one that is available outside of ON?


It's the Lifetime brand.


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## lreed89 (Jan 30, 2014)

I wish! Daisy's stomach reacts badly to anything but Precise dog food. It's what the shelter started her on at 6 weeks of age and we haven't been able to get her off since. We've decided to just stick with it; it's a good food, anyway. 

When we tried gradually switching her to Wellness puppy food last year, she had horrible diarrhea that only went away when we switched her back to Precise. We just tried gradually switching her to a different adult brand and her stools were soft and SUPER stinky, so we switched her back. I guess her belly is very sensitive. I also noticed, with this last attempt, that she wasn't acting like herself. Since switching her back, she's back to normal. Strange. I haven't noticed a difference in coat, but she probably wasn't on the other foods long enough for that. Once, we spent the day at my parents' house and she was given crappy grocery-brand treats and got ahold of their dog's off-brand food. The next day - explosive diarrhea. No bueno, and never again.


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## DaisyDC (Feb 24, 2013)

With Daisy, at least within a quality range, I don't think it matters much. We're at the point where we switch between bags of Fromm with no mixing, occasionally add in a bit of THK, sometimes a bit of raw or cooked meat, depending on what we're cooking. I haven't noticed much of a difference. She was gassy when we got her from the rescue, and she was on SD, and not so sleek/glossy (though that could have been more stress than anything), and was gassy on TOTW as well. 

My parents' Cairn I see a big difference with in terms of coat, anyway. Mom tends to just buy whatever the grocery store has on sale (and is on a much more limited budget, in an area with fewer pet shopping choices), and swings between things like Beneful and Purina and Rachel Ray. The dog also seems to have much larger poos than Daisy does, despite being 5lbs smaller.


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## Inga (Jun 16, 2007)

Willowy said:


> I used to babysit for a family whose dogs ate store brand generic. The kids and I would take them for a walk, and holy poops! We had to take like 10 poop bags, for a Lab and a Shih Tzu. I do not know where that tiny dog put all that poop .


My sister's dog was like that when we went hiking out in the woods. She dropped piles that were as big as her head and she went about 10 times. It seemed as though she dropped her body weight in stool on one walk. I was just shocked. Then my 110 pound Rottie goes and stands next to her and goes and it is a 3rd of the size of one of her piles. Her dog is about 22 pounds

I have always rotated food between 4-5 different brands in about the same quality. I have not really noticed a difference in the dogs. I just believe feeding the same thing all the time makes a dog more sensitive. It has always worked for me to rotate foods. I have been known to toss something new in from time to time as well. Again, I don't go from EVO to Alpo, I keep it about the same quality.


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## KuroSaya (Jun 3, 2011)

Haha Inga that reminds me of the time I took my cousin's pug out to potty. omg this little petite pug pooped 6 times not as much as 10, but still a lot for small dog! 

Her poop was pretty decent size till the 5th then it tapered, but still.. she has horrible habit of eating her poop too. Gross. I had to rush to pick the crap up..

I don't know brand she eats, but my guess low quality as it looks like store kind. 

I prefer Saya's once day poops sometimes she goes twice if she had a bone in meal, but it's not bad.. Bella poops bit more being on kibble, but it's not too bad compared to my last boxers who were on low end food like beneful.. Bella rotates between Totw brand formula and couple of fromm plus gets either some canned fish, dog food, honest kitchen, cooked or raw egg, and raw meal few times a week as dinner instead of kibble.. 

I do think there is a difference with Bella on foods she is on. coarse she never been on beneful kibble so not sure how she look if she was on that.

Saya is raw fed and half comes from local good farmers rest is from butcher, grocery and tiny bit is from hare today. 

I do think raw has helped her a lot in her health issues.. she seems be more active with the diet. She probably needs the fresh nutrition due to her health.. She did fine on kibble only issue I notice was she didn't seem eager to jump on couch or bed. now she will do it fine.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

I've only switched from Pro Plan to TOTW, and the only difference I noticed, is on the grain-free food, Cosmo's weight is much better. Other then that though, no differences.


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## Woofie2 (Oct 5, 2013)

I will say, I have a 6yr old dog that I never saw huge differences on from one dry food to the next; with the exception of when he was eating Merrick grain-free, he seemed perkier, spunkier, etc.

This boy came to me at 4mnths old with intolerances to every grain on the planet; only 2 grain-free products actually gave him good vibe, Fromm's Surf and Merrick.

Even homecooking for him gave him good quality of life, but there was just always something that wasn't right. Don't know how to explain it. 

He actually has always had *very* little itching compared to most dogs with serious food allergies; only ever had 1 ear that would go red and one foot that would turn red/itchy in the winter - strangest thing. 

And yet, you could feed him something and mentally he just wouldn't seem right - no seizures, no mental issues, just would act like something in his system wasn't in agreement. Never could put my finger on it in all of the 5yrs we did dry foods, homecooking, etc.

His stools were always solid, sometimes huge, sometimes normal, dry food depending. So that wasn't weird, he's always been on the skinny side but not hugely underweight; and he's always been very active, not lethargic...and yet, something just never seemed right. 

Until 3 wks ago, I finally threw up my hands when both ears went red and his foot blew out with yeast, like it does every winter - but he has very hairy feet and he comes in/outside at his own desire, so his feet tend to always be wet. 

I started researching yeast free diets for dogs; which means eliminating ALL dry dog foods, as all dog foods have starch of some kind, even the grain-free versions. Now I'm not new to dietary researching, I've studied raw diets for well over 10yrs, just never had the guts to do it. 

Finally I figured what the heck do I have to loose; I bought 4 2lb rolls of Bravo's Basic turkey with skinless turkey necks/wings; fasted Rivers for 12hrs and started Bravo cold turkey, at 1/4 of his normal ration. 

Rivers has been on Turkey necks, wings and yogurt now for a little over 3-4 wks, and the difference in this dog is AMAZING! 

I can't vouch for anything hair related wise, as his hair quality was never an issue, but the mental clarity, overall zest for life is beyond words...I can't even put words to the difference that I see. 

And again, this was a dog who had always been active and very happy to jump around when excited; he always seemed healthy - for the most part; but now that I see him now....I'm a firm believer in the k-9 diet needing to be starch/yeast free for ease of digestion, in my mind. 

This boy will never go back to dry food.


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## KuroSaya (Jun 3, 2011)

I have switched Bella from Totw lamb to the high prairie one and do notice that she has grown in some fur where she didn't have it before like on her belly it used to be light peach fuzz like hair now it is more thicker. could be due to winter and stuff so we'll see in spring and summer. coarse she is boxer so even with her thicker coat she needs dog coat during very cold temps..


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## Six Aussies (Aug 1, 2013)

Okay, I've had to do a lot of research into pet foods because of my job, so I'll give a little insight to what I've found.
Every dog is different, some can switch inbetween foods no problem, others are extremely allergic to even the most high quality, ect.
The only time when switching between dog foods becomes an issue is when they're puppies (sensitive stomachs), or when you switch from say a low quality (Ol Roy) to a very high protein based food (Blue Buffalo). Again, it's different with every dog.  For me, personally, when switching my dog from Purina Be happy, to even Natural Balance, I saw tiny changes, their coats were shinier and fluffier and they had a nice healthy look. They didn't look unhealthy on Be Happy, but I can tell tiny differences. 

As far as a good brand, I personally think Pure Balance is the best bang for it's buck. Of course there are better foods out there, but they are also very expensive. If you can afford buying the premium foods, then by all means do. Most of them have less recalls and it would be overall better for your dog to be on a high protein, more natural diet.


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