# 4Health Dog foods?



## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

*4Health pet foods?*

I used to feed my dog Science Diet Large Breed. But after one of my cats developed a food allergy due to Science Diet, I did some research. And I completely dropped SD off of my shopping list. They get way too much hype for being such a crappy pet food, with all of their fillers and bi-products. But anyways, enough about my dislike towards SD, but I was wondering what you guys thought of 4Health? That's what both my cats and dogs are on now. For my dogs(my dog has sensitive skin so I specifically chose this one) I use Salmon and Potato. And for the cats, I use All Stages. I know Blue Wilderness and Taste of the Wild are considered better than 4Health, but I can't afford either of those.
So what do you guys think of 4Health(for cats/dogs or both)?​


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## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

Oh, and keep in mind that my choices for pet food are slim. I live in a smaller town, and my best options come from Tractor Supply.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

My understanding is that 4health is Tractor Supplies generic version of Taste of the Wild. I'm already planning on switching to 4health salmon and potato when I finish my current bag of food due to a possible mild chicken allergy for my dog. From what I read it's the most comparable quality food for the money to what I'm already feeding, Nature's Select.


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## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

Awesome! I've been trying to look up reviews of 4Health, and dogfoodreviews or whatever that website is called, gave a pretty good review. However, it didn't include Salmon and Potato. And I'm glad to know at least, so far, one person agrees to what I believe to be a good food for my dog. I just want to make sure I'm not screwing up somehow. I was with the Science Diet, that's for sure. Wayyyy too much money for such poor quality. Isn't much better than Gravy Train. Okay, now I'll stop talking about SD because I honestly don't know if I'll get in trouble on the forum for saying something. Anyways, after I did as much research as I could (not just looking at reviews but actually comparing ingredients) I think I've found the dog food right for my dogs. They seem to really like it. But take warning, if you have a sensitive nose, it doesn't smell too pretty! It doesn't bother me at all(though I can tell it smells different from most other dog foods), but it seriously bothers my boyfriend.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

dagwall said:


> My understanding is that 4health is Tractor Supplies generic version of Taste of the Wild.


Nah, TOTW is grain-free and 4Health isn't. The ingredients are pretty similar to Diamond Naturals (which is cheaper, BTW, and the chicken formulas are basically identical. DN doesn't have a salmon formula, though). It's a decent food, especially for that price range. The cats should be getting at least some canned food, but for their dry food, I think 4Health ALS is pretty good.


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## amosmoses89 (Jun 19, 2011)

I'm currently feeding 4 Health salmon and potato after being on TOTW for a year or so because I just couldn't swing the price. I, like dagwall, think my pup has a slight allergy to something thats not in the fish based foods. Its from Tractor Supply whom I love. I had a bag of food from there that my girls just did not care for, and they had no problem taking it back, opened, to exchange for another bag. As for the smell, I think its much better smelling than the TOTW fish based one! So I'm +1 for the 4Health!


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## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

Willowy said:


> Nah, TOTW is grain-free and 4Health isn't. The ingredients are pretty similar to Diamond Naturals (which is cheaper, BTW, and the chicken formulas are basically identical. DN doesn't have a salmon formula, though). It's a decent food, especially for that price range. The cats should be getting at least some canned food, but for their dry food, I think 4Health ALS is pretty good.


But it is wheat, corn, and soy free. Which, as far as I can tell, are the types of 'grains' that are actually harmful. Especially corn(soy too, but corn is used as a top ingredient for loads of pet foods). And 4Health IS a branch of Diamond. But I'd say 4Health is like the 'good child' of all the foods made by Diamond. From what I remember, the top ingredients of Diamond wasn't nearly as good as the Salmon and Potato I buy for my dogs. And I remember there being more filler in the other Diamond foods. But maybe I'm remembering them wrong?


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Most Diamond foods are fairly crummy. Corn and other grains as the top ingredients, meat and bone meal, etc. But the Diamond Naturals line is very similar to 4Health. I wasn't saying that 4Health is bad or anything. . .just that it's not comparable to TOTW.


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## oldhounddog (May 31, 2010)

sharky ,

I have just switched all 10 of my hounds to 4-Health dog food this past week and as of this writing all tails are waggin. This was a planned switch for us as I waited out the Diamond recall. I am using the 4-Health Chicken and Rice adult dog food b/c it gives my dogs a good quality food at a price I can afford. One 35# bag is 5 days of food for my pack , plus a few treats. I think you made a good choice.IMO....


Best , oldhounddog


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## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

Oh, okay. I completely missed the 'Naturals' part. To be completely honest, I'd never feed my dogs Diamonds regular dog food to my dogs. Ever. But, I can see 4health(at least the Salmon and Potato) as being a cheaper 'generic' version of Taste of the Wild. I'm definitely aware Taste of the Wild is better by far, I just don't have the money. But I think 4Health Salmon and Potato is a good medium between quality and price. Paying in-between price for a better-than-average food.


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## KodiBarracuda (Jul 4, 2011)

We are switching to 4Health from Diamond naturals but we are sticking with the same formulation, lamb and rice. We always buy 50 pound bags of food so we don't buy that often and we notice when subtle things change. DN kibbles have been getting consistently darker for the last few months, each bag has darker kibbles which worries us that they are changing the formula and not telling anyone.


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## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

KodiBarracuda said:


> We are switching to 4Health from Diamond naturals but we are sticking with the same formulation, lamb and rice. We always buy 50 pound bags of food so we don't buy that often and we notice when subtle things change. DN kibbles have been getting consistently darker for the last few months, each bag has darker kibbles which worries us that they are changing the formula and not telling anyone.


Even though that isn't what I use, that's scary. :/ Especially since Diamond makes 4Health.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

sharky said:


> Oh, and keep in mind that my choices for pet food are slim. I live in a smaller town, and my best options come from Tractor Supply.


You and I both! TSC is my major dog food stop! Lol! 

I have been using 4Health for almost a year now with excellent results. Some of it was in the recall due to the plant it was manufactured in ... but I am still going to keep using it as part of my rotation. It is good food IMHO.


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## sharky (Jun 24, 2012)

Abbylynn said:


> You and I both! TSC is my major dog food stop! Lol!
> 
> I have been using 4Health for almost a year now with excellents results. Some of it was in the recall due to the plant it was manufactured in ... but I am still going to keep using it as part of my rotation. It is good food IMHO.


Luckily the recall didn't include where I live.


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

dagwall said:


> My understanding is that 4health is Tractor Supplies generic version of Taste of the Wild. I'm already planning on switching to 4health salmon and potato when I finish my current bag of food due to a possible mild chicken allergy for my dog. From what I read it's the most comparable quality food for the money to what I'm already feeding, Nature's Select.


 4Health isn't grainfree, is it? If it's not, then its not the same as grainfree TOTW


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

InkedMarie said:


> 4Health isn't grainfree, is it? If it's not, then its not the same as grainfree TOTW


The new salmon and potato formula still has barley, millet, flaxseed, and chickory in it ... and potatoes. 

All the 4Health dog foods are devoid of Corn, Wheat, and Soy.


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## Darkmoon (Mar 12, 2007)

No 4-health isn't totally grain free. I have my SAR dog on the Performance version of 4-health and shes done good on it while on TOTW she wasn't doing so great. I do not recommend performance for just any dog. She's a working dog and burns those calories fast. Ever since I switched to it she's gotten lean and looks wonderful. My dog Nubs I tried to switch off of TOTW and that was a disaster so he's on TOTW HP for life. 

Switching from SD to 4-health is a good move IMO. It is made by Diamond foods which I would personally stay away from but neither of my dogs switch foods well so I'm kind of stuck with them. Just make sure that you wash your hands after handling the food and you should be OK.


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

My 9 month old pup Zoey is on 4 Health Salmon and Potato and doing great. Previously her coat was a little dry and dandruffy, and she was having loose stool issues. Those issues have mostly cleared up, her coat is so soft and shiney! My 2 year old Luke gets a rotation of different things but I prefer to keep him on grain free. Right now he's on Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch, will probably jump back to TOTW next with him, either lamb or bison, I like to switch proteins with him and he handles food changes very well.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

I don't know where the myth that 4Health is generic ToTW was started, but it doesn't make sense to me and I've been hearing it a LOT lately. 4Health is a good food and I would feed it myself if I couldn't afford what I currently feed. Our cat ate it and did well on it in the past and it has decent ingredients. But it's nothing like ToTW. It's way carbier and contains grains and fewer novel proteins (like venison, duck, bison etc). Foods comparable to ToTW would be Earthborn Holistic GF, Wellness Core, Blue Buffalo Wilderness etc. Foods comparable to 4Health would be Diamond Naturals, the Wellness, Blue Buffalo and Earthborn grain-inclusive lines, Whole Earth Farms, Kirkland, etc. Anyway, sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

To the OP: I would absolutely try 4Health in your situation. It's much better than SD and a really fair price for the ingredients.


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## osdbmom (Feb 15, 2011)

My Zoey has a very sensitive yummy and pukes easily with most foods. We've had both dogs on 4 health for about a year and they do great on it. I feel like its the beet ingredients I can give them for the price I can spend.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

kafkabeetle said:


> I don't know where the myth that 4Health is generic ToTW was started, but it doesn't make sense to me and I've been hearing it a LOT lately. 4Health is a good food and I would feed it myself if I couldn't afford what I currently feed. Our cat ate it and did well on it in the past and it has decent ingredients. But it's nothing like ToTW. It's way carbier and contains grains and fewer novel proteins (like venison, duck, bison etc). Foods comparable to ToTW would be Earthborn Holistic GF, Wellness Core, Blue Buffalo Wilderness etc. Foods comparable to 4Health would be Diamond Naturals, the Wellness, Blue Buffalo and Earthborn grain-inclusive lines, Whole Earth Farms, Kirkland, etc. Anyway, sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.
> 
> To the OP: I would absolutely try 4Health in your situation. It's much better than SD and a really fair price for the ingredients.


Yep sorry just repeating what I THOUGHT I'd read on here before. I either read it here or my brain made the false connections from a lot of people who fed ToTW changing to 4health, not sure where the mix up happened in my head. But yeah if you don't mind grain inclusive foods (and my dog does fine on them) 4health is a very good food for your money. When I looked it up for my area about a month ago it was $35 for a 35# bag.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

dagwall said:


> Yep sorry just repeating what I THOUGHT I'd read on here before. I either read it here or my brain made the false connections from a lot of people who fed ToTW changing to 4health, not sure where the mix up happened in my head.


No need for apology. You are definitely not the first. Misinformation flies fast. ;p I think someone somewhere made the connection between "salmon and potato" (the new 4Health variety) and ToTW Pacific Stream without looking closely at the composition of each.


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