Fat Dog food comparable too...

[pintopiaffe]

*please* don't shoot me, but my dogs thrive on Member's Mark (Sam's house brand) "Exceed" Chicken & Rice food. And this is from a Fromm girl. :uhoh:

They don't fight on it. They fight on other, more 'premium' or supposedly better foods. I can't explain it, but... there it is.

I started feeding Exceed for the Special Dog. It has no preservatives (other than Vit E) and no artificial colours or flavours. He tolerated it even better than ground turkey and cooked rice. It does have corn, wheat and beet pulp, so go figure.

Found out by default the boys fight on other foods. They get along famously on this one.

But now, as they get into their 'mature' years, (they turn 8 this month!) I'm needing something a little lighter. They currently eat free choice, which is really important if I ever, ever want to go away for one overnight. I know it's not always the best... one dog is in perfect weight, the other has become a little 'husky' since injury/surgery 2.5 years ago.

I would really rather find a lower calorie food and stay with the free feeding than restrict feeding. They are paper trained, so I can lay down some grain bags, put out extra water, and sneak away for a clinic once in awhile. If I go to restricted feeding, that's not an option any more. Plus I do not have to worry so much if I'm held over at work.

I haven't been able to identify what ingredient(s) makes the difference in the aggression. The holistic vet felt it has to do with both being Parvo survivors. Obviously anything new I try, I KNOW I have to monitor super carefully to be sure it's going to work.

Would love suggestions in the middle range of dry kibble. I don't mind paying more than supermarket price... but the really top end stuff is out of reach at the moment. They do get quite a bit of fruits and veggies; As I'm diabetic, their 'table scraps' or my leftovers are pretty 'good' for them, and have never seemed to be a problem with the aggression.

Iams fat dog food is out. Blue Seal's house brand fat dog food is out, though I have not tried their organic line yet. Fromm regular was a no-go, so I'm not expecting miracles from any diet food they have...

Ideas?

[kdow]

Rather than switching over entirely to something else, maybe you could try mixing things? (I'm thinking if there's some ingredient that they have SOME tolerance to, but only food with that in it makes there be too much, then mixing might let you 'dilute' their regular food a little without hitting that problem-ingredient level.)

My two dogs are fairly picky, but they LOVE Evo (they'd better, for the price!) but it's a bit much for them, plus $$$. So I've found that I can mix it about half and half with another 'good' but less expensive and less rich food (I stay grain-free, but go for something that isn't all meat - stuff with vegetables in it for fiber) and they're happy enough to eat it but it's more in keeping nutritionally with their lifestyle (they're not exactly in heavy competition!) and more in keeping with my wallet financially, because the Evo lasts a lot longer. :)

[pintopiaffe]

That's a really interesting idea.

We do it with horses all the time, don't we. ;)

[kdow]

Exactly. :) (I reduce the amount of fuss involved by having a big plastic bin that both bags of food go into, and the lid fastens securely so I can put the whole thing on its side and roll it around to mix things up.)

As far as decent quality lower calorie foods, in general - I remember that mine seemed quite happy with the California Naturals low fat variety sample that I got, which probably means it at least tastes nice. Might be worth looking into? :) (Also, I know SmartPak has at least one 'diet' variety in their portion packs thing, and they'll send you a decent sized box of sample portion packs, so that could be worth a try also, to see how your guys do - I know SmartPak has Wellness, and I think they have an own-brand and Newman's Own also.)