I forget if you said you had tried the NB dry kibble?
After Jackson's pancreatitis issue, I had him on Castor & Pollux Weight Mgt. food, which he really seemed to like, but the eye boogers got bad after a few weeks. Otherwise, had no complaints about the food.
Decided I wanted to try a limited ingredient diet, just for the heck of it. Sometimes it seems like there is just sooo many ingredients in dog food that doesn't seem necessary all the time. But maybe it's just me. Anyways did a whole bag of California Natural and the breath started stinking more, he began drinking a lot more water, his coat DID seem less shiny to me, he got bored of the taste really quickly... I will say most eye goop/crusties went away on the venison and poop was fine.
Long story short, I finally gave Natural Balance Lamb & Rice a try and am REALLY happy with it. We are halfway through the bag and he's doing fantastic in all aspects. Plus, I know I've said this before, but this really IS the most I've seen him like a food. I mean, the minute I pour it in his bowl, he eats it right up. He's always liked a bit larger kibbles as well so I think he prefers it for that reason too (gonna get Large Bites next bag). But honestly, even when I opened the bag it smelled surprisingly good.
For kibble that is. I just thought it smelled really... fresh, maybe? I dunno. I had avoided this kibble in the past because it wasn't one of the grainless varieties but it actually seems better to me, ingredient-wise, than their grainless formulas.