^ I respect both of these opinions up there! You can go back and read many of my old posts and I used to sound exactly like cellanje.
In some ways I suppose I still am.
I DO find that my own dog does best on certain types of foods. With that said, I
do think grain-free is sort of gimmicky. It's almost like humans with gluten-free. Only a select few people in the world *actually*
need to be gluten free. If you're just choosing to be gluten free anyhow, is it necessarily going to HURT you? Probably not. But it isn't necessarily 'better' for you either. I'm not feeding Acana just because it's grain-free.
I've been feeding Acana primarily for... seven years now? I've been slightly disappointed with some changes through the years (like I preferred the old formula that had oats in it) however it's always the food I go back to. Jackson just... does well on it. I tried doing RC, Hills, etc, a few times with crappy results. After about a month, his poop would be super soft & large, he'd be going more often, he would be itching more, his eyes would get more boogers, and he would gain weight easier. These were just observations to my naked eye.
That's not to say some dogs don't do fantastic on those formulas -- because they do. There's nothing inherently wrong with grains (including corn) if it's formulated correctly. Dogs are the ultimate scavengers. They've survived throughout time on garbage.
Like nowadays, I have no problem picking up a bag of Purina Beyond from the grocery store if I've run out of dog food. I never would've done that a few years ago lol.
Every dog is different.
I'm no longer going to judge what someone decides to feed their dog (unless it's like Ol Roy, then I may cringe a little, LOL....)
PS - I think ALL Orijen and Acana formulas are made at the Kentucky plant now if you buy them in the US and they're all grain-free. So there would be no contamination with grains. They have their own plant and do not have it manufactured at another plant.