I'm so confused, I need advice from Wellness food users.
 

I first had Bailey on Wellness Puppy, and now he is on Wellness small breed which is getting low. my problem is there is only one place I know to order it online and right now they have no small breed in stock, so I will have to go with a Super 5 Mix or the Core formula and I don't know which to choose!. I was going go get the grain free Core, but the protein amount is fairly high. Aren't yorkies not suppose to eat high protein food? Please advise soon, I really need to make up my mind before Bailey runs out of food, I don't want him to be stuck with a commercial crap brand:rolleyes: Thanks so much!

I don't know about Wellness but I can relay this experience with my 6 mos. old Bailey. I got him at 4 mos. old. We had a stint of Girardia but cleared it. Before and after he had similar symptoms and was dx. with colitis.

He was on Bill Jack and Royal Cannin from the breeder. I immediately ditched the Bill Jack, way too rich. I started him on Canidae and he would not eat the Royal Cannin and immediately all symptoms went away.

The big differnce is the protein content. Royal Cannin is higher and hard to digest. Canidae is very bland and has rice, no wheat or corn.

So, I think the protein content with these dogs is important.

Read the ingredients very carefully. I don't think you can go wrong with the Canidae if all else fails.

Hi Darlene,
Pixie was on wellness puppy and then on small breed and Daisy on the chicken super five.
I just switched them both to fromm grain free surf and turf .
I do know that the wellness chicken super five is a bigger kibble than the small breed. I was also told that if you switch their main protien sorce you have to do it slowly.
The reason why I switched is bc the vet thought that Pixie was having problems with the grain. She pooped 5-6 times a day and if I did not give her green beans her poop was hard as a rock.
Daisy did fine on the wellness but it was easier to switch them both bc Pixie always steals Daisy's food.

Have you tried Pet Food Direct? They carry everything and always have a sale going on. Today it is 15% off.

Wellness | PetFoodDirect.com

Yes, I saw that website before, but I guess they don't ship to Canada:(, I have limited options, I really don't konw what to do.

I would personally choose the CORE formula but I may be biased because I prefer the higher protein grainfree diets. I wanted to add, CORE is only around 34% I think, so it's not super super high. I feed Acana and can't say enough good things about it... I just love it, and it's a food made in Canada (by the same company as Orijen). Oh, also, I know Bailey is pretty small and the Core kibbles are a bit big.

http://www.championpetfoods.com/

Ah, shoot! I didn't realize you were in Canada!

I'd go with the Supermix formula then. Since Yorkies are so prone to liver disease, I'd stick with a lower protein of about 24% max.

Thanks Brit, I'll check out the site. Can you tell me why you prefer higher protein, I always thought that wasn't good for yorkies?

Okay thanks!:) I find it a little confusing because I did a search and found there are a few people on here that feed Core, but I was always under the impression that high protein food is not good for yorkies, because, has you stated, liver disease. I will probably go with the super 5 mix if I can't find another brand.

High protein isn't necessarily bad, it's just the type of protein that can be a problem for a breed predisposed to liver disease. It's the ammonia in animal protein that can cause problems.

Eggs and dairy products produce the lowest amount of protein. Protein from fish is the next best. Red meat is the worst.

Lady has liver disease from years of seizure medication and is also diabetic so she can't eat too many carbs. I homecook for her and her recipe is about 24% protein, all from whitefish, cottage cheese and eggs. Her liver actually healed on this diet.

This is a great article:

Liver | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter

Well, I don't think grains are a natural part of a canines diet. All dogs, including Yorkies, pretty much are wolves. They are taxonomically the same species, and physiologically and anatomically the same and actually share 99.8% of the same DNA. Size and appearance are in the less than 2% differences. Therefore, I think they highly benefit from a higher protein, more meat filled food, like a wolf would eat in the wild. Now obviously a wolf would not be fed kibble in a bowl out in the wild, they would be hunting their own food and eating raw meat. I do like the idea of raw feeding for my dog, but the only reason I don't is cost and the human risks (salmonella). Plus, to be honest, it just seems like more work than I want. Hey, i'm lazy, I prefer to pour kibble into a bowl. Dogs stomaches are completely different than us humans and they are built to handle food like that. So... I try to find the closest I can to a natural raw diet with kibble.

Natures Variety Instinct worked really well for us for a while, and now Acana is doing awesome for Jackson. Both are around 34% protein, which IMO is not even super high. You can find other grainfree foods in the 40 and even 50 percentile. My understanding though is that there is absolutely nothing proven that high protein causes liver problems. Now if your dog is already a liver comprised dog... yes, you will need to stay away from high proteins, but a high protein food will not hurt your dog!

I love what grainfree has done for Jackson! :thumbup: He's been eating it pretty much since 6 months old (Merrick's Before Grain, Nature's Variety Instinct and Fromm Surf and Turf). He poops 2x a day (it CAN be 3 if he ate a lot of treats or something) but usually it's morning and late afternoon. They are small, firm, easy to clean up (it doesn't leave gross ooey stuff on the grass when picked up, or on the carpet when he has an accident :rolleyes:) and honestly, it doesn't even SMELL that bad (I mean, I guess it smells as good as poop can smell, right?! :p) I used to be able to smell his poop as a pup on Wellness when he had an accident from rooms away! He also got really really bad eye goop on Wellness Super5Mix and pooped more freuqently. BTW, I'm not in *any* way saying Wellness is a bad food. I actually really like the company (they did have a lawsuit recently but I can't remember what it was about..) and if Acana wasn't doing so great for us, I would probably feed Core.

Anyways, it's just my personal preference to feed grain free, low card, meat protein rich foods. Ultimately, though, I think it's what works best for you and your dog. :) I've done alot of research and have finally settled that this works best for Jackson!

This one ships to Canada, but with added costs:

Paws Choice | Natural Holistic Pet Food | Premium Pet Food | Natural Pet Treats

I think this one will, too:

Wellness

Also, if you have a dog that is a total couch potato, there's really no need for them to be eating all those proteins. They don't need them, and they're not going to work them off. Most dogs gain energy on a high protein diet. Jackson is fairly active, but he's definitely no Border Collie or anything. He gets to the dog park typically 2x a week, he gets a good 30-45 min. walk probably 5 days a week. He gets daily game of fetch (probably about 15 mins of frisbee or tennis ball) either indoor or outdoor, weather depending. He gets at least 1 visit a week at my dads house with his 2 dogs in the fenced in backyard and runs around. So I think 34% protein is perfect for him.

Okay, Thanks for all the info and opinions!! Much appreciated! I checked out some websites and the shipping to my area is usually more then the cost of the food! I will have to stick with Wellness.:rolleyes:

After switching from Science Diet :rolleyes: I went to wellness super mix 5 and they DO have a small bites version. Then when Uni got tired of it, right on schedule :rolleyes: again, I switched to core. The bits are bigger, but they are still manageable. Just one bit per bite now instead of 2 or 3. Also when she doesn't want to eat, I add a tiny bit of water and it makes it gravyish and she eats it.

I did want to ask though, ppl have said core made their pups have goopy eyes? Katie's always had goopy eyes (BAD!) but on core Uni's been getting better. weird?