<a href="http://s328.photobucket.com/user/S0...1-41F0-95F8-75B7A4FAEE75_zps5225giar.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l324/S0matic/A5C56794-9621-41F0-95F8-75B7A4FAEE75_zps5225giar.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo A5C56794-9621-41F0-95F8-75B7A4FAEE75_zps5225giar.jpg"/></a> Opinions on this?
For those wondering - the link is to a pic of a bag of Ivory Coat dog food I can't help though as it's not a food we have in Oz.
I bought it in Sydney. Sorry did my stupid iPhone mess up the link again? I have been looking into a better food for Arnie. I came up with ivory coat grain free puppy food and bought a bag. Arnie loves it. Just wanting to see people's opinions
Well, silly me! I haven't heard of it before (but there are so many brands...). I googled it. Ingredients lists look good. I only feed kibble as a training treat but it is something I would buy. I like things that have a long list of 'proper food' in the ingredients (meat, veg etc).
My wife buys the ivory coat and this is only our opinion, we think the ingredients are better and we are very happy with ivory coat. We are in Western Australia.
We buy it after a lot of trying to settle Vanilla's tummy. Given it is made in OZ, it made sense to buy it. Plus it had good reviews. Don't have any issues with her now, and she loves it..
It looks like a decent food. Is there a reason to go grain free? What do you want to see in your pup that could be bettered? I see potatoes and peas are number three and four in the list, they are replacing the grain. Potatoes, especially white potatoes, are a problem for some dogs. FWIW when I rotated three foods one was grain free and I couldn't see a difference in energy, stool, coat, anything, between the three. I did have to feed a bit more of the grain free as it was lower in kcal/cup.
Thanks for the input @Snowshoe I am just beginning to consider other kibble foods as Arnie is now ten months and at some point would need to go to adult food. I am thinking grain free because it's better. He hasn't had an issue with his current kibble, but if there's a better option out there I'm gonna look into it. For what it's worth, he gets royal canin large breed puppy and hills science diet large breed. He has a kibble meal once a day and raw meal once a day
Grainfree is better for some dogs but it's a marketing ploy to say it's necessarily better to feed potatoes or peas or whatever instead of grain, it's just not so. Lots of dogs do fine on grain. It's sort of like the current marketing of gluten free for human people. Not many of us have gluten allergies and most of us can eat it just fine. LOL, as opposed to dog people, don't you know.
I agree, grain free is not necessarily better. You need to look at the top 5 ingredients, and assess for quality and quantity of the protein source first, then apply this to the other products. A spread of quality veg, is fine. If there is no grain, what else is listed?
Saw an article recently about how long ago dogs developed the ability to digest grain. Here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=558544834340702&id=187782961416893&ref=page_internal
Just read all that thanks @JulieT So it seems to me that dogs are fine on grains, however there are some that suffer from allergies or have some reaction to grain foods. Similar to gluten free people. It's not necessarily better, just better for some. It's all interesting and educational. Thanks for all the input everyone.
Don't know how possible this is, but since trying out the grain free ivory coat food my wife reckons Arnie looks a little less bloated and leaner. Is it possible that grains may bloat him slightly? I do t think he has any issues actually digesting or coping with the grain feed (which are two premium brands anyway), but maybe he does slightly better on grain free. Thought, opinions, death threats?
You didn't say he looked bloated before, maybe he is losing a bit of weight? When I rotated my three foods I kept fat, protein and kcal/cup as close to the breeders food (which was fine and I kept using it) as I could. Even so, the grainfree was a little lower in k/cal per cup and I saw weight loss in one week. Are you checking poops by breaking them open and taking a good look inside?
Yeah it's not like he was heaps bloated. Not so much as it would cause concern. She just reckons he looks leaner. Maybe he is losing weight. I haven't weighed him in about a week. His hind quarter looks more defined to me as well, but I put that down to his age, at 10 months I would expect him to start filling out in musculature. Am I right in assuming this? He's been hovering around 32 kg for a while now. Thanks for the response @Snowshoe
He could well be becoming more muscly, though like you say it might just be become a bit leaner. Different 'strains' of dog fill out at different ages....some slower than others. My dog Obi was still pretty lanky at 10 months. I'd say that after 12 months he slowly filled out but it took him another 6 months to a year before he looked solid.
I just went n weighed him. He's actually gained a half kilo. Looks leaner and healthier. Bought a big bag of ivory coat and some raw barf patties and a king wobbler. Little man loves it. He was a right menace at the pet shop tho. Just wouldn't pay attention
Obi doesn't get to go to the pet shop anymore because he pees on the bags of dog food Good to hear that the new food is agreeing with him
