One of the first things I started thinking about, even months before I actually adopted a dog was what type of food they would get. Growing up we fed my dogs Science Diet, which was what the vet recommended (and what my current vet still recommends). They seemed do to fine on it and we never really had any issues, until their current Border Collie got older and started having high cholesterol and GI issues and had to go on a special diet.
However, the game has changed, and especially here in Colorado where there are a lot of educated pet owners and even my small town of 20,000 people has 3 different natural pet food stores with many more in close driving proximity. I think the shift has been partially driven by more information being available, and partially driven by the rounds of food recalls in recent news. Given all I knew (even as a non-dog owner), I wanted to do the research and choose a food that was going to be a great fit for me and my pup.
My criteria were:
- Made in the USA
- No major recalls (hard to do and immediately disqualifies some popular picks like Blue Buffalo)
- Readily available to me locally (not too hard as I have a lot of choices here)
- Dry kibble - this is easier for me, and better for teeth
- Grain free, since a lot of the dog breeds I was most interested in seemed to be prone to food allergies
I started Googling and immediately discovered that the amount of options out there was pretty overwhelming. I asked some acquaintances and got a different answer from each one. But slowly, one company started coming up more often and seemed to be a good fit for me - Fromm's.
Fromm Family is a small US company based out of Wisconsin, they've been in business for over 100 years and have amazingly never had a major recall. They have a range of foods but I can only speak to their top tier food - the four star foods. They have a lot of different flavors, and the really great thing is that they entire line is designed to be similar enough in fat/protein content that they can easily be switched without having to do the usual slow mixing process. So if your dog gets tired of a food or you just want to try something new, just buy a different flavor! Molly started with the Beef Frittata and we found that to be just a little too rich her her, so now she's happily chowing down on the Game Bird which is a great fit. It's about $13 for a 4 lb. bag at my local dog food store, which for my small 12 lb. dog lasts a little over 2 weeks. It's also available in larger sizes of course at a cost savings for bigger dogs. For me, it's well worth the cost and really a small percentage of my overall pet-related costs, but I could see how it would add up with a big dog. Still, I think feeding a high quality food is the best thing you can do for a dog, and worth it even if it means fewer toys and treats to offset things.
So far we've been really happy with the Fromm's, but if that ever changes I'll be back to the researching to find a better alternative. What do you feed? Any recommendations or favorites?
(Note: I didn't get any compensation or free product or anything from Fromm's - I'm just really happy with their foods and company and wanted to share the results of my research with others).
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