Switching Food Within Brand

[Siloh]

I've been feeding my beagle mix and my chi the same food for about a year--Evolve Grain-Free Salmon and Sweet Potato. We switched the senior dachshund to this as well when we couldn't find his brand, and his weight and overall health improved. So, when we got Hamlet at 4 months old, we put him on the same stuff. I can't feed Annie (beagle) anything with corn or wheat; she's allergic. Her skin turns bright pink and she gets very itchy within about 15-20 minutes of ingestion.

I'm extremely happy with this food, but I noticed the other day that they sell larger bags at a lower cost of a different formula. The one we buy is 12lbs for $20, and this one is 30lbs for $30. It's called Evolve Maintenance, and I would switch to the lamb and brown rice one. Dogfoodadvisor.com rates it 4 stars. They don't seem to have an analysis of the current one we feed.

I know that Annie and the chi will do fine on a lamb and rice formula, because we actually used to feed this same company's cheaper (price and quality) brand. We didn't even know when we switched that they were made by the same company.

But I'm wondering if there is a compelling reason to continue feeding a food that has salmon as the first ingredient rather than lamb, and a complex carb like sweet potato over the brown rice?

The only reason for the switch is that buying 12lbs at a time is not very efficient due to Hamlet's feeding needs.

If there is a particular large breed reason to continue with the totally grain-free fish product, please share! I'm super happy with this food in general and want to put Hamlet's nutrition first. I'm also not sure what "maintenance" formula means in relation to a growing formula?

I'm clueless, guys. Help. ray:

 

[DennasMom]

I'd guess the maintenance is a bit cheaper due to using rice as a 'filler' instead of the sweet potato.
I'd think either could be just fine...

Salmon is nice due to high omega-3's, but in a dried kibble, I'm not sure how much survives the processing.
Sweet potato vs Rice? I think sweet potato has a better vitamin/mineral profile, but they should add in supplements to cover any deficiencies, anyway.

You can always try it! See if they have a trial sized bag, and use that as treats or a mini-meal... if they like the taste and no immediate adverse reactions, you could do the slow transition over to it and see how it goes...
If you see skin issues start in, you could add salmon oil to the lamb food (should still be less $$ overall).

If you want to keep them all on the same food - I'd see how Annie does on it first, and if she's OK, the rest probably will do fine, too.

That'd be my baseless opinion (I'm not far above clueless, so probably not much help!)... I'd try it... worst that can happen is you go back to the salmon stuff you know they do well on.

 

[Siloh]

Hah, you're far enough above clueless to articulate some of my suspicions much better than I.

Looks like I'll get a little 5lb bag or something and see how they do with a slow transition. Hamlet will have to be the lab rat. I know Annie is fine on lamb and rice. It's the big dog I'm worried about. Frankly, if he does well but one or more of the other three do not, I can keep them on the same food and just switch Hamlet. A 12lbs bag will last about four weeks between the other dogs. Hamlet literally eats more than all three of them daily. His meal is bigger than all of theirs put together!

Then again, at 65lbs, he weighs nearly twice as much as all three of them put together!

 

[Siloh]

Switching has been working out so far, normal bowels all around.

However, Ham is looking a bit thinner to me lately even though his neck is bulking out a bit. I'm thinking this might just be a little growth spurt, though.