Summer festivals will be here before you know it, which means that I need to start thinking of a gift basket to raffle off to dog lovers and I love to include our favorite dog food brands. Feeding three dogs isn’t always easy. We’ve spent a lot of time researching dog food brands to find a formula that works for all three of our dogs. We suspect that Rodrigo is allergic to chicken; removing chicken formulas (like Life’s Abundance) from his diet alleviated the obsessive paw licking (whew!). He also has a sensitive stomach, so he inspired us to seek out quality, holistic dog food brands.
Today, we happily feed our dogs food from two different quality dog food brands. Halo, Purely for Pets Spot’s Stew
Halo Pets Original Spot’s Stew | Wild Salmon, Wholesome Lamb
Our dogs love their Halo Pets kibble. Every other brand we’ve tried, we’ve had to doctor it up a bit to get the dogs to eat it, not Halo Pets. A 28 pound bag costs $60 at Petco and lasts one month with our three dogs. I buy from Petco, because we earn points through the Pet Pals membership towards a $5 coupon with each purchase. I’ve been earning $10 a month that offsets their food.
Product Highlights (source: Halo Pets website):
- Real meat. No rendered meat or meal from chicken, poultry, lamb, fish or plants.
- Formulated with vitamins, minerals, and other trace nutrients
- No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives
- FINEST QUALITY INGREDIENTS
- Wild salmon, fresh lamb, butcher quality chicken
- Whole egg
- Bounty of farm-raised vegetables
- WHOLESOME & EASILY DIGESTIBLE
- Home-style recipe with easy to recognize and understand ingredients
- Natural sources of soluble and insoluble fiber
- No corn, wheat or wheat gluten
Natural Balance Food Rolls | Turkey, Lamb, and Beef
We started buying Natural Balance food rolls when I was introduced to them this summer at Marysville’s Poochapalooza. What I love about it is that we can use it as food, as a “topping” on their kibble, or as training treats. The dogs LOVE this food and its healthy and a great, soft compliment to the Halo Pet’s kibble.
Product Highlights (source: Natural Balance website):
Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls have been scientifically formulated for by veterinarians and animal nutritionists to provide high quality nutrition and optimize skin and coat condition for adult dogs. Rich in nutrients, a 4 lb roll is equivalent to any 10 premium dog food cans (13-ounce), based on calories. Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls are economical, convenient, and great for travel!
Excellent Training Treat or Reward For the enthusiast, trainer, show handler or breeder, Natural Balance® is the #1 Choice for the ultimate in bait, response time, incredible focus, fabulous palatability as well as excellent nutrition.
A Great Choice for Convalescing Dogs Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls are hard to resist for older or convalescing dogs, and a great way to hide medication.
The Finest Ingredients for the Health of Your Dog Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls contain only the finest ingredients: premium meats (an excellent source of protein), and dried kelp (an excellent natural source of vitamins, mineral and trace elements). The high quality animal fats (naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, source of vitamin E, and ascorbic acid – vitamin C) helps your dog have a healthy skin and a shiny coat. Highly palatable, Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls are very appealing to both the owner and, more importantly, to the dog.
Either chop, grate, or crumble Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls and add them to your dog’s dry food. We use our Magic Bullet
to grate up the food and mix it in with their kibble. The Magic Bullet is a must have for every house. We have 2; one for humans and one for the dogs.
Our favorite treats?
- Halo Liv-a-Littles Natural Treats for Dogs and Cats, Freeze-Dried Beef Protein
- Bil-Jac Liver Dog Treats
- check out my review
- ALL NATURAL Blueberry Flavored Waffles Dog Cookies – 16oz Box
- Carrots (our dogs love carrots; we buy them in bulk at Costco)
What are your favorite food and treat brands?
February 1, 2013 at 7:10 am
I found Halo when Petflow.com was having a special on it (3.99 for a 4lb bag!) and Brogan loves it! LOVES IT! We also use Wellness grain free for him. I think I’ll try the Natural Balance rolls on your recommendation.
Now that I’m writing this – I think I learned about Halo from you back in the day. It really IS good quality food.
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Lisa recently published..Gurus need not apply!
February 1, 2013 at 4:43 pm
That’s great, Lisa! We’ve been so happy with Halo. I’m considering cooking more, but it’ll be along with Halo and Natural Balance.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 1, 2013 at 9:10 am
Thanks for the info – my dog eats and thrives on The Honest Kitchen with Dr Harvey’s veg-to-bowl. We did feed our last dog Halo and we liked that a lot, too. Dexter is a fan of the Natural Balance Tillman’s Treats as well.
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Carol Bryant recently published..10 Myths of Dog Grooming
February 2, 2013 at 3:38 pm
I’ll have to check out those treats. Our dogs are always down for treats
Twitter: thefurmom
February 1, 2013 at 11:14 am
We sometimes give our dogs the Natural Balance rolls for treats – but try to shy away from giving them too much meat. At the animal shelter I used to work at we called it “doggy crack” because they went nuts for it. We could always get a dog that was not eating to devour that stuff.
My special needs dog, Falkor, has a very sensitive stomach. We use the Natural Balance dry vegan formula for their every-day food and it works well but it puts quite a dent in the wallet.
Twitter: jmoultonHSUS
February 2, 2013 at 3:37 pm
That’s so cool that there’s a vegan formula. I’m just in love with Natural Balance. I haven’t tried their kibble yet.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 1, 2013 at 2:43 pm
I don’t really have a favorite dog treat, but Shiner prefers anything tasty and chewy
I prefer stuff without chicken or beef since she seems to be allergic like yours. We just tested some food out that had chicken, beef, and grains and now she seems pretty itchy! Will have to try some of these out sometime.
February 2, 2013 at 3:36 pm
The chicken is a tough one. My dogs can’t even have real chicken, or at least not much. I thought it was chicken meal that they were allergic to; nope, it’s chicken. Beef seems to be okay and they’re good with salmon, lamb and turkey. Thank heavens it’s not all poultry
Thanks for stopping by, Ann
Twitter: thefurmom
February 1, 2013 at 6:39 pm
The Natural Balance roll was a lifesaver when ricochet had Immune mediated hemolytic anemia and wouldn’t eat anything. After buying a bunch of crappy treats and a variety of food I remembered the little roll I had and that got him going. Since then I’ve suggested it to my sister for her dog in with renal disease and my friend’s dog who had a bad gastric reaction to medication when both dogs were off feed. They both loved it.
It does have sugar as one of the top ingredients so I don’t give it regularly, but when a dog won’t eat, I’ll give him anything he wants.
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dawn recently published..Working with Pets- An Avian Behavior Consultant
Twitter: nepapets
February 2, 2013 at 3:21 pm
That is so wonderful to hear, Dawn. We’ve been using it to yummy up our dogs food and it’s great and lasts a long time since we just grate some into their food. I love it and I’m a big big fan!
Twitter: thefurmom
February 2, 2013 at 12:56 am
Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried raw all the way. It’s not available here in France, so I buy it on promo back in the US and ship it to myself. Superior nutrition w/o the mess of doing raw yourself. But def NOT cheap. Thank goodness my dog is small! Primal is great too.
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Diane recently published..French vet costs and care: A big thumbs up!
Twitter: ouiinfrance
February 2, 2013 at 3:18 pm
So cool that you found a way to get your favorite food, Diane! Thanks for sharing!
Twitter: thefurmom
February 2, 2013 at 7:17 am
Dr Harvey’s K9 Health is our favorite… and they are coming out with a new one soon, called Oracle, with the protein in it… (you have to add meat to K9 Health)…
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CeliaSue Hecht recently published..Cupid Canines
Twitter: suemagic
February 2, 2013 at 3:13 pm
I haven’t even heard of that one; thanks for sharing. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it!
Twitter: thefurmom