Long ago, we used to feed Iams. I was under the impression that it was the best dog food, which it was back in the 1990's before it and Science Diet were purchased by P&G.
I had nothing but problems with my bulldog Sarah, and the vet put her on science diet rabbit which didn't help at all. The more I bathed her the worse she got, she was so full of yeast.
I met Linda in Oregon and she would go on and on about dog food. I pretty much ignored her awesome advice. After all, my "VET" said that science diet and Iams were good foods, why would I believe her?
Fast forward several years, I started the English Bulldog News forum. When the question came up about what do you feed your dog so many people were talking about brands I had never heard of. At the time my Molly was battling a horrible skin infection. After several weeks of antibiotics and special shampoos, she did not improve at all.
One day I was in town and decided to go check out the dog foods at Petsmart. So many different choices- I was literally overwhelmed! I found a bag of Avoderm on a clearance shelf for 50% off, it was a very expensive food so I thought okay.... I'll try it. It was only about $20 for this big bag, which was actually close to the price of the big bag of Iams so I felt it was worth trying to see what all the fuss was about!
The results were amazing. Within a day I stopped giving her antihistamine, she stopped itching completely. She was only being transitioned and just replacing a portion of the food made an amazing impact!
By the time she was fully transitioned her tear stains were gone, no more yeasty paws, no more paw licking- she was a brand new bully!
That started my obsession with dog foods. I read everything I could, and started researching different foods. I started trails of different brands, and we started the dog food ratings here on EBN. Eventually I tried Fromm at the recommendation of a member of the forum. During my research I was calling different manufactures to find out more about their foods. When I spoke with Fromm I realized this was a company who put all their money into the food and research and not into advertising. They were a smaller family owned company who really seemed as obsessed with dog food as I was. Eventually I got to know them and they started the monthly contests for us on EBN.
During our trials we tried a lot of good foods, and bad ones too! Even tried royal canin for bulldogs-- my house was so full of gas I didn't dare light the gas stove! I had to laugh at that because on the bag it stated that it reduced flatulence in bulldogs--- which I found was the worst I had ever seen!
One other good one I tried was Natures Logic.
Eventually I always went back to Fromm. They just do really well on this food. I would still like to try Acana, Orijen, and a few others, but I don't want to fix what isn't broken.
My pack still does great on the beef Fritatta. We are currently feeding beef Fritatta for breakfast and Lamb & Lentil for dinner. They are thriving on it.
Sorry for the long post, but that's my dog food story!