# 4 Health



## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

Anyone feed this from Tractor Supply?

I have always fed raw, and have been using Taste of Wild with that since it came out a few years ago. Stopped feeding ToW when the price recently went up to almost 50.00 per bag, and bought some 4 Health. TSC also went down to carrying only one variety of the ToW when the price went up.

I noticed the dogs are drinking a lot more water when they eat the 4H, and I keep finding very dark, almost black poops in the yard. My old Dobe especially has been drinking more on this food, which concerns me.

Anyone else feeding this notice black poops and water gulping?


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## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

I don't feed it but I would worry too.

some say it is made by diamond. if so give them a call.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/4health-dog-food-dry/


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## farmmom (Jan 4, 2009)

I feed it to Spud. His poop is normal. He's drinking what I would consider a normal amount. His coat is nice and shiny and he has a wonderful energy level. This is working great for him.


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## sherry in Maine (Nov 22, 2007)

dont know about 4health, I have used t.o.w when I run out of cheap raw meat (until I find more again). I get so frustrated by high price dog kibble, what I spend on one bag could feed my dogs for nearly a month on raw. The 30 lb bag of kibble last about a week and a half. I have noticed that no matter the brand the increase in water intake is very noticable. I imagine (for my dogs) that just the fact that it's dry kibble with no moisture. Dont know about 4health.

Cant wait to find more raw I can afford.
When my dogs eat dry kibble, I always notice they drink tons of water
Hope you figure out why the dark poops


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## hardworkingwoman (Jun 4, 2009)

I just bought 4 Health for the first time yesterday. It is very hard to find a kibble without grain. So I will keep an eye on my dogs when they eat this. I think I am just going to try to stick to the raw diet because they definitely drink more when they eat any kind of kibble. That is for sure. I am ready to kill some of my own chickens for dog food because I just don't know what is in the store bought meat. Then again am I being to picky? Oh the choices we need to make! lol


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## gapeach (Dec 23, 2011)

I feed Sammi the 4Health lamb and rice. No problems at all. She loves it and very small poop since no grain or corn.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

My friend feeds 4Health. It's not a "bad" food, but not as good as TOTW. It has corn in it. My friend's Boston gets gas on it, Bostons have sensitive systems. And I'll agree that kibble fed dogs need to drink much more water than raw, which has moisture in it. This is why, when feeding TOTW, I add water to the dish, so they are getting water as they eat.


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

I expect to see increased water intake with kibble, but this has been gulping and chugging. It is the formula for dogs 7 years and older they started off on - called mature or something.

Should probably get more raw cases today. Its only 48 cents per lb, but i'm feeling lazy and relaxed.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I used to feed the 4Health from TSC and Diamond before that. I was just getting ready to switch to the Taste of the Wild food because 1 dog kept getting ear infections but with the help of some great folks here decided to try feeding Raw. It's been over 1 1/2 years, never another ear infection. I won't go back to kibble.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

We just got a bag of the Salmon and Potato yesterday but haven't fed it yet. We were feeding TOTW, but it got pretty expensive. I like that 2Health has no corn, wheat, or soy. Hopefully it'll work well.


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

Maura said:


> My friend feeds 4Health. It's not a "bad" food, but not as good as TOTW. It has corn in it. My friend's Boston gets gas on it, Bostons have sensitive systems. And I'll agree that kibble fed dogs need to drink much more water than raw, which has moisture in it. This is why, when feeding TOTW, I add water to the dish, so they are getting water as they eat.


No corn, wheat or soy in 4health.

4Health Dog Food Brand


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

We feed it to ours with good results.

Some reviews state that dogs get gas while on it, so they would switch to a different brand. We only noticed the dogs had gas the week or two of transition and that was it.


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## dodgewc (Jul 8, 2006)

4 health is TSC's top tier pet food, verses (sp) their Retriever/Paws and Claws
It's from purina, that's who makes most of our branded feed (Dumor and others)
Taste of the Wild is Diamond. FYI, Diamond has had some part of their pet food 
line recalled on the average of once a year, so as far as I'm concerned, that's  you're feeding your pet, if you feed any Diamond product. (I work for TSC, and sell both company's products)


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

We're going to try it (4Health). The ingredients look comparable to what we feed now. And the food we feed now is $50-$55 per 30 pound bag, while the 4Health is $35 for a 35 pound bag. If we get good results feeding it, we'll keep using it.


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

dodgewc said:


> 4 health is TSC's top tier pet food, verses (sp) their Retriever/Paws and Claws
> It's from purina, that's who makes most of our branded feed (Dumor and others)
> Taste of the Wild is Diamond. FYI, Diamond has had some part of their pet food
> line recalled on the average of once a year, so as far as I'm concerned, that's  you're feeding your pet, if you feed any Diamond product. (I work for TSC, and sell both company's products)


Sorry but I need to correct you, 4 health is made by Diamond as well as taste of the wild.
The dog food recall diamond had was due to mold on corn that missed screening process there is a limit to the mold that can be on corn that is considered safe. The naturals nor taste of the wild have corn and of no concern. The massive killings that other labled branded food that included from blue to elcheapos Diamond was not a part of, back then I had a pet shop and they where the only ones besides pedigree lines that did not recall some or all of there products, possibly nutro I cant remember because I didnt carry nutro in my store.
the Diamond naturals lamb and rice just had a recall due to possible contaminants from salmonella no dogs had been sickend but because they do so many checks on there food as a part of their quality control they caught something that didnt blow up into a epic problem, where as other larger companies dont recall unless there is a major problem that has sickend many dogs or cats because it does damage to the brand.
The only food I wont back at our stores is Retriever and doggy bag when a dog food cant list the meat source now that is scary. 


As far as the dog drinking more, the 4 health uses beet pulp as a method of making the patty and adding fat and fiber and it expands some absorbing water and even though its digested back into the system it can cause increased water consumption. I do however urge you to try another food and see if it continues as that is a symptom of some more serous issues or preferably take your dog to see the vet.

Now, my dogs actually where fed from the recalled bags and none of them became sick and we have 5 ranging from puppy to SRs.


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

We just changed to 4health from TOTW because we just couldn't afford TOTW, and that with DD's discount. We mixed it with the TOTW so haven't fed pure 4health yet. Our dogs seem to like it. At least they arn't picking it out. Haven't noticed them drinking more water, but they have water outside as well as in the house.


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## gapeach (Dec 23, 2011)

Which one did you change to? I feed Sammi the Lamb and Rice but I think next time I will switch to the Chicken because it has the Omega 3 in it.


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

gapeach said:


> Which one did you change to? I feed Sammi the Lamb and Rice but I think next time I will switch to the Chicken because it has the Omega 3 in it.


I would have to look at the bag, it's out in the shed right now. I'll check tomorrow.


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## gapeach (Dec 23, 2011)

MDKatie said:


> We just got a bag of the Salmon and Potato yesterday but haven't fed it yet. We were feeding TOTW, but it got pretty expensive. I like that 2Health has no corn, wheat, or soy. Hopefully it'll work well.



Please let us know what you think of the 4Health salmon and potato.
I was reading the reviews of it last night and it is rated 4 star for ingredients.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

I bought a bag of the Salmon formula yesterday. Going to transition the crew over to it and see how they do.

I have to say I was VERY pleased - usually the fish-based dog foods are more expensive than the chicken/lamb formulas within a brand....but the Salmon formula was the same price! And I checked out the ingredients and was very happy with what I saw listed (and more importantly, NOT listed). None of that "we're going to call this dog food salmon/fish but the 2nd and 3rd ingredients are going to be chicken" nonsense that I often see.


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

Ruby said:


> We just changed to 4health from TOTW because we just couldn't afford TOTW, and that with DD's discount.


I agree. Back before ToW, EVO was one of the only grain free foods you could feed that became widely available, but it was waaay overpriced. I think part of the reason ToW became so popular was because it offered an affordable alternative to EVO. ToW is now getting right up there price wise, at almost 50.00 per bag.

Right now, the 4 Health here is 29. or 34. per bag, depending on the variety, and the bags are larger than ToW.

Edit to add: I think ToW is starting to price themselves out of the market. My TSC carried their full line. As soon as the price shot up, they got rid of their entire shelf of ToW keeping only 1 variety, and replaced that whole shelf with 4Health. Obviously people just stopped buying it.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

I have been feeding 4-health for quite a while and am very satified with it. It costs about the same as Iams, but is a far superior product. I did get a bag of Taste of the Wild and my dogs clearly prefered it (they picked each piece out of the bowl and left the 4-health in a pile) but with 7 dogs I simply can't afford to feed TOTW. I do plan to switch to raw at some point because I know it is a superior diet but until then, I am really happy with 4-health.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

BarbadosSheep said:


> I did get a bag of Taste of the Wild and my dogs clearly prefered it (they picked each piece out of the bowl and left the 4-health in a pile) but with 7 dogs I simply can't afford to feed TOTW.


FWIW, Just because dogs prefer the taste of a food doesn't mean its better for them. Dogs will pick cat food out of a mixed bowl (cat & dog food combined) but that doesn't mean cat food is better for them than dog food!

And I'd rather eat Cool Ranch Doritos than carrots......


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## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

Maura said:


> My friend feeds 4Health. It's not a "bad" food, but not as good as TOTW. It has corn in it. My friend's Boston gets gas on it, Bostons have sensitive systems. And I'll agree that kibble fed dogs need to drink much more water than raw, which has moisture in it. This is why, when feeding TOTW, I add water to the dish, so they are getting water as they eat.


Are you sure that 4Health has corn in it?

I don't feed it to my dogs (they get Diamond Lamb and Rice) but I do feed 4Health to my cats and I know there is no corn, wheat or soy in it.


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## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

Haven said:


> Right now, the 4 Health here is 29. or 34. per bag, depending on the variety, and the bags are larger than ToW.


What are the advantages of 4Health over Diamond Lamb and Rice?

I know the Diamond L&R is actually quite a bit cheaper and it has no corn, wheat, or soy in it.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Zilli said:


> What are the advantages of 4Health over Diamond Lamb and Rice?


Just looking over the ingredient list:

4Health: lamb, lamb meal (first 2 ingredients)
Diamond: lamb meal, ground rice (first 2 ingredients)

That may or may not mean anything to you.....:shrug: I've never fed Diamond and I just bought my first bag of 4Health yesterday, so I can't really give you a good comparison. 

I evaluate dog foods based first upon the ingredients, then upon how my dogs thrive while I'm feeding it, then upon how much I have to feed to keep their weight where I want it. There are some foods that look great on paper, but in practice they aren't all that good :yuck:.

Its not a huge difference in pricing - Diamond is $32.99 for 40 pounds, 4Health is $34.99 for 35 pounds. So yes, the Diamond is cheaper, but its not a huge margin IMO.

I greatly prefer to feed a fish-based food to my dogs, although lamb-based is my second choice. Diamond doesn't have a fish-based food.... 4Health does AND its the same price as their lamb-based food ($34.99 for 35 pounds). So for me, trying 4Health is a no-brainer :shrug:

And I was thrilled to see that 4Health's puppy food is lamb-based with no sneaky chicken mixed in :sing:! I'm going to feed it to my next litter (instead of the Nutro lamb puppy food) and see how they do.... its much cheaper and the ingredients are comparable!


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

4 health and diamond naturals are basically the same diamond just put it in a fancier bag for TSC, I know the chicken and lamb if not completely have the same ingredients they are very close they DN is normally cheaper because its in a heavier bag.


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## nappy (Aug 17, 2003)

Our 2 year old Lab mix has been receiving 4 Health Small Bites since we got her at six months. Her black coat is shiny, and she is very active. We are switching her over to the Lamb and Rice as it is for a larger dog. The only ingredients that 4 Health contains that I'm not sure about is the chondroitin and glucosamine probably added for future arthritis. I believe these ingredients should be reserved for older dogs...not that I know of any problems with using it for young dogs.


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## dodgewc (Jul 8, 2006)

4 health is definately diamond
comes out of the same contaminated plant
(there are several facilities not effected)
there will be shortages at certain tsc stores due to the
salmonella problem
won't hurt your dog, but what about children, elderly and immune compromised people who come in contact with the food or waste?:ashamed:


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

dodgewc said:


> 4 health is definately diamond
> comes out of the same contaminated plant
> (there are several facilities not effected)
> there will be shortages at certain tsc stores due to the
> ...



Great representation of the company you are... 
We had one pallet of the feed, we never skipped a beat on supply, our shelves where never empty. There is no shortage and its a POSSIBLE issue. Anyone who is that immune compromised shouldnt be around animals. Im on immune suppressants common sense tells me not to eat the dog food and to wash my hands after handling the food, just as much as Im not going to pick up a piece of dog poop and eat it. 
Btw, we also have 5 kids..

Ugg I really hate when people try to make something out to be more than it is, I mean really cantaloupe and spinach killed people and we are getting all out of context about a POSSIBLE problem???

Would I love to see dogs on raw vrs this kibble, yes, but I would rather see folks feed a affordable decent food than to feed old roy. I would rather a company do quality control and risk monetary damage over a POSSIBLE contamination than to find out after its killed thousands because they didnt want to risk profit margin. 
Night yall Im off my soap box:bdh::soap:


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

I haven't figured out if Diamond has so many recalls because they are checking their food for possible problems so often (after the big tainted feed debacle a few years back) or if it's because they actually do have more issues than other brands.

I would imagine that they are doing an awful lot of safety checks nowadays trying to avoid another big issue...dunno.

I wonder how many checks they do now compared to other manufacturers?


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## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

I went to a different feed store yesterday looking for some decent alfalfa because my local TSC (called Del's around here - same company) at the moment has some of the crappiest alfalfa I've ever seen.

Anyway, besides finding some beautiful alfalfa at this other store, their 40-pound Diamond L&R was $29.99 (regular price, not on sale). Unfortunately, they don't also carry the 4Health, so I wasn't able to compare what their price might be on that. Plus, it messed me up because they didn't have the 4Health cat food, either, and I had to buy a medium-size bag of Chicken Soup to hold them over until I can get back to Del's (I refuse to buy junk). 

I know Del's will price match so I might do that so I can get the lower price on the L&R there - after they get some better alfalfa.


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## Neroli (Apr 19, 2012)

I've been feeding a blend of 4Health and TOTW for 1.5 years now and everyone looks great. No health problems at all, unless you consider the 1 year old, whose getting a little chubby. Their coats are fantastic (I'm not exaggerating here- pure, shining silk). My 6yr old hasn't had any hot spots or allergies since we switched him, and that was a recurring problem all his life. I have nothing negative to say at all about either one. 

We vary their flavors. Actually, I bring them into TSC with me and let them choose. Whichever TOTW bag they hover over, we bring home. Salmon has been the fav this winter. 

Used to feed Diamond Naturals, but they weren't at optimum health on that. I started mixing because 4health large breed has Glucosomine, which is pricy to supplement alone, and I already watched one dog suffer badly from aching joints. Also, the blend helps offset the price of TOTW. 

Also, we feed significantly less than we did on other brands, so the price has really balanced out. Their BMs are highly regular and predictably healthy, except when Sisu eats a toy. In the past they've been through everything from Pedigree (it was donated, so how could I resist?) to Nutro. Iams a few years ago, even Science Diet. Nothing has gotten the results of this blend, so I'm sticking with it.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Well I've only been feeding this for about 5 days, but my dogs are gaining weight on it (they were hard keepers on the Blue Buffalo we were feeding for some reason). I have short haired dogs and its really easy to see them gain/lose weight. So that's a good sign!


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## Whisperwindkat (May 28, 2009)

We had a problem with my old dog losing weight on almost everything we tried. Then we found 4 health at TSC and he has done great on it. He is back up to a healthy weight and has more energy. Hope that helps, Kat


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## woodsy (Oct 13, 2008)

We switched to 4 Health chicken/rice when TOTW prices went up substantially at TSC.

On our 3rd ? 30lb bag, haven't had any issues. We let the kibble soak for a few minutes in a little water before feeding. He drinks all the gravy up first.

More affordable, dog likes it and no issues with it.


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## gapeach (Dec 23, 2011)

I boil the meat from around beef bones and put that broth with a cup of 4Health for Sammi twice a day. She loves it.


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## Honorine (Feb 27, 2006)

Diamond does seem to have their share of recalls and problems, thats how I found this forum years ago, over the aflatoxin recall that killed so many dogs. I was feeding Chicken Soup at the time to the shelties, and Diamond Maintenance to our lab. Then they came out with Diamond Naturals, and I began to feed that with Chicken Soup but wasn't happy with it. Went back to the Chicken Soup until the price went up $10 a bag overnight, and checked out the 4Health, which I feel is somewhere in between the Naturals and the Chicken Soup, closer to the Chicken Soup. I'm happy enough with it, occasionally buy a bag of the Beef and Rice Naturals to mix in and give them a bit of a change, I also feed some raw(rabbit) here and there. I'd love to use the TOTW, I use it as a treat, they snarf it up, but its too pricey for me. No problems really, all seem healthy. Will say that feces were smaller, darker and less smelly on the Chicken Soup.


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## gapeach (Dec 23, 2011)

When we first got Sammi, I gave her Pedigree. Pedigree obviously is generous with animal shelters. We had a bag of treats, coupons, from Pedigree.
She had terrible gas so we changed her to Iams natrurals, still the terrible gas, so bad it was hard to stay in the same room with her.
Since we changed to 4Health and changed her treats to no corn,wheat or soy, the gas is gone and even her itchy coat is looking better. The fish oil tablets must be helping too.


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## dodgewc (Jul 8, 2006)

still stand by my opinion of diamond
i even admitted about my 4health misinformation 
Tainted dog food sickens 14 people in US - Yahoo! News :nana:


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## dodgewc (Jul 8, 2006)

id be wary of that stuff too!:happy:
(i luv emoticons!)


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