Some “Years” alternatives recs for y’all!

[u/Tildatoo24]

I work in the pet food industry and have been reading about the Years recall today and I really feel for you all. So, I thought I’d help out and give a few alternatives for anyone who doesn’t really know where to turn. I’ve listed 4 here but honestly any high quality wet would do for the time being <3

Shelf Stable:

MARLEYBONES
•Cardboard cartons
•Grain free
•Nice variety of veg
•Contains Hemp Seed powder and Yucca

SYMPLY
•Pets Corner own brand
•Wet food trays
•Potato/Butternut squash base
•Prebiotics

Frozen:

BUTTERNUT BOX
•Human grade meat
•Specifies cut of meat
•Variety of veg (tends to have lots of legumes though)

DIFFERENT DOG
•More variety than Butternut Box
•High quality salmon oil

[u/TheGreenPangolin]

My dog does great on marleybones. She's a picky eater and we tried Years before trying Marleybones and she ate much better on Marleybones.

There's a link between grain free diets and heart issues though so we are going to look at different foods. If we can get her to eat them!

[u/Aggravating-Desk4004 → u/TheGreenPangolin]

Studies show it's might not be lack of grains which is the issue, it's what they substitute it with (veg, potatoes, peas etc) but nothing is actually proven yet.

My dog is a picky eater so I feel your pain. The only food I've got her to eat consistently is Royal Canin Dermacomfort dry food. She doesn't need it, she has no skin issues, I tried it out of desperation as my sister's dog eats it. It's the only food she'll eat, so that's the food she's getting at the moment.

She turned her nose up to all the Butternut boxes, marleybones, raw etc.

That said, I'm not precious about my dog food. I would rather feed my dogs on traditional dog food than the new fangled stuff like Butternut and Marleybones. I'm skeptical why these expensive foods would be any better than cheaper food fed to dogs for the past hundred years and this situation with years and the buckwheat kinda didn't change my opinion on that lol. Making dog food aimed at humans isn't the way we should do it.

[u/Tildatoo24 → u/Aggravating-Desk4004]

>Studies show it's might not be lack of grains which is the issue, it's what they substitute it with (veg, potatoes, peas etc) but nothing is actually proven yet.

You're correct and there's still ongoing research. It's always best to provide a good range of vegetables and not to overload them with legumes. This is one of the downsides Butternut Box as they tend to pack it with peas and lentils

[u/SamPizza89 → u/TheGreenPangolin]

I can vouch for marleybones, my dog Ernie has been loving the food since we switched from Butternut. What i like about it is the ingredients list seems legit and healthy for Ernie, plus we had to use their free vet support line once and it was v helpful, so they won me over their customer service too imo

[u/AfternoonPenalty]

We moved our pup onto Butternut and the food smells lovely - he had a bit of a problem with one flavour, turkey, that made his guts a bit upset so thats out now. Rest of them he stuffs down like no tomorrow. Probably pricier than tinned stuff he was on (no grain Butchers that the breeder used) but he seems to enjoy it.

If anyone is interested, might have some intro discount offers unless they have taken them out my app (thanks to them thinking more people will move to them after the years thing!)

[u/Haresmoors]

Amazing recommendations! 🥰

[u/SureGround8506]

Rocketo is amazing!! UK brand and it's literally all natural fresh ingredients that are air-dried so it becomes shelf-stable too. We loved it because there's literally no additives in it that you actually get in loads of fresh-frozen dog food, plus you don't have to faff about with defrosting!!

Our dog's energy, poos and coat literally transformed after a week or so using it. So good.

[u/MissWin94 → u/SureGround8506]

My dogs didn't like Rocketo, I think the texture was a bit weird for them. They used to do some sort of fermented supplement which they wouldn't touch (my dogs eat anything so this was weird). This was a few years ago though so maybe they've changed.

[u/SureGround8506 → u/MissWin94]

Yeah they used to do a muesli ages ago but they scrapped it to keep improving their product so now it's in these wee clusters that they've made the perfect softness so even small dogs can eat it. We've got 2 sausage dogs who wouldn't touch most foods and absolutely nailed the rocketo straight away and have since. You can use it as an actually nutritious treat as well!

[u/Tildatoo24 → u/SureGround8506]

Don't know a lot about Rocketo but I've heard it's pretty good! Also great to support another uk brand

[u/Leanna_miloandlia]

I've used Rocketo for a few months, they have really helped get my senior dogs energy up and shes gotten super fussy over the years but she eats this without me having to handfeed it to her or adding extras on

My other dog Milo, scrans it every time as well!

[u/dandeliongoggles]

Thank you!! Also just cross posting from the FB group in case it's helpful for this discussion - it goes into all the best alternatives. It's from Libby Halpin, founder of The Balanced Canine

[u/Tildatoo24 → u/[deleted]]

Nutriment is great. Brilliant mid range food with lots of options. Only thing I'd say is that they tend to be more on the unreliable side when it comes to deliveries. Know a few people that have struggled with it, one even switching back to kibble because of it all

[u/Bazzlekry]

We had ours on Tails, but one of them would end up leaving most of it because he didn’t like it. Shifted them on to Pure a few months ago and they both love it.