Verus

Beanie

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#1
Do any of you food store folks carry Verus?

http://www.veruspetfoods.com/

Auggie's breeder's husband and I have had multiple discussions about Payton's inability to gain weight without getting the runs and switching to Verus came up, because it's a far more simple formula and it also happens to be higher calorie per cup, so we're not sure if that might work. He kicked all the P&G foods out of his store so he was glad to get this in more or less to replace Cali Naturals, which I LOVED Cali Naturals for the KISS ingredient list... so I'm really tempted to switch all my guys to it. It's not grain free but I don't think Pay has an issue with grains (he was on a grain-inclusive food at his breeder's but on TOTW ever since coming home with me); Pepper only has an issue with corn and Auggie has no grain problems so I think we would be okay...

Anybody have input on Verus as a brand? It's a small company - the sample bags are clear poly bags with a simple printed sticker on it - so I'm not sure if they're in any of the places you guys are in...
 

RedHotDobe

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#2
Are you looking for samples, or just input on the food itself? The cats are going through a bag of it right now. Rumor ate a bag or two when she was younger, and my old Doberman seemed to do well on it when he tried it. It's made in Maryland, so it's extremely cheap here.
 

RedHotDobe

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#4
I've never seen it outside of Maryland, so I'm probably the only one here who has tried it. :p I think it's okay. Duke switched between California Natural and Verus. His stomach was a bit sensitive, and he did well on them. Rumor has an iron stomach, so I don't know if the fact that she did fine on it should even count. The cats just started a bag along with some of their canned food, so we'll see how they do. There are other foods I'd prefer, but I'd choose it over Blue Buffalo, California Natural, Innova... Duke did great on it, where on other foods he'd have digestive issues and look gross. Rumor I think does better on other foods, but she did fine on it. I don't think I've fed it to her in probably five years, though. And for Duke it would be at least ten years ago. Maybe none of my input is particularly valid since it's been so long, lol.
 

Beanie

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#5
It's helpful that you've tried it at all LOL! I was afraid nobody else had ever heard of it.

I may have to just give it a shot. The easy suggestion was to feed Payton green beans to increase his fiber and see if that doesn't help hold his poos together, so I've been trying that... he is the ONLY one of my dogs who will not eat green beans! He'll snuffle around them in the bowl and leave them, eating maybe a few because it's in his way to get to food but definitely not eating them all. I've been letting Auggie eat them after Payton says he's done. =P
I've increased his TOTW again anyway but I'm expecting within a few days he'll have loose poops again; if he does I think I'm going to just pick up some Verus and try that, hoping the fact that it's more simple will help him digest it better and maybe actually gain some weight. x_x
 

RedHotDobe

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#6
I would definitely give the Verus a try. Duke had a really sensitive stomach, and loose poops and vomiting were fairly common. He didn't have either of those while on the Verus. Rumor can keep down and digest buffalo chicken wraps and almonds after being dosed with hydrogen peroxide. Her results on Verus count for nothing. She's weird. :p
 

PWCorgi

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#7
Do all of your dogs have to be on the same food? If not, I would see if you can get your hands on a small bag of Canine Caviar. Nothing simpler on the market and the probiotic they use is ridiculously amazing. I joke with customers that it's impossible for the dog to have loose stool because of the probiotic in it. :p

It's not cheap, but if you can put just Pay on it, might be worth it. I can't imagine living with constant loose stools, that sucks :/
 

Beanie

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#8
No, they don't have to be on the same food, but it makes things a good deal easier! I don't think there's anywhere around here selling Canine Caviar... I could ask and see if he could order some for me.

It's actually not constant loose stool (at least not since his clostridium cleared up last year.) It's whenever I try to increase the amount of food he's getting to put weight on him. He'll EAT however much I give him... he just seems to have trouble digesting it. Last time I think we made it almost a week, I thought "Hey! Maybe we got it this time!!" - then I came home from work to diarrhea in his crate.

I think the suggestion has also come up before of putting him on something grain-inclusive, that he might gain some weight better if he had grains...
 

PWCorgi

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#9
Ah, I see. Well, I can also say that Canine Caviar is one of the highest calorie foods we sell. So that might make a difference.
 

JacksonsMom

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#10
Verus, like said above, is made in Maryland so it's at our local store. It's in pretty blue-ish colored bags though lol. Not plain.

I used to dogsit two dogs who did fantastic on it. Always heard GREAT things on the company. No recalls, great company, small local owned, etc.

I love the personal responses you get from them too. I emailed them a while back after I thought Jackson had pancreatitis and they gave me a super long explanation, and intimate details about their food, which formulas would be best, where the food is produced, the ash content of each formula, who formulates it, etc.

Do you guys have Fromm Gold where you live? Some of the Gold lines are really good, IMO, even though they're grain inclusive. Ash levels are in check, meat content is high, fairly simple, and very cost efficient. I've been feeding a rotation of the Adult Gold and the Four Star Salmon Tunalini (Beef before that) and I honestly think he does better on Gold.
 
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JacksonsMom

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#11
On a side note, how do you pronounce it? LOL. In my head, I feel like I always said it like I do "versus" but I realize it's got the apostrophe over the 'e' sooo yeah, anyone?
 

Beanie

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#13
Verus, like said above, is made in Maryland so it's at our local store. It's in pretty blue-ish colored bags though lol. Not plain.
No no, the sample bags are plain, LOL. Just clear plastic sealed bags with an orange sticker slapped on them. As opposed to other brand's sample bags which tend to look like a mini version of their normal packaging.

We have Fromm and considered that, but compared nutritionally to the TOTW it wasn't a better move. It's also really expensive here. We keep looking at it every time we try to figure out what to do and we're like "No, no, that won't work." The discussion of going high fat has come up but there's a possibility high fat will be worse for him; that's the one thing I'm not sure of on Canine Caviar, it's quite high fat. We are pretty sure if we went high fat, it will either make him gain weight... or give him the poos, LOL.

He's almost two, there's a possibility he will bulk out on his own, but I'm not counting on it. I was hoping after he turned one that we would have the magic Adult Dog Muscles and Fat!! but he's still skinny mini puppy. Sigh.


ETA: We said it like "Vair-us."
 

JacksonsMom

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#14
No no, the sample bags are plain, LOL. Just clear plastic sealed bags with an orange sticker slapped on them. As opposed to other brand's sample bags which tend to look like a mini version of their normal packaging.

We have Fromm and considered that, but compared nutritionally to the TOTW it wasn't a better move. It's also really expensive here. We keep looking at it every time we try to figure out what to do and we're like "No, no, that won't work." The discussion of going high fat has come up but there's a possibility high fat will be worse for him; that's the one thing I'm not sure of on Canine Caviar, it's quite high fat. We are pretty sure if we went high fat, it will either make him gain weight... or give him the poos, LOL.

He's almost two, there's a possibility he will bulk out on his own, but I'm not counting on it. I was hoping after he turned one that we would have the magic Adult Dog Muscles and Fat!! but he's still skinny mini puppy. Sigh.


ETA: We said it like "Vair-us."
Oops, my bad. lol. Missed the sample bag part.

I mean, I'd probably pick Fromm over both TOTW and Verus but that's just me (in terms of ingredients, company reliability, etc). I also have no experience with Verus... maybe I'll see if our store has a sample bag of it next time I go. Looking at it though, it does seem like Verus has a bit simpler of an ingredient list.

Fromm seems to be hit-or-miss with prices. Here, it's one of the cheaper options. I think our Gold 5lb bag was $9.99 which is about the same as TOTW for us. The grain-frees are more, but not any worse than Acana, and others.

Good luck! Stomach problems/loose stools/runny poos and all that are so not fun!
 

AllieMackie

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#15
Canine Caviar is amazing. Highly highly recommend it. They have grain-inclusive and grain free ones, and the grain-inclusive varieties are also super-high-calorie. You can feed pretty small portions.
 

Beanie

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#16
Update: So Payton refused to eat his green beans and was leaving food in his bowl to avoid them, so I stopped the green beans. Kept the amount of food the same, and he was pooping in the house again. So Tuesday I opened one of my sample bags and started feeding him the Verus. He likes it plenty and so far he has not had any runny poos, nor has he pooped in the house. In fact he seems perfectly capable of telling me even if I'm across the house, or in the basement, that he needs to go outside and can hold it and wait until I let him out (whereas before on the TOTW he seems to be like "OH GOD I GOTTA POOP *squats wherever he's standing*")

So far so good! The only downside is the slightly larger than usual grain-fed puppy poops. =P I'm not sure yet if I'm going to switch everybody over to the Verus or just him. I think I will just get a small bag and make sure he does fine on it, then maybe next round buy a big bag and switch everybody.
 

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#17
Juno lost weight on Canine Caviar. =P

Her poop tends to lean toward the looser side, when she was younger she had frequent episodes of urgent, liquid diarrhea. She seems to do better on grains? I don't have to be so super precise with feeding amounts... on grain free if I fed her a hair too much, it was apparent in her poop. Its tricky, sometimes you just have to try things out and see what works for him.
 

Beanie

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#18
Yeah, the possibility that he might do better on grains came up back when he had colstridium too. I think there are a few dogs here who do better on grains. So far he seems to be doing really good on it! If Verus came out with a grain free version, I'd probably switch and try that, but if grains are what it takes to get him to actually gain weight and NOT poop all over my house, grains it is!!
 

JessLough

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#19
Her poop tends to lean toward the looser side, when she was younger she had frequent episodes of urgent, liquid diarrhea. She seems to do better on grains? I don't have to be so super precise with feeding amounts... on grain free if I fed her a hair too much, it was apparent in her poop. Its tricky, sometimes you just have to try things out and see what works for him.
That was Rosey, too.
 
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#20
Yeah, the possibility that he might do better on grains came up back when he had colstridium too. I think there are a few dogs here who do better on grains. So far he seems to be doing really good on it! If Verus came out with a grain free version, I'd probably switch and try that, but if grains are what it takes to get him to actually gain weight and NOT poop all over my house, grains it is!!
I was just about to say, Zen does better with a little grain. I feed Victor Grain Free (we did TOTW for a long time, but Victor is actually cheaper), I add a half scoop of pro-plan performance to his food. No more diarrhea. Since pro-plan is a bit higher in fat it helps keep the weight on him as well. He eats 1.5 cups/day 1 cup of Victor and 1/2 cup of pro-plan.

I tried probiotics before and they had minimal effect. Just a thought.
 

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