I have, a couple times, tried to give him some Taste of the Wild (very slow transition, sudden transition, moderate transition... all with the same conclusion) but the results have never been pretty, so I was basically scared off attempting to feed Conker kibble.
Some time ago I found a couple small sample bags of Solid Gold's kibble. I found three types: Wolf King, Hund-N-Flocken, and Barking at the Moon. I grabbed them, intending to give them to the Girls for taste tests but instead did something I haven't done for a long while.
I gave them to Conker.
I was very wary at first, not wanting to upset his digestive system like all the past times he's grabbed kibble from the Girls before I could stop him. I really, really, really, really, didn't want to give the kibbles to him, but then again, I was really, really, really, really, curious if he could actually eat a kibble and digest it well.
I didn't instantly switch Conker to it. He ate some Honest Kitchen for a day to two, then got the Wolf King mixed with the HK, then one day of Wolf King on it's own.
He digested it fine. That was a shock.
So the next day he got Hund-N-Flocken, since it had no potatoes. It's main protien is lamb.
He digested this better than the Wolf King. Another shock.
After that... I gave him some of the Barking at the Moon. I was reluctant to include this one in the kibble test since it did not contain grains and used potatoes and had a very high protien content compared to the other two. But I gave it anyways.
This one... Yes and no. I am unsure of exactly what went on here. Not much of a shock at all.
The day after that, Conker got raw foods. He didn't have a problem switching back.
So, in the short-term, Conker can eat Solid Gold kibbles. This is both good and bad.
I do not plan on ever permanently switching him off raw and home-cooked foods, ever, unless I cannot financially afford to feed him that way anymore. That is a "bad" part of him being able to digest a kibble, because there is no longer an incentive to feed raw and home-cooked foods due to digestive issues.
The "good" part is, he can digest a kibble! That means, if I ever have to go someplace and not take him, the relatives don't have to deal with thawing raw stuff and cooking oats for Conker every day.
Another thing that is interesting, and a "bad" for the kibble is, though he only ate it for about five days, in those five days, he began to smell, got eye boogers, had less stable energy, and more spaztastic energy.
Not fond of those side-effects, I am. Further convinced my diet is better than commercial, I am.
The unknown thing here is, though, can he actually, consistently, and predictably, digest that kibble? When he was on Science Diet and later Orijen, he went through periods of fine digestion and horrid digestion. Some days he had regular poop, others... nasty nasty nasty.
He was not eating the Solid Gold kibbles long enough for me to figure out if this is the case or not.
It needs further experimenting to draw up a conclusion on the actual digestibility and effects of the kibble, maybe sometime next month. I will probably try one type, take note of any changes, then put Conker back on the "default" diet (what he currently eats) to reset any changes, then test another type.
I am very curious about this though, and are somewhat looking forwards to it. I love to compare things, and this will be a real test of a commercial diet vs my diet.
(Excluding THK, Ziwipeak, and Freshpet, since they are not "normal" commercial foods.)
