The staining generally comes from the food you feed. Pick a highi quality, grain free food (nothing from the grocery store) and chances are even if you have tearing you won't get the staining. Marley is prone to tearing but he never gets any staining because of the food he's on. The rest of mine only get teary when it's windy out or they're intensely eating some raw meat.

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On the Honest Kitchen. A 10lb box (which makes 43lbs of fresh food) cost approx $61 for the Thrive & $77 for the Embark. The Thrive is not grain free but contains only quinoa (most nutritious grain there is) for a grain. While I don't feed grains to my pups...I'd have no problem feeding puppies the Thrive at all. And no, they won't eat a lot. We've been using a 10lb box since last Friday (once a day for my 6 dogs) and it seriously doesn't look like we've touched it. LOL I can not see 3 wee puppies making a hole it in too quickly (if that is what you chose).

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