Dog foods

Both of my rescue dogs have had a variety of problems - skin/teeth/joints ...

they're both on Science Diet Oral Care lamb and rice kibble and still have all of their teeth at 14 and 15 years old - that's big for spitz and spitz crosses. Our neighbours had to have 7 teeth pulled from their 3 year old pom.

When I got the boy dog he had been put onto a lamb and rice kibble by his previous vet. When I tried to switch to something else, he got really itchy and scratchy.

My best friend's girl rescue dog chewed her tail to a bloody stump til they realized she had food allergies and was switched to a lamb and rice kibble. Her tail feathers regrew beautifully. They'd initially thought she was neurotic and put her on a doggie tranquillizer, which didn't help.

Nutra dry and homemade soft food (usually chicken, brown rice, green beans, carrots). Nutra is not cheap.

That is exactly what Frankie was doing! I wasn’t sure what it was. It wasn’t fleas because I had him on the flea medication. He wasn’t doing well on the Iams. The lamb and rice formula did wonders for him!

Not sure I've heard of Nutra but will check it out online. I pay about 40 bucks for the 40lb bag of dog food I buy now and both do pretty good on it.

Quite a few dogs have problems with kibble that has corn in it, kind of like humans reacting to foods that have HFCS in them. Got to read those labels carefully.

When the dogs have wonky tummy (which the girl dog is prone to), I go to the Thai restaurant around the corner and buy big tubs of steamed rice for the dogs to eat. Settles their tummies quickly.

Oh yeah, they both get homemade soup each day - whatever bones are leftover to make a broth - then lots of carrots - sometimes peas/beans.

Sounds like the lamb and rice formula is the hot tip for you.

Some of those flea medications are horrible, but if they work for you, they work. We're lucky in NM. I've had cats and dogs eaten alive by fleas in Tulsa, but no treatment and no problems in Denver and New Mexico. Maybe the dry climate; maybe the altitude - both are above 5,000'.

Oops! Typo: It's Nutro. The cost is about the same as what you are paying, but you will use less if you also make a homemade stew like ehBeth and I are doing. I make a big pot and then freeze it into 2 day portion sizes.

I agree corn is a big no no and anything with animal by-products.

Our Maxie has been on Hill's Prescription Diet, d/d Canine Skin Support Potato & Salmon Formula dry food combined with d/d Canine Skin Support Salmon Formula canned food for about five years. It's kept his allergies under control and also his inflammatory bowel condition.

Here: http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-canine-dd-canine-skin-support-potato-and-salmon-formula-dry.html

And here: http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-canine-dd-canine-skin-support-salmon-formula-canned.html

for a bedtime snack, each of the dogs just got one Darford tummy treat (grain-free charcoal/pumpkin/papain biscuit) and 4 snap peas

they're spoiled

I've got a girl with environmental allergies who also seems to be a little reactive to corn. Have been very happy with the results I've had feeding Nutrisource Grain-Free Lamb kibble the last few months (switched from a string of Hill's options). Not sure if this is available everywhere, though -- I think it might be a regional product here.

A thought, though. Chewing on the tail base is a classic food allergy thing in a dog, but it can also be a sign of flea allergy dermatitis. Being in Florida and having come from a shelter, I would say the odds of flea exposure before you brought the dog home are pretty high, and the improvement over the past month may be more to do with no flea exposure than to the diet change.

In your shoes, I'd stick with what you're feeding -- I don't know that you're going to get a quality product without chicken, corn, or wheat (usually the big offenders in canine food allergy) for less than that. You could try mixing in a bit of a "normal" diet into a few feedings and see if doggie gets itchy again. If yes, stick with the lamb & rice. If no, the itching probably wasn't due to diet.

When it is on sale, I've been getting the Blue Buffalo brand of dog food.

I bought some of the Blue Buffalo Wilderness food a few days ago. It is a high protein version that our dogs love -- no grains at all. I'm hoping it will help the dogs lose a little weight since the exercise they are getting at the dog park doesn't seem to be making much of a difference.




They have duck, turkey and salmon versions of it too.

I am also trying their dog biscuits, but Madison is having trouble with them. They don't have corn or wheat, but do have oatmeal and barley. Madison has been spitting up after eating them so he may have an allergy to one of the new grains in his diet.

that's not a bad price

it's in line with decent quality lamb/rice kibbles

More likely he is gulping down the food too fast, which can be a sign he likes it. Try giving him smaller portions over a 1/2 hour and see if it still happens.

We've tried a bunch of different brands and finally settled on one that's a beef/rice concoction for adult dogs. It also has a prebiotic.

When Jack was suffering with the mad scratching and developing bald patches, our Vet recommended and prescribed fish oil capsules. We've been giving him one a day for about the past year and it's made a remarkable difference. All his hair has grown back and no more scratching!

Thanks for the input. Since he’s doing so well on his lamb and rice I won’t be changing it.

I was a little concerned with the flea pill I give them. It’s called comfortis, not cheap but it sure works great, but I was thinking, the fleas bite the dogs then they die because of the confortis, which made me wonder just how healthy it was for the dogs.

I looked up comfortis and the active ingredient is Spinosad. Spinosad is a species specific poison that I have personally used in gardening/farming and is organically approved for killing certain fly larvae. It kills by effecting the insect’s nervous system, leading to paralysis and a quick death. It must be ingested by the critter to work, thus the flea must bite the dog. It is not toxic to mammals and most other insect life, but I did a cut and paste of possible canine side effects...

Cautions:
Side effects may occur, including vomiting. If your pet is experiencing loss of appetite, lethargy, or any other difference in behavior, contact your veterinarian. The FDA has received reports of adverse reactions in dogs receiving the drug Comfortis (spinosad) concurrently with high, extra-label doses of ivermectin. Dogs receiving extra-label doses of ivermectin to treat non-responsive demodectic mange and other conditions have developed signs of ivermectin toxicity. Ivermectin is an ingredient found in heartworm preventatives such as Heartgard Plus, Heartgard, Iverhart Plus and Ivomec.

I've gotta point out that the extra-label dosages of ivermectin that are (rarely) associated with (generally reversible) neurotoxicity are usually around 0.5 to 0.6 mg/kg. The dosages used in heartworm preventatives are 0.006 to 0.012 mg/kg -- about 50 to 100 times lower.

Ivermectin tends to get a bad rap on the internet because people don't understand how it's used. Even dogs with the mutations that sensitize them to ivermectin toxicity -- a significant percentage of purebred collies, occasionally other herding dogs with collie in their lineage -- are rarely affected by the dosage given in in heartworm products.

Sorry to derail, but it's a misconception I have to clear a lot, and sometimes the fearmongering gets in the way of reality.

I was buying dog food recently and started chatting to a guy who told me that he usually just picks up a dead wallaby off the road, skins it and throws it to his dogs. Free and no odd additives if you're not too squeamish.