Dog question.

jelique7

I am deciding if I should switch Tiny's food. Right now I am feeding him Iams proactive large breed puppy food and he loves it but I think he has allergies! I know switching the food can make a difference. He just wont stop itching to save his life, every time I look he is scratching himself. Anyways, I am thinking about switching him to Blue Buffalo which is supposed  to be the best.

Right now I pay about 35 for a 40lb bag of food and the BB food is 48 bucks for a 30lb bag of food and I will be going through about 3 bags a month of the BB. Its a lot more expensive but is it really as good as everyone says, is it worth switching?

JennaV26

I've never used BB so I can't really tell you if it will be worth the added cost. I think MilkDuds is right, you should probably talk to your vet about your pup's allergies, you may just need to get him on a prescription. I've also read that some dogs are allergic to corn and a lot of dog food uses corn products as a filler. You might want to look into that too.

I talked to my vet about switching Howie's dog food last week and he said to switch him gradually by adding some of the new food to his dog bowl with his the food he's used to eating. Just keep adding the new food and giving him less of his old food until you're only giving him the new brand. Apparently dogs' digestive systems can get upset if you switch their food abruptly.

Steph0871

We were using the Purina One for our dog, because that's what the Humane Society had him on.  But I felt bad about how cheap it was... we slowly switched him to Blue Buffalo.  But he farted, a lot, and it smelled horrible.  So now he gets half and half.

We also feed him the puppy large breed stuff.  With Puckett, it's easy to tell when he's getting too chunky or too thin. FWIW, we don't feed him as much as the bag recommends, either.  He's a Husky/Golden mix and will probably be about 70-80 pounds.  He's 7 months old and about 50 or so pounds now.  Purina One recommends about 5 cups/day and BB says about 4 and a half.  He usually gets a little under 4 cups/day.

PetSmart puts BB on sale about every other week, too.  We just bought a bag of each yesterday (15 pounds and 18 pounds or whatever) and I think it was $40 total.  BB also has a $4 coupon you can get from their website

Steph0871

Oh, and ditto PPs.  Talk to the vet.  Ours ended up recommending just giving him a Benadryl every other day.  She said in the winter we can add a little Olive Oil to his food too, which helps keep his skin from drying (and therefore helps stop itching.)  But we're in MN... I doubt your air gets as cold and dry as ours

jelique7

Thanks, I do want to take him to the vet though. When I went to petco yesterday to get him more food they told me that Iams is switching factories so my food wont be available for 3-6 months while they are in transition! So im planning the switch now just incase I cant find his food anymore. The itching isn't bad enough for him to loose hair or make him bleed or anything, he actually doesn't seem to notice.

We had a chocolate lab that had really bad allergies and she needed a allergy shot and pills everyday and she still suffered, we actually had to put her down because of the allergies and some other issues.

Steph- My dog gets about 5-6 cups a day and I looked at the BB serving sizes as well and I think they need less of the BB food because it is better quality or something.

I just got him some medicated anti-itch shampoo that I started using yesterday so hopefully that will help too. I know its not flees because our other dogs are not near as itchy as him and Im not itching =].

katiewhompus

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_dog-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:54df9682-7d69-4e42-84c5-9507f9ab7072Post:8a1b92df-37bb-4897-9465-81338d94f68b">Re: Dog question.</a>:
[QUOTE]I'd talk to your vet if you think he has allergies.  My parents dog (large black lab) has to take an allergy pill every other day or he chews his paws until they bleed and scratches non stop. <strong> Hopefully KatieW will come reply.  She feeds her dog Blue Buffalo.
</strong>Posted by ILoveMilkDuds[/QUOTE]

My batsignal must be down today!

Jel if you are still here, I switched Katie to BB (Senior) over the summer and the change was very noticable. She is 80 pounds (down from 100, woot!) and gets 1 1/2 cup a day. The food is much better qualty and they have been a very steady company in my experience as far as recalls, being out of products, etc. Katie looks and moves better and her gas problem is now non-existant (thank freaking god because she was stinky).

You can get coupons from BB's website and the bags go on sale quite frequently which is nice. We were feeding her Nutro before and it's well worth the extra money we pay for BB. They also have a pretty decent variety so if you trace down the allergy to gluten, chicken, etc. there are other options.

I checked with H and both Iams and Eukanuba are now owned by Proctor and Gamble, so their food might be a bit iffy for a little while as far as ingredients and reliability.

katiewhompus

According to H, according to P & G they will be keeping the recipe the same but there might be some longer shortings of product, about 3-6 months (which can sometimes translate into 9 months) while they switch packaging and figure out things.

I always worry about ingrediants when companies switch because they don't always use the same suppliers, and even a little change in grain type or meat distributer can sometimes cause digestive issues (short term, not long). I know we had a problem when I was with PSmart when one of the companies, I forget which, switched their meat to a better quality without advertising it. Owners were complaining that their dogs were getting upset stomach's all of the sudden and it was finally traced to the higher quality of the meat. Good in the long run, just a little unsettling in the interim.

You can always try to stock up on the old food which will help. Then when they push out the new product try to mix the old food with the new which will help any ingrediant transitioning.

katiewhompus

H said they (PSmart at least) will not be receiving any shipments of the old food after next week (possibly a week or so after depending on how much the distribution center has), and have the 3-6 month timeline for when new food will be arriving. Times like this makes me glad I no longer work at a pet store. Holy angry customers.

aggiebug

Jel- the thing about food allergies it that its a specific ingredient that causes the allergen not the quality of the food. So switching from Iams puppy food to BB puppy food may not even help at all.  You will probably need to try novel protein diets (or even better perscription protein free diets) to see if it is diet related, which would be best discussed with a vet.   Also how old is your puppy? Most of the allergy diets available are meant for adult dogs not puppies- since most dogs don't develop allergies until they are mature. 

And just because your other dogs aren't scratching as much does not mean Tiny doesn't have fleas.  If he is allergic to fleas 1 flea bite could make him insanely itchy while the other dogs are not bothered at all.  Do you have flea preventative? the best place to look for fleas/ flea dirt is in the groin area. but again if it was one flea it will be hard to find the problem.

jelique7

KW- Thanks for the info. I was a little peeved that they said my food would not be available for a while, since they had no more at petco I went to petsmart and bought the last 2 bags on the shelf. It will only last me 2 months but it will give me some time to figure out what is going on and then I can have some food to mix in with the new food if I switch.

aggie- I looked for fleas all over all 3 of our dogs and I couldn't find any signs of them which I am happy about. Fleas are sneaky little bastards so they could be lurking somewhere but I doubt that's the case (Iv been checking him everyday for about 3 weeks). He is 8 months old, they grow up so fast!

Steph0871

Jel- how big is he now? Puck is about 7 and a half months and he's a little over 50 pounds, which seems huge.  But I bet "Tiny" is huge!

jelique7

Tiny will be 8 months on the 8th and he is 70-80lbs.
This was him last night.

Steph0871

awww. Our dogs have the same birthday  There's a Great Dane puppy at the dog park we go to... I can't believe how huge he is already.  He's such a cuddler though, but a slobbery one. haha

jelique7

Aw our dogs are birthday buddies! Im lucky Tiny doesn't slobber that much....yet.

swgonzales

Hi -- sorry I don't post very often and I was just browsing the boards so I am way late on this but I got an email a few weeks ago that Blue Buffalo was recalled because it was making dogs sick

http://wjz.com/consumer/Blue.Buffalo.Company.2.1957024.html

I feed my dog Innova large breed puppy -- I am embarrassed to tell you how much it is $60 for a 33lb bag but it has cleared up some allergy problems he was having. 

aggiebug

Sorry I posted and ran of sorts.

Jas- Since he is a Great Dane puppy he needs to be on puppy food for quite a while.  I would look at maybe a lamb and rice formula puppy food.  It should have some limited proteins so if it is allergies you may be able to control them.  Its still a pot shot at this point, but I think keeping Tiny on a good quality large breed puppy food is more important for his health than a low allergy food.   I hope he is on a large breed food right now? GDs grow to fast and can have significant bone problems if they are not on a lower calcium diet (ie lg breed puppy).  Adult dog foods do not have the adequate energy balance for a puppy especially a fast growing dog like a dane

and graceb- I entirely disagree with you about dogs not needing grains.  There has been a lot of research to show that wild relatives of the dog get a large souce of grains from their prey, and rely on it for a large portion of their nutrients.  Yes, dogs do just fine on grain free diets (just like humans can manage as vegetarians) even though that is not the natural thing for dogs to do. 

And the blue buffalo recall is one reason I am hesitant to use them as a brand.  Too much Vitamin D is dangerous for a dog, and that is something that should be closely regulated.  Yes every brand is prone to recalls and problems, but I would like to think that their nutrients from bag to bag would be gauranteed accurate.  They dont feed test their diets to know what is actually available to the dogs vs what they put in the foods.  That can be a HUGE difference.

graceb15

I very much disagee with the puppy food thing. I would only feed him puppy food until he is 6 month old at the max and maybe not at all. Puppy food is very high in calcium and proteins. It causes puppies bones to grow too fast causing problems later on. I have  a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy and he was on puppy food till he was 10 weeks old and that was it, he's a big boy, almost 7 months old and 75 pounds. I've raised and showed dogs for years, so I do know what I'm doing/saying. Some people will disagree with this, but its been proven and most breeders that know what they're doing will tell you this also. Especially with a big breed like that, it can cause all sorts of problems you don't want to deal with later on. This is a good article from a Great Dane site on it...
http://www.daneangelnetwork.org/puppyfood.htm

I guess I shouldn't have said all grains, but most dog food companies load their foods with corn as a filler and its not even necessary. Science Diet is the WORST for this. I prefer to feed a grain free food and that's just me. Feed whatever works best for your dog, I'm just giving advice.

aggiebug

and I again I disagree on the puppy foods.  Yes large breed dogs need less calcium or it can cause OCD and other growth problems.  But adult foods are also not balanced properly for puppies.  Period.  This is why I said a puppy food specifically for large breed dogs.  It is balanced puppy food that is also appropriate for a large breed dog (ie less calcium)  It used to be that adult foods were better for large breed dogs, becuase they did not have a large breed puppy formulation.  Now they have a large breed puppy formulation that is the best of both worlds, less calcium but still designed for puppy energy levels.

(oh and just fyi that article has numerous flaws.  Most of the description of bony diseases it describes are wrong, including the factors that cause them.  OCD is the only one linked to diet- high Ca levels.)
I too know what I am talking about when it comes to pet health and nutrition.


***
I am not saying Hill's is the best food, they have their pros and cons. But they were the first to do any research on pet nutrition, and their research is still considered the standard for the industry. Hill's and Mark Morris Foundation have provided the research describing what are the nutritional requirement of cats and dog, along with diets to help animals with different disease conditions. They do more for pet health research and nutrition than all the other pet food companies combined.  So no you don't have to feed them, and there are a lot of good quality foods out there, but it kills me when people hate on the company so much.  They truly are a company that is not about the bottom line, but about serving an industry to the best of their ability.
**

katiewhompus

Hills SD was always my recommendation for people who wanted something better than purina but not expensive as the premium brands. Demon was on it for quite some time and did very well.

With the exception of the Mars recall of '07 most recall products don't even hit the shelf which makes me feel better about using the different brands. Most are recalled in the testing phase, not the eating phase (yes eating phase is scientific terminology in my world ha)

aggiebug

Oh man the '07 recall was just a catastrophe. To put it nicely! I like your scientific description katie . That is the type of verbage I use at school lol. My clinicians tell me to use my big words a lot haha.

aggiebug

Oh man the '07 recall was just a catastrophe. To put it nicely! I like your scientific description katie . That is the type of verbage I use at school lol. My clinicians tell me to use my big words a lot haha.

graceb15

Not going to argue with you about it. This is my personal experience from raising and showing dogs and talking to a lot of very good breeders about it. I would not have my great dane puppy on puppy food at almost a year old. But, its not my dog. Feeding puppy food to puppies past 6 months old is usually not reccommended for bigger breeds. I'm just giving my own advice and things I've learned over the years. Its not my dog, you raise it how you want to. I'd personally never feed Science Diet, but once again that's just me. People will argue about dog food all day. I've fed many types of food and find Nutrisource works best for my dogs. I like Taste of the Wild too, I also fed EVO for awhile.

katiewhompus

The '07 recall was hell. I still blame my cat for it. She had eaten Fancy Feast her whole life and I decided to give her some healthier food and got 1 can from each of the better brands. Next day they were all recalled and back to Fancy Feast she went.

aggiebug

haha Katie- I blame your cat too!

graceb, yes we could argue about brands of foods all day long and get no where.  I actually try not to give brand advice anymore as it has just gotten me frustrated on some of these boards.  That is why I try to give advice about what to look for in a food.  There are still a lot of opinions out there as to what is right, and this is an industry that is changing rapidly as the science gets better.  I have put a lot of effort to look at the research and base my opinions on research so I can pass on better advice to my clients, but I will also admit my opinions are just that- opinions!

swgonzales

Ok so now I am worried -- I have a goldendoodle who just turned a year and we still feed him the large breed puppy foood (Innova) because we talked to the vets office and they said large breed was good for him because he would be over 50lbs full grown and it would help with joint problems. The bag says to feed it up to 2 years old so we have just kept him on it (he turned a year earlier this month). Also, he is still super high energy and we have actually been giving him more food because the vet said he was a little underweight....sorry he is our first puppy and I rely on the vet, the internet and apparently the knot for advice