Chit Chat

Dog Food Choices?

Our dog battles allergies...and I've been trying to deny they are food related...mostly because they seem to have been worse in spring and fall and are more mild now but I've learned from a friend (who also has a pet with food allergies and this is what her vet told her) that her frequent yeast infections in her ears could also be a food allergy symptom. We already feed her a high quality grain free food - Fromm Surf & Turf. It has 5 stars on Dog Food Advisor so that's why I gravitated to it over the the other Fromm varieties which all seem to be 4 stars.

Why I'm starting to think it must be food related rather than seasonal -

It's winter. It's been cold enough consistently enough in Georgia that we aren't experiencing any new growth anywhere, most everything has gone dormant for the winter or is in the process of going dormant.

She's had countless yeast infections this year. At first I thought they were related to our lake trips, baths, and other dogs chewing on her ears when they play...but we haven't had a bath or a swim in the lake in months and she has infections in both ears out of nowhere.

She's still licking her paws...although not as much as she was in the spring or fall. In the fall she licked one paw so much she licked all the hair off and we finally had to put her on medication to help. We had her on meds for nearly two months before they ran out and we tried to see what would happen now that it's colder and less allergens are out in the air.

So anyway, I'm really frustrated. I feel like we're giving her a top dog food brand, it's grain free and I understand grain is usually the culprit with food allergies so now I don't know what to do. Does anyone else still battle allergies with their dog while they were on a grain free diet and did switching food brands help? If so, what were on and what food did you switch to? Is wet food better than dry? She's a pretty high energy dog and we go for runs three times a week in addition to our other playtime activities (soccer and Frisbee) and walks so I'm not suppperr worried I guess about her getting overweight. She's young and highly active, not a couch potato.



Re: Dog Food Choices?

  • I'm sorry for your puppy dog. Are you cleaning your dogs ears regularly? Ive never had a dog with allergies, and I don't know much about allergies or different foods.

    (Although I CAN say, even though all the ladies here love cheese, do NOT let your dog get ahold of cheese.... Raider is having diarrhea everywhere.)

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  • carrie0924carrie0924 member
    First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Anniversary
    edited December 2014
    YES! I am so happy to share my knowledge with you because I know exactly, first hand, how frustrating this is.
    We have an Old English Bulldog that my fiance brought to the relationship. They are prone to skin conditions anyway (if anybody is thinking about getting an OEB - do NOT! They have a million health issues). He had him on a decent quality, bulldog specific food when we met, and he had a ton of skin issues, yeast infections, ear infections, licking his paws, itching everywhere, rash in the crotch, etc. I immediately started trying foods. Evo Herring & Salmon is the only food we've found that helps. The problem is that while grain does cause a lot of food allergies, your dog could be allergic to any of the other ingredients. Some do well on one type of protein, but not another, so sometimes even just switching the main protein within the same brand of food can be helpful. We tried Evo for him because a) my dogs had been eating it for years and have always done really well on it and b) Evo has the least number of ingredients of any of the foods we found.
    Last year, Evo had a voluntary recall and you couldn't find it anywhere for about 4 months. Our poor bulldog went half crazy because no matter what we fed him (Fromms included), his skin issues flared up. Put him back on Evo as soon as we could get it again, and his skin issues almost disappeared overnight.
    He does have skin flare ups, and he is currently having one. We were just at the vet last week about it. This time of year, it can be household allergens because you're turning on your heat, kicking molds and mildew and dust into the air. Our vet prescribed a low dose of anti-histamine to help him get through it. You can also try Benadryl. They can get 1 mg per 1 pound of body weight, up to 3 times per day. http://benadrylfordogs.info/benadryl-dosage-for-dogs/
    Also, we use this to help give instant relief to the worst areas: http://synergylabs.com/product/richards-organics-new-incredible-skin-spray-12-oz-3/
    Good luck! And also I hope you are enjoying the weather. I'm originally from Atlanta, but now live in the Great Lakes region. I envy you right now :(


  • Our dog also suffered from "seasonal: allegies. They showed a lot of improvement when we switched to Kirkland (from Costco) brand food. So we decided his allergies were more food than seasonal. He does well on the adult and senior flavors, but the weight control aggrevates his allergies. We still have no idea what thing in the food he is allergic to, but I don't care so long as there is something we know is okay for him.

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  • Maury has food allergies and strong preferences. When we first got him, I posted a question about food on this board. We've tried 6 foods since May. Some he's outright refused to eat (Blue), others gave him endless gas (a fancy organic that someone recommended here), another got him vomiting (Science Diet). We've been told that pits tend to have lots of allergies. His favorite is Pedigree- the stuff they fed him at the shelter- but his vet has told us that it's just dog junk food.

    Currently, he's eating Costco food- the Kirkland Signature line. He loves it and it seems to be agreeing with him.

    One more thought- are you sure that she's had multiple ear infections and not just one that doesn't heal completely? Maury was supposedly cured of one right before we adopted him but ended up with an ugly infection 2 months later. The vet told us that people frequently can't tell the difference between the infection being cured and the dog no longer being bothered by it.
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  • My older dog can't eat chicken, but it's more of a noxious gas thing than skin allergies.

    My dog who passed away had anal gland issues for years until I got him on Wellness Senior Mix.

    My younger dog also has anal gland issues, but she's not a senior, so I have her on Wellness Simple Salmon I believe, but they haven't gone away like they did with my other dog, although we finally got rid of the infection that she battled for months!

    I think most "grain free" foods still include fillers, especially potato, which is a nightshade just like tomato and a common allergen, so maybe try a high quality food with just rice instead?

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  • @carrie0925 Omg that helps a ton! I thought we were escaping the breed related issues (she's lab and border collie) by getting a mutt but we've since learned her mom had some allergies (and her mom was a lab/border mix too) so it sounds more genetic than just purely a breed issue...ugh! I love Old English Bulldogs though...they are so sweet and adorable! But their health problems make me so sad.

    @Liatris2010 It's funny you mention Kirkland (Costco). I've heard other things about Kirkland brands that say they are top of the market - like their bacon for example. I may have to explore other options first though...we have a Costco membership but I don't want to commit to a giant bag of food unless they have smaller sizes to try (I'll have to check next time we go).

    @Sugargirl1019 We don't clean her ears at all. I've always had floppy eared dogs and have never done ear cleaning. The most we try to do is keep water out during bathtime but that's it. Doggie maintenance usually consists of the occasional claw trimming and teeth brushing after she gets a bath.



  • I lived with a roommate who had a cocker spaniel with every single one of the issues you described (plus a skin condition that made her itchy ALL THE TIME) and the only thing that actually fixed it was making her meals from scratch of the meat she wasn't allergic to and a small amount of veg/starch. Like cooking for a person. It sounds hard, but if you're cooking for yourselves anyway, it might be worth a try. You'd obviously have to research and tailor it to your dog's needs, but yeah.

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  • carrie0925 Omg that helps a ton! I thought we were escaping the breed related issues (she's lab and border collie) by getting a mutt but we've since learned her mom had some allergies (and her mom was a lab/border mix too) so it sounds more genetic than just purely a breed issue...ugh! I love Old English Bulldogs though...they are so sweet and adorable! But their health problems make me so sad.

    Liatris2010 It's funny you mention Kirkland (Costco). I've heard other things about Kirkland brands that say they are top of the market - like their bacon for example. I may have to explore other options first though...we have a Costco membership but I don't want to commit to a giant bag of food unless they have smaller sizes to try (I'll have to check next time we go).

    Sugargirl1019 We don't clean her ears at all. I've always had floppy eared dogs and have never done ear cleaning. The most we try to do is keep water out during bathtime but that's it. Doggie maintenance usually consists of the occasional claw trimming and teeth brushing after she gets a bath.

    FWIW, those giant 40 pound bags are only $20-30, and if she isn't allergic, you'll save over the long run. You might also see if Costco wold let you return the opened bag.

     

    You can clean her ear with a q-tip. Dogs have an "L" shaped ear canal, so you don't have to worry about hurting her ear. You can also buy a drying creme to put in the ear, it drys to a powder and sucks all the trapped moisture out. It's very inexpensive, and works great for killing ear infections.

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  • @wandajune6 That's a good thought. It's obvious when she's being bothered by one but the ear gunk and redness is usually a good indicator for us. It seems when she is clear that her inner ears aren't inflamed and there isn't noticeable wax. I'd hope our vet would tell us though...we go in often enough for other issues because active dog seems to lead to active injuries ugh (like poking holes in her cornea from diving in to bushes...) and we usually have her checked all over. We're thankful our dog isn't picky...she eats whatever we put in front of her at least so far anyway.

    @luckya23 Do you have any brands you'd recommend with rice? I can't remember the ingredients of her Fromm food off the top of my head.

    To some other questions I overlooked - we did Benadryl at first but after awhile it wasn't helping anymore so we went to the vet for something stronger. It worked but it came with some not fun side effects for her. We think it gave her dry mouth because she was absolutely gulping down water and we borderline had to do potty training again because of the increased water intake.

    Our dog doesn't get table food. My H has a pretty epic story about the one time his lab/rotty mix was given a little turkey post Thanksgiving dinner. He woke up the next morning to all the windows in the house open (in northern Indiana so NOT fun) and his dad running a carpet cleaning machine because the dog had pretty much sprayed diarrhea throughout the house.



  • My big dog has a problem with allergies. A couple years ago we switched his food to Blue Buffalo Basics on the recommendation of our vet and it cleared up a LOT of his issues. It's dairy free, gluten free, etc etc etc and is specifically meant to help dogs avoid allergy issues. Plus it's good quality stuff.
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  • we have a picky dog and he gets Fresh Pet Select, it comes in a big 6 pound log in a refrigerated case in the dog food aisle.  Supposedly he refuses to eat dry food (it's FI's dog) and this is the only stuff he eats.  It's expensive which is annoying but it could be worth a shot if the dry stuff seems to be causing allergy issues.


    The dog is a beagle and has to have his ears cleaned out a lot or he keeps pawing at them.  Has had medicines and stuff but regular cleaning seems to help.

  • The Wellness Lamb & Barley (& Rice) formula is what I think I had my younger dog on before we went with the fish simple diet.  My other dog gets California Natural Lamb & Rice Low Fat because of the chicken issue I mentioned, but that wouldn't be ideal for an active dog.

    I'm just starting the process of trying to find a (hopefully cheaper) food that will work for both of them, so I just bought a bag of Pro Pac Ultimates.  Fingers crossed!  It's such a tricky game!

    They go through food super fast though, so I don't worry TOO much about buying the biggest bag!

     

     

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  • carrie0925 Omg that helps a ton! I thought we were escaping the breed related issues (she's lab and border collie) by getting a mutt but we've since learned her mom had some allergies (and her mom was a lab/border mix too) so it sounds more genetic than just purely a breed issue...ugh! I love Old English Bulldogs though...they are so sweet and adorable! But their health problems make me so sad.

    Glad I can help. We have worked very hard on trying to isolate the cause and reduce his issues. We still don't know what causes it, we just know what he responds well to. Oh also, forgot to mention. We give him fish oil, per the vet's recommendation (he's about 50 pounds & gets 4000 mg a day of the human stuff) and also a supplement called "Missing Link" that is for joints and coat.
    As far as the breed specific versus mutt health, I think you're referring to "hybrid vigor", which is a myth. If you have a dog with joint issues and a dog with heart issues and breed them together, from a genetic standpoint you can get a puppy with joint issues, a puppy with heart issues, a puppy with both, or a puppy with neither... The only way to avoid breed related issues is to do research on breed specific issues, and then find breeders that do health testing on their breeding animals to avoid breeding those specific issues. For example, the rare breed that I have can have eye problems, thyroid problems, hip issues or a very rare liver disease that only effects this breed. There are genetic tests for all of these diseases, plus x-ray exams for hips. All testing is put into a public database that any Joe Schmoe can access on the internet, so there's actually zero reason to buy a purebred dog that has genetic issues in it's pedigree if the breeder is ethical. When you get a mutt or a dog from rescue, it's always a crapshoot (not that I am at all indicating that anybody's mutt or rescue dog is anything less than the perfect animal, because let's face it, whatever animal is currently living in our home is the perfect animal :) )
  • Bulldogs are known to have allergies.  We started him off in the beginning with grain free foods.   After some experimenting we ended up with  Blue Buffalo Wilderness Salmon. We also feed hm raw lamb, rabbit, venison, beef or chicken.   He had an reaction to dry dog foods with chicken, but he is fine with raw.

    Mack gets Science Diet allergy food.   We started him on the same food as chef, but he had digestive issues with the food (we did gradually introduced the food).  He does well with the science diet.  Plus it costs less and  he eat twice when Chef eats, so it's good for the budget.  We also give him raw meats.


    Neither dog is fed food from the table or even leftovers.  When we are cutting up meat we will give them the raw pieces.  Only if they are sitting nicely.  We will put them in their bowls to eat.   We can eat on the coffee table without either dog going after the food. 






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  • My dog has a sensitive stomach, and we give her Orijen. She doesn't have allergies though, so I don't know how helpful that is. Her skin and coat did improve when we switched her.
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  • @Liatris2010 The drying cream is a good suggestion. I think the floppy ears definitely help trap in the moisture which creates a better environment for the yeast. So if this isn't allergy related then reducing the moisture issue would seriously help. And thanks for the tip of the Q-tips...I'm terrified of hurting her with one since the boxes are all DON'T PUT THESE IN YOUR EARS.

    Her Fromm food is like...$65 for a 35 lb bag and we go through those over the course of a month to a month and a half I think so I think as long as we aren't talking $100 per bag or something to feed her then we'll be ok.



  • LaPeanut1018 - a friend and I were just talking about her lab that was having constant ear issues. I guess her vet advised her to pick a grain free food. She is still researching her options.

    We personally got a lab puppy about 5 months ago and we've tried him on 3 different foods now but I think the one we just introduced may be the winner. The shelter was giving him Pedigree which seemed to be okay but I'm a crazy pet mom and looked at Dogfoodadvisor.com and decided that we'd put him on blue buffalo as soon as we got him home because it was highly rated and I'd seen lots of commercials. OMG after a month and half H and I were ready to invest in gas masks. We expected some issues immediately after transition but when the gas continued unabated H and I started to research other options. I also came across literature online that indicated labs do tend to have problems with chicken based foods and the BB for puppies is a chicken and brown rice formula. So we switched him to 4health lamb and Rice puppy (Tractor Supply Label produced by Blue buffalo). Pup's gas issues went away (thankfully) but his coat/skin got very rough and dry. At first I chalked it up to him not being a soft fuzzy puppy anymore and the fact that the weather was changing. But when he started getting lazy about eating (as the assistant in the pet food store said "you have a LAB puppy that isn't interested in FOOD? Does he have a pulse?" I went back to Dogfoodadvisor.com and came up with Earthborn Holistic Great Plains (bison based and enough protein for growing puppy). Our boy is now happily awaiting meal times again and in one short week his coat is already getting soft again and he isn't biting/scratching himself like he was on the 4health. The best thing about Earthborn is that they have 4 or 5 different protein formulas so once he hits 11 months if he starts losing interest in the bison I can buy one of their other formulas to rotate his protein sources. Plus if you go to their website and register they send you a $3 coupon good towards any 5lb or larger bag of food every month!

    Good luck I hope your little girl gets better soon!
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  • @carrie0924 She does get a fish oil pill in the mornings but I may need to check the amounts. I thought we were giving her one appropriate to her weight (40 lbs) but what you give your dog seems to be much much higher than the amount Cinders gets. Also, I am so sorry for your move. ;) I lived in South Dakota for a few years and it was terrible there...but the Great Lakes region gets DUMPED on. I don't think I could deal. Atlanta has been getting more than enough snow and ice for me lately (referencing our embarrassing Snowpacolypse 2014).

    For everyone with doggie tummy issues...I am sorry! My sister has a lab who seems to get diarrhea if he looks at food the wrong way...so I sympathize. We definitely don't seem to experience that here thank goodness. Just all the fun licking and ear infections.



  • @carrie0924 She does get a fish oil pill in the mornings but I may need to check the amounts. I thought we were giving her one appropriate to her weight (40 lbs) but what you give your dog seems to be much much higher than the amount Cinders gets. Also, I am so sorry for your move. ;) I lived in South Dakota for a few years and it was terrible there...but the Great Lakes region gets DUMPED on. I don't think I could deal. Atlanta has been getting more than enough snow and ice for me lately (referencing our embarrassing Snowpacolypse 2014).

    For everyone with doggie tummy issues...I am sorry! My sister has a lab who seems to get diarrhea if he looks at food the wrong way...so I sympathize. We definitely don't seem to experience that here thank goodness. Just all the fun licking and ear infections.
    You could definitely increase the fish oil. I've never tried it, but coconut oil is very good for skin and coats, as well. And as far as the move, it is what it is. I moved up here to try out a relationship with a guy, and almost 4 years to the day that I moved, we are engaged to be married 9 months from today. Despite the miserable winters, I'm very happy. And the frigid winters are a trade off for the super hot and humid Georgie summers. Good Lord I don't miss those! But I miss the scenery.... Georgie is so much prettier and more interesting. Everything is just flat up here :( But I love my fiance :)
    And people up here don't understand that without salt and plow trucks, the cities would shut down with an inch of ice, too! Nobody can drive on ice!! So don't think of Snowpocalypse as embarrassing.... it was inevitable when you only have winter storms every few years.
  • Hey there!  I skimmed through the responses, so I apologize if I'm repeating anyone!

    My dog currently has ear infections in both ears! :(  My vet told me that she has seen TONS of yeast infections this year, as well as an increase in dog allergies.  She actually said she shared my dog's problem (such bad ear infections that they spread to his eyes) with her vet message board and there was a general consensus that allergies and yeast infections have been extra bad for dogs in the southeast this year.

    As far as food goes, it seems like you have some good suggestions already.  Current dog doesn't have allergy issues, but our old lab did, and I think we fed him one of the Blue Buffalo foods.  We had a very bad experience with Wellness brand, FWIW.  It's important to remember that a lot of those types of food (all natural/organic) is preservative free, which means it has a short shelf life.  Definitely keep it in an airtight container.

    Also, I'm not familiar with the food brand you mentioned, but I know when we were doing elimination diets with the lab, we found that a lot of "grain free" brands still had corn and/or eggs, which can also be culprits.  Just something to keep in mind.  If I had unlimited time and resources, I would love to feed my dog just homemade food!

    Talk to the vet about it too and see what they say.  If you don't like your vet, I can give you the name of mine; he's awesome!! :)




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  • Hey there!  I skimmed through the responses, so I apologize if I'm repeating anyone!

    My dog currently has ear infections in both ears! :(  My vet told me that she has seen TONS of yeast infections this year, as well as an increase in dog allergies.  She actually said she shared my dog's problem (such bad ear infections that they spread to his eyes) with her vet message board and there was a general consensus that allergies and yeast infections have been extra bad for dogs in the southeast this year.

    As far as food goes, it seems like you have some good suggestions already.  Current dog doesn't have allergy issues, but our old lab did, and I think we fed him one of the Blue Buffalo foods.  We had a very bad experience with Wellness brand, FWIW.  It's important to remember that a lot of those types of food (all natural/organic) is preservative free, which means it has a short shelf life.  Definitely keep it in an airtight container.

    Also, I'm not familiar with the food brand you mentioned, but I know when we were doing elimination diets with the lab, we found that a lot of "grain free" brands still had corn and/or eggs, which can also be culprits.  Just something to keep in mind.  If I had unlimited time and resources, I would love to feed my dog just homemade food!

    Talk to the vet about it too and see what they say.  If you don't like your vet, I can give you the name of mine; he's awesome!! :)
    When we did this for the cocker spaniel it was actually cheaper than all those expensive, grain free preservative free hypoallergenic dog foods. I mean, it did take a little time but it wasn't that bad and she was so much healthier for it. I'd seriously encourage all of your with dogs with feeding issues to talk to your vet about it. It seems a bit crazy but I swear it was less than ten minutes of effort a day.

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  • Willy is on grain-free food because it's supposed to be better for his breed's skin - they're prone to really bad acne. He's had varying success with different brands though - some give him really squishy poop. He's on Nutro Naturals now (small breed adult, I think it's sweet potato and something) and it's working out really well.

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  • amelisha said:
    Hey there!  I skimmed through the responses, so I apologize if I'm repeating anyone!

    My dog currently has ear infections in both ears! :(  My vet told me that she has seen TONS of yeast infections this year, as well as an increase in dog allergies.  She actually said she shared my dog's problem (such bad ear infections that they spread to his eyes) with her vet message board and there was a general consensus that allergies and yeast infections have been extra bad for dogs in the southeast this year.

    As far as food goes, it seems like you have some good suggestions already.  Current dog doesn't have allergy issues, but our old lab did, and I think we fed him one of the Blue Buffalo foods.  We had a very bad experience with Wellness brand, FWIW.  It's important to remember that a lot of those types of food (all natural/organic) is preservative free, which means it has a short shelf life.  Definitely keep it in an airtight container.

    Also, I'm not familiar with the food brand you mentioned, but I know when we were doing elimination diets with the lab, we found that a lot of "grain free" brands still had corn and/or eggs, which can also be culprits.  Just something to keep in mind.  If I had unlimited time and resources, I would love to feed my dog just homemade food!

    Talk to the vet about it too and see what they say.  If you don't like your vet, I can give you the name of mine; he's awesome!! :)
    When we did this for the cocker spaniel it was actually cheaper than all those expensive, grain free preservative free hypoallergenic dog foods. I mean, it did take a little time but it wasn't that bad and she was so much healthier for it. I'd seriously encourage all of your with dogs with feeding issues to talk to your vet about it. It seems a bit crazy but I swear it was less than ten minutes of effort a day.
    Thank you, that's really good to know!  He LOVES people food (don't worry, he's still a healthy weight and we're careful about what he has--no onions, garlic, grapes, etc...), so I imagine we'd have a lot of success that way.  He's just so damn big, haha!

    Also, @lapeanut1018 I know you said you don't clean his ears, but I would talk to your vet about getting some Epi-Otic cleanser.  We used it for our lab, and we'll be using it more on our Presa once his current infection clears (he's on no-clean drops right now, so we have to wait).




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  • Others have given good advice, but in case any lurkers care, we feed our guy AvoDerm. They have several "flavors" (and recommend mixing them up; nutritionally they're supposed to be comparable). My dog LOVES the trout and pea flavor, as well as the duck, lamb, and chicken varieties. They have a "baked" chicken one though, which he does not care for--it's not kibble, but looks more like crumbled up bagel chips, and they're too hard for his soft little spaniel mouth to chew easily.

    We had him on a different food for a while, and while we didn't notice any health differences, he was waiting to eat his "breakfast" until we got home at night, and would sort of pick at his "dinner" in the middle of the night. He also had to shove it in the back of his mouth to chew it, because apparently it was a bit hard.

    We switched him back to AvoDerm, and that little bud RAN to his bowl and started chomping it down. He tries to rush us through his morning walks now because he knows he gets breakfast when he comes back. ;)

    Also, the avocado is supposed to be good for their skin/coats. It's an "all natural" brand, for whatever that is worth.
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  • labrolabro member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited December 2014
    @lurkergirl Thanks for the offer...but we do really LOVE our vet. I've been taking our dogs there for years now. We found them with my family's first golden retriever although it was a sad occasion - our first visit with her was one of her last as she had terminal cancer. Their compassion really stood out to us, everyone in the office was crying even though they didn't know us or our dog. It's funny you mention that though. Our vet told us they'd seen a ton of dogs this year with some pretty severe allergies, even dogs that don't normally experience them. Maybe next year will be better...

    Thanks to everyone who has responded! I'm making a list and we may start trying a couple different varieties soon! I need to go check the ingredient list on the Fromm variety first though so we can start with eliminating whatever is causing her issues.

    ETA: And also the ear cleansing suggestions! I'm going to ask our vet about some and see what he recommends. We need to go back soon anyway to buy more flea/tick stuff.



  • I have two Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix dogs.  One can eat ANYTHING with no problems.  The other dog is an extremely picky eater and has stomach issues (major diarrhea) with a lot of foods.  DH used to feel him whatever he got cheap at the store, combined with a lot of table scraps.  The dog avoided his food and had stomach issues whenever he ate it.  So, I went on the search for a better quality food that both dogs are happy & healthy with. 

    I wanted something grain-free, or at least something with a meat as the main ingredient. We discovered that our dog had a big problem with any of the higher protein dog foods. They were on the EVO (Turkey & Chicken Flavor) food for a couple years and they did really good on that one and both liked it. When EVO had their recall a while back we switched to Natural Balance L.I.D. (Limited Ingredient Diet) Potato & Duck Flavor and they have been on that successfully since that time.  Since we had already gotten them accustomed to it, we decided not to switch back to EVO after the recall ended. But, we've had good luck with both of those.

    And whenever he did start having stomach problems, per recommended by our vet, we pulled the dog food and put him on a grilled chicken and white rice diet for a few days.  We would cook up enough to last a few days or a week at a time, then just heat it up a little before giving it to him. In a day or two he was always back to normal.  Chicken & Rice is good at calming a sensitive stomach and kind of resetting their system.  It may also be a good test for a week or two to see if it helps your dogs allergies, since it is a safe & clean food choice without all the additives.  If he does better, then you know it's caused by the food.

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  • edited December 2014
    my bulldog dog is allergic to fish and chicken. seriously. She eats Fromm brand, their grain free line.. "pork and applesauce" and "beef frittata"

    Edited: because others responded better and you're familiar with the brand already.

    When I was researching dog food I read an interesting article that basically suggested the amount of money a brand puts into advertizing negatively correlates with the quality of food. (i.e. brands that advertize a lot like Purina are worse for your dog than noname brands with real meat). Interesting thought.
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