Vet recommends new dog food?

[kerplunk105]

How long has she been on the new dog food? What was she eating before?

[Sharon]

If the minor hair loss wasn't bothering me, I wouldn't change. If it was, I would. Entirely your choice.
However, if the loss gets worse, I would take the vet's advice.

[YELLERDOGS]

We have a dog with a protein allergy. He is now on duck and sweet potato. It seems to have worked, we noticed a difference within three weeks.

[ezzy333]

Actual food allergies are quite rare but 90% of them are allergies to the protein. An allergy to a grain is almost non-existant even though you hear about them quite often.. But it has been proven to be pretty much an old wifes tale.

Ezzy

[Duane M]

Actual food allergies are quite rare but 90% of them are allergies to the protein. An allergy to a grain is almost non-existant even though you hear about them quite often.. But it has been proven to be pretty much an old wifes tale.

Ezzy

Ezzy I have three vets who will all argue that one with you especially corn. I have two females with corn allergys, proven by tests not just guess work. If they are so non existent then why do we hear about them quite often? Grains in a diet are best when ran through and enzyme bath but most producers do not do that since it cuts into the bottom line.

[lvrgsp]

Duane, do you have Labs? and are they on a Lamb and Rice diet now? Just curious as to what you were feeding and what you went to. My lab was the same way, not an allergy to Corn as what was suggested, but a protein, beef or a meat meal. Not saying it is not impossible but grains do take the blunt of alot of the allergies. There are exceptions to everything.

Just an Observation,
Chip

[mcbosco]

if you go with a lamb diet read the label very carefully dont take the "lamb" component for granted. the lamb and rice craze has put some very grain-heavy foods on the market. the better ones have a fish component as well.
the single protein fish-based foods seem to work well with dogs with allergies too.

good luck

[Duane M]

Chip all my own dogs are Pointers but I have had two labs in for FF work over the years who had corn allergy and the owners brought thier own foods due to the allergy. Previous to finding out about my own girls allergy, which is genetic apparently as they are sisters, I was feeding Diamond Premium I switched first to Chicken Soup and now am feeding Taste of the Wild High Prarie. The beef allergy is one my vet tested for though as mine do get light cooked beef at least once a week. Thing with it being a protein is that corn, wheat and other grains used as well contain incomplete proteins, meaning they are missing at least one amino acid from being complete. In other words the grain could well be the protein a dog is allergic to. As to the lamb feeds I have tried them and found them sorely lacking in digestibility, FWIW pork is a better protein in regards to bioavailabilty than lamb or beef. All my dogs when fed a lamb based food dropped muscle mass on the same amount of feed as I was using before, part of that could be that most lamb feeds do not have the corn and rice has around 15% protein vs, corns 26%. One note though just because a feed says lamb and rice does not mean it is corn free.

BTW I am not an anti corn freak at all and realize it does supply good levels of B vitamins as well as magnesium, which is important to, testosterone production in males. I just think you can do better and not pay anymore overall in feed bills.

[mcbosco]

bingo duane, you can do better and pay less and pick up way less, there is so much resistance out there to this point.

anyway, if anyone wants to look at pork as alternative, a great company in NY state has one that has been on the market for a while.

http://www.beowulfs.com/dog_food.html

[mcbosco]

whats is your budget? where do you live? city? country?

sal

[mcbosco]

$2 pound is very very generous.

you shouldn't have any trouble finding Canidae Lamb & Rice, WellnessSuper5 Lamb or Natural Balance Limited Lamb, the range is $1.25 to $1.5lbs but you will feed less of these compared to many others.

Theses are all fine foods that are easy to find and research.


good luck

[YELLERDOGS]

Just curious why you don't want human grade or holistic?

[mcbosco]

i was curious about that as well

[lvrgsp]

Duane, do you have Labs? and are they on a Lamb and Rice diet now? Just curious as to what you were feeding and what you went to. My lab was the same way, not an allergy to Corn as what was suggested, but a protein, beef or a meat meal. Not saying it is not impossible but grains do take the blunt of alot of the allergies. There are exceptions to everything.

Just an Observation,
Chip

For some reason, I have heard about a lot of Labs having food allergies, or just allergies in general. Is it a Lab thing? I just haven't heard about it as much in other breeds.

Zoe,
I'm not sure if it is a Lab "thing" or not, I've only had 2 retrievers in my life one a Golden and the current Lab, the Golden had horrible allergies, ended up he was allergic to grass and a host of other things, we ended up having to put him down, the current Lab just does not do well on beef or meat meals, but does very well on chicken and lamb products, that's really my only experience with Labs and allergies. I would say that it does seem more and more Labs have a more sensitive dietary need.

Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach I have never fed, but I have talked to many who have, and they seemed to do well with it, whatever it is you decide on just make sure you give it time. Some dogs take a few bags to get acustomed to the change, good luck and keep us posted. Interesting the vet reccomended staying away from poultry?

Chip

[mcbosco]

I tend to agree with chip on labs and allergies...here in suburban NJ, labs and goldens probably make up 50% of the dogs owned and all you hear about are ear infections and some sort of skin problem. It is probably a combination of bad diet and back-yard breeding.

Most of the animals are horribly overweight as well, If you did a survey you would find they eat grain-heavy foods from the pet food industrial complex and get ZERO fresh food.

As for that Purina formula, I have no experience with it but it is interesting that the Canola Meal is not even mentioned in the marketing text but it is a predominant protein source in that food. There is more protein from canola seeds than from salmon. Canola meal is a by product of extracting canola oil and its very cheap and highly processed. Canola Meal is a by-product looking for a use.

"fish meal" as listed on that label is suspicious as well. There are many grades of fish meal, Menhaden of the Select or Special Select grade is used in better foods.

if your dog really has allergies, get a simple diet

http://www.life4k9.com/cart.php?item_id=4

that one is about $1.5lb , i forgot about that one, my vet actually sells it.

[mcbosco]

The organic companies puff marketing as well, but here is how they do it..they buy things that are "technically" organic and human grade but people don't buy due to appearance, like bruised veggies for example, or where it comes from on the animal, beef hearts, cheek meat, shank meat, trimmings etc. My butcher always sends me a email when he has stuff like that. Last Christmas someone ordered an organic, grass fed crown roast that the owner wanted trimmed and bones frenched. He knows I take that stuff so he saved it. I have a bunch of free range chicken livers in the freezer that he got stuck with. I get first class marrow bones for almost nothing because no one wants them. I think 25 cents a full bone, fresh, covered with meat and connective tissue and stuffed with marrow.

So in answer to your question, "fit for human consumption" can include all kinds of stuff people don't, can't or won't eat.

I worked in Hong Kong for a number of years and they eat anything that moves or moved at some point. We chuck it away.

I saw people fight for testicles once.

[bwjohn]

Zoe, there are tons of foods out there with single source proteins. I would not limit myself to a single brand or particular protein. Talk to your vet I but a fish protein would work well. Another company called nutrisource, has had good reviews by most, they have a lamb and rice in large breed. That was just with a quick search. Go to your local pet food store that you go to, I would suggest not a big box store, and check out what options they have and go back to your vet with a list. Go over the list with the vet and make a decision from there. Also a smaller store would be willing to order almost anything that you want, if they did not have what you want.

Good luck with the search,
Brandon

[Rich Heaton]

I saw people fight for testicles once

Not that I have ever witnessed that but it would seem like a worthy cause especially if they were your own testicles,,, however I have seen guys duke it out over a piece of tail.

[YELLERDOGS]

Thanks Bosco, you took the words right out of my mouth. My dogs are not just dogs to us, and I always feed our animals, (cows, horses, even our pigs) the best that I can find. I won't get started on the "starving children in ethiopia" since this is a gun dog forum and not a "politicking" one. To each his own. :roll:

[ezzy333]

Thanks Bosco, you took the words right out of my mouth. My dogs are not just dogs to us, and I always feed our animals, (cows, horses, even our pigs) the best that I can find. I won't get started on the "starving children in ethiopia" since this is a gun dog forum and not a "politicking" one. To each his own. :roll:

I think we all feed the best we can. Whenever you find a company that has been in business for many years you can rest pretty well assured that they are selling a quality product. That is the thing that keeps people coming back. My dogs are just dogs but I don't see that as a negative and it doesn't mean that they don't eat as well as anyone elses. And I do know that dogfood is the best thing we have going after all of the research that has been done to insure we have the necessary needs well covered.

Ezzy

[shags]

If it were my dog I'd leave it alone for a few weeks to be sure she isn't just blowing coat. That is, if there aren't any other symptoms like itching, scabs, or sores.
It doesn't make sense to me to put your dog on a different food right now for a couple of reasons. One, if she's blowing coat new coat will grow in soon so how will you know if the new food is making the difference or if nature is taking its course? Two, in order to be effective, hypo-allergenic foods have to all that the dog consumes. With two little kids and a counter-surfing dog (I assume you folks don't leave your strawberry pies on the floor ) she's getting plenty of could-be allergens so your changing foods would be counterproductive.
If your dog doesn't get better, think about having her thyroid checked. Hair loss in symmetrical patterns is a major symptom of hypothyroidism.
Good luck to you - and sorry about that pie

[ezzy333]

If it were my dog I'd leave it alone for a few weeks to be sure she isn't just blowing coat. That is, if there aren't any other symptoms like itching, scabs, or sores.
It doesn't make sense to me to put your dog on a different food right now for a couple of reasons. One, if she's blowing coat new coat will grow in soon so how will you know if the new food is making the difference or if nature is taking its course? Two, in order to be effective, hypo-allergenic foods have to all that the dog consumes. With two little kids and a counter-surfing dog (I assume you folks don't leave your strawberry pies on the floor ) she's getting plenty of could-be allergens so your changing foods would be counterproductive.
If your dog doesn't get better, think about having her thyroid checked. Hair loss in symmetrical patterns is a major symptom of hypothyroidism.
Good luck to you - and sorry about that pie

Good post with good reasoning. This gets my vote also.

Ezzy

[megschristina]

Mine does better on lamb than on chicken. I got him a back of Diamond Naturals chicken and rice accidently, and he was itching and shedding more on that. I put him back on the lamb and it was fine. I think Diamond is pretty reasonably priced, and they have it available with lamb as the Major protein contributor.

[YELLERDOGS]

Still to each his own...