Dog Food Allergies

I agree with Infantry... The most common allergens to dogs are corn, wheat and soy. They are cheap fillers and a GREAT way to falsify protein levels.... Many people strictly look at the protein and fat levels and don't bother to read ingredients. Corn has protein, no doubt... But just like people dogs cannot digest it.
Dogs are omnivores with carnivorous tendencies, so while a dog WOULD eat an apple or carrot if running wild and had no food, it will NOT go into the corn field and start eating ears...

Some grains are good, well let me rephrase that, the best diet would be a grain free raw natural diet but if you want a kibble with grains look for barley or oatmeal or brown rice. At least these grains will add fiber and B vitamins to the diet instead of just more waste in your backyard....

Look for foods that use human grade meats and ingredients... Most foods ie like the ones you find in big boxes like Walmart and super markets are garbage. Mostly corn, ANIMAL BYPRODUCTS and other non human grade ingredients.... Look at the bag, when you see animal byproduct, that means you have NO IDEA what animal it is or WHAT PART!!! That could be anything!!!! Also, that means every batch could be a mix of entirely different garbage every run... So this bag is chicken feathers and ground up raccoon, the next is pork hooves and cow tails!! Yum.
Also many of the big names, Iam and so forth spend the money on commercials, dont' you love the sappy commercials about puppies and dogs swimming in pools, instead of the ingredients... Why do you think the higher end foods do not advertise? They put the money where it counts, the food and let that speak for itself...
Many of the big foods use meats in the 4D category, meaning, diseased, dying, dead or disabled.... Yum, lets give our dogs ground up sick animals!!!

Many people swear by vet formulas but if they are so good, why are there so many? Whys is there one for every condition? Skin formula, ear formula, sensitive stomach formula and so on???? Plus look at the ingredients... The low residue formula for example the FIRST ingredient is CORN GRITS!! You are paying $3 a pound for a food that is garbage and pure filler???!!!
Vets do NOT need to take classes in nutrition to become vets, they learn very little about actual diets of animals... BEFORE you all flame me for knocking your vet down a peg consider this... My boss has has 3 heart attacks so far.... DOES HIS CARDIOLOGIST OR DOCTOR tell him what to eat?? No a DIETICION does.....Same with vets..

Plus Hills and Iams supports vets through school, paying for their animals foods and putting on the NUTRITION seminars... Hmmm, interesting, wonder what food they recommend.. Also, when a vet "prescribes" a vet formula, they are limiting you to buying it from them and at a HUGE margin.... Most stores might make ~$10 on a BIG bag of food... Vets make ~$10 on a 5# bag of food! Hmm another reason why that Hills burp and fart formula is recommended to you!!

Simple as this, do your research, READ INGREDIENTS and feed your dog what you would feed yourself!!! Do NOT waste your money on some bogus food and vet bills!!!

Good luck


Oh, a simple food like California Natural Lamb and rice is another good option, the Natural Balance like stated are great foods and you get the buy 10 get one free aspect! Score!!

 

Thanks a lot for the thorough reply!

After doing a lot of research online (like we're talking hours!) I decided to try Solid Gold Wolf King. I found great foods with human grade meat, but they didn't contain grain. My CoCo has to have grain otherwise her IBD will flare up, and that means "the runs." Solid Gold uses barley, rice and oats and no other fillers, so I thought that was good. It also uses a novel protein, bison. I started her on it last night, so we'll see how it goes!

She does seem to have protein sensitivities, because she's always been on high quality food without fillers. Natural Balance, California Natural and Wellness. She could eat all of them for a bit, and then the allergies would start. So every now and then I have to switch her food to some novel protein that she's never eaten before. Pretty soon I'm going to run out of options!!

I'll keep you all updated on how the new food works out. Thanks again for all your help!!

 

Try Taste of the Wild next...

Good luck

 

Dr. Whats the deal, not only are you a lighting expert but you are also a dog food expert. K+ to you. I also couldnt agree more with your statement. Except one thing. Some of the science diet prescription diets are good for certain conditions but it is defenetly way over priced. But they do make some extremely low and extremely high protien foods that some dogs do need. But I read somewhere that 1 in 25 dogs that are perscribed Science diet perscription blend

You could also try Blue Buffalo. They make a great quality food. It is a holistic food and I like the fact that they dont cook the food/protiens with the additional vitamins that means that they don't end up cooking off the additional nutrients that they put in. The nutrients are cooked into seperate pieces and added at a later time. Plus they also don't outsource there production like alot of companys do. Such as Natural Balance who doesnt actually produce there own food, they outsource to a different company to make it for them. They do closly regulate and test it and it is high quality food. The president actually lives near my shop and comes in all the time. But back on topic. Blue also just came out with a new line called wilderness which is supposed to be really good.

But solid gold is a good quality food and I like that they vaccume pack there food. Seals in the freshness.

I hope anyone that has been following this thread read Dr.'s post and realizes how much garbage food is out there. Just because you go Natural doesnt mean you need to pay out your ears for it. Natures Recipet is a holistic brand dog food and they have a great price point. Less than a buck a pound and they use human grade meat and no fillers.