[Brianne M]

Hi!
I have an English Mastiff that is a year and a half and a rescued Chiweenie that is about 5. I want to feed them the best food that I can but I get so limited with certain protein levels and of course the cost! My mastiff eats a lot! We first fed Kirkland nature domain but I believe they had allergies to that. Switched to Canidae Pure but it is so expensive for the amount I need. Considering Nutro Ultra. I add Tripett to all their kibble.

Does anyone out there have a similar experience or suggestion?? Thank you!

[theBCnut]

Any idea what the allergy is to?

[Brianne M]

Not sure but when they were on it, they both had very itchy paws that would turn bright red. Now that has stopped with Canidae. Both are grain free so I knew that wasn’t an issue.

[Shasta220]

Try to compare ingredients and do an elimination diet. Maybe it’s a protein, potato, legume, etc. Allergies are such a bummer to deal with. 🙁

[Akari_32]

Pick a food that’s high in calories to keep feeding amounts (and usually costs, too!) down. My 130 pound rott mix only eats about 3.5 cups (less than half of what most foods say he should eat).

The highest calorie foods I can think of off the top of my head are the NutriSource foods. Super Performance is 529 a cup, I think, and others are all in the mid to high 400’s per cup. They are decently priced too . Around here, the 30 pound bags go for about $50-60 for the grain free.

I would find a protein source they’ve never had before and start there when pin-pointing allergies. Bison is becoming a popular choice these days, as are beef and salmon. Finding allergies does suck. I’ve got one that I’ve decided is allergic to pollen after a year a half of having him on every protein and carbohydrate mix I can find.

[Naturella]

Once you determine the allergy source, you can look into affordable foods – some of the more popular ones around here are Earthborn Holistic Grain Free; Victor Grain Free (make sure to check out their sales right now if you can’t find it locally – but the Ultra Professional is mid-400s in kcal/cup); and NutriSource (NOT affordable where I am, but others report it is pretty affordable for them. Dr. Tim’s is another high-cal, affordable food, but they mostly use chicken if I am not mistaken, which is what your dogs MAY (or may not) be allergic to. I think Victor use chicken meal in some formulas, but they have a few beef&pork ones and a salmon one. Earthborn are really cool, because they give you what the label says – seafood (for the Coastal Catch), buffalo and lamb (for the Great Plains Feast), lamb (for Meadows something), and chicken (for Primitive Natural). They do use a lot of peas though. So yeah, I definitely think you should do an elimination diet to find the allergy source(s), and then look for foods that do not contain those ingredients among the ones listed and others.

[Naturella]

I just noticed your Mastiff is a year and a half – he should be about full-grown, but I have heard that large and giant breed dogs take longer to mature than small-medium breeds, so I would certainly advise you to make sure the food is at least an All Life Stages food (which all of the ones I recommended (except NutriSource – not sure about that one) are). At least for a little while longer – just to make sure he is getting appropriate nutrients if he is still growing and altogether too.

Also, as far as kibble size is concerned (in case your Chiwinnie(s) need small kibble), all of the foods I mentioned are with a manageable kibble, especially Victor – theirs is pretty small – and then Earthborn and NutriSource (I have fed a couple samples of it) were about the same size, a bit bigger than Victor, and Dr. Tim’s was the “biggest”, but my then-about 10-lb terrier mix had no problems with it. So the Chiwinnie(s) should be ok with either one of these foods if you choose to feed one of them. Plus, rotation is always good, so you can well go through them all – allergies permitting, of course! 🙂

[Brianne M]

Thank you so much everyone for the advice!! So helpful 🙂 Does anyone have any experience with Nutro Ultra adult food? I feel so torn about it! The Tripett canned food has been a house favorite though, highly recommended!!!

[Akari_32]

It’s not a bad food. For the price you could do better though. Like Nutrisource 😉

[JASTECH]

Nutro isn’t as good as it use to be years ago. I won’t feed it or recommend it.

Canned food is normally 72% moister, you would do better to use Raw or dry kibble that you have weighed out and then soak with water. It will save you money too.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by JASTECH.

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