[GizmoMom]

Most 5-star brands do not have soy.

Canned food:
/dog-food-reviews/wet/5-star/

Dry food:
/dog-food-reviews/dry/5-star/

[Ajchavis]

Do you know of any good brand can dog food that doesn’t have soy products in it..dry too for that matter and treats? My dog is allergic to soy in any form and it is so hard to find retail products that omit soy. Ajchavis

[Shasta220]

I recently saw one dry food at WM, I can’t remember the name of it for the LIFE of me! All I remember was they had a grain-free variety… Seems like the bags were dark and had pics of fruits/meat/sweet potatoes/etc. If I’m ever back there, I will try to let you know what it was called…

Every WM is different tho, so what I have, you probably won’t have. Like one person said they found Paramount GF food there (a brand I know very little about, but I’ve tried it since it was at a liquidation store for $1/lb)

Hopefully you can find something that works! If your WM doesn’t seem to have anything that’ll work for your dog, I know several people who order all their dog food online – might be worth looking into.

[Mom2Cavs]

Some Walmarts carry RR’s Zero Grain, too. I agree Pure Balance. Some have Newman’s Own, but I don’t like the fact the dry contains soy. Some also carry a food called Lamaderm which isn’t bad. And they carry Fresh Pet Select, while not a kibble, could be a good topper.

[Giles123]

Just found out yesterday after their allergy tests came back that our dogs are allergic to corn, soy and potato. The vet initially had them on hills ID because they were having many stomach issues. I guess now we know why. That food contains the components they are allergic to. We need to find them a food without these ingredients but I am so worried because there seems to be constants recalls on brands. Does anyone know of a good quality food that doesn’t contain these items and isn’t a feared recalled brand? Along with their probiotics they have to take Benadryl right now to keep the symptoms down. I need to find them a good food fast- please help

[theBCnut]

Brother’s Complete has biscuits that are grain and potato free. I usually use Vital Essentials freeze dried dog food for treats. I create my own treats by drying any kind of meat in a dehydrator or in the oven.

[JASTECH]

That would be 1600 cal./cup which is about 4 times the calories of most 5 star dry foods.

[Kmsharp]

I’ve had shih tzus for 30 years and have tried all diets (we eat organic ourselves). Watch out for yeast if problems with dry skin or itching, may be also related to stomach issues. It looks like you can find lots of foods with high ratings here. We sometimes cook for our dogs – ground turkey, oatmeal, some veggies, olive oil. Make a large batch & freeze some – we do this to use all organic products. My dogs also do fine on a high quality dry food & wet food mix. I mix it up, add a bit of eggs when we eat them. One dog was allergic to beef. With a small dog like a shih tzu it’s easy to give them bits of healthy (fish, meat, sweet potato, cheese) leftovers too as a supplement (though some people never spoil their dogs like this!)

Good luck – these are fabulous, loyal, loving dogs!

[2doxiemom]

Daughter adopted 4 year old Shih Tzu from a Humane Society today and is trying to figure out what dry food to feed that will not make him have stomach problems. Lady who fostered him had been feeding “Showtime” dry but did not have any to send home and Daughter is unable to find this brand in her town or nearby. Foster mom was not really any help today in telling where she had purchased her supply. We looked up this dog food and it rated 2.5 stars on this site, but she intends to feed him Merrick grain free Duck (what we feed our dogs) in the future. What brand of food would be a good choice to switch him to now just to get him settled into a new home. She knows he will have to work up to the Merrick, but doesn’t want to stress him out and make him have stomach issues now. Sorry for the book, but felt the back story might be needed. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[Walt]

Hello,

I’m a new member and wanted to ask your opinions on dog food for our wire hair Terrier Mix (25 lbs – Smooch). He was on Orijen adult and did well for quite awhile and then started having stomach issues; stomach making noises, gassy, lethargic., runny/soft stools. Smooch has been known to eat anything on the ground, rabbit poop, acorns, etc. This might have been an isolated incident, we are not sure. Vet put him on antibiotics and prescription food and he finally got better (took awhile though). Put him NV chicken raw boost dry and he started scratching more often, I then had a saliva test for food sensitivities by Dr. Dodd and it came back with Smooch being sensitive to most foods. According to this test, the only meat proteins that Smooch can tolerate are Beef/Lamb and white fish. The NV contained chicken and turkey, not good according to test. Put him on NV limited ingredient Lamb and he is doing good, but he poops more often and his poop consist of several small/harder pieces (is this good?). He is still scratching. I started giving him fish oil (sardines/anchovies) daily hoping this will help his scratching but not sure if this is good since test revealed sensitivity to Salmon.. In your opinion, are these type tests accurate? Like everyone on this site, we just want to make good decisions for our dog. Any advice on food for Smooch would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Walt

[minit]

my 20lb, 13 yr old JRT suffers from mitral valve disease & an enlarged heart. He was eating Nature’s Variety Instinct dry until about 6 months ago when he started to lose his appetite. Switched to Instinct canned over the next few months until he stopped eating that as well. Have always hesitated changing his food too rapidly because of diarrhea & resulting anal gland issues, but have just taken the plunge & bought a variety of super premium wet foods in the hope of just keeping him interested. Added Swanson’s Dr.Langer’s 15 strain probiotics to his cocktail of drugs & supplements. He looks good & is gaining back a little weight, but the diarrhea, gas & noisy gut are worse. To put things in perspective, he’s outlived his life expectancy by 2 years since his heart disease was discovered. Every day we have is a gift at this point. He doesn’t seem to be able to keep large meals down (perhaps because his heart is so enlarged it reduces the capacity of his stomach) so I feed him 3 small meals a day. He likes canned pumpkin, but it doesn’t seem to help much w/ the diarrhea & I worry that he’s not getting enough protein & fat if I add too much to his small meals… I think I’m going to have to give up on the variety of canned foods & go back to just one for as long as he’ll eat it to stave off the diarrhea. What’s my best bet for high protein/fat yet not going to make his digestive issues worse?

[Shasta220]

Big time no-no to Royal Canin. ProPac seems to have a high rating on this site, but for a growing pup, you really want to avoid anything that has corn on the top 5 ingredients. Corn is 100% filler, and many dogs are hyper-sensitive to it. My APBT/Lab/Rott has sensitive skin, but surprisingly didn’t react to corn. We fed him 3-4x the amount of dog food when he had the stuff with ground corn. It literally went right through him – his stools were full of the corn grit. I think I could have fed him sawdust and gotten better results!

I looked up Sam’s Field food. Even though it /does/ have the corn, I noticed chicken and chicken liver were the first two ingredients in the dry puppy food. It’s not /the/ best out there, but if the price is right, then I’m sure your pup could do fine on it.

I know options are slim around your place, but if you could try finding #1. Make sure real meat is the first 2-3 ingredients. Then try to avoid corn/soy/wheat, and even skipping grains entirely is great. If you can’t find all of that, then I’d say Sam’s Field should be fine – my dogs were amazingly healthy on a food with wheat as the 3rd ingredient.

Best wishes with your pup! I hope you’ll find something that works for her growth, tummy, skin, and your wallet/convenience! 🙂

[Shasta220]

Maddy was originally on Cat Chow, so yeah- hair balls galore there!

She’s seeming to do much better on the new food. I haven’t seen a hairball in a while (well, I don’t really see them. My bare toes feel them in the middle of the night!)

It sounds like fiber and “lubricants” are fairly easy to add into a diet without getting a special extra-spendy-but-full-o’-fillers food.

I’m a little concerned about her weight right now. She’s been checked out totally healthy, and acts completely normal, but she feels pretty scrawny. I was hoping adding the canned was going to help (she hasn’t really ever had anything but dry), but she will eat no more than 1tbsp daily, even though I try to offer it to her twice a day. The worst? I honestly haven’t seen her eat the dry in a while – she only eats the canned now. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that she eats dry when I’m not looking, since they have free choice dry.

I tried mixing dry with canned, but she refused. Picky picky girl! Are there any quality cat foods that have an extra calorie boost maybe? She doesn’t like raw meat at all, otherwise I’d try her on that.

[Shasta220]

Thank you for the advice. I’m not sure how I’ll phrase it to him, as I really don’t want to come across as basically calling him a bad/uneducated owner for feeding his dogs that, because he’s one of the best dog owners I know!

I will probably end up just sending him the link to this site, and say how surprised I am about how high (or low) quality some foods are….maybe he’d get curious and check his food out.

I’m definitely going to ignore the canned food for now. Honestly, it’d be incredible if he kept them on Alpo canned, but switched them to a 3-4star dry food. I think one of his biggest issues is the fact that he probably doesn’t really want to make time to go to a feed store for better food (Walmart and grocery stores are all we have around here other than the feed stores that sell dogfood – PetCo/Smart/Costco are 50+mi)

Any extra moral support would be great though, because this guy is…well, he’s more like a second grandfather to me than anything, so there’s a high amount of respect to get through.

I’ve already told him about a great deal on joint supplements, I told him the cost on this is about 1/4 what we were paying on regular supplements. He said he’ll probably do it when they start showing signs of joint problems – they’re 7y.o. Now, so it’s really the perfect time to get em started /before/ the signs come. I just told him I’m getting my 6yr boy on it… Trying to avoid saying, in any form, that I know everything about dog health (because I DEFINITELY don’t)

Thanks again guys, I will keep you posted on any updates, that’s for sure!

[theBCnut]

It really depends. Somethings I can tell almost immediately, like food intolerance issues, is it causing gas, does my dog act like he has a stomach ache, that sort of thing. Some things take 3-7 days, does it cause ear issues, itching, anal gland issues. Some take weeks, dry skin, body odor, eye staining. I have always know within 3 weeks except once when the dog had so many other things going on that it probably took me 3-4 months before I noticed that I didn’t like running my hands through his coat as much. His coat texture had changed.

[klynnway@aol.com]

Hi Zachery,
I was one of the original posters asking about diet and treatment for colitis.
I have been dealing with colitis now for 6 months and have tried every food imaginable. I agree with most of your thoughts. I am not sure yet on the fiber issue. Jasmine has now been on Royal Canine pot/venison for almost 3 weeks. It was a novel protein for her and I suggested this change to the vet as nothing was helping her gastrointestinal issues. My thinking was that all her previous foodes were chicken based including Canine Cavier and R.C. Gastrointestinal to name a few. At this point I have not changed ANYTHING ELSE, including her daily low dose of metrodonizole followimg meals. She LOVES the food, and it really seems to be working. She has regular, firm bowel movements, and I think I can say that now after 3 weeks. You never know so I will now knock on wood! The vet started mynew selection of P/V mostly wet (new vet, new food). I am giving her wet and dry 60/40 and think I will stay here as it is working (Vet thought more dry but I think that is disruptive to the colon now. I agree qith you there. I feed her 3x/day, I think that also helps. I have stopped fish oil and probiotics and any treats except grain free Buddy Biscuits – pnut butter. I hopethis helps you some, knowing all colitis causes vary. Hers right now looks like a food allergyshe developed after many years.

Best,
Karen

[Susan]

Yes, I think we have BARF at ur Pet Stock & Pet Barn, I dont know if Barf is good we also have the dehydrated & freeze dry Ziwi Peak & K9 Natural from New Zealand thats suppost to be very good, The Guaranteed Analysis doesnt tell how much carbohydrates in alot of the dog foods.. I thought my boy couldnt have boiled chicken but I was adding it with boil rice, so it must of been the rice he has problems with even to home cook, I dont know where to start every time Ive boiled pumkin, sweet potatos, chicken & rice he has very very soft poos, so I’d just do the rice & chicken then he wakes up early hours of morning with his colitis, his bowel was rumbling…The only thing thats stops everything is the Eukanuba Intestinal but its corn based, corn is a carbohydrate.. I think thats why he’s having the Bacteria overgrowth from being on the Intestinal also about 1 hour after eating his kibble he starts with the licking his mouth & swollowing, it gets worse when he drinks water maybe the kibbles start to blow up in his tummy.. Ive told my vet but she says as long as his poos are good its OK but Im sick of watching him every morning for the last 4 months feeling crap not playing, sometimes he walks around the house whinging. I know something is wrong.. I suppose I’ll have to have the carmera put down his throat but the vet said it could come back all good as they can only go so far & if its his small intestine I dont think they can see the small intestine, the vets said, the only way to find out whats wrong is to cut him open & I dont want to do that to him, poor thing.. so I thought change his diet, he seems hungry all the time like he’s not getting all the nutrition…I thought of changing vets, but I cant see how another vet can hep him..

[Zackory]

My English Bulldog 5 year old male was just diagnosed with colitis. He suffered profound
diarrhea for weeks until he wasted away his weight. What I have learned is that each dog responds differently. My dog can’t tolerate probiotics or flagly, which are two frequently recommended treatments. It is very important to be patient when trying new foods or additives. You must wait several weeks to make sure ANY new food or ingested treatment agrees with your dog. Because it works initially does no mean that will continue. NOR does diarrhea at first necessarily indicate intolerance. We found a food in the US that is low fat and protein and grain free with very few ingredients. I mention this because if you opt to use commercial foods instead of home recipes, the lesser ingredients will allow you to more accurately access what the dog tolerates and what it can’t. We also have discovered that our dog does no do well with dry foods. His food must be canned or softer. Do not hesitate to add more fiber if the dog needs it. But during acute flare ups, if the colon is swollen or irritated, some fibers or hard ingredients further that.

[Shasta220]

First off: I’m not concerned about my own dogs’ nutrition, they’re on a diet that works well for us and them.

A friend, on the other hand, thinks he’s giving his two 7y.o. GSDs the best and spoiling them (I don’t know how, but even his vet said their diet is good…). I’ve once told him about Nutra Nuggets, how it’s pretty good for its low price…he’s still convinced his dogs do great on their diet. Okay, what does he feed them? Beneful dry and Alpo/Pedigree canned…

It makes me sick whenever I go over there to feed the dogs, then I look at the ingredient label….ugggggh, how do those even qualify for ingredients?!? I was rather disappointed when he wouldn’t switch at least to Nutra Nuggets, since it’s a bit better quality AND it’s $25/40lb instead of $26/30lb… I was just kinda thinking “ahh it’d be a win-win in quality AND affordability!.

Anyway, he’s not really like me as far as studying out the premium nutrition/price, so I don’t really want to show him any articles that are super long. He’s also much much older than me, so it’s not like I’m just telling my pal to switch foods or anything… Most of all, I really don’t want to come across like “sir, you’re feeding your dogs garbage, get them off please!!!”

Any ideas to advise a food switch in the nicest, most respectful and sensitive way possible?

(Again, I really don’t need food-brand suggestions, as I already know the foods we do/don’t have around here, and the rough pricing of them…plus, getting him to switch to about anything will be better than Beneful and Alpo!)

[Parr]

GSDMommy89,

I also have a GSD, she is just over a year old. I also feed her Earthborne, and use Meadowfeast. She really likes that one, but towards the end of the bag, she isn’t as excited about it as she is at the beginning. I do rotate her foods and use toppers for some meals and meaty bones a few times a week. The one brand of dry food she seems to always like is, Canine Caviar, Open Sky, or Wilderness. She will follow me in when I bring in the new bag and sniffs the bag like crazy and bugs me until I open it, then she sticks her head in and tries to eat from the bag. It is much more expensive and you have to feed less of it since it is higher calories, I think, but she loves it. So you might try that brand in your rotation. I hope this helps. I’ve gotten so much help from everyone here in the past, I hope this little bit of info helps you as well. Take care.

[RescueDaneMom]

My rottie just passed last month from lymphoma. When he was eating kibble he did really well on Acana Regionals. There are 4 grain-free varieties. Orijen is another great food made by the same company that makes Acana. Other grain-free foods we tried and liked were: Annamaet grain-free, Horizon Legacy, Go! Fit & Free Adult, and Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural. Others I like but haven’t tried personally are Dr. Tim’s Kinesis grain-free and Victor grain-free.

Sometimes dogs eating kibble (and especially older dogs) can benefit from probiotics and digestive enzymes. I buy mine from swansonvitamins.com. They’re made for humans and pretty cheap. I get the regular Swanson brand digestive enzymes and Dr. Langer’s 15 strain probiotic (they’re buy 1 get 1 free right now). I crush the enzyme tablet and open the probioic capsule and mix it up in the food. You can add a little canned food, yogurt, canned pumpkin or something else so it is not just powder mixed with dry food. My almost 8 year old Great Dane is super regular and not very gassy at all. He doesn’t eat kibble but he gets probiotics and enzymes. A lot of people also like the Mercola pet enzymes and probiotics. They are more expensive but they are already in a convenient powder form.

Hope this is helpful to you.

[Shasta220]

Sorry, it’s not about my dog.

I’m wondering what the key ingredients are in a cat food that make them worthy of being called “hairball” or “indoor” formula. I’ve always been skeptical of the indoor foods, assuming they’d be full of more fillers and fewer fats/proteins/calories. Then I took a can of Natural Balance indoor and compared it to a different variety – calorie count seemed to be the same…

Our Maddy suffers from hair balls regularly (maybe 2-4 times monthly?), but I don’t want to invest in a hairball formula until #1. What ingredients qualify it as “hairball” #2. Will it really work?

Right now, Maddy is on Cat Lovers Gold dry and she gets 1-3tbsp (as much as I can get her to eat.) Natural Balance canned daily.

Should I try adding some fish oil into her canned and see if she accepts it? Right now, she gets a little brewers yeast tablet daily.

[Mitdeleon]

I took her to the vet. Vets says she’s healthy but won’t eat dog food dry or wet vets say to force feed her wet food. Any advice what can I cook for her?

[DogFoodie]

Hi Caroline,

I actually recently purchased this same product myself. I liked the idea of a whole food supplement and wanted one that included Taurine. I got it for a great price on Chewy.com. it’s a powder form and easily mixes into dry food, to which I add water. I can’t speak to the results yet because I just started using it this past weekend, but I have confidence in Nature’s Logic.

[Tucker]

Hi All,

First post. Great site! Can’t believe I have had labs my entire life and never found it. I replied under large breed nutrition and wasn’t sure if I should have started another topic so I put it in both. Not sure of the protocol here yet 🙂

Apologies for the length… I wanted to get it all in 🙂

We just lost both of our labs last year in a one two punch within 2 months. Killed me 🙁 Floyd (my 11 1/2) Chocolate to prostrate cancer and KC (my girl 15 1/2) yellow to lack of mobility. That girl was bolted together more times and just kept on trucking. Pretty amazing… I was blessed. She may have cost me a fortune, but she was worth every penny and more. As close to a human as a dog can be 🙂 For anyone who has an older dog that is having trouble getting around I HIGHLY recommend trying acupuncture. I got two extra years of love out of her. 🙂 Now to the new…

A few months ago we started a new chapter in life and brought Tucker home. (I would put up a pic but I can’t figure out how to do it.. lol. Gorgeous White Male Lab. Great breeder, all of her dogs looked so healthy, great referrals. Then the unthinkable happened. We brought him home a few days before 8 weeks and on day two we were all on the bed ( I know… don’t even say it. There is a crate on there for when we sleep… Still want him on Daddy’s bed) I was at the top and my fiancé was at the bottom.. Tucker in the middle and he did a scoot and rolled of the bed… and began limping 🙁 I almost died. You all can only imagine! He favored his should for a few minutes and he was fine. Then two weeks later my finance was holding him, put him down and he favored for a minute and was fine. I was thinking maybe a bone bruise. Two weeks later it happened again!!! That was it… x-ray time. Our regular vet said there was a slight deformity in the round of the shoulder bone where it goes in the socket but it would it probably just go away and to keep him calm for a month or so. That doesn’t work for me. I’ve paid the price for listening to first opinions in the past and not investigating issues. I brought him to my Ortho who bolted my girl back together so many times and he gave me the real scoop…

OCD… I knew when he said come in my office it wasn’t a bone bruise. I’ve taken that walk before. 🙁 He’s old school and said monitor and if it gets bad we will fix it. He wasn’t showing signs of distress on manipulation. He said if it’s bad they yelp. I’ve researched everywhere and my brain feels like it is full of Bingo Balls right now.

Our breeder said she has never had a dog with OCD. I know nutrition and heredity are two factors, but in this case I have to believe that this is trauma related OCD and not from the others. With that in mind, I know slow growth, low calcium. Some say no carbs so grain free, others say not too much protein is bad which is what you get with grain free…

Bingo Balls :-/

Our breeder did not believe in puppy food and fed Kirkland Signature Salmon and Sweet Potato. I have a problem with Costco dog food. We got home and the vet said Iams puppy large breed was good. I think that is worse. Can’t believe I went there… I just wanted to do it all right. So here we are now.

I need the best dry food I can get considering his OCD condition in his left shoulder. I really don’t care what I spend on my bag of kibble. I just want to fix my puppy!!!

We got a harness instead of a collar so there is no unnecessary tugging, There are ramps everywhere so there is minimal impact on up a downs, and we try to control him as much as anyone could control a 4 month old lab. When the zoomies come you just have to go with the flow…lol.

Now I need to know the best dry kibble to feed him. Whatever will help as much as possible for this to heal and his bones to grow big and strong. 🙂

Side note … The vet did start him on a glucosamine pill that seems good. And then we talked to the lady at the holistic dog food store who says it may be bad because he is young and you don’t want it to take the place of his own body making it… seriously!!! like I didn’t have enough to worry about with the kibble….

Any help would be sooo greatly appreciated. I love my dogs more than people! I can’t change what happened and I have accepted that it was an accident, though preventable 🙁 Now I need to do everything I can to put things right!

Help me Doggie Food Forum… your my only hope! 🙂

Thank you everyone for all of your posts. They have been very helpful. This place is fabulous!

[Tucker]

Hi All,

First post. Great site! Can’t believe I have had labs my entire life and never found it.

Apologies for the length… I wanted to get it all in 🙂

We just lost both of our labs last year in a one two punch within 2 months. Killed me 🙁 Floyd (my 11 1/2) Chocolate to prostrate cancer and KC (my girl 15 1/2) yellow to lack of mobility. That girl was bolted together more times and just kept on trucking. Pretty amazing… I was blessed. She may have cost me a fortune, but she was worth every penny and more. As close to a human as a dog can be 🙂 For anyone who has an older dog that is having trouble getting around I HIGHLY recommend trying acupuncture. I got two extra years of love out of her. 🙂 Now to the new…

A few months ago we started a new chapter in life and brought Tucker home. (I would put up a pic but I can’t figure out how to do it.. lol. Gorgeous White Male Lab. Great breeder, all of her dogs looked so healthy, great referrals. Then the unthinkable happened. We brought him home a few days before 8 weeks and on day two we were all on the bed ( I know… don’t even say it. There is a crate on there for when we sleep… Still want him on Daddy’s bed) I was at the top and my fiancé was at the bottom.. Tucker in the middle and he did a scoot and rolled of the bed… and began limping 🙁 I almost died. You all can only imagine! He favored his should for a few minutes and he was fine. Then two weeks later my finance was holding him, put him down and he favored for a minute and was fine. I was thinking maybe a bone bruise. Two weeks later it happened again!!! That was it… x-ray time. Our regular vet said there was a slight deformity in the round of the shoulder bone where it goes in the socket but it would it probably just go away and to keep him calm for a month or so. That doesn’t work for me. I’ve paid the price for listening to first opinions in the past and not investigating issues. I brought him to my Ortho who bolted my girl back together so many times and he gave me the real scoop…

OCD… I knew when he said come in my office it wasn’t a bone bruise. I’ve taken that walk before. 🙁 He’s old school and said monitor and if it gets bad we will fix it. He wasn’t showing signs of distress on manipulation. He said if it’s bad they yelp. I’ve researched everywhere and my brain feels like it is full of Bingo Balls right now.

Our breeder said she has never had a dog with OCD. I know nutrition and heredity are two factors, but in this case I have to believe that this is trauma related OCD and not from the others. With that in mind, I know slow growth, low calcium. Some say no carbs so grain free, others say not too much protein is bad which is what you get with grain free…

Bingo Balls :-/

Our breeder did not believe in puppy food and fed Kirkland Signature Salmon and Sweet Potato. I have a problem with Costco dog food. We got home and the vet said Iams puppy large breed was good. I think that is worse. Can’t believe I went there… I just wanted to do it all right. So here we are now.

I need the best dry food I can get considering his OCD condition in his left shoulder. I really don’t care what I spend on my bag of kibble. I just want to fix my puppy!!!

We got a harness instead of a collar so there is no unnecessary tugging, There are ramps everywhere so there is minimal impact on up a downs, and we try to control him as much as anyone could control a 4 month old lab. When the zoomies come you just have to go with the flow…lol.

Now I need to know the best dry kibble to feed him. Whatever will help as much as possible for this to heal and his bones to grow big and strong. 🙂

Side note … The vet did start him on a glucosamine pill that seems good. And then we talked to the lady at the holistic dog food store who says it may be bad because he is young and you don’t want it to take the place of his own body making it… seriously!!! like I didn’t have enough to worry about with the kibble….

Any help would be sooo greatly appreciated. I love my dogs more than people! I can’t change what happened and I have accepted that it was an accident, though preventable 🙁 Now I need to do everything I can to put things right!

Help me Doggie Food Forum… your my only hope! 🙂

Thank you everyone for all of your posts. They have been very helpful. This place is fabulous!

[Badboris27]

:o) To be honest, when we heard about giving honey to the dogs, it made complete sense if you believe that allergies are the root cause. We were so desperate that we would have tried almost anything!

The impact of “something in this combination or the entire combination”, whether it be the honey, yogurt, non-poultry grain-free food and-or the vitamin, did have a very dramatic effect on our dogs. The sores that were so bad that they used to BLEED went away completely and their coats started “regenerating” for lack of a better word. The hair got thicker and a LOT softer. Prior to that, the ONLY progress we ever saw was when they were on antibiotics and steroids. When those medications were done, the problem always came back. Not anymore.

I’ve scoured the internet for information about giving honey & bee pollen to dogs since then and everything I’ve found has been very positive.

To your question – Yes, we will absolutely keep giving the honey because of the “micro-climate” area we live in (So Cal wine country, 25 miles inland of the coast and just at the edge of the desert – lot’s of variety in that). On top of that, a drought or a wet season can cause certain plant species to flourish while others don’t do as well. The local beekeepers must have a Co-Op of some sort because all of the raw, local wildflower honey in our stores is all packaged the same but some weeks it is darker, lighter, thicker or thinner. I suppose that depends on where that batch came from. My wife gets the honey at the smaller, natural stores and not the big name chains. Farmer’s market’s also have the local honey around here – and again, all packaged the same.

Lastly, the more I read the more that I keyed on the allergens getting into the feet. We walk our dogs 2x a day no matter what. Often, we’re out in nature on grass, in the weeds, in the dirt, in shrubs, bushes, whatever. Our vet taught me how to scrub their feet using 1 gallon Ziploc bags and I do that a few times a weeks (the theory here being that dogs walk and “spin” in all of that flora which puts everything deep in those pads…then, they lick them and lick their fur, etc.). Take two Ziplocs, fill each one about 1/4th of the way up w/ warm water. Squirt some shampoo in one of the bags for the “wash” cycle and leave the other one as-is for the rinse. Stick your dog’s foot in the wash bag and from the outside of the bag, use your fingers to work the shampoo in between the toes and up inside the pads. Rinse the same way and dry with a towel. My “dog kids” are used to it now and they actually LIKE it, I think!

I’m not a vet and I’m no expert at any of this. All I can attest to is that this worked for us. Like anyone else going through a canine allergy problem, I was ready to be fitted for a straight-jacket!

If ANYONE has any other questions or observations, I’d love to hear them or help if I can.

One other note, our dogs also used to be on Soloxine for a thyroid condition and we’ve been able to get off of that, too.

Best to you,

Jeff

[Bracha]

Hello,
I am new to this site (it was recommended by our pet shop owner). We live in Australia and thus spend a bit of time outdoors; bush and beach – lucky us. I have a very healthy German Shepard (as endorsed by my vet and every man that sees her walking the street – she has a large fan club, small town). She is de-sexed, large frame, straight back, 41Kg, 4 year 6 mnth. She has been with me since a puppy, 9 weeks. I initially fed her two different brands, but from about 2 months old she has been fed Dry Holistic Large Breed puppy than transitioned over to Holistic adult large breed. She thrives on it. Currently we are trying the Holistic Grain free large breed food and so far (2 weeks) all is well; her stools are a great shape, smell good and regular. Personally this is the only way to tell if your dog is responding to their feed in a positive way, check the pool daily!
I appreciate everyone has a budget, but am in total agreement with other members 4+ stars is the way to go.
I am currently researching the Raw diet option and will consider this diet. But the dry food is convenient. It is supplemented with 100 grams, human grade beef mince. I would be interested to hear members view on this combination of beef with dry turkey based feed; do they think it is self defeating? Enjoy reading the comments from like minded dedicated dog owners. Thanks

[JASTECH]

GizmoMom, YW. You can manually release his AG, this should be done outside. Though I have unloaded one of my Champion males on a rude competitor who had not sent me papers after being paid in full over 1year prior. The dog will use this for sent marking mostly when on walks when other doggies are smelt. When you feed freeze dried you need to add more water to his food. That is why his fecal is so dry, also too small in diameter for his AG to get used, understand?

[Akari_32]

Haha, for some extra calories. They’re all beef. She isn’t big on straight dry food (her old tummy can’t handle it anymore, hence the wet mixed in), and isn’t a big eater to begin with, so the hot dogs add 120 easy to eat, yummy calories.

[Akari_32]

Another update 🙂

I’ve introduced the Purina One Beyond to Haley’s diet, one of the small bags to the rest of her food. Totals about 15 pounds of food– it did, anyways. Its been a few days, and I *think* Dweezle got into it, because I don’t think I’ve used half of all that food since I added it! He’s not been wanting to sleep in the bed room, and I heard him snooping around in the kitchen the other night… Plus he’s looking a bit pudgy lol

I also added the last bag of the Wellness CORE Ocean Fish to the mix. Anyways, she’s doing good on the One Beyond, so I’ll add the other small bag soon, and when thats done, she’ll be on half Wellness CORE Original, and half One Beyond. I may actually do more like 60/40, CORE and One Beyond. I’m still weary about out last experience with One Beyond… I dunno yet.

I’m also back to walking her several times a week, with no extra feeding, and no problems at all. Yay! As for as weight goes, she’s keeping steady at just under (visually– I haven’t actually weighed her) an “ideal” weight. Honestly, I think I’m going to keep her there. Her hips have been giving her some troubles with this colder weather, and I don’t want to bother them more by putting more weight on them (she’s tripped a few times on uneven ground on walks, and gone down butt-first, otherwise its usually just a little stiffness after laying down for long periods). She’s a little lean, but she certainly doesn’t look or act starved, and has been super perky. She’s eating about 2.5 cups of dry food, right now, plus half a can of Pro Plan, an egg (sometimes whole, sometimes just the insides), and a hot dog almost every night. Plus her vitamins, glucosamine, and fish oil, which I’ve dropped to one every night or so, since she’s on fish-based food. She’s do for shots soon, so I’ll see what the vet says about her weight.

[InkedMarie]

I’ve had a dog have struvite crystals, not stones so I’m not that helpful. Go to dogaware.com and do a search there, pretty sure Mary Strauss. You can email her there.

I do know it’s very important to get liquid into your dog. Raw, canned, dehydrated or cook would be better than dry. Add water to her food & make sure she has ample opportunity to urinate.

[Duke The Boxer]

So a little update here.. I went ahead and purchased the B2B Open Range formula which is the red meat formula. Duke has been doing great on the food. So far his stools have been the most firm they have been since he was on nutrisource chicken and rice large breed formula. Im very happy with the ratio of 71% animal proteins and 29% fruits and plant proteins, as it is a dog food with a good amount of animal protein (not the most animal based protein but good enough). Duke absolutely loves the flavor of the dog food which i suspect has to due with all the organs in the dog food. I definitely recommend anyone looking for a high protein and low carb dry kibble to really consider B2B Open Range.
Now for the next bag of dog food?! Who knows?! So many to choose from hahaha.

[Shasta220]

I’d definitely get your dog off of Beneful ASAP. I’m stuck feeding a friend’s dogs Beneful whenever he’s away… The smell alone tells me that there isn’t much health benefit in it. Beneful is so expensive because of its appeal. They have fancy advertisements, colorful kibble, and lots of vivid pictures on the bag. That is what you’re paying for, you’re not paying for anything wholesome or nutritious.

Okay, Beneful rant over: Make sure your dog’s teeth are okay, too. My dog started slowing down on the crunchy dry food…the next day I went to brush her teeth, I saw she had a slab fracture with a bad cavity growing (tooth had to come out…).
If he is all healthy in the mouth, but still prefers that chewy texture, you could find a quality dry kibble and try adding some of the brothy/stewy canned food, so it gets that liquid all over the kibble and helps soften it a little. If you don’t really want to get into canned food, then you could probably even pour a little water or chicken broth (I’d do home made so you can avoid unnecessary sodium. Just boil some chicken backs/necks for a while), that will soften the food.

If you get into feeding soft foods though, be sure to keep up on the oral hygiene 😉 if teeth brushing is too difficult, you can keep chews around and they even make food/water additives. Regular dental cleanings would be needed too if the tartar still gets built up.

Best wishes! Hopefully you’ll be able to get your fella on something wholesome and good for him 😀

[Mom2Cavs]

Okay…I’ll go. Warning! It’s gonna be a long post LOL!

Lucy Mae – 12.5 year old adopted from a no-kill shelter 11.5 years ago. She’s a mix of Poodle/French Brittany/Chihuahua (finally did a DNA on her), is black and white and looks like a small Border Collie. She’s always weighed in at 24-25 lbs. According to the shelter she was found running in the road (by the shelter President on her way to work), was covered with dirt, oil, mud. She was only in the shelter a month when we adopted her. Didn’t know anything about dogs really and went looking for a puppy with the kids (14 and 12). My husband and I had always had cats. Anyway, we saw Lucy and decided to visit with her. I liked her looks and she was a smaller dog. She immediately put her paw on my leg in the visiting room! We also had a puppy brought in, which proceeded to jump all over Lucy, and wee in the middle of the floor LOL! Lucy was just very quiet and kept up with the paw….so the rest is history hahaha. The shelter was calling her Mae, because that was the month she came to them. They had another May…so. I didn’t especially like the name Mae for a first name (and I always give my animals middle names) so we decided on Lucy Mae. Lucy has done agility work/beginner competitions with me and rally obedience competitions (which she liked and did the best in). She has also been my demo dog when I’ve taught beginner obedience classes. Her temperament, however, has always been so-so. She didn’t know how to climb steps, or walk on carpet when we adopted her. She’s very protective of our house and tends to not like many other dogs, except her Cavvie ladies of course. I have been known to put a yellow ribbon on her leash when out and about, and at the dog club. About a year ago, Lucy developed a mass on her bladder. We decided no surgery (due to her acting very normal and her age). But, I feel it did undermine her immune system and this past Nov./Dec. she developed a very rare form of canine skin cancer called CETL (cutaneous epitheliotropic t-cell lymphoma). It only happens to old dogs (beginning around age 9 and up), no one knows what causes it, no treatments seem to help it and the prognosis is poor (6 mos. to 2 yrs. at most). Also, the dogs don’t seem to be bothered by it much and tend not to die with it per se, and usually the owner has to make the decision to put the dog down due to quality of life. We are taking Lucy Mae one day at a time now and have been blessed with her all these years!! She’s one great dog!

Hazel Louise – a 6.5 year old Black and Tan Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I will give a back story here: When my kids got older and didn’t need me as much I took a part time, 2 day a week, job at a local pet specialty store (which is now a Petco due to a buyout). I feel God led me to the job as it “fell into my lap”, so to speak. This is also where I became knowledgeable about pet nutrition. I had always wanted to do pet therapy work but my mixed breeds (Lucy and Desi (rip)) were not suited in temperament for it. One day I met a breeder of Cavaliers who came into the store monthly to buy their food. She said she had a 5 year old retired show champion that she would love to rehome, if she found the right one…..so….after a few more meetings with her, I finally went to her kennel and met Stella Agnes, my first Cavalier (a Blenheim). Stella was wonderful and I immediately had her certified to be a therapy dog with TDI. We did this for 5 years until Stella could no longer do it and I had a back issue. Stella passed away this past January 13, 2013 at 12 years of age, rip. While Stella was about 7 or 8 the breeder called me to say she had another Cavalier…Hazel, who was 2 years at the time, who she wanted to rehome. Hazel and her brother were purchased from a breeder in England to enhance my friend’s breeding line. When they took all the dogs to Ohio State to be seen by the specialists for testing, Hazel didn’t pass. She had a mild heart murmur, which is prevalent in Cavaliers. Even though she was going to be okay the breeder could not breed her. So, they didn’t really show her either. At age 2 they decided to give her a good home as a beloved pet, so she came to me! She did some therapy visits with me and Stella and did well on them…she’s a shyer dog, though. I was going to get her certified, but when I retired Stella I decided to just wait on it. Hazel is a great dog!!! She is so loving, and she is definitely my shadow. She is my best eater and though she tends to have dry skin in the winter, she is beautiful and shiny with a fish oil supplement. She weighs 19 lbs. and I keep her a perfect weight due to her murmur issue. She is not on any meds and the murmur hasn’t changed since she was 2, thank goodness! She is now certified as a therapy dog and does better than I’d expected due to her being a shyer dog. She has really come in to her own with it. I love Hazel Louise (Hazie as I like to call her) and I hope she continues to do well healthwise….she’s a very special dog!

Laverne Marie – Vernie (my nickname for her) is an 8.5 year old Ruby Cavalier who weighs 17 lbs. She came into our household 2.5 years ago right after my mixed breed Shih-Poo, Desi, passed away. I like to say he sent her to us, as she has some of his characteristics (only the good ones, thank goodness, as he was quite the stinker, lol). Anyway, when my Desi passed my husband told me to contact the breeder to see if she had a dog I could adopt. I wasn’t too sure yet but went ahead and made the call. She had one, Laverne, but she was actually promised to a couple where the wife had M.S. to be a companion for her. I was bummed but knew that perhaps it was for the best. However, God had other plans, and about a week later the breeder called me to say that the wife did not want Laverne and the husband didn’t want to keep her either, so they were returning her! She said she should’ve just given her to me in the first place :). I took Laverne home and she fit right in!! I now had 3 Cavaliers (Stella was still with us then) and Lucy Mae. I was in heaven! I joked the only thing I needed was a Tri and then I’d have a matched set. When Stella passed away, I started feeling like I should get back into therapy dog work. I also knew that Laverne would be great at it. She is actually from the breeder’s own kennel and has quite the personality, and is still loved by them, as is Hazel. We keep in touch still. She had 2 litters before I got her and was retired from show at age 6, the March before I adopted her in Sept. She is quite the jokester and is one of the lights of our lives! Very special dog indeed. I found a TDI testor and had Laverne certified this past Feb. 2013. In March 2013 Hazel was officially certified, as well. Now we visit a local hospital, library reading program and nursing homes. It is very fulfilling. Laverne and Hazel actually have the same birthday, Aug. 16th, and they are 2 years apart. For one of Laverne’s litters she was mated to Hazel’s brother, so they are sisters and sisters-in-law hahahahaha! I will always have a Cavalier from now on. If God deems it that I have another one while Lucy’s still alive, then that’s wonderful. If not, then I will actively seek another one (or two) when Lucy goes to the bridge. Btw, Lucy does like the Cavs…..sometimes I think she thinks they’re little divas lol. She is the alpha and lets them know it, but she loves them and takes care of them, too. 🙂

Princess Di – My Princie is going on 9 years old and is a Tortoise Shell cat who thinks she’s a dog! Princess first came into my oldest daughter’s life when she decided she needed a cat for company. She lived in Lima, Ohio at the time and was teaching H.S. math there. She didn’t have family close so she was sometimes lonely. One day I visited and we went to the local cat no-kill shelter. Princess had been there for around a year and a half! We adopted Princess (her name at the shelter, too) because she was very friendly and actually wanted to just stay on Erin’s lap the entire visiting time lol. Erin thought about changing her name but kept it when she found a food bowl at the pet store with Princess written inside of it …fate you know lol. Well, eventually Erin moved back to Bowling Green, Ohio where her fiancé was. But, she was moving in with some girlfriends and they couldn’t have pets. She asked me and her dad to keep Princess for her until she could take her back. I told her fine, but she needed to know that her dad would probably not give Princess back when that time came. He is definitely a cat lover. As you guessed it, he wouldn’t give her back! Now Erin has 2 other cats (Sheldon and Penny) and the rest is history. Princie gets along fine with the dogs and comes running when it’s dinner or treat time, just like they do! Very affectionate cat and very loved by all. 🙂

Now, I know this was long-winded and thanks if you read this far. I just wanted to tell you all the whole story. Bless you all!

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[Mom2Cavs]

Well….I’m not sure about the texture of Beneful, but Nature’s Variety Instinct has a food called Instinct Raw Boost that he might like. Also, adding a chunky stew type canned food on top of a quality dry might help or you could just feed the chunky stew canned alone. With a small dog like yours it wouldn’t be that expensive, imo. Or you could try a freeze dried food chopped up with a little water added, like Stella & Chewy’s, Primal or Nature’s Variety. Nutrisca has one as well as Vital Essentials. Oh..and there is a food called Vital and one called Fresh Pet (both made by the same company) that come in a bag and a roll that he might also like. I think Petco carries the Vital, which is grain free, and some supermarkets carry Fresh Pet, which has grains.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[Shasta220]

Hmm, skin issues can come from a variety of things. Usually it’s due to diet. Many times dogs have intolerances (usually to grains, but sometimes to chicken or various veggies). What food do you feed her?

One of my dogs would get dry skin once in a while. It was minor enough that an organic oil-based moisturizing shampoo (I can’t remember the brand. The scent is amazing, I bought it at the feed store) solved the problem right away.

I’m really not too much help, sorry, but hopefully you’ll be able to get something figured out. 😉

[houndlovr2]

Hi everyone, today I adopted a 3 year old walker hound mix from the local animal shelter. I’ve noticed she has a minor case of dry skin. From the history I got on her she turned in because her owner died. I can tell she was very important to her previous owner, she is very well trained. My question is what kind of food would be the best to help with skin issues and gain a little weight. She was 55 lbs at her last vet visit in October, but looks like she lost some weight due to shelter life. It will be a week before we go to my vet for a health check and I wanted to get a good food to get her on her way to feeling 100% after what she’s been through. Sorry so long I’ve never had a dog with skin issues so not sure what to do to help her until vet time.

[GizmoMom]

Patty, I think you’re confusing him/her with someone else.
/forums/topic/five-dogs-need-good-reasonably-priced-dry-dog-foodo/#post-32432

[Naturella]

Shasta,

When I researched foods/spices toxic to dogs, I never saw nutmeg listed, so I assumed it was ok. But you never know, and research keeps finding new stuff, such as I read somewhere that rosemary (present in many dry kibble and treat recipes, and not marked as bad by Dr. Mike), is now considered dangerous for dogs. Go figure.

In any case, I like to use spices for their benefits more so than flavor for my dog, i.e. turmeric is a natural antibiotic, cinnamon helps with weight maintenance and is good for the heart (so I have read), ginger helps with carsickness (which my pup often gets), etc. Also, aside from the Doggie Pizza Treats, the other 2 recipes are fit for human consumption, so Bruno didn’t really get TOO much of them, and definitely not too much all at once. But thank you for the input, and I will try to keep myself up to date on new findings on spices regarding dogs! 🙂

P.S. If your dog treat business takes off, please start and online “store” – I would love to give Bruno some of your treats! Or, if you live near Atlanta/Marietta/Kennesaw, GA, let me know if you take the treats to any local Farmers’ Market or some similar place where I could buy them!

[GizmoMom]

I just switched my dog over to THK Preference mixed with cooked ground bison. He’s a 15 lbs. Shih Tzu mix. I am not sure if I am feeding him enough. He sure loves his new food though.

I am feeding him according to the guideline on the box, which is 1/2 cup dry Preference mixed with 3/4 cup water, and 1/2 cup meat (ground bison). I split the mixture and feed him twice a day. Based on nutrition data for cooked ground bison, 1/2 cup is about 116 calories. Mixed with 1/2 cup of Preference, which is 116.5 calories. The total is only 282.5 calories. Based on dog food calculators on this site, he should be getting 464 calories per day. When I used to feed him kibbles or premade raw, I used to give him close to 450 calories per day.

Should I add more ground bison to his food? I’m worried if I would make the food unbalanced. Or should I keep the same proportion of the ground bison and Preference and just feed him more food per day?

[InkedMarie]

Shasta: LOL at Corona. I take mine with a lime please 🙂

[Scruffy312052]

Hello Tobacco haters of America. My guess is that I am forty to fifty years your senior. I understand your skepticism. I’ve walked paths you have yet to encounter. Do the math. ½ of an ounce of plug tobacco split between 30 servings. The odds of my pack craving a quality “Cuban” after their feeding is rather slim.

Secondly, are you willing to do some research? Round worms, hook worms, flat worms and tape worms DO NOT fare well when Nicotine is introduced into their hosts’ diet. As a matter of fact, they die while the pet fare’s well.

I did not suggest to anyone to entertain my remedy without FIRST consulting their Vet. Bark elsewhere my friends: you’ve treed no coon here.

Scruffy.

[theBCnut]

LOL!! I was wondering what beer had to do with it!

[Shasta220]

(Gah, stupid autocorrect… I meant to say CORN not corona, LOL!!!)

[boobear27]

When is it time to switch a dog to senior food? I’m having a weight problem with my dog. My Rat Terrier Pepper is about 9 years old and about 23 lbs. She’s starting to show her age now with the gray muzzle like she just ate a dozen powdered donuts:) She’s less active nowadays all she wants to do is relax on her bed or the couch, we tried to get her to run and play and she would for a little while then lose interest and go back to her bed,we also take her for walks and to the dog park to get some exercise. I’m guessing her metabolism and energy has slowed down as she’s getting older. She had lump removal surgery a couple months ago which turned out to be non cancerous, After the surgery the vet told us that Pepper is pretty healthy but she could afford to lose a few pounds which we already knew of course. We feed Pepper Wellness supermix dry food for small breed adults and gave her the feeding requirement it said on the bag which was 1.5 a day and we split it into two meals, and our vet suggested we feed her less than what the requirement says. I tried out the dog food calculator and it said to feed about one cup a day so we’ve been giving her that requirement for a couple of months and she still hasn’t lost any weight. I don’t know whether to feed her even less than what I’m giving now or switch to senior dog food. She does drink alot of water which is a good thing.

[mswrobbie]

Again, thank you all! Joet, I am appalled to hear all of this and I do thank you for directing me to the site. I at least now know that some folks pets have gotten very ill, and that many like me are learning the Beneful is at minimum a very poor food choice. My dogs were very interested in the Diamond naturals dog food bags coming into the house, and do seem to like it. Shasta, thank you on the comments on the lite types of food! maybe just this will help us save some money! Take care all!!!

[crazy4cats]

I keep my cats’ food and litter box behind a door with a Kitty door on it that the dogs can’t get through. I also bought a big tall gate with a little kitty door in it through pet smart to keep them out of the laundry room where the other little box and dirty laundry is. Good luck!

[theBCnut]

Joet, while you are on consumer affairs, read what they have to say about BB.

[leahzeigler]

My dog was diagnosed with Diabetes about 2 months ago and it has been a roller coaster. He gets 9 units of Vetsulin twice a day. My vet wants him to eat Royal Canin dry diabetic food but he totally refuses to eat it. I have been feeding him Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish Formula and he seems to really like this but I am worried that it may not be appropriate for him. I need help. What other dry foods would be appropriate for diabetes.
Thanks,

• This topic was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by Mike Sagman. Reason: Fix Duplicate Topic Title