[crazy mom]

I have a 7 month old GD that we rescued. We have our other GD and bloodhound on TOTW Sierra Mountain. We it looks like the puppy is having allergy problems with something. I was thinking it might be the food. I am wondering what i should look into changing her food to or keep her on TOTW and change the formula. We have not seen any problems with TOTW with the other dogs. If we do change the food how long to we keep her on it till we can see if it has made a change?

Thank you so much

[RescueDaneMom]

I have a 7.5yr old Dane. Luckily the only thing I have found that he is allergic to is mango and bee/wasp stings. My sister has a dog that we suspected had a chicken allergy but it turned out that it was flea allergies. From the research I did at the time, the best thing to do is put your dog on a limited ingredient diet such as Nature’s Variety Instinct grain-free, limited ingredient diet. It comes in turkey, lamb, duck, and rabbit. Because the TOTW formula you are currently feeding is lamb based, I would choose one of the other protein sources to try. I believe if it is truly food allergies you should start seeing some improvement in as little as a week but it can take 4-6 weeks for all the symptoms to completely clear up. Once all of the symptoms are gone, you can add one ingredient at a time and watch your dog’s reaction to see what she is allergic to. That’s my two cents. Hopefully someone else with more experience with allergy dogs will chime in. Good luck!

-Caroline

[theBCnut]

With my dog with food intolerance issues, I could tell in about 3 days that he was getting better, but it took 2 1/2 months for all symptoms to disappear. Now when he gets something that he is sensitive to, I can tell within 3 days.

[crazy mom]

Is there a better food to put her on then TOTW? I am thinking its the lamb but I need to get her switched and fast!!!! I am just not sure where to start. Thank so much

[crazy mom]

I am going to try the NV LID starting tomorrow but how should I switch cause like I said she is needing it done asap!!! then after I see a change what should I put her on cause what ever I put her on I would like to put the other two dogs on. 🙂 Thank you so much

[RescueDaneMom]

I am not a fan of TOTW because it it made by Diamond and they have a big recall history. If you shop at the big stores like Petco and Petsmart, I would consider Merrick Grain Free, Wellness Core, and Nature’s Variety Instinct. I fed my Dane a rotation of different foods including: Acana (Grain Free), Earthborn Holistic (Grain Free), Go! Fit & Free (by Petcurean), Horizon Legacy, and Annamaet (Grain Free). My Dane is a picky boy when it comes to kibble so I was somewhat limited. Other brands I like but he didn’t: Fromm (Grain Free), Nature’s Logic (has smaller kibbles), Orijen, Evanger’s (Grain Free), and Zignature (Grain Free). I would recommend going through the 4 and 5 star reviews to see what you like and what may work for them. If you want to try one of the brands that aren’t carried in Petco/Petsmart, I would get it online from chewy.com or petflow.com.

I know you want to get her off TOTW ASAP so you don’t want to gradually mix in another food. The faster you switch the more likely she is to have some GI upset like diarrhea. To try to avoid that, you can add a tablespoon of canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) to her new food- that will help with the diarrhea because of the fiber. I would also get digestive enzymes and probiotics and add them to her food to help with the switch.

On another note, your GD rescue that is 7 months old should still be on a restricted calcium/phosphorous food for slow growth. See this list for large breed puppy appropriate foods: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1
Luckily, the NV LID Turkey is on there.

Good Luck! And please post any other questions you have. Hopefully we can help! 🙂
-Caroline

[crazy mom]

I do go to a feed store most the time but I will do which ever one I need to. I was going to try and gradually do the change in food just wanting to get it going today. I will add pumpkin to the food just to help.
Looks like I will be changing to the LID Turkey and then looking at Earthborn Holistic coastal catch or Fromm Four star. Thank you so much!! I will look in to rotation diet in the next few months after I get things fig out with my baby girl. Thank you so so much!

[RescueDaneMom]

You are so very welcome! I hope everything works out. Keep us updated on how she is doing. I love Earthborn Holistic and Fromm! Good choices. 🙂 Best of luck to you and your girl!

[crazy mom]

ok I know that price is different everywhere but I cant afford the NV LID food. Its like 67.98 for 25lbs….. That is not in our budget. 🙁 is there is something that is not so much $$ for such a small bag? I know that most top rated food is very $$ but that is still not in our price range. I just wanted to see if there was something else that I might be able to try.

[RescueDaneMom]

Well assuming that it is the lamb, you could just pick a food from the list of appropriate large breed puppy foods and give it a try. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a LID diet, but I would stick with grain free. You could try the Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch, Wellness Core Puppy, Zignature Trout & Salmon, or any of the others that suit your fancy that don’t use lamb.

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