[Harpers Mom]

After finding out my Bull terrier mix, Harper is highly allergic to grains and chicken it is time to start looking for new foods. She is currently on Simply Nourish High Protein- Grain Free adult food, but we will soon be switching her to something different. I have read that rotating foods help limit allergies to certain foods, but i have no clue where to start when it comes to starting a rotational diet. How many food should be included, how often should they be switched? What are good food to use? I prefer sticking to about $45- $50 for a 30lb bag of food. HELP!

[theBCnut]

This is what I suggest. Print up the 4 and 5 star lists and take them with you to all the different place where you can buy dog food. Keep notes about what is available to you, cross off foods that have bad ingredients, note prices, and then pick a few to try. Keep track of what works great, good, or doesn’t work for you. Try to find foods with a variety of protein and carb sources. The more different foods you can put in your rotation, the better, but you really want at least 3 or 4. Make sure to include different brands. Good luck. I’ve been searching for foods for my dog with intolerances for about a year and a half and I think I have finally found a third brand that he can handle, so it can be quite a challenge, but totally worth it.

[Akari_32]

Just picking out PetSmarts grain free foods off the top of my head…

Innova Prime
Natures Recipe (only a few are grain free, but I don’t recall if any have chicken or not– I know one is salmon, though some brands use chicken meal to boost the protein content of their novelty foods)
Blue Buffalo (this makes up most of their grain free selection)
Pro Plan (just came out, and my store doesn’t have it yet, so I haven’t gotten to investigate. Probably has chicken, but should it do well, more proteins are likely to become available– something you might look into for future use should it rank well on DFA)

I really think that’s it, other than Authority, which is chicken, and Simply Nourish, which you already use. Royal Canin and Hill’s have some grain free foods, but those are just… Those are just no…

[InkedMarie]

That’s a hard price point but look at Dr Tim’s, hi Tek naturals, Earthborn…

[Harpers Mom]

I’ve been doing research and going through ingredients on the Best grain free dry dog foods and came across Best Breed grain free, in the ingredients it it lists natural chicken flavor, would this be a concern to my Bully’s chicken allergy? or does the flavor itself not contain the chicken protein?

We are looking to try Earthborn next to see how she handles it.

Since we will be switching foods, would probiotics be recommended just to boost her digestive system?

[Harpers Mom]

Also what are opinions on Innova Prime, and Taste of the Wild. I know TOTW is manufactured by diamond food company which is a nightmare. But does anyone have experiences with it?

[Akari_32]

Chicken flavor is said to not bother allergies, so it should be fine.

I used Innova (prime and regular) almost exclusively for several months until they had that crazy recall. They may have figured themselves out, I’m not sure. I’m not thrilled about P&G buying the company, personally, but it may not be bad now. I have yet to look into the indregients and see if they’ve changed at all, though. Some googling should find you a better answer.

As for TOTW, I’ve used it here and there. No real issues yet. I once bought a bag of the High Prairie, and one of the dogs wouldn’t touch it. I suspect it was a case of a mislabeled forumula, though, as that particular dog absolutely hates fish, and the other dogs loved it.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Akari_32.

[theBCnut]

Any food that list “natural flavor” is likely chicken flavoring and so far they do not bother my chicken intolerant dog. I try to avoid that ingredient because it is a source of MSG, which has it’s own set of negatives.

[Harpers Mom]

Just an update and some advise, We found a food Harper is doing excellent on, Merrick grain free- beef and sweet potato. I still want to have a rotational diet for her so does anyone know of a kibble with similar ingredients to the Merrick? She also does well on the duck formula. The ingredients of each are posted below.

Merrick Grain free- Real Duck and Sweet Potato
Deboned Duck, Turkey Meal, Salmon Meal (source of Omega 3 fatty acids), Sweet Potato, Peas, Lamb Meal, Potato, Duck Fat (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols), Pea Protein, Natural Flavor, Apples, Blueberries, Organic Alfalfa, Salmon Oil, Minerals (Salt, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Rosemary Extract.

Merrick Grain Free- real Texas beef and sweet potato
Deboned Beef, Beef Liver, Lamb Meal, Sweet Potato, Peas, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract), Natural Flavors, Potato Protein, Potato, Deboned Buffalo, Deboned Lamb, Flaxseed, Whey Protein Concentrate, Apples, Salmon Oil, Blueberries, Organic Alfalfa, Minerals (Salt, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product.

[Harpers Mom]

Also I am very interested in using innova prime beef and lamb formula. The only down side is not all the ingredients are sourced in the US. Most are US, Canada, and Australia. But some of the minerals and such come from France, Germany, Japan, Slovenia, and other European countries. None are sourced from China. Opinions on this? Innova also has a new line out called nature’s table. Does anyone have experience with this. I have done a good deal of researching. Now just looking for opinions and personal experience.

[shamrockmommy]

Just went and looked at the new Innova line. Could the bag be any more flashy? Could the website be any more coated in gimmicky marketing? Oy vey.

And it’s not a whole lot different from the Prime line, or is this what it’s replacing?

Honestly, what would it take to have a decent pet food company that just makes a good food without all the marketing crap. This is what P&G does to companies.

[Akari_32]

It looks like they’ve removed the Prime line from their website, so I would say they just changed the name. It does look very similar. That one does have tons of peas though! Wholly wow. Going off the other foods, 8% of its protein comes from the peas. Geesh.

I visited the site before the contract ended, and its changed drastically. Used to be very simple, and to the point, and listed the sources of all their ingredients. Now its all flowery and “ooh look how awesome we are!” Yuck! I’ll not be going back to them after seeing this.

[Author]

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