[dogmom]

Just a note on the Acana – I did move my 8-month old GSD from Origin Large Breed Puppy to Acana when he was 6 months old, because he was growing too fast, and the vet suggested that he be put on adult food to slow him down some. That’s worked great for us – again, sloooow switch between the foods – took a couple of weeks.

[dogmom]

I know that a number of you have said you don’t like the Acana and Origin brands because they have a touch too much calcium, but my large dogs have done really well on it. My youngest German Shepherd is at 85 lbs at 8 months old, and he’s looking and acting pretty perfect. My older Shepherds (range from 110 to 130 lbs) are doing great on it too. No upset stomachs, good stools, good health, and they LOVE this food. No Pano problems at all, and no Hip Displasia in the breeding lines at all, so I don’t expect that. We moved them from the breeder food to Acana very gradually, and it was smooth as it can be.

[dogmom]

Hi HDM – do you mean adding the Tripett to the Orijin LBP food? Or would it be better to use half of the Orijin and half of another kibble with less calcium? I was reading the Orijin packaging, and was thinking that while I really like the food for my pup, that I would want to mix it with something….maybe the Acana Chicken & Burbank. I have a friend with GSD pups, and she feeds hers the Acana C&B and thinks it’s great for them. I worry about it because it’s not a puppy food, but it is an all-life-stage food….

Your thoughts on that?

Thanks so much!

[dogmom]

I saw the list, but later there was also an update that the Orijin Large Breed was good because the calcium level had been lowered – am just checking to make sure that’s true….and wanted an update on the Acana Chicken and Burbank as well if possible

[dogmom]

Fortunately I have a great vet – very collaborative – we were both doing research and he even did some treatments for free. We worked together on it until we found the problem.

[dogmom]

No – we didn’t get it at all – which may be why it took so long to diagnose. Yes it is sarcoptic mange. And we tried everything – changed food, washed everything, special medicated shampoo, cortisone shots, fish oil, cortisone spray, anti-itch sprays, and on and on. It turns out that cortisone makes scabies worse tho – so that is one reason nothing got better.

Their backs never did itch or lose fur – just belly at first, then elbows, then whole legs at the end. My beautiful long coated shepherds were starting to look like sheep with fur on just their backs! It got bad before we figured out what it was because the circumstances were so out of the norm for it, and we have no idea where they picked it up at all.

Good luck with your doggie!!!!

[dogmom]

Am getting a new GSD puppy and trying to decide on food…

Breeder has pup on Iams Large Breed Puppy food, and I was planning on moving to Orijin Large Breed Puppy food, but have been advised to go to Acana Chicken and Burbank instead because lower in protein content and is good for all life stages…..

My adult GDSs are all on Acana Ranchlands, but I don’t think that would work for new pup, so am looking for best alternative.

What is your advice? Should I use the Orijin LBP food, the Acana C&B food, or someone else??

Thanks to all!

[dogmom]

I am new to this thread, but thought I would offer some notes on this allergy thread….

I have 3 GSDs that started itching and scratching like crazy – they were pretty miserable. Took them to vet. Diagnosed as allergies, and we went through months of trying this or that and spent a small fortune. Finally after probably 6 months of frustration, with our dogs not improving, and starting to get red patches, scaly patches, and fur falling out, and we started to wonder about scabies mites. Normally these don’t appear on Healthy dogs (our dogs are pampered, well fed, therapy-trained, and well-groomed) so we asked the vet, and he said “maybe”, and we asked about trying a treatment for that before doing expensive allergy testing on the dogs. It turns out that most places require a course of mite treatment before they want to do allergy testing anyway.

Long story short – we put our dogs on Revolution, and they got much better – tho it takes some time before the mite bodies under the skin stop causing the itching. Now 3 months later, our dogs don’t itch, their fur has grown back from the bald patches, all the redness is gone, and life is good.

So you could look into that for the problem. As it turns out, scabies is almost always first diagnosed as allergies. It is almost impossible to find with skin scrapings because they are microscopic.

Quite the learning experience.

[Author]

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