What kind of food do you feed your dog?

Question

why?

I am looking for a new food because what I am currently feeding him he scratches his belly and chews on his leg. He doesn't have fleas so its got to be a allergy to something.

My dog has gas all the time and he eats Purina one!

My other dog Dakota doesn't have allergies except dry skin. Im not sure if that comes from the food she eats or not though.

Some foods I have given my dog to ea were kibbles and bits and Iams both gave my dog the runs but not my dog dakota.

I am also guessing he has a sensitive stomach too.

Thats exactly why I am changing his food. its not fair to him to be scratching all the time. and eating cruddy by products(YUCK).

I have tried natural Balance it stopped his itching for a couple of days and he kept itching.

I have fed him Nature's variety but saw no improvement with the itching.

So when looking for a food do I want it to not have any sort of "Meal" in it? Is that bad or is that good.

I have asked and they just gave him medicine for it. Once they gave him a shot but they said those would make him fat.

Answer 1

My dog gets two meals a day.

The first meal is Nature's Variety raw medallions.
http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1483

The second meal is Merrick Wilderness Blend kibble.
http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=14&s=20277
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=167&cat=all

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Here is my 'short list' of rules for choosing dog foods:

1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal.
2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.
3) I don't want to see any byproducts.
4) I don't want to see a lot of fillers.
5) I don't want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
6) I don't want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
7) I don't want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).
8) I don't want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".)

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For allergies, California Natural has foods that have a very short ingredient list so it helps you find a food your dog isn't allergic to and narrow down what ingredient(s) is/are causing the allergy.
http://www.californianaturalpet.com/default.asp

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ADD:

RE: "So when looking for a food do I want it to not have any sort of "Meal" in it?"

> FALSE! Meal is a great ingredient! Byproducts are the leftovers, and byproducts are bad ingredients. Also, "mystery meats" of any sorts are bad. If you ever see "meat" or "poultry", that is not desirable. It should say what KIND of meat it is. (So "meat meal" or "poultry meal" are bad, even though meal is good, because they are "mystery meats". But "chicken meal" or "beef meal" are good, because they are specific kinds of meat, just with the water removed.)
.

Answer 2

I have fed my dogs Canidae and Innova, which are both great foods, but they didn't do well on it. They are currently on Nature's Variety. If you suspect your dog has allergies, I recommend California Naturals. It is made by the same company that makes Innova, and is a great food. It's recommended for dogs with allergies since it has the least amount of ingredients out of all the kibble on the market (only has 6). It isn't sold at PetSmart or Petco, but you can get it at Pet Supplies Plus stores or most high end non-chain dog stores.

ADDED: Pretty much anything you can get at Petsmart/Petco/Walmart/Grocery store is crap -- I wouldn't feed my dogs any of that even if you paid me.

ADDED: Meat meal is better than meat alone. Meal means all the moisture is removed, so instead of having meat that is 80% water, you have 100% meat content in that ingredient

Answer 3

As you can see there are a million choices, and of course they are all wrong, just ask the next responder.
You are trying to find what your dog is reacting to. This has nothing to do with brand name, it is an ingredient issue. So which ingredient is causing the problem?? If you want to find out you can only change one ingredient at a time. So if you are feeding chicken & rice, try lamb & rice. If that doesn't work look for a food with a different fiber source, like barley or beat pulp instead of rice. By just changing brands, you might accidently solve the problem but you still will not know what the problem is.

Answer 4

I rotate currently between Merrick and Innova dry kibbles. i will be transitioning my huskies to raw this month though. Merrick seems to have won my dogs over as far as kibble though.
ADDED: if your pup has allergies, another good option, besides the Cal Nat is Wellness fish and potatoe. It is an allergy formula, and completely holistic.
ADDED: Ashleigh- have you ever actually read the ingredient panel on NC? 3 of the fisrt 5 ingredients are FILLERS. Rice, rice bran, ground rice, *poultry* fat. (I asked what this meant and I was told they can't guarantee that it would be only chicken fat, some turkey too possibly) Not a good choice either unfortunately.

Answer 5

Eagle Pack. It's holistic, good for all sorts of allergies, fairly easy to find, and reasonably priced. A 30 pound bag runs me around $31 and that feeds four medium-sized dogs for 3 weeks. There's a store locator on the website:

http://eaglepack.com/

Answer 6

I feed my dogs Wellness-one gets Wellness Core reduced fat and the other gets Wellness Senior. I like Wellness because it is a good brand, has little fillers, no corn and meat products as some of the first few ingredients (not by-products). Have you asked your vet about the problem? They might have a suggestion as for what to feed him (just don't feed him Science Diet if they suggest that-that's junk.)

Answer 7

Raw meaty bones and organs from a variety of animals, fish and egg.
Because I was sick of the health problems, itching, huge piles of nasty crap and not knowing what I was feeding my dogs. They are not meant to live a life on ONE food based of grains their entire lives and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that NO species eats this way in nature and that not all pets can handle such a life on crapinabag. It's not even fair!

Answer 8

Try AvoDerm or some other skin focused brand. My best friend had great luck with Natural Balance duck and potato for her Golden Retriever that has a ton of allergies.

Get him some sulfur based dog shampoo. It smells a bit, but it does help. Rinse, Rinse, Rinse. Don't use human shampoos -- wrong pH.

Give him a benedryl twice a day.

Play Sherlock and eliminate the possibilities one at a time: carpet powder, fabric softener, etc. BTW, he can be allergic to the bites of insects. Most flea treatments kill after they bite your dog. He doesn't have to "have" fleas to be allergic to bug bites. Good luck.

Answer 9

My dog is on Raw Prey Model. My boss's dogs have recently been switched to Orijen Adult formula. It's grain free so if my dog gets into it He won't have a reaction.

My belief is: If you can buy it 40 lbs for 10 dollars it's crap, if you can find it at a chain grocery store it's worse than crap.

Answer 10

I was feeding my dog purina and just switched to Canidae. It took a little bit of pushing to get him to switch foods but he just looks SO much healthier! His coat looks better and he doesn't have that horrible gas he used to have on Purina! lol