Dog Food ?

[mamamary]

My dog has pretty bad allergies. We plan on switching foods. Does anyone recommend Natural Balance or California Natural?

Thanks.

 

[CathrynRose]

Ive never used Natural Balance. I do like California Natural (especially the Herring & Sweet Potato)

Have you eyeballed this: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

 

[Tinkin]

Do you know what your dog is allergic to? I had a dog with terrible allergies and we ended up having her tested. Turns out she was highly allergic to all grains and fillers (i.e. rice, barley) and lamb and quite a few other things.

We ended up putting her on Bil-Jac. The food is all chicken and chicken by products and it really worked for her. I've had some vets tell me they don't like Bil-Jac because it's fattier but it worked very well for her.

Good Luck!

 

[mamamary]

Ive never used Natural Balance. I do like California Natural (especially the Herring & Sweet Potato)

Have you eyeballed this: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Wow - quick response.

Our vet said to try a Eukanuba type food. I called a specialty dog food place by me but they don't sell that product. They recommended those two brands (the natural balance and the CA. natural). My poor dog has been really at his skin - it is so irritated. He's currently on meds. and I think it's time to switch foods.

 

[Nickimouse]

We use Natural Balance Ultra Premium dry and Fish and Sweet potato canned. Our dogs coats look great and both are active and at a good weight.

The Fish and Sweet potato is a limited ingredient food so it might be worth a try.

Good luck!

By the way, Petco carries Natural Balance.

 

[Marshmelo]

Try looking into Solid Gold. That's what we use. There is one called Innova you should look into as well. I have also heard that Bil Jac is good.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

One of our Boxers has horrible food allergies (red rash on all 4 paws) that completely cleared up when we started using Nature's Balance.

Allergy tests are uber-expensive, so if your dog isn't picky about what she eats, it's far cheaper to keep switching foods until you find one that works for you, than it is to pay for the test.

Good luck!!

 

[mamamary]

One of our Boxers has horrible food allergies (red rash on all 4 paws) that completely cleared up when we started using Nature's Balance.

Allergy tests are uber-expensive, so if your dog isn't picky about what she eats, it's far cheaper to keep switching foods until you find one that works for you, than it is to pay for the test.

Good luck!!

My dog started on his paws last week. One is totally irritated.

 

[syko]

Wow - quick response.

Our vet said to try a Eukanuba type food. I called a specialty dog food place by me but they don't sell that product. They recommended those two brands (the natural balance and the CA. natural). My poor dog has been really at his skin - it is so irritated. He's currently on meds. and I think it's time to switch foods.

Don't use Eukanuba, most likely you dog can not have grains, try a food like OIRJEN.
My dog was on Eukanuba and we had to change her, she now looks fantastic and her allergy problems have gone.

 

[LindaG4458]

My cocker had food allergies that caused skin problems She did very well on Solid Gold. We used some of the additives as well as the dry food. Her skin was much improved. We always joked that it was called Solid Gold for a reason. It is more expensive than many foods.

The other dogs liked it so much that I used the Solid Gold as training treats.

 

[Aimeedyan]

California Natural is by the makers of Innova - they process their own food and have NEVER been involved in food recalls. Their quality control is top notch. CA Natural was developed for animals with allergies and food sensitivities. I would highly recommend it.

Natural Balance used to be a food I recommended but they were involved in recalls last year and many animals died. A friend of mine almost lost her two dogs who were hospitalized for a long time and Natural Balance refused to talk to her about getting bills paid. Finally, after a lawyer stepped in, they listened to her and paid up for their mistake. I lost all respect for their company after that and will not trust my animals to them.

There are other foods out there, of course, but California NAtural is easy to find, fairly affordable, and from a quality company. No reason not to try it and see how your dog reacts.

ETA: Steer clear of Eukanuba

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

Natural Balance is wonderful. They have ingredient free formulas for specific allergies. So helpful because my dog is allergic to (amongst other things) :

chicken
turkey
fish
oats
brewers yeast
soy
milk
oatmeal
oat flour


He eats the duck and potato formula and loves it. No oats! Lots of allergy foods have no wheat but almost all of them still have oat/oat flour.

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

One of our Boxers has horrible food allergies (red rash on all 4 paws) that completely cleared up when we started using Nature's Balance.

Allergy tests are uber-expensive, so if your dog isn't picky about what she eats, it's far cheaper to keep switching foods until you find one that works for you, than it is to pay for the test.

Good luck!!

The $500 paid for my dogs allergy test was the best money I ever spent on him. He is allergic to almost every type of common ingredient in even the allergy formula foods, along with most types of grass, many common trees, tobacco smoke (my roommate smokes outside but often has smoke on him when he comes in) and many types of bugs.

I would have been switching up his diet forever. Switching up their diet a lot can cause stomach upset. Please don't do this.

OP- do you know what the allergy is?

 

[LucyDingo]

We give our dog Natural Balance (but we use the Ultra not the limited diet one.) We love it. We also give her Natural Balance treats.

We like it because it basically has "human grade" ingredients. So it's not full of junk.

Yes, some of it was involved in the recall but not to the extent of other dog foods. They've really done a lot now to make sure their product is very safe. You can even see the test results for the specific bag you purchase....more info on that here - http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/PetFoodScreening.tpl

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

The $500 paid for my dogs allergy test was the best money I ever spent on him. He is allergic to almost every type of common ingredient in even the allergy formula foods, along with most types of grass, many common trees, tobacco smoke (my roommate smokes outside but often has smoke on him when he comes in) and many types of bugs.

I would have been switching up his diet forever. Switching up their diet a lot can cause stomach upset. Please don't do this.

OP- do you know what the allergy is?

$500 is a great price. Both vets that we take our dogs to charge around $900.00 and they themselves suggested we go the "trying different foods" route. Our dogs aren't picky and don't have a problem with changing foods. As far as stomach upset, it really depends on the dog.

 

[nephthys43]

my dog eats natural balance sweet potato and fish. she's allergic to wheat and poultry. she's doing really well on it. the plus is that if you buy it from petco you get every 11th bag free.

 

[RNMOM]

We've been feeding Natural Balance for a while. It has made a difference in coat but we also give vitamins and fish oil caps.

Our dog still has bad allergies though. It was worth the try. For me we wanted to feed a food with no corn/wheat. He loves it. We do add canned to it because he has always been underweight. He is a "reluctant eater" per our vet but this winter we had to increase his thyroid suppliment and his appetite has improved as has his coat. I am slowly weaning out the canned due to cost. Our baby has been very expensive this year due to a health crisis.

Be aware, if you have a setter they don't recommend a lamb based food due to an enzyme that builds up in setters. I don't have the time to look it up so I don't know if it is other breeds too.

 

[doxdogy]

We switched ours over to Wellness brand with glucosamine (spelling) for senior dogs. There has been a marked improvement. Poor Ruby was constantly scratching and itching on the old food. Savanna who has arthritis is moving like a puppy on the new food.

 

[LucyDingo]

We switched ours over to Wellness brand with glucosamine (spelling) for senior dogs. There has been a marked improvement. Poor Ruby was constantly scratching and itching on the old food. Savanna who has arthritis is moving like a puppy on the new food.

Yeah...all dogs are different. Hopefully the OP can find something that works. When we adopted our dog, she had been on crap at the shelter. We transitioned her to Wellness but for whatever reason her stomach couldn't handle it. She had to be on a bland diet for a while. Then we transitioned her to Natural Balance and she's been great on it.