Need a low fat food recommendations for a Labradore

Yes, Innova is generally considered good. I'm not sure they have a low fat option though.

Does your vet have any recommendations? When my dog was transitioning to her new diet, we were feeding her a Purina Prescription formula. I believe they have one that is low fat. My vet said she prefers Purina Prescription over Hill's prescription formulas, so that may be something to look into.

This link might be helpful but do as much research on your own as possible. 

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/suggested-low-fat-dog-food/

 Acana, Wellness and  Fromms have good reputations from what I've heard and read. I've never fed any of them so no personal experience but I wouldn't hesitate to feed one of those brands.  What is the fat percentage in the Hills diet?  I would guess you'd want to stay around that figure if possible.  I used to feed Evo, made by the same company as Innova.  They were recently bought out by Proctor and Gamble and many are worried that the quality control might suffer.  I stopped feeding the Evo because the kibble seemed to be much more crumbly that it used to be.  The dogs didn't care but it bothered me for some reason.  I've heard nothing negative about the brands since the buy out and I'm not recommending that you avoid it.  Just sharing some info, for what it's worth.

We have several members who have dogs who have had pancreatitis.  Hopefully they will pop in with some advice and recommendations based on their knowledge and experience.

I know Nutro foods generally are low protein and low fat, and they have simple formulations as well.  Nutro may not be very fancy or "high end", but I would recommend it for a dog that needs to watch fat percentage.

jettababy

I know Nutro foods generally are low protein and low fat, and they have simple formulations as well.  Nutro may not be very fancy or "high end", but I would recommend it for a dog that needs to watch fat percentage.

  Jessie has chronic pancreatitis and has been doing well on Nutro Natural Choice Venison Meal and Whole Brown Rice for 2 years;

   Adult - Venison Meal and Whole Brown Rice Natural Dog Food Formula : Nutro® Natural Choice® Dog Food : The Nutro Company

  I actually tried some "better" foods including California Natural Low fat Rice and Lamb, but she had a lot of gas, soft stool, and her stomach made rumbly sounds. You will need to see how much fat your dog can tolerate. I found that 13% fat was too much for Jessie, and that foods with soluble fiber (beet pulp) also worked best. Introduce any new food very slowly, watching carefully for signs such as pain, anorexia, lip licking, vomiting, soft stool or diarrhea. I'm sorry that your pup has pancreatitis but if you're careful with his diet, he should do fine.

malsh_k

His vet doesn't want him on a raw diet anymore.

Why don't you cook for him?  You can ensure just about any fat content you want and *you* will control the quality and avoid the nasty preservatives.  I know Janice has had a battle keeping Jessie stable (her pancreatitis is really bad and recurs) -but both of the dogs I've had who have battled pancreatitis have done very well with home cooked.

Start easy and you'll get better as you go on.  I only cook once a week, and then I portion it out.  Generally I stay with about 35% meat, 45% veggies and water and a bit of grain (simply to thicken up the broth left over and add some substance).  I add sea calcium at 1 tsp per pound of meat.  You can use bone meal (food grade) but it's trickier to calculate the amount of calcium.

Back when my first dog got pancreatitis (I was very young -- only 21 and she was only 2 1/2 at the time) she was inbelievably sick and had been at death's door at the vets for a week.  When I "sprung her from the joint" (In 1975 $265 was almost 3 months rent for me) my vet handed me a piece of paper on which he'd written a very simple recipe (ground meat, white rice, a little garlic powder for flavor and an egg stirred in when I took it off the heat) and he said to me "If you love her -- cook for her.  No store bought food will have the right fat content"   Click here

I took it and never looked back -- she lived to be almost 21 (no joke) and her pancreatitis recurred 2-3 times over the years.  I used something very like ProZyme as a predigestive that my vet gave me (it was an enzyme).  As time passed I learned a lot about adding veggies and making it nutritionally better -- and ensuring she'd eat it. 

I always get this mental picture of Prissy up at Rainbow Bridge nodding wisely in agreement --she'd approve LOL.  She was my first "sick dog" -- and boy, "she learned me LOTS".  When I think of how incredibly stupid and inexperienced I was back then -- she had a lot to do to teach me stuff.

calliecritturs

I know Janice has had a battle keeping Jessie stable (her pancreatitis is really bad and recurs)

  It's more than just watching the fat for Jessie; I haven't had her scoped but she appears to have IBS or IBD too. She is very sensitive to the smallest changes in her diet. I tried a total of four cooked diets formulated by Monica Segal and none of them worked; the last one put her in the hospital. Many dogs with pancreatitis have other conditions, which is why it can be tricky finding a diet that works.

  To the OP; Monica Segal and Sabine Contreras can formulate a balanced home cooked diet for you; 

   Individualized Nutrition For Your Dogs

   Better Dog Care, Better Dog Nutrition - Creating Healthy Lifestyles for Canines: Main Page

malsh_k

Thank you, I don't mind cooking at all if I have a recipe and don't have to worry that he's not fed a balanced diet

That 'recipe' was just where *I* started as something low fat to go from.  The more I learned the more I was able to do.  With that little diet (which she ate for almost EIGHTEEN years!!) I now know I should have been supplementing calcium and other stuff.  But I will say this -- for the whole rest of her life she wasn't getting carcinogens as preservatives and that kind of thing. 

What Janice (Jessies_mom) says is gold -- Monica Segal writes the best diet on the planet as far as I'm concerned as far as 'balance' is concerned.  Her diets can be futzy but they are accurate and she will work with your vet to give your dog exactly what they need.  Sabine Contreras is a little easier to follow in a way (she used to be an I-Dog regular way back). 

 I don't know Sabine's ("Mordana";) website but Monica's is http://www.monicasegal.com -- and Monica also has a Yahoo group that's pretty active.  Monica has a basic fee (I don't know what is is right now.) and for that she not only writes the diet but supports you for at least 2 months after that so help you get going.

I've been doing it so long at this point that I cook for them with as much confidence as you cook for yourself/your family.  AS I keep learning I change things.  But for me variety provides balance.  I don't try to use the same veggies week after week (nor the same meat) -- I do work a 10 hour day so  I gotta accomplish this on Sunday.  (As a matter of fact I start it Saturday night and slow cook some of the veggies during the night) but by variying color, and "where" something is grown (below ground, on a vine, etc) and the type of veggie -- by keeping the variety really wide I achieve balance for mine.  I also use a lot of TCVM (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine) principals and my vet actually often uses food as a medicine.  In fact, this week, she gave me "wolf berries" (sort of a Chinese dried fruit which they use like we'd use raisins) that she wants both Tink and Charlie to take -- specifically for Charlie's eyesl and a component of something she's doing for Tink's "twitches" (she is really close to a seizure state very often). 

That ground beef and rice mixture -- you could do that until you can find a better diet.  The whole idea of cooking can be daunting so don't let yourself get weirded out about it.  We all hear so much about "balance" and food -- we forget we manage to feed OURSELVES!! 

And like Is aid -- I cook once a week for three dogs - trust me -- I've been adjusting and changing and regulating amounts for EVER ... and every time we get a new dog, or someone gets sick ... I have to "adjust" all over again.

But short term you're ok -- it's like when someone does a true "elmination" diet to diagnose allergies.  It's MONTHS before you achieve anything "balanced" because you start with a novel protein and ONE veg.  Heck -- a vet at Cornell started a friend of mine's dog on a diet of mashed potatos and PEAS (because she'd hopscotched with so many different diets that there was virtually no "novel protein" the dog hadn't eaten. 

The sea calcium I use is Animal Essentials -- you can get it via Amazon.  I did not look further than Amazon (I wanted you to at least "see" what it looked like) -- I get it from my holistic vet so I've never priced it online.

Click here

malsh_k

He doesn't seem to like the prescription food. It's not hills it's royal canine gastation low fat diet. I've been mixing some rice and chicken with the prescription diet so he would eat it.

  It's possible that he's not eating well because he's still recovering. The Royal Canin diet is 6% fat; did the vet believe he needed a diet that low in fat? It usually takes awhile to fully recover from pancreatitis, especially from an attack as bad as your dog had.  I belong to a yahoo group for owners of dogs with pancreatitis and some of the dogs weren't stable for three months after an attack. Did your vet talk to you about having a spec cPL done? It's a blood test specifically for pancreatitis and will give you an idea of how well your dog is recovering. The higher the number, the more inflamed the pancreas is. This link describes the test;    

   Spec cPL Test

   Here's the link for the yahoo group; 

  dogpancreatitis : dog and pancreatitis  

  Please introduce any new diet, including a cooked diet, very, very slowly. The spec cPL will increase while you're changing the diet. If you're not going to have someone qualified design a balanced diet, please add some b vitamins; most home cooked diets are deficient in them, as well as potassium. Dogs need all the nutrients that we do, including iodine, sodium, copper, zinc, etc., but in different amounts. For example, Jessie needs more selenium than I do. Monica Segal has a book called "Optimal Nutrition" which shows you how to calculate your dog's nutritional requirements. The book also has a chapter on pancreatitis, including sample diets. The book is $25;

   dogpancreatitis : dog and pancreatitis

    I wish you the best and will keep your dog in my thoughts

Janice is THE Bomb on pancreatitis.  I've had two dogs have pancreatitis - both different types, severities, etc.  But Janice KNOWS it.  She's helpful in a lot of areas, but no one knows pancreatitis (that I know of) better than she does!! 

I can promise you -- she's correct -- it takes them a while to recover.  Whether it's a bad one or even a lighter case, it takes a while.