Switching Foods Question

I, too, have a dog who is allergic to chicken. I did a lot of research about food, too, both before and after I got Zeke. I started with Merrick, because I really liked how it is a small company, but then they changed all their formulas and they don't have a bison based food, which is what I had been feeding, and it got way more expensive, at least around here. It is interesting that you can get Merrick cheaper than Nutro. Here, nutro is definitely cheaper.

I started Zeke on the wilderness blend, which was bison, but when the pet store did not have it, and also just for variety, I tried grammys pot pie, which was chicken based, which is when I found out that Zeke cannot have chicken. His allergy is not so bad as what you are dealing with, but he got very itchy, and it stopped when I took him off that food.

I am also a full time college student, so cost is extremely important to me as well. But since Merrick got way more expensive when they changed the formulas and do not have the same protein, I tried Taste of the Wild. Zeke did okay on that, but I did not really like that it is part of Diamond pet foods, and it was expensive, to boot. I then changed to Earthborn Holistics, to the bison based food they have, and Zeke does the best on it. It is not cheap either, and it is not a nice small compny like Merrick, but it works.

I would recommend Merrick if you can get it cheaply, I did like their foods and company policies, it just did not work out for me. And if my experience is anything to go by, you can definitely change foods often to find the right one! Just be careful you don't do it too fast, would be my only caution.

I hope that helps, and good luck on finding a good food. Sometimes I think you just have to find one that works, and not worry about whether it is the best, or you will drive yourself nuts. I know that's how it worked for me.

One thing to keep in mind is that most allergies are not food related, in dogs.  Most allergies are environmental.  I'm not saying your dog doesn't have food allergies since obviously I don't have any way to know.  Talking to your vet is a good idea and you might also want to look at a site called the dog food advisor.  The FAQ's discuss food allergies.

Thank you for your response! Very helpful. I thought Merrick was cheaper, but turns out that was just a sale. I guess I was too excited and I didn't notice the sale icon lol. I don't like Diamond pet foods either, so that food is out of the question. I read that Merrick had a recall with some of their treats for posssible salmonella contamination. It may be stupid, but that bothers me enough to try and find another food. I did some more research and I found Acana. According to their feeding guidlines (I know you can't always go by this to a tee) I would be feeding my dogs half the amount that I feed them now on a cheaper food. If I went with Nutro, that would be $50 every 2 weeks, so $100 per month. Feeding them something like Acana that would be about $70 for one bag, but if it lasts for 1 month that is obviously saving me some money. There is a place near here called The Puppy Pantry and they sell holistic foods. I think I may go there today and check out prices and read some labels. Some of the foods they sell that I am interested in are Acana, Orijen, Nature's Variety, Evo, and Holistic Select. I guess I never realized how it can be cheaper to go higher quality and I hope my dogs can digest a higher quality food. I work at a kennel and people would board dogs that would be 100 pounds and they would feed them like 1 to 1.5 cups twice a day and I always wondered how that was possible to feed a big dog such small amounts, but they looked great lol. I have a 115 pound dog and if I could feed her only 1.5 cups twice a day I would be doing well! She eats 3 cups twice a day right now. I have always slowly transitioned my dogs to a new food and I usually do more than 7 days. They are really low on their current food and if I can buy a bag of something else today I would like to do that. I have read that you can mix plain yogurt in when switching cold turkey and that will help. It wouldn't be completely cold turkey, as I have enough of the older food, but it would be more like 2-3 day transition vs. 7 days or more. The more and more I learn about dog nutrition the more I want to feed them something great. I laugh now because we had a Jack Russell live 15 years and all she ever ate was Pedigree and Purina One haha. But if I fed my dogs that I know my allergy dog would have no hair left for sure. Anyway, I really appreciate your response! It has been helpful.

It is just so coincidental that when she has eaten chicken based food she is flaky and itchy. I am hoping it is not environmental. That doesn't seem as easy to fix lol. Thanks your your input!

 When you get to the point of ordering online, I use this place: www.doggiefood.com  I find their pricing lower than other places.

In researching food and ingredients, this is helpful for me as they list the ingredients:  www.dogfoodanalysis.com   Look under REVIEWS in the menu across the top.  Using this site was easier for me than going to each individual manufacturer's site.

Finally, with bichons and Boston terrier, the itchy feet is often due to "protein itch."  Switching to a lower protein % works it this is the issue.

Good luck, I hated sorting out which food worked for 5 bichons!

Thanks for your input. Luckily my other 2 dogs don't really have any issues with food so whatever works for my "high maintenance" dog will work for them lol.

  Hi; I'm sorry your Saint is having problems. Chicken fat is okay; I have taken Jessie to a veterinary dermatologist and she said that the protein that causes the allergic reaction is not in the fat. Besides chicken, Jessie is also allergic to fish, but I can add fish oil to her food without any problems. About the testing; blood tests for food allergies are very unreliable and you will get a lot of false positives. The dermatologist Jessie sees does not recommend them and says they are a waste of money. There is a food at Walmart that is Lamb and Rice; it's made by Natural Life and is called Lamaderm;

                      Adult Lamaderm | Dry Dog Food

 It does not have glucosamine but is very affordable at Walmart ( I have seen it for a lot more online), so you may be able to afford glucosamine separately. One way to tell if your dogs allergies are from food or environmental is that if your dog is itching in the winter, it's more likely to be from food rather than pollen. The exception is house dust mites; they are a very common indoor allergy and will make your dog itch year round. Good luck; I hope this helps.

              

Thanks for the info! I will look into that. I'm pretty positive it is a food allergy. She was fine this summer eating Lamb & Rice and ever since she went to chicken it has messed her up. Now the grain free food they are on is causing my American Bulldog to be gassy. I will research just a little bit more before I settle on a food. I'm just hoping the first one I pick will be fine lol. This has made me a little crazy (and more informative), so I'm glad finals are over for this semester haha. I will just have to wait and see how everything goes. I really appreciate everyone's input. It has helped me out!

gmcbogger38

Now the grain free food they are on is causing my American Bulldog to be gassy.

 

  Bully breeds have a tendency to be gassy. Jessie is a GSD cross and has a sensitive stomach. I had her on a simple food before and the ingredients were lamb, rice, and sunflower oil. She was very gassy and I learned that she does best on a food that uses rice as the carb source but also has oatmeal and beet pulp. I hope you did well on your finals; our daughter is in graduate school now but I remember what a grind finals were for her ( and for every student).

I wasn't here much yesterday, so I didn't get back to this 'til now, but I did want to share one other experience that may be relevant. You say that you can probably feed less of a high quality food. This is true, although Zeke, who weighs just under 50lbs, eats 2 cups twice a day. This totals something like 1700 calories per day, which is more than any recommendations for his weight. He is active, but not THAT much. The vet says he is fine, and hopefully his metabolism will slow down as he gets older (he's 1 1/2).  Of course, I don't know how much he would need on a cheap quality food, but still... I guess not every dog can get fed less!

jessies_mom: Yes, I did well on my finals. Thanks! I can now relax during my break lol.

 EZeke: I do understand not all dogs can be fed less. I'm just trying to be optimistic in hopes that my dogs can be fed less lol. I usually always end up feeding less than what is recommended on food bags and I am actually trying to slim down my American Bulldog. He is not overweight, but is getting a little pudgy. Last time I had him weighed (which was about a year ago at his last checkup) he weighed 56 pounds. He was fed 2 cups twice a day. I used to walk my dogs 4 miles a day, but school has gotten more intense and so the walks have been drastically reduced; that's why he is packing on a little bit of weight. I dropped him to 1.5 cups twice a day. He is 3 years old now and that also may be why he needs less. I actually bought a bag of the Acana Lamb and Okanagan Apple and have started the transition. If it works then awesome and if it doesn't I will just have to move on and find something else lol. Thanks again for all of the great advice!

A bit late to this but: my dog is severely allergic to poultry & egg (turkey, chicken, duck etc.) We use Orijen fish and it is by far the food I feed him the least of.

I have tried Acana (same company) and it too requires less.

Wellness core fish I had to feed more and TOTW I had to feed more, so I believe that when you feed the 'right' food for your dog you do tend to need less.

Fwiw my dog ate HUGE amounts though age 2.5 and we've cut back since to about 2000-2200 kcals a day

Thanks for your response! I didn't want to try Orijen because I just don't think they will handle the higher protein very well. And I have heard that higher protein is not good for dogs with hip/joint issues. Not sure how true that is as I haven't researched that claim very much.

My dog has had a knee repair and the yahoo board dedicated to orthopedic issues recommends grain-free higher protein foods. I was already using it so I never looked into why. Obviously the important thing for ortho issues is that their weight is kept down