Well, mid grade for me I think...

ORIGINAL: abbysdad

Welcome, you are not alone, I know many who have experienced the same thing, Many people have had successs with Nutro, Pro Plan and I really like the Royal Canin foods, or there Sensible Choice line.

I was going to say Sensible Choice.  It's made by Royal Canin.  It is a very simple diet. Royal Canin has alot of testing behind their foods.

ORIGINAL: papillon806

Try Nutro and see how it works out.  If you are still looking, I would try California Natural or Nature's Variety []

Edit* -I saw you said you already tried California Natural (but as an aside, if you wanted a higher protein content you could always use the Cal. Natural puppy @ 26%CP [])

Have you tried Solid Gold?

Yeah, The solid gold was an immediate reaction.  That and Canidae are the worst for him.

If he is having "reactions" that could be severe, I would get him allergy tested at the vet immediately, just so you can pin-point the problem....

I am thinking it might be a meat allergy.
I mean, if you've tried him on no-grain foods and he did poorly on them, then it could possibly be a meat.
If he did the worst on Solid Gold and Canidae, I would check out both of the ingredients in those foods and see what similar ingredients are there.

I would also, like Papillon said, take him in for allergy testing.

Have you tried him on a no grain fish formula?

I would suggest homemade raw, but that requires a bit of research, but in actuality it is rather quite simple.
I believe that when feeding raw it's easier to figure out a food allergy because YOU know exactly what you're feeding and the ingredients in the food you're feeding.
It's not really any more expensive either. But I would read up on it and try it, if that sounds good to you.

I mean, I feed raw and if Ella were to start itching, I could do an ingredient elimination much easier to figure out the source than I would with a kibble.

sunflower oil and flaxseed

 
Flaxseed is in the Ultra but it is not in the Natural Choice I feed. The sunflower Oil in either formula takes the place of non-descript animal fat, or even, chicken fat, if your pet is allergic to that. On the formula we use, it is Sunflower Oil mixed with tocopherols. Also, Sunflower Oil is a source of linoleic acid, important to especially heavy coated northern breeds. It helps maintain their coat. The formula I feed also has linoleic acid in the meat meal.
 

I would suggest homemade raw, but that requires a bit of research, but in actuality it is rather quite simple.
I believe that when feeding raw it's easier to figure out a food allergy because YOU know exactly what you're feeding and the ingredients in the food you're feeding.

Or, as some diagnosing vets might propose, a homecooked elimination diet to find out what the cuplrit is. Once that's found, find a commercial food or home recipe that does not include the offending ingredient.
 
ETA:
I'm not saying do not feed raw. IMHO, the elimination diet is cooked because the immune system has been triggered and raw can sometimes exacerbate the problem. Once a stable diet is found, then a person could feed raw.

Thanks! What does my vet say? Science Diet of course. They don't know, They want to drain my funds for testing. I can just go back to CS and save my money. Uggh... When I picked up Koda (in my avatar) from

 
  Did they mention the possibility of an auto-immune disease or other condition that can affect the skin around the mouth? That may be why they want to do some testing.

I would personally take him back to the vet, talk to them and ask them what kind of testing they want to do, and what for. I also wouldn't do allergy testing for a suspected food allergy. Too expensive, plus they can come up with false results. I would do an elimination diet, meaning one novel carb, one novel rotein, and that's IT, for 8-12 weeks. Of course, after eating so many foods, I'm gonna guess it would be difficult to find novel carb and protein sources. In that case, I would try things you know he's done well on, or things he's hardly had.
 
With Cherokee, I did beef and sweet potatoes, because while she'd definitely had beef before, I knew she'd never eaten a beef-based food, and hadn't had beef in many months, so I felt confident enough that she wasn't allergic to it. She'd either never had, or hardly had sweet potatoes, so that worked too. After 8 weeks of getting better, then getting worse, then better, then worse, etc., with no changes in food, I decided her problem, at least her main problem, wasn't food.
 
Good luck, I know how frustrating this type of thing can be. I hope you find something that works for your pup. []

ORIGINAL: jessies_mom

Thanks! What does my vet say? Science Diet of course. They don't know, They want to drain my funds for testing. I can just go back to CS and save my money. Uggh... When I picked up Koda (in my avatar) from

Did they mention the possibility of an auto-immune disease or other condition that can affect the skin around the mouth? That may be why they want to do some testing.

 
No,  because with a food  that he does well on, he clears right up. That right there indicates food related.  They don't think it's anything more than a food or supplement sensitivity. 
 
It is expensive to go through testing for a suspected food allergy I agree. 
Along with all the suggestions, I will get all the ingredients in Chicken soup because I know there's nothing in there that bothers him..I can work from that list as well...
 
He did fine on no grain foods...which leads me to believe it may be a grain...CS has 4? protein sources and he's fine with all of them. 
I have some homework to do!!  Meanwhile, he has not a care in the world sleeping belly up by the fire..(his mouth/lips) never bother him, nor does he scratch or anything..

My dog loves all of the Nature's Logic formulas dry and canned. They make an excellent product.

Chicken soup is a pretty darn good food. If it's not causing any problems besides his dull coat I would definitely just stick with that food and add some omega 3 and 6 fatty acids or some salmon oil in with his food. 

I was just curious since you say that it is a food allergy....

I am looking at the ingredients for the CS adult (which I assume is the one you are feeding) and it has just about every ingredient in there.....from chicken, turkey, duck, fish, millet, barley, rice, flaxseed, potatoes, oatmeal.   Now all of the foods you mentioned that your dog reacted to include these ingredients, some of which didn't contain anything in addition to the above.  I know it is expensive for allergy testing, but the fact that a mixture of all of those ingredients in the CS doesn't cause a reaction leads me to believe it is something else...

It is expensive to go through testing for a suspected food allergy I agree.
Along with all the suggestions, I will get all the ingredients in Chicken soup because I know there's nothing in there that bothers him..I can work from that list as well...

He did fine on no grain foods...which leads me to believe it may be a grain...CS has 4? protein sources and he's fine with all of them.

I mentioned the auto-immune possibility because there are mild forms of pemphigus and discoid lupus that come and go and cause sores on the muzzle. Anyway, gluten free carbs like rice, millet,buckwheat, and potatos are much less likely to cause an allergic reaction than grains with gluten such as wheat and corn so you can consider that when trying to decide what to feed him; good luck.
   Jessie's derm vet doesn't belive that blood tests for food allergies are accurate and the only way to determine if a dog has a food allergy is with an elimination diet like chelsea described.

Thanks everyone for all the help and suggestions.  I Know it seems wierd that he starts drying up and healing on Chicken soup, but he does. What I plan on doing tomorrow is doing a side by side comparison of Chicken soup vs. some of the others (canidae and Solid gold) and note the differences. I believe Natura has a page I can do this on.  I'm thinking there's got to be a common factor that CS just doesn't contain.  Could it be the probiotics??
 
I will certainly discuss with my vet the possibilities of the auto-immune diseases also.
It could very well be something else and I hope I'm not sounding arguementative.  I have to talk to her about his thyroid also.
 
I honestly only last about three weeks with an elimination diet before I cave.  The inner core of my being tells me it's not a nutritionally complete diet...and I tend to go back to what works.   I have failed at least 3 times with it.  I saw nothing significant while he was on one carb source (sweet potatoe) and one protein source (chicken the first time and fish the second time with brown rice) 
 
I'll see how he does on the ultra first,  if he reacts I'll stick with CS and a salmon oil supplement until I get him back in to the vet.. probably between Thanksgiving and X-Mas. 
 
My other dog?   He's loving the variety.. [sm=clapping%20hands%20smiley.gif]
 
 

I've already noted that there's lamb meal, brewer's yeast and yucca to name a few ingredients that CS doesn't contain.  It's a start..  I'll look more in depth tomorrow. [sm=wink.gif]