I'm So disappointed!

   Which of the Nature's Variety formulas are they on? Jessie chews her feet and has ear infections on any food with chicken or brewer's yeast; she does fine on the venison and lamb formulas. Fall is a bad time of year for dogs who are allergic to mold, so perhaps it's not the food. Benedryl may help if it's seasonal allergies. If you make some strong black tea and put it on Darby's feet using a spray bottle, squeeze bottle, or whatever works for you it should make Darby's feet less itchy ( I learned this from Callie). Don't feel guilty; Nature's Variety is a great food and at least one of your dogs is doing well on it.

Thanks for the tea idea, i'll give it a try and see if it helps.  Right now they've just finished up the venison formula and are about a week into the lamb one.  I got a 15lb bag so it's going to take a long time to get through it :( (about 6 weeks or so).   Maybe it is the mold and it's coincidental, but I'm still disappointed to see the horrible huge tear stains and beard stains when they used to be nice and white.

Yes, my minpin is doing very well on it, so that's good!

I wonder if it's the barley or one of the other grains that's making them yeasty? From what I know, grains feed yeast. I know that you've mentioned before that you kept a notebook of results with different foods. Is there a common ingredient in the foods that they had this reaction to? Have you tried any grain free foods?

Edited to add- If they're having yeasty ear infections, then I would probably donate the bag of food to an animal shelter and get a smaller bag of another food to try.

Yes, grain free. Trudy can only have oatmeal. I homecook for her. Also, try stopping the turkey and chicken for a while. Lots of dogs get problems from that too. Try just using one protein at first, lamb maybe. Then add after stopping grain. Trudy cannot have chicken.

Tamara, I looked in their notebooks and it appears that 3 yrs ago I fed them NV Lamb formula and Darby got an ear infection, yeasty feet and 2 hot spots.  That was summer time.  I guess NV is going to have to go on the NOT list.  Bugger.

Bummer.   I may be able to use the food up for my minpin, but at only 1/2 cup per day, that's going to take forever. I don't have an animal shelter near me (hour away) to donate to, maybe might have a neighbor who might take it though...

Bathed and groomed teh girls this morning and Darby's entire left foot and all around her toes is gummy and yeasty, as are BOTH her ears now.  I'm treating them though so I hope they don't get worse! Ugh. My poor girls!  Thanks for listening... you guys are the only ones who understand... LOL  Dh just gives me a look when I talk about it!

Tiffani

I've never gone grain free for a long period of time. I did try a 15lb bag (lasts us about 6 weeks) of Solid Gold's BATM, and unfortunately I didn't write any notes on it- I do remember a wonderful coat bloom on everyone though, and that they loved it and the poops were good (I should write this down).  The only Neg. was that they gained weight like crazy on it- so I was feeding them ridiculously small amounts of it and they were hungry and chubby. 

Picky picky! LOL

I may give that a try again, but I may also just do strombeck recipes or sojos again.  Lexi had a perfectly white wonderful face and now there's staining on her beard and under her eyes, and Darby is just about orange from her nose back to her cheeks :( Ugh.

Luvntzus

I wonder if it's the barley or one of the other grains that's making them yeasty? From what I know, grains feed yeast. I know that you've mentioned before that you kept a notebook of results with different foods. Is there a common ingredient in the foods that they had this reaction to? Have you tried any grain free foods?

   Remembering the notebook was a great idea Tamara. About grains feeding yeast; according to Monica Segal, grains (carbohydrates) do not cause yeast overgrowth; food allergies can, and it could be any ingredient in the food.

Thanks for listening... you guys are the only ones who understand... LOL  Dh just gives me a look when I talk about it!

   I went through the same thing with Jessie a few years ago trying to find out why she chewed her feet, and part of it was that she was allergic to the chicken in her food. Poor Darby; I hope changing the food clears her problems up quickly. Let us know how she and your other girl are doing.