Dog owners..

[Steff]

I'm looking to change the dogs food (the terrier is getting snobish, and the lab mix has developed allergies). I've gotten several referrals to try Natural Balance. I've looked it up on line and it seems like a great line (no grains which is super important for Abby and ironically an allergy formula for Ginger), but I don't know anyone who's used or is using it. Anyone got any opinions on this line or any others that they've had good luck with. TIA..

 

Steff

[Harry Chappas]

I'm looking to change the dogs food (the terrier is getting snobish, and the lab mix has developed allergies). I've gotten several referrals to try Natural Balance. I've looked it up on line and it seems like a great line (no grains which is super important for Abby and ironically an allergy formula for Ginger), but I don't know anyone who's used or is using it. Anyone got any opinions on this line or any others that they've had good luck with. TIA..

 

Steff

 

Great success with the Iams green bag but the 12 year old 120 Pound (not fat at all although he is becoming hampered by fat deposits) lab will eat anything. He has always eaten this and has made it two years past the time the vet thought he would based on his natural hugeness. Great dog too, could not ask for anything more. The vet recommended this when we got him 6 years ago.

[Kyyle23]

I have stuck with Nutro Natural Choice for my dogs for the past 9 years. I worked at a Petco when I was in high school and they made us learn the ins and outs of dog food so we could properly sell it, and Nutro always rated the highest. No corn in the product(which means less waste), fortified with Vitamin E, and it is made from whole chicken.

 

Of course, high school was 11 years ago, so things could have changed with the formula. But my dogs(Chocolate Lab and Basset Hound) are both in great shape and are both entering their senior years(9 and 7 years old). There is a lot of different formulas, I am pretty sure they have a mix for dogs with Allergies.

[EvilJester99]

I was told by my vet that a diet of potato and rice is very good for dogs with allergies.

 

Here is a link I found with some info on allergies in dogs.

 

http://www.lucythewonderdog.com/food-allergies.htm

Edited October 26, 2007 by EvilJester99

[Steff]

I have stuck with Nutro Natural Choice for my dogs for the past 9 years. I worked at a Petco when I was in high school and they made us learn the ins and outs of dog food so we could properly sell it, and Nutro always rated the highest. No corn in the product(which means less waste), fortified with Vitamin E, and it is made from whole chicken.

 

Of course, high school was 11 years ago, so things could have changed with the formula. But my dogs(Chocolate Lab and Basset Hound) are both in great shape and are both entering their senior years(9 and 7 years old). There is a lot of different formulas, I am pretty sure they have a mix for dogs with Allergies.

 

 

Natural Choice and Natural Balance seem to be rated 1 and 2 (flipping depending on who you talk to). Ironically it was a Petco employee who told me about NB. I like shopping at Pet Smart... but the associates... aint that "pet smart"

[Steff]

Great success with the Iams green bag but the 12 year old 120 Pound (not fat at all although he is becoming hampered by fat deposits) lab will eat anything. He has always eaten this and has made it two years past the time the vet thought he would based on his natural hugeness. Great dog too, could not ask for anything more. The vet recommended this when we got him 6 years ago.

 

 

Wasn't Iams involved in an animal testing fiasco several years ago? I've never used their product - not because of that just because I've never had a need to seek out "special food".

120 lbs... yikes!!! I never wanted a "big dog". When we went searching for one we found Ginger who was 10 weeks old and weighed 8lbs. She's 4 now and weighs 70! I totally agree about Lab's being great dogs. She puts up with the 15lb terrier like a champ.

[Steff]

I was told by my vet that a diet of potato and rice is very good for dogs with allergies.

 

Here is a link I found with some info on allergies in dogs.

 

http://www.lucythewonderdog.com/food-allergies.htm

 

Thanks for that link.

 

Potato seems to be the popular vote from what I am hearing as well. I think I am going to try the potato and fish mix. It has no corn, wheat, etc so that's good for Abby, and it has a good amount of fishy protein which is good for the allergies.

 

 

[Soxy]

I rotate between Innova EVO and Eagle Pack for large breeds. They are great for my dog--EVO is nice because it has different taste varieties, red and white meat and lamb.

[Kyyle23]

Natural Choice and Natural Balance seem to be rated 1 and 2 (flipping depending on who you talk to). Ironically it was a Petco employee who told me about NB. I like shopping at Pet Smart... but the associates... aint that "pet smart"

 

i went into Petsmart with my dad to get some Frontline Flea protection for his dog and I will never forget my interaction with an associate. I walk up to this kid (he couldnt have been over 18) after looking at all of the crap products like those lame Flea-b-gone flea collars and that spray crap that never works for more than 10 minutes, and I knew what I was looking for.

 

Me "Excuse me, do you guys have Frontline available?"

 

Associate (Blank stare for at least a minute) "uhhh, what?"

 

Me "Frontline for dogs, Flea protection"

 

Associate (Another blank stare, less than a minute though) "ummmm, we dont sell dogs here."

 

Me "What? I didnt ask if you had dogs, I was asking if you have frontline flea protection for dogs. "

 

This is when the kid literally turns around and points to the exact same crap that I was just looking at and says "this is our flea protection stuff here" and turns back around to resume his blank stare. I then went to the manager who also didnt know what it was, and he proceded to bring me to the head veterinarian to ask HIM about what it was, where I then learned that the Vet sells it, for a way more than everyone else.

 

I just grabbed my dad and left.

 

I just kind of sat there thinking to myself that they dont do much training at all at Petsmart.

[RockRaines]

Wasn't Iams involved in an animal testing fiasco several years ago? I've never used their product - not because of that just because I've never had a need to seek out "special food".

120 lbs... yikes!!! I never wanted a "big dog". When we went searching for one we found Ginger who was 10 weeks old and weighed 8lbs. She's 4 now and weighs 70! I totally agree about Lab's being great dogs. She puts up with the 15lb terrier like a champ.

Iams is no good. They have had a couple of bad testing policies and dogs have gotten ill. My own dog hated the stuff. He is weird, he only like Beneful.

 

Both of the ones you are talking about are good.

Edited October 28, 2007 by RockRaines

[Steff]

I rotate between Innova EVO and Eagle Pack for large breeds. They are great for my dog--EVO is nice because it has different taste varieties, red and white meat and lamb.

 

 

My neighbor swears by Innova. If the NB shows no relief over the next 7-10 days I will ween them onto that.

[Kyyle23]

Iams is no good. They have had a couple of bad testing policies and dogs have gotten ill. My own dog hated the stuff. He is weird, he only like Beneful.

 

Both of the ones you are talking about are good.

 

One of the downers with Iams was how much corn they used in the product. More corn=dogs eat more=more waste and have to buy more Iams sooner.

 

basically the heirarchy of dog food looked something like this

 

Innova/Holistic Dog foods/ Vet Dog foods/Royal Canin

Natural balance/Nutro

Science Diet

eukanuba(too much protein, strange side effects)

Iams(too much corn)

BilJac

Purina

Pedigree

 

 

 

 

 

everything else. Everything with a shape, gimmick(gravy), etc is no good

[Texsox]

I rotate between Innova EVO and Eagle Pack for large breeds. They are great for my dog--EVO is nice because it has different taste varieties, red and white meat and lamb.

 

I wonder when dogs were wild if they chose their prey based on taste?

Hey, Champ what do you think of us catching a couple rabbits?

Ah come on Lassie, I'm sick of rabbit, let's catch us some mice.

 

Perhaps we have a bit of anthropomorphism at work here?

 

BTW, I did the same thing for my dogs. With my cats, I never changed their food unless their health required it. I never had a finicky cat when I stuck to the same food all the time. My mom will keep opening cans until her cats like one. I think my mom believes the cats will starve themselves to death if she doesn't have the perfect canned meat.

[Kyyle23]

My mom will keep opening cans until her cats like one. I think my mom believes the cats will starve themselves to death if she doesn't have the perfect canned meat.

 

uggh, my mom is the same way with her cat. She has 4 different kinds of dry food that she rotates(Royal Canin, innova, Nutro, NB) and has all kinds of canned cat food in the pantry. Her cat is spoiled to the T.

 

my dogs eat one food. Once a day. And thats it. And my vet says they are perfectly healthy(as a horse, as a matter of fact )

[Kyyle23]

Has anyone here had a problem with a dog chewing on a leg as a nervous habit? My lab has not been able to leave her leg alone to let it heal and there is a ugly raw sore on her back leg. I have taken her to multiple vets who have told me that it is a nervous condition and that we really cannot do anything because she wont leave it alone. At one point it had completely healed up because she was on medecine(a steroid)for an ear infection and a side effect was that the leg healed rather quickly, but about 8 months later she became stressed out about something and started bothering it again and it came right back.

 

Any ideas?

[Steff]

Has anyone here had a problem with a dog chewing on a leg as a nervous habit? My lab has not been able to leave her leg alone to let it heal and there is a ugly raw sore on her back leg. I have taken her to multiple vets who have told me that it is a nervous condition and that we really cannot do anything because she wont leave it alone. At one point it had completely healed up because she was on medecine(a steroid)for an ear infection and a side effect was that the leg healed rather quickly, but about 8 months later she became stressed out about something and started bothering it again and it came right back.

 

Any ideas?

 

Sounds like classic OCD. Ginger had an issue with an area on her rear quarter that she eventually grew out of (took almost 2 years). Putting her on doggie prozac helped for a while but she was not the same dog on it so we just dealt with it until she grew bored with trying to gnaw her own leg off.

 

There are some sprays that will make the area taste icky. Pet MD has a decent selection of "stop biting" aids.

[Kyyle23]

Sounds like classic OCD. Ginger had an issue with an area on her rear quarter that she eventually grew out of (took almost 2 years). Putting her on doggie prozac helped for a while but she was not the same dog on it so we just dealt with it until she grew bored with trying to gnaw her own leg off.

 

There are some sprays that will make the area taste icky. Pet MD has a decent selection of "stop biting" aids.

 

the strange thing is that she doesnt chew, she just licks it. The vet said the problem with it is that underneath the wound is a layer of infection that wont clear unless the dog stops chewing/licking. I guess I have been trying to avoid the anti-biting aids for a while because I havent heard many good things about them. I assume you are referring to the stuff like the sour apple spray and gel.

Edited October 28, 2007 by kyyle23

[maggliopipe]

Well I'm a little late to the party, but we've been feeding our Boston Terrier Natural Balance for the last 3 years. She's 4 and has digestion issues and after trying 5-6 other brands, NB is the one that suits her system best. It keeps her much more, uhhh, solid than the others did. It's definitely pricey but for a small dog I have no problem with that.

[Steff]

the strange thing is that she doesnt chew, she just licks it. The vet said the problem with it is that underneath the wound is a layer of infection that wont clear unless the dog stops chewing/licking. I guess I have been trying to avoid the anti-biting aids for a while because I havent heard many good things about them. I assume you are referring to the stuff like the sour apple spray and gel.

 

 

Sour Apple is nassstee! They have some other sprays that taste bad but are less offensive to human in regards to smell. They also have some lotions, iirc.

[G&T]

the strange thing is that she doesnt chew, she just licks it. The vet said the problem with it is that underneath the wound is a layer of infection that wont clear unless the dog stops chewing/licking. I guess I have been trying to avoid the anti-biting aids for a while because I havent heard many good things about them. I assume you are referring to the stuff like the sour apple spray and gel.

 

My dog has major problems with hot spots, which are more like allergies. We give him benadryl to stop the itch. But no matter what the problem is, the only real way to ensure that the dog stops licking to put one of those cones on his head. That's the only thing that prevented my dog from eating his paws off. Sprays and powders can work but the dog is usually back at it before the wound can heal. The dog gets used to it, but they don't like it much at first.