Allergy/Specialty foods

I know there are a lot of food threads but I was wondering what you all thought of these special allergy foods.

I went to the pet store and was talking with a rep from Eagle Pack who was trying to sell me their Anchovy(sp), salmon, fish dog food. Then I was looking at the Vegetarian formula food from Nature's recipe. Then there is the duck and potato food from natural balance. And I know there are others with bison, etc

As I have posted in another thread, my dog has some sort of allergies - I don't know if it is food related but I have been thinking of switching him to something completely different just to see. He is on calif natural lamb & rice now. I just hate to switch him from a food he is otherwise doing well on if it is not the cause.

The duck and potato sounds alright to me, semi normal at least. But putting a rapidly growing St. bernard puppy (7 mos) on vegetarian or fish food concerns me. Does anyone have any opinions on these types of foods?

I want him to get the best nutrition possible and not mess up his growth in any way, but he can't be getting hot spots all the time. Are these foods sufficient do you think? Which food do you think would be the best to try if I were to switch him?

 

I don't think the vegetarian formula would be sufficient for a growing puppy but the Eagle Pack or Natural Balance should be fine. I would probably go with Natural Balance Potato and Duck because it does'nt have any of the same ingredients as California Natural where the Eagle Pack and Nature's Recipe Vegetarian both contain rice.

 

i agree with nern .Although I have never seen the ingredients to the duck and potato ,it is always best to get what is the best for the puppy as he will continues to grow and have the nutrients he needs .
I love St. benards .I always wanted one and go nuts evertime I can play with one .All I have ever met was just the sweetest babies ,even the adults .bet he is adorable !

 

I would go with the duck and potato, a lot of dogs have grain allergies and most of the premium food still have some sort of grain. No remember - you have to give it some time to work, evne though when I swtiched Jake off of grains he had immediate relief, that is not normal. I wouldnot do a veggied diet.

goo luck

honeybear

 

Hello! Of the foods you're considering, I've only fed Natural Balance Duck/Potato. My allergy dog loved the taste, but I eventually swtiched him off of it because I've heard that potato isn't the best food for dogs with inflammatory conditions like arthritis, etc. Stools were also somewhat dry and hard when he was on it. On the up side, he's a finicky eater, and NB Duck/Potato was one of the only foods we've tried that he's eaten with gusto. I like the quality of the ingredient list and appreciate their use of yucca extract rather than the powder.

I've also looked at Eagle Pack's fish dog food, and I'm pretty sure that he'd like the taste of that one too. Again, great ingredients, but he's allergic to yeast, which is included in the formula. I don't know if that's a problem for your dog (?).

If so, maybe consider Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato? He loves the fishy taste, and his coat seemed to benefit from the fish, too. Some vomiting after about 10 weeks, possibly a coincidence (he was being given medication during that period). I'll probably try another bag sometime -- great food, baked and not greasy, and he enjoyed it, especially with a little warm water to make a gravy. Smaller kibble size than the Natural Balance, but that probably wouldn't be an issue with your pup! I've heard contradictory statements about baked vs. extruded foods and bloat, but Wellness does tend to break down rather than expand with water, which could be beneficial...? (By the way. does anyone know if anything has been decided on this issue? Is this a marketing ploy by makers of baked foods or is there any truth to this idea?)

I'm not too keen on vegetarian diets for dogs, especially that there's so many quality foods with alternative ingredients being manufactured now. Natural Balance's new Venison formula also looks good, but it has rice in it, so it might not suit your purposes.

Good luck!

 

duckling, what are you feeding your dog now.? Jake my lab has a yeast problem too so I recently switched him to raw since I was told to stay way from rice and potatoes of any kind. So that left no commercial dry food.

He was on duck and potato for awhile but dint liek the taste.

honeybear

 

I'm attempting to try out Wellness Super5Mix Lamb right now. He's had both the chicken and the fish varieties and enjoyed both of them (I think he likes particularly strong smelling foods, like NB Duck/Potato!), but I need to mix in goodies with the lamb to convince him to eat it. I offered it plain for a bit more than 2 weeks, but he just nibbled when he was extremely hungry and didn't seem to be getting used to the taste.

Despite that, I'm thinking about keeping him on it because his ears are so much improved. They used to be infected or reddish, and now they're usually light pink. I've also heard that grains aren't good for yeast problems, but Wellness Lamb seems to be helping a lot. Either that, or his body took a while to detox -- it's hard to tell!

I'm also considering trying Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken to see if he'd eat a different lamb-based diet, but I'm concerned about the relatively low percentage of fat (8% compared to 12%). Has anyone had success (or not?) with Solid Gold's foods?

SG Mmillennia (beef) is their food for "active adult dogs" and has 22% protein, 12% fat, 5% fiber, and 387 calories per cup. My dog is older and lazy, but I'm tempted to try that one instead because he tends to be lean. Also, the percentages and calories seem normal compared to other quality foods.

Does anyone have experience with these or any ideas? Is 8% fat really enough to maintain a nice coat and healthy skin?

Thanks!

 

duckling, I would keep him on whatevers is working. my holistyic vet said tha tfor every year of age, is how many months to detox. my personal opinion is 8% protien is too low. Jake is overweight, so i stuck with low protien foods, I think it didmroe harm than good and put him on higher protein. he had so much more energy. they are higher in fat, so I just reduced the amount I was feeding. Go to naturas web site and they have a great tool to plug in on how many calories your dog should be feedingby activity level.

honeybear