Easily digestible food

[keeks62]

My dog seems to have trouble with many foods. She had been vomiting daily and the vet said that it is probably a food allergy and gave her perscription food for a week. I have tried:

Blue Buffalo (human-grade food)-lamb and rice and chicken and rice
Natures Choice (easy-to-digest formula)- lamb and rice
(neither of these foods contained corn)

I am now on Iams Lamb and Rice, but if that doesn't work, does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks!

[murphydog]

you should try burns food,my dog cannot digest chicken and he has been on burns for a couple of years and it has really helped it is completely holistic and not tested on animals,it comes in fish+brown rice,venison+brown rice,duck+brown rice ect they also have a good help line and will advise which diet is best for particular conditions,you can find their website under burns petfoods

[Doberman's]

I do not feed commercial dog foods of any kind ( other then cookies :) ) but when I did the rule of thumb I always went with was this ----> the more you pay the better the quality of the food is. Qulaity means better ingredients, not so many filler and you can actually recognize what is in the food.

Any food bought in a store such as a grocery store or a department store is lower quality, there are things in those foods you do not want to know about. Another good rule to follow when buying dog food is to buy from a pet supply store and really read the ingredients, do not buy food that have " Tallow "----" Meat By-products " ---- " animal fat ", these are all ingredients that you do not know what they are.

Fillers such as wheat middlings are bad as well, they have no nutritional value at all and are hard to digest.

I could go on and on about dog foods. I have spent hours researching them. My male dobe is hypo thyroid and allergic to certian things in dog foods, so I switched him ( after switching to several different commecial brands ) to a holistics raw diet and the difference was immediate and a unbelieveable improvement in health and apperance.

Good luck on your search and I hope I have helped you.

[cyclefiend2000]

do you know what she is allergic to? some dogs are allergic to the lamb. you could try something like blackwood 5000 (http://www.blackwoodpetfood.com). it is a catfish and potato food. also, you could look at foods like timberwolf organic, innova, california naturals, etc. look for a food with alternative protein sources.

also check out http://www.mordanna.com/boards/ for recommendations on pet foods.

i have recently found all these as we have two dogs: one with food allergies/sensitive stomach and the other with dry skin issues.

edit: i see that you are now trying iams. just thought you would want to know that several people have reported having serious health problems with their dogs after trying iams. (see the mordana site for more info).

edit2: you can also take a look at this site ... http://greatdanelady.com/articles/criteria_list_of_better_foods.htm
for a list of premium foods. :)

[keeks62]

Thank you for all of the great info! I liked the list on the greatdanelady page.

I am just SO very confused with all of the food options out there!! I definitely want to feed my pup the best, but what is the best? Iams had been reccomended by two different vets. I know that they get some money from the companies if they sell the food in their stores.

No, I'm not sure what she is allergic to. The vet put her on a turkey and rice prescription food for a week, and that cleared up her problem. I put her back on the Nature's recipie, and she began getting sick again, so I called for some other reccomendations.

Another friend of mine also had a similar problem with her dog who had been eating Blue Buffalo. Now that I read about that vitamin k supplement, I'm wondering if it could be that. She's not too crazy about the Iams.

p.s. I went and bought an allergy formula of (venison and brown rice) natures balance. She eats it like its a special treat.

[cyclefiend2000]

it is very overwhelming when looking for pet food. i know i was overwhelmed by all the choices and trying to figure out which was the best. i dont think that there is one best food out there. there are many best foods. the problem is finding the one that is right for your dog and staying within your budget.

[zoe08]

Nutro is a good brand of food that does not contain any corn ingredients. There are a bunch of different kinds, my dog is on the lamb and rice. I switched to that from purina when I found out that it is pretty to avoid foods with corn as the main ingredient from my dog trainer. She recommended the nutro and it has even improved my dogs skin and coat.

[keeks62]

thanks for all the good advice!! Teag's coat has improved since I switched her fool

[katsnk9s]

it is very overwhelming when looking for pet food. i know i was overwhelmed by all the choices and trying to figure out which was the best. i dont think that there is one best food out there. there are many best foods. the problem is finding the one that is right for your dog and staying within your budget.


It is not difficult to pick out a truely nutritious food. You should NEVER compromise quality for COST. As I said on another thread... PREMIUM QUALITY FOODS COST LESS to feed. The price may LOOK expensive at first, but you feed LESS, the pet gets MORE nutrition therefore your cost per feeding is actually LESS. A 33 # bag of super premium food can vary from $35 - $55 per bag. It will feed a 50# dog for (7) SEVEN weeks using an average of 2 -2 1/2 cups of food per day. That's $35-$55 to feed your dog for a month and a half !!

If you're going through a 40# bag of $20 supermarket food every 2 weeks because you're feeding your dog 4-6cups a day ( for a 50 lb dog ), that means you're actually spending $70 to feed your dog for ( 7 ) weeks. So believe it or not the CHEAP food is NOT in your budget !!!!

You're unknowingly feeding your pet $70 worth of McDONALD's quality food whereas you could be feeding your dog Filet Mignon quality food for an average of $45.

Not rocket science but now which is the BETTER VALUE ?

First of all the FIRST ingredient in any quality food should be a specific meat MEAL. Not meat which is 70% water. If you choose a food that lists say CHICKEN as the first ingredient. that is the BEFORE COOKING weight. After cooking and losing the water it could end up far down on the ingredient list in reality. Meat MEAL is meat which has been dehydrated and ground. It takes about 10lbs or more of MEAT to make 1lb of meat MEAL. Meat meal also includes ground bone and some organ meats like liver, kidneys, hearts, etc which have exceptionally high nutritional values and contain important vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, calcium and phosphorous. A MEAT may then follow as the second or third ingredient. For example : Salmon meal, salmon, sweet potato ...

Secondly CORN should NEVER be considered a quality ingredient. Corn is used as a CHEAP source of protein by companies that like to cut corners to keep their costs down while still charging you premium prices. A dog's primary source of protein should ALWAYS be MEAT based. Also AVOID any foods whose ingredients list grains broken down into different forms ... for example : wheat flour, wheat bran, wheat hulls.... This means that this grain has been heavily processed and lost most if not all of it's important nutrients. These are just the waste products left over after processing.

Thirdly, a quality food should not use Canola Oil ( geneticially modified & engineered ), Poultry fat ( could come from ANY fowl source, even roadkill buzzards, etc ) or tallow. The fat source used should be a NON-REFINED , cold pressed oil such as salmon, fish ( anchovy, tuna, mackeral, etc), olive, walnut, safflower, sunflower, etc. These are all rich in antioxidant Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids.

WHOLE, UNREFINED, UNPROCESSED ingredients are ALWAYS the best because their nutritional values are retained. Avoid anything that says, bleached, flour, hulls, middlings, shafts, bran, etc. Avoid any ingredient that is not from a SPECIFIC source ( ie...poultry fat, animal fat, meat meal, meat by-products, poultry by-products, poultry meal , etc )

Here is an excellent article on the dangers of Canola Oil :
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/canola.htm

Fourth , chelated minerals and probiotics are EXTREMELY important for healthy digestion and easy absorption of minerals and nutrients into the bloodstream.

There are very few truely good foods on the market. Because of my concern for my own pets, that's how I got into pet nutrition. I got so heavily into it that now I sell only all natural and holistic pet products. The difference between me and other sellers is that I sell only the BEST products on the market. I do NOT sell brands that contain what are considered cheap or inferior ingredients or nutritionally questionable ingredients, although they MAY be organic or holistic. Those turns DO NOT guarantee QUALITY.

Actually the person having the trouble w/Blue Buffalo. Your dog is obviously allergic to one of the ingredients because this is a very high quality food and is one of the foods I have fed my own pets. Your dog could be allergic to the SUNFLOWER oil used in it. There are NO inferior quality ingredients in this food.

Let me suggest you try one of these brands listed . NONE of them contain any questionable ingredients and are all TOP QUALITY, with Timberwolf being the best as far as ingredients and the amount of meat and meat protein per pound of kibble.

Timberwolf Organics
Castor & Pollux
LIFE4K9
Nature's Variety
Newman's Own Organics
Innova
California Natural
Canidae


Not only will these foods save you money right away, they'll save you TONS of money in the long run in better health for your pet, less vet visits, less over-the -counter health /grooming aids, etc.

[Cheetah]

the more you pay the better the quality of the food is.

This isn't always true. For example, Science Diet and Eukanuba are totally overpriced and as far as I'm concerned, they're not worth the money. I can pay less money for Canidae, and feed less of it than, say, IAMS.

[k8tymem8ty]

My dog seems to have trouble with many foods. She had been vomiting daily and the vet said that it is probably a food allergy and gave her perscription food for a week. I have tried:

Blue Buffalo (human-grade food)-lamb and rice and chicken and rice
Natures Choice (easy-to-digest formula)- lamb and rice
(neither of these foods contained corn)

I am now on Iams Lamb and Rice, but if that doesn't work, does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks!

USE CHAPPIE IT IS SPECIALY MADE FOR DOGS WITH LIGHT DIGESTION AND I USE IT FOR MY DOG WHO HAS A VERY SENSITIVE TUMMY AND HE LOVES IT IT IS IN MOST SUPERMARKETS AND ONLY COSTS 50P FOR A BIG TIN. PLEASE TRY IT IT IS GREAT.

[Cheetah]

Woah, the all caps thing is a bit scary... are you yelling? >O_o<

What are the ingredients of Chappie? I'm unable to find them anywhere. Could you list them?

[pittiegirl]

To the original poster:

Are you in the UK?

[k8tymem8ty]

Woah, the all caps thing is a bit scary... are you yelling? >O_o<

What are the ingredients of Chappie? I'm unable to find them anywhere. Could you list them?
sorry i wasnt shouting. just found someone who is in the same position i was in for the last year sorry
here try this

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=9&pf_id=1007

[Cheetah]

Thankyou, but that particular site does not have a specific ingredient list. I'm looking for the actual ingredients that are listed on the back of the bag and can next to the Guaranteed Analysis. >^^;<

[pittiegirl]

Here Cheetah, I copied this post off another forum

Dear Jean. There are different types of Chappie, however I can tell you what is in the tinned Chappie Original. You may be better off contacting Pedigree Masterfoods to ask them your question. The ingredients on the tin read: Fish and Fish derivatives (min 4% fish) Cereals (min 4%) Meat and Animal derivatives (min 4%) Coloured with caramel. The analysis on the tin reads: Protein 5.5% Oil 2% Ash 1.5% Moisture 77% However, to compare a tinned food to a dried food, you have to work out the analysis on a dry matter basis. Once the moisture in the tinned Chappie is removed, the protein is 23.91% and the oil is 8.70%). It does not state what it is preserved with, whether chemicals or natural preserves. It states that the cereal content contains maize and wheat. Chappie is owned by Pedigree Masterfoods, which I believe is the same group as Waltham, Royal Canin and James Wellbeloved. In comparison, Burns is preserved with Vitamin E and Rosemary oil. Burns adult maintenance diets are 18.5% protein and 7.5% oil/fat. We use whole joints of human grade meat, we do not have artificial colours or flavours and we state which cereals and meats we use. Burns does not contain wheat because many dogs are intolerant to wheat as it is hard to digest (as are Soya and dairy products). We use wholegrain cereals, not cereal by-products. The food is mainly wholegrain brown rice, with some oats. Some dogs will do extremely well on Chappie and some dogs will do well on Burns. All I can advise is, whether the food is dry, semi-moist or tinned…read the label and know what you are feeding!

[Cheetah]

Wow... the Chappie ingredients sound a tad sketchy to me. I see some mystery (unspecified) meat/fish in there. I like to know where the meat in my dog's food comes from. And "Colored with Caramel"?... >O.x<

The Burns ones sound ok.

[MaryGrace]

Try AvoDerm. My aunt uses it for her very sensitive dog (skin problems, vomiting, ect.) and it has worked out great!

[keeks62]

Sorry, haven't veiwed my own post in a while! Thanks for all the good advice. I am not in the UK- visited once and absolutely loved it, though! Thanks for the suggestions!

I actually seemed to have found something that seemed to end her diarreah and vomiting right away and made her coat extra shiny. It's called Natural Balance and it's the Allergy formula of Venison and brown rice. It's a bit pricey- $10 for a 5lb bag, but she loves it and seems to be fine now. They only sell it at Petco. I did some research and it was reccomened by breeders on some different sites.

[sandi]

It is probably the Lamb, I had the same problem with several of my 7 dogs, it was the lamb, vomiting and throwing up bile. Switched to a turkey or chicken based food no problems



Sandi

[1bigdoglover]

I'm a big fan of Natural Life dog food. You can get it at Wal-Mart now. They have Lamaderm Adult food that helps with food allergies. It's oatmeal enriched and has Omega 3-6 fatty acids. They have a website if you wanted to look at it. www.nlpp.com