Commercial Foods-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tell us what commercial foods have worked for you and which have caused problems; information, questions, warnings and advice on dog food companies, ingredients, brands, and switching foods.
(Recall information now in it's own discussion here in The Food Group)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I tried to tell my neighbor this..... but instead the rescue put the dog on new food, and then new food and then new food. After testing, the dog is allergic to GRASS and Human Hair. Go figure, but what do I know? I know because you post about these things :) Thanks Karen.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hugs to you, my friend. All we can do is try.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Well here some hugs back at ya! :)

[Gabrielle Richards]

For the last year of our former dog's life (Jack Russell), we used Natural Balance, a mixture of dry and canned. I swear that it prolonged her life. Her coat was more beautiful than it had ever been, she finally had solid stools and no chewing of hot spots. That convinced us that food is so important. We are now feeding our baby Labradoodle Blue Buffalo. We would have probably chosen Natural Balance again, but they don't make a puppy food and we think it's important for puppies to be on puppy food because of the extra nutrients that puppies need. We've had great luck with the Blue Buffalo. Bella has solid stools and no gas and she loves it.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Blue Buffalo is a good food - glad it is working for your doodle!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I suspect that the changes you saw in your Jack Russell's stools, skin and coat may not have had as much to do with the Natural Balance specifically as just the fact that you switched to a better food. What had you been feeding prior to that?

[Gabrielle Richards]

Yes, you are right, just switching to a better food was key. Gosh, I don't even remember what food we had her on -- it might have been Pro Plan. What's really sad and maddening is that the vet never discussed food with us, so our poor Jack was being treated for allergies with cortisone shots, Benadryl, etc. Boy did we ever learn a lot!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Yep the switch from Pro Plan to Natural Balance is like McDonalds to the Palm Steakhouse.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Gabrielle, welcome to the Food Group! There is a lot of information here, including info about food & the connection to allergies..
One thing we try to do is to approach everything from a scientific standpoint. Some of us here have dogs with severe allergies, and in fact, allergies in dogs are rarely due to food. 90% of allergy symptoms are caused by inhalants such as dust mites or mold.
Before my guy was properly diagnosed by a veterinary dermatology specialist, I got a lot of advice in on-line forums about food. Turns out, his problems have nothing to do with food. Antihistamines and even cortisone are necessary treatements sometimes for inhalant or seasonal allergies. My guy is on Claritin, even though he is also on immunotherapy treatment under the care of his specialist.
Food can help by providing more fatty acids, grain-free foods can help, and sometimes the problem is storage mites, which are more abundant in cheaper kibbles that are packaged in paper bags and have a lot of particulate matter. But we do want to avoid giving anyone the impression that switching foods will cure allergies. In 90% of cases, it won't help, unless the dog is on a very poor formula to begin with.
General practice vets usually get very little training in nutrition. You will learn about that here, too, lol!

[ZD]

Has anyone used/researched the Wysong Epigen Starch free food? Would love to have some feedback on it and/or on Wysong foods in general (I did see they had a mold issue in the past). You can see this new food here: http://www.wysongepigen.net/
~Debbie

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Wysong had some scary recalls in the recent past, which is one reason we are cautious about the brand itself.
Here are the ingredients in their Epigen food:
Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Chicken Meal, Chicken Giblets, Vegetable Protein (consisting of one or more of the following: Potato Protein, Rice Protein, Corn Protein, Wheat Protein), Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols as a source of Vitamin E), Eggs, Yogurt, Flax Seed, Apple, Beet Pulp, Plums, Inulin, Dried Wheat Grass Powder, Dried Barley Grass Powder, Krill Oil, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Oregano Extract, Sage Extract, Rosemary Extract, Probiotic Microorganisms (Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus lactis), Ascorbic Acid, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement.

That "consisting of one or more of the following" part alarms me. I want to know exactly which ones are in the bag of food that I purchase, and I do not want corn or wheat in there. The way this is worded makes me believe that they use whatever leftovers from human food processing are cheap and available for each batch. I would like consistency and knowledge of exactly what I'm feeding.
Beet pulp is a cheap and controversial source of fiber which is believed to be linked to yeast infections in dogs.
This is not a horrible food, but there are a lot better ones out there. And I am not confident about the company.

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

I feed my guys Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream. I have spoken with the manufacturer and have been assured that the fish meal used in the food is ethoxyquin-free. The Taste of the Wild products are for all stages of life and my two doodles and my super sensitive collie do very well on this food. In fact, we've even switched our cats over to their feline line.

Simon my 16 month old ALD has been on TOTW since he started eating solid food. His breeder fed TOTW High Prairie - protein source is Venison & Bison. It is 32% protein, I believe. I switched all 3 dogs over to the Pacific Stream with salmon as the protein source.

My dogs do well with it. Always solid stools and not excessive.