A different Dog food discussion

avengethis

I have 2 labs and recently the older one over the last year or so has been dealing with ear infections.  Our vet is feeling it is food related as it is not just a certain time of year to make it an environmental issue.  He has been eating the same Taste of the Wild High Prairie dry dog (bison and venison) food his entire life.  The vet is recommending some food that is $100/month for him and I look at the ingredients and it is all crap, processed stuff.  I am leaning more towards staying with Taste of the Wild but going to their Sierra Mountain (lamb) blend for both dogs as I have been reading a lot and it seems people say it is best to rotate foods so they dont develop problems to the ingredients.

Thoughts on the above and what are you feeding your pups?

jd50ae

A lot of soft food, soft treats and fried chicken leftovers for the older guys. Of course we keep their bowls full of non-chinese regular food.

A little aside. Every ear infection, no matter what animal was traced to mites or ticks. Flea5X Plus is the best flea and tick remedy we have found. There are all kinds of mite sprays and drops. The one time we had mites in a rabbit that would not go away my stepdaughter gave her penicillin and it worked.

avengethis

Being labs they are outside and in the water all the time so we do flea/tick treatments monthly all year long for them.

jd50ae

Hmm.....in the water?
Waterborne parasite maybe?

avengethis

He was at the vet and he had elevated yeast levels in the ear and they are sticking to it being an allergy.

jgibv

brad -- how often do you clean your dogs ears? 
and have you tried different medications/cleaners? 

not saying it couldn't be food related ...... but we went through the same thing when our lab mix was younger. 

vet could never figure out the cause of it, aside from it's just how our dog is. (we ruled out food, "seasonal" allergies, kept her out of the water, etc.)

after trying probably 5 different ear cleaners/medications we finally found one that worked because it contains both anti-microbial and anti-fungal ingredients.  (the earlier meds we tried only had 1 or the other ingredients). and the vet figured as soon as we'd knock one back the other would cause an infection. 

we've been cleaning our dog's ears about 1/month with the medicine and she hasn't had an ear infection since.  i can double check the medicine when i get home and let you know, but it has worked well for us.

avengethis

I clean their ears after every time they are in the water.  We have tried a few different medications and 2 different cleaners I believe.  For medications we have done 2 different ones that are once daily and we had 2 that were once a week for 2 weeks.  As far as the cleaners/wash I couldn't tell you much about them. We are switching to a different food and continuing with the ear washing.  I have read that switching foods every few months is actually good for the dogs so we will start a 2-3 different food rotation.  

jgibv

sounds like you got a plan.  hope it works out and solves the ear infection problem so your dogs get feeling better soon. 

i'll warn you --- if you feed your dog LAMB or SALMON food, be ready for some wicked farts lol.  (seriously though, our dog can't handle those flavors, makes her super gassy)

we feed our dog Nature's Domain (Costco/Kirkland  brand) Turkey & Sweet Potato dry kibble.  it has good ingredients and is a great price compared to the "higher end" brands at the petstore.  if you're a costco member i'd definitely recommend giving it a shot.   
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/natures-domain-dog-food/ 

and as mentioned in another thread, we make her homemade wet food for pennies on the dollar compared to the canned dog food. 
(just some blended up poached chicken and veggies) to mix in with the kibble. 

avengethis

We will check into that here in the future.  We are witching brands completely that use a very different grain free formula from the taste of the wild to see if it is a food allergy.  This is a Lamb and Lentil blend.  

thanks for throwing in your input and we will see what happens here over the next few weeks.

jgibv

avengethis said:

We will check into that here in the future.  We are witching brands completely that use a very different grain free formula from the taste of the wild to see if it is a food allergy.  This is a Lamb and Lentil blend.  

thanks for throwing in your input and we will see what happens here over the next few weeks.

Yeah the Nature's Domain is grain free.  Main ingredients are meat & veggies --- check out the info on that link when you get a chance.

I'd certainly recommend it especially for the price (about 50% less than what you'd spend on the "name brands" at the pet store). 

avengethis

Yeah it has very similar ingredients to his current food besides the protein.  I am keeping the name handy though as we will rotate foods so it can be one we toss into the rotation to help costs.  When you have 2 75lb labs you go through a ton of food.

jgibv

avengethis said:

  When you have 2 75lb labs you go through a ton of food.

YEP! 

Stubble

You probably already know this Brad, but don't switch instantly, gradually change over.  

NorCalR1

@avengethis did you already have an allergy panel done to determine food allergies prior to switching dog foods? 

IndustMech

We feed ours Zignature. One of our dogs gets a shot called Cytopointe for allergies.  Makes a big difference.

0patience

We have to buy dog foods that don't have corn or corn meal.
For what ever reason, if our dog has dog food with any corn in it, he starts scratching non stop and we have to give him Benedryl.
And for fleas, the only thing we've found works is Trifexis.
We've tried several other flea pills, but they didn't seem to work very well. 

Significant3

We used to have a Pug that was allergic to everything it seemed. Ear infections and skin rashes. We started using Acana dog food. It helped immensely. 

OUR FOODS

ACANA represents a new class of foods that mirrors the high and various inclusions of fresh, whole meats that dogs and cats are naturally evolved to eat, while excluding inappropriate ingredients.

With three unique product lines formulated to our Biologically Appropriate™ standards, ACANA is guaranteed to meet the diverse nutritional needs of today’s dogs and cats. Made from Canada’s best and freshest ingredients in our own award-winning kitchens, ACANA‘s authentic foods keep your pet healthy, happy and strong. Read our ingredients and we think you’ll agree.

Rolanddeschain

Make sure you are feeding grain free. My wife and I are dog groomers and when I see of the time it’s food related. You can also try adding a good apple cider vinegar to their water. It changes the ph slightly and can make the conditions less hospitable for the wee beasties.

Rolanddeschain

Also, check out www.dogfoodadvisor.com 
Independent analysis of the foods on the market.

jd50ae

Rolanddeschain said:

Also, check out www.dogfoodadvisor.com 
Independent analysis of the foods on the market.

Great site. Does not list them all but it gets most of the ones sold.

Another very good one is http://www.cleanlabelproject.org