Dog food???

[LittleMissMich]

I'm feeding Lady diamond lamb and rice. She did great on the first bag, but now we're halfway through our second bag and she's getting hotspots...What is everyone's opinions on this? She has severe allergies and i've never been able to keep her on any food except all natural meat and veggies. I lost my foodstamps and then my job, so I can't afford to feed myself like that much less my Lady.
One of the owners of Lady's playmates told me to try Avoderm. Anyone have any thoughts on this food? I kinda avoided it because it cost so much and because of the avocado oil used in it as I've been told avocado is deadly to dogs.
I just got a gig as a dogwalker for the neighbors, so I'll be able to afford her food, but not the wilddog kind of food she prefers. She gets chicken added to her diet, I just can't afford it to be her entire diet right now. This food has grain in it, I can see it in the nuggets...I don't like that, but she was doing good on it. I just would like people's opinions on what they think is the best dry food to feed their dogs: she won't even sniff Iams, Purina One or my other dog's pedigree weight maintenance food. He has an iron clad stomach and hasn't ever been bothered by food. I wish they could both eat the same food, but he gains weight on what she eats almost overnight and she gets sick on what he eats in a matter of hours. He processes food slowly and she zips through hers, she's skinny (very fast metabolism), and I fight to keep him as fit as I can.  

[Vanilla eXee]

I don't have a dog, but my cat is doing really well on Blue Buffalo. The kind she has does have some grains (in the form of rice) but they make grainless. Also, Wellness is really good one from what I've heard.  

[LittleMissMich]

Vanilla eXee

I don't have a dog, but my cat is doing really well on Blue Buffalo. The kind she has does have some grains (in the form of rice) but they make grainless. Also, Wellness is really good one from what I've heard.

We've tried blue unfortunately and it made Lady loose her hair and get a rash all down her back after 2 feedings. Again, my male was perfectly fine...it was outrageously expensive too, like $30-40 for 15-17lb bag and Lady passed it too quickly. Thankyou though. sweatdrop  

[Vanilla eXee]

LittleMissMich

Vanilla eXee

I don't have a dog, but my cat is doing really well on Blue Buffalo. The kind she has does have some grains (in the form of rice) but they make grainless. Also, Wellness is really good one from what I've heard.

We've tried blue unfortunately and it made Lady loose her hair and get a rash all down her back after 2 feedings. Again, my male was perfectly fine...it was outrageously expensive too, like $30-40 for 15-17lb bag and Lady passed it too quickly. Thankyou though. sweatdrop

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that =( I guess it's differnt with dogs too because they eat more. We got our 15lb bag for $30 (shipping included, we got it online) and so far it's halfway gone and we got it 3 months ago. Have you tried Wellness?  

[LittleMissMich]

Vanilla eXee

LittleMissMich

Vanilla eXee

I don't have a dog, but my cat is doing really well on Blue Buffalo. The kind she has does have some grains (in the form of rice) but they make grainless. Also, Wellness is really good one from what I've heard.

We've tried blue unfortunately and it made Lady loose her hair and get a rash all down her back after 2 feedings. Again, my male was perfectly fine...it was outrageously expensive too, like $30-40 for 15-17lb bag and Lady passed it too quickly. Thankyou though. sweatdrop

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that =( I guess it's differnt with dogs too because they eat more. We got our 15lb bag for $30 (shipping included, we got it online) and so far it's halfway gone and we got it 3 months ago. Have you tried Wellness?

no I haven't. I haven't even seen it in stores around here. i'm looking at all kinds of food at this point.  

[Vanilla eXee]

LittleMissMich

Vanilla eXee

LittleMissMich

Vanilla eXee

I don't have a dog, but my cat is doing really well on Blue Buffalo. The kind she has does have some grains (in the form of rice) but they make grainless. Also, Wellness is really good one from what I've heard.

We've tried blue unfortunately and it made Lady loose her hair and get a rash all down her back after 2 feedings. Again, my male was perfectly fine...it was outrageously expensive too, like $30-40 for 15-17lb bag and Lady passed it too quickly. Thankyou though. sweatdrop

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that =( I guess it's differnt with dogs too because they eat more. We got our 15lb bag for $30 (shipping included, we got it online) and so far it's halfway gone and we got it 3 months ago. Have you tried Wellness?

no I haven't. I haven't even seen it in stores around here. i'm looking at all kinds of food at this point.

You can find wellness at Petco and Petsmart. I've seen it at most of the mom and pop's I've been to as well. The other 2 brands that come to mind as good are Acana and Orijen, but I think both of them are only available in Canada (I don't know where you are) and one of them may be discontinued or something like that.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

It MAY be cheaper to make your own food. IF you had a good butcher nearby willing to give or sell for a good price, his scraps. Like the grocery store near my house actually throws turkey necks IN THE GARBAGE. Meanwhile we sell that at my store for 5 bucks. And then you can buy whatever produce is on sale. Raw is the best way to go with allergies and hot spots in my opinion. And it can come out to the same or less than the good dry foods.

Otherwise I like wellness, they have grainless all be it a lil more expensive. Taste of the wild is good for the price. Holistic Select has grainless now and their regular is fairly good too. Natural Balance might be a great one for your dog. the LID varieties specifically. Acana if you can afford it, it's probably around $40 for 15lbs. Maybe less. I think Merrick is decently priced. I would try to find a food that uses more fish oil. Look for it high in the ingredient list.  

[SmoothSavage]

I was going to suggest the Natural Balance limited ingredient diets as well. They're simple, not a lot to them, and novel proteins, perfect for allergies.

Actually Nature's Variety has an AMAZING LID they just came out with as well, if you can get ahold of that.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Purina, Iams, and most of the other brands (pretty much any food that you can buy at a Walmart, Weis, Martins, etc) that advertise a lot, claiming to be healthy are actually anything but healthy, as they have lots of corn, grains by-products, etc. in them. I'd suggest Wellness, which can be found at any petsmart and petco. You can also look on www.petsmart.com and www.petco.com and order the food from there and have them shipped to your home. Their food has no by-products or corn, and their Core formula doesn't have any grains in it. The only grains the other formulas have is rice from what I could see. There are no harmful ingredients that I have seen in it, and they only use all natural, human-grade ingredients. Bandit has been on Wellness Core for a few weeks now, and his fur is already a lot softer and shinier, he has fewer itches, and his paw pads are even becoming softer! He is also much more energetic too! biggrin

I have looked at avoderm when searching for different food for my cat, Charcoal, and there were some ingredients in it I didn't like. I went with Wellness for her too. biggrin  

[Grizzly l3ear]

We get kibbles N bits for our 2 dogs  

[- Vet Tech - 2011]

I would also suggest Wellness or Natural Balance. I have heard good things about Fromm as well but never used the diet myself to know a lot about it.

Let me think on it and I will see if I can come up with some other ideas that will avoid most allergy-causing ingredients but be easier on your wallet.  

[Sarahmooo]

Wellness, Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild, Blue Wilderness, Chicken Soup for the Dog lover's Soul.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Twisted Gloom

We get kibbles N bits for our 2 dogs

Unfortunately, Kibbles 'N Bits is one of those horrible brands. They have lots of corn, grains, fillers and by-products (I don't even know that you want to know what are in by-products, as it is disgusting) in it and very few ingredients that are actually good for the dog. I read the ingredients list, and remember seeing Hydrochloric Acid in it. I was like O.O WTF is that doing in it?!

Wellness is actually a little cheaper buying it online from Petsmart's and Petco's websites than it is when you buy it in the store. biggrin Though if you wanted Wellness Core, it looks like you'd have to look on Petco's website.  

[Shearaha]

I'm currently fostering a cat with nasty food allergies. Less then a week on Taste of the Wild and her skin and coat are improving. The previous people she stayed with fed her Diamond, she did OK, but still had skin issues and was constantly itching.

I don't know how much the dog food is but I know the 15lb bag of cat food is about $25.  

[Kipluck]

Though, my roomie did feed her dogs Avoderm before she went raw and was quite pleased with it. Their coats were very healthy and, well, their poops were infrequent and healthily firm. She believes that it is a decent food (and at least it does NOT have corn, though it does have rice and oats) for being a kibble. However, raw is much better. I am not saying she is right, BUT I will say her dogs seem very healthy and did so on the Avoderm, too. Her vet told her never to give the skin or seeds to the dogs, but that avacado was fine for dogs. However not to give ANY part of it to her birds. Just one vet's opinion, though.