Food Recommedation?

[lollerskates]

I'm not sure if this should go here or under health issues. I guess it's kind of both.

Lola and I went to the vet yesterday because of a skin rash that she has developed. He did a skin scrape and she doesn't have mites. appicon But she does have an allergy to something. I'm guessing that it's her food. I've been reading on past forums which is why I think this.

I've been feeding her Science Diet Puppy Formula Lamb and Rice. Any suggestions for a switch would be really appreciated. She's on antibiotics now for the rash, but I don't want her to get the rash again after the medication is done.

Thanks!

[gmacleod]

OK, well there are many many foods out there that are better than the Science Diet. It's a particularly nasty food, and a very low quality one too - even if it isn't priced that way. So a switch to something better has got to be a good thing, irrespective of the allergies.

Still, it's actually very likely that the Science Diet is indeed the cause of his allergies. The two most problematic ingredients in low end dog food that cause allergy problems are corn and wheat. Science Diet has both of them :rolleyes:

Here's your ingredient list:
Lamb Meal, Brewers Rice, Rice Flour, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Corn Gluten Meal, Cracked Pearled Barley, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

The problematic ingredients are most likely to be the wheat, the corn gluten, the beet pulp, or the soybean oil. Possibly the brewers rice too - which is a byproduct of the alcohol industry. I would not buy a dog food that contained any of those ingredients.

Here's a useful page on how to choose a good quality dry food for your dog: www.boxerworld.com/feeding A dog food can only ever be as good as the ingredients that go into it, and that page tells you what to look for, what to avoid, and why. After reading that, you should be able to see what's wrong with the Science Diet ingredient list ;)

As for alternatives, probably any good quality food that doesn't have the cheap nasty grains of the SD will be fine. I doubt that you'd need to look into a full allergy formula, just a high quality food.

A few suggestions I'd make would be:
Innova or California Natural: www.naturapet.com
Chicken Soup for the dog lover's soul: www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com
Merrick: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
Fromms Four Star: http://www.frommfamily.com/products_fourstardry.asp
Canidae: www.canidae.com

[phoebesmom]

A short while ago Phoebe had exactly the same complaint as Lola, and I ended up taking her to the animal hospital where they did skin tests where any kind of mange was ruled out, so I put it down to allergies. She was also on Science Die(t) and after reading past threads and getting loads of good advice from gmacleod I changed her diet completely, and I am thrilled to say she has done a complete change around. After industrial strength antibiotics and more importantly the change in diet, she is A-OK. The problem hasn't flared up again and she has totally stopped licking her paws.

I'm sure Lola will be fine after her food switch and keep us posted.

[gmacleod]

Hey Phoebesmom: Great to hear thta Phoebe is doing so well now :) LOL - I know you had to look fairly hard to find a good food for her. I'm glad it's paying off and her itchies have disappeared :)

[phoebesmom]

I'm glad it's paying off and her itchies have disappeared :)

They have, totally :) . Thanks for all the great advice!

[pamelay2000]

Butters has the same problem as Lola and Phoebe - he also had a negative skin scraping and was put in antibiotics for some time. I actually took him off of the antibioitcs because it seemed to do nothing with the itching. Butters has been on the raw diet for quite some time now and at the recommendation of gmcleod we stopped chicken (he was on the puppy Wellness formula initially which contained chicken). But unfortunately, he's still so itchy!! Our next step is to tru this antifungal shampoo the vet gave us but frankly, I'm not too hopeful about it. I may turn to more holistic treatments if this fails!

[gmacleod]

Pamelay: Most allergies are actually environmental, but if you want to test out the food allergy theory, then you'd have to go to an alimination diet. Pity the chicken wasn't the cause, but that would have been especially fortuitous.

Fortunately, elimination diets are not difficult. What is required is to start feeding the dog one single meat/bone that it has never eaten before. It has to be something the dog hasn't ever had before, so that you can be sure that the dog does not have any pre-existing anti-bodies against it (allergies being an abnormal immune system response). So an "exotic" meat like venison or duck is usually chosen (although if your dog has never eaten lamb, including in a kibble, then there's no reason why it couldn't be lamb - just has to be something entirely new to the dog).

Anyway, you feed that new food exclusively for two or three weeks. Nothing else - no veges, no treats. Just that one food item. If food alergies were the problem, then all the symptoms should disappear in that time. You then start adding new items into the diet one at a time, and noting what causes reactions and what doesn't (that means one fruit/vegetable at a time too - so no mixes). Eventually, you should end up with a list of OK foods and a list of things the dog can't have.

If the allergy symptoms don't clear up with the switch to the new food item, then you can be reasonably confident that the cause is environmental allergies. For those, allergy testing is really the only way to sort out what the problems are. It's not a 100% reliable method, but it's pretty hard to do an elimination trial with environmental things.

[lollerskates]

lola and i have begun switching to Merrick Puppy Plate. and while i can't say for sure yet if it's improving her skin issues, she does appear to enjoy eating it more than the science diet. which means that we'll probably stick with it. :D

i really appreciate all the help. i'll keep everyone posted as we continue trying to figure out what's bugging her!

one other question . . . are the recommendations for servings on the back of the bag a pretty good measure of how much to feed her? merrick says between 1.5 and 2.5 cups for her size (14 lbs). does that seem right to everyone?

thanks!