natural balance messed up what you think i should try

[pets4life]

my dog was ok on natural balance for a bit

she tried the fish, deer, duck, lamb, bison, and every other meat but is getting serious ear infection with black dots and crusty plus eye issues with greenish discharge the vet percribed her eye drops and this milky stuff for her ears

it really sucks so what you think i should try the vet said go online and see something high quality and good for allergy dogs he said we can try something like a percription diet but it is very expensive its called like ZD or something? he said its not even that healthy it works though but if the dog eats something else it wont work most people do not like the idea as a long term plan i see the vet again in a few weeks to see where she is at with her anti boitic steriod ointments.

I am switching her to kangaroo meat meat for now this dry food called addiction kangaroo and apple? have u guys heard of it? IF not i was thinking of feeding her possem meat. I am adding olive oil and pumpkin and yogert to her diet again.

SHE EATS FIVE cups a day and that is how she maintains her weight of 80 pounds the vet said he does not want her to lose more weight but he said he doesnt want her to gain more either he said she is a nice weight. I run her intense for at least half an hour to an hour a day at her top speed and jump her.

[pets4life]

Addiction Dry Dog Food | Review and Rating


ALlergy foods are rated pretty low on dog food advisor but thats probably because of lack of ingrediants but i mean there is not much we can do because our dogs will lose fur or start to get inflamed if they eat something wrong I am not sure what the vet will do when we see again he just wants her ears and eye to go back to normal


WE tried high rated foods like the soup food, ORJEN, acnea, and another grain free food i forgot what it was hmm bad idea all did not work

[GSD Fan]

You know, I hear nothing but good things about Taste of the Wild when it comes to allergies. You might want to try that out, I believe it is completely grain free.

[chelle]

Wow, you've tried so many foods and so many meats! How long did you give each food before you decided it wasn't working / the dog was allergic to it?

I think what you were talking about is an elimination diet? If so, it isn't meant to be long term, it's just intended to help zero in on what the dog is allergic to.

I had to do this with my oldest (non-GSD) and I was surprised (and almost ready to admit defeat and move on with something else) when it took over two months, probably close to three, to see the result of the food change. I'm very glad I held out. I was also really careful to stick with the elimination diet; ie, her food is grain-free, limited ingr venison and potatoe.. so any small treat she might occasinally get had to be the same.

[BlackPuppy]

Originally Posted by chelle

Wow, you've tried so many foods and so many meats! How long did you give each food before you decided it wasn't working / the dog was allergic to it?

I think what you were talking about is an elimination diet? If so, it isn't meant to be long term, it's just intended to help zero in on what the dog is allergic to.

I have read that it takes a minimum of three weeks to see any improvement, and much longer for the new food to eliminate symptoms.

When I do elimination diets, I try a food for a month before moving on.

A Dutch breeder I know says to cook up goat and macaroni for 2 weeks. That should be the baseline because most dogs don't eat goat. Then you can add another meat and see if that causes the itching, etc.

I ended up with EVO salmon and herring, but it was taken over by P&G and the price is up to almost $80 a bag. I am now feeding TOTW and it seems to be okay. I will be trying ACANA next month because I can get it wholesale. I hope it works out.

Dog Elimination Diet | Dog Allergies | The Honest Kitchen

[pets4life]

yes i spend 3 to 4 weeks on a new food


i didnt stay on addictio nthough only a few weeks and changed i am on royal canine 24 for german shepherds i didnt know it even existed?


on addiction mixed with lamb and natural balance she would be constipated one day and have blasts the next then she would puke it was pretty bad

i switched her to this its a bit better today so far i hate that it has chicken in it??? do they have a royal caninn with duckk or something else?? The girl that worked there had a allergic shepherd said it was the only thing that worked


ANYOne here had a shepherd that had ear issues that went away with royal canin german shepherd 24???

I am calling my vet again the steriod ear cream ONLY works while i take it byt when i stopped now her ears are getting red again, same with her eyes the goo didnt get better?

I think my vet should have given her an anti biotic or something. not just ear cream drops and eye drop steriods. The person at the pet store thinks tho this food will clear it up.

[pets4life]

grain free is way to rich and high in protien and gives my dog upset stomach and skin rash bad stools etc.. She cant handle the amount of meat.


I heard vegan food is another option?

[chelle]

I'm honestly just confused with your post? It sounds like you've had this dog on soooo many foods? You said you spend 3 - 4 weeks on a food? That may not be long enough. Are you making the changeover nice and sloooowww to any new food?

Are the ears the only issue? You said the dog got a skin rash on the grain free? But otherwise no skin issues? Did you try different varieties of grain free?

I mean, if we're talking about years of food changes, I could understand better going thru so many, but what kind of time frame is this that the dog has tried so many foods?

Sorry, I'm confused. That doesn't take much some days.

[pets4life]

no the orgin and the natural balance I stayed for months at a time, the dog is young only 2 years old now

most foods i only gave a few weeks or so if she was doing really bad on it id switch, like if i wanted to try a new food id mix it with her orjiin for a while and see, i spent a few months on orjen but she got really bad missing fur on her face with that plus eye infections.


usually the reaction she would get is, soft stools or liquid stools, skin rashes, ear infections, eye infections (gooey eye)


this time i did not stay on addiciton long finished a small bag that i mixed with her natural balance (still have natural balance) and went to royal canin german shepherd 25 right away the vet really wanted me to switch foods quick last time he checked her out.

If she can stomach the food i will do a slow transition but if she gets a even worse reaction i usually stop mixing it with the current food shes on.

While on natural balance i got to try their flavors for the past six months or so.

[Barb E]

No vegan, please, don't even think about that.

The only way I could get rid of Dante's ear infections is to get him off Barley which is common in dog foods now.

I have been feeding Nature's Logic for 3+ years now and he's done stellar on it - perfect poops and no ear infections