[Karin]

I want to take Heidi off of Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice and get her on something else. She was really sick last week and I'm not sure what exactly caused it, but after doing some research into different kinds of dog foods, I feel like maybe it's time for a switch. Someone in an earlier thread wrote about "analysis paralysis" and I feel like I'm definitely going through that right now!

I'm thinking of trying one of the following brands: Wellness Core, Instinct, or Orijen because they've been rated very high in some of the websites I've looked at.

I was also wondering what kind of dogfood is best for allergy-prone dogs. I'm not sure if Heidi has allergies, but she rubs her eyes and nose a lot, licks and her private parts quite a bit, and seems to have ear irritation much of the time (the vet couldn't find anything wrong when I took her in). What kind of dogfood would be best if you wanted to relieve or avoid any potential allergy problems?

Thanks for any recommendations!

 

[roxy84]

those are good grain free choices if your dog is done growing. there are several things that could be an allergen for your dog. it could be grains, so going grainless would help. it could be a protein source (chicken can be one of the more common ones) so you'd need something without chicken (for example, california natural lamb and rice or canidae lamb and rice). i believe the instinct has one or more formulas that dont use chicken. i think my older dog had a problem with grains and chicken, so the solution was a grainless fish formula (wellness core ocean). orijen also has a fish based formula.

i get the analysis paralysis thing. it can drive us all nuts, worrying as we do about the best thing for our dogs. i think if you want to go grain free, just start with one of those you mentioned and see how it works.

 

[Karin]

I got her the Wellness 5-in-1 and gave her some for the first time tonight. She LOVED it! She even ate it without the usual canned food I put in with it (she won't normally eat her dry dogfood without a couple tablespoons of canned on top). I sure hope it agrees with her!

 

[roxy84]

good to heat that shes eating it. you mean the super 5 mix? if its the one with chicken and there no more itching and such, youll know it wasnt grains or chicken causing the problems, since the regular wellness has grains. i was just curious cause i think there is a super 5 lamb that doesnt use chicken.

 

[Karin]

I did get the lamb one. She really liked it yesterday but this morning, she didn't eat all of it

We'll see what she does this evening! I'll be happy if it helps cut down on her scratching...