Ugh..
 

Tucker has been on SD precription I/D for several weeks now because he had a stomach issue that know has cleared but the vet did not totally rule out pancreatitis she wanted him to stay on a low fat diet under 12 percent and recommend the I/D. Anyways, since he has been on it, his eye staining has gotten terrible, his breath reeks almost like he had eaten a dead animal (sorry) and he is scratching some again. No fleas, No new changes in soaps etc and its been raining here non stop for almost a month so no more pollen issues. Food wise, I was offering him some hamburgh and rice along with the dry I/D (he wouldnt eat the canned) but was told that it wasnt enough nutrition so I stopped that and added the vegetarian canned from Natural Balance and even though he liked it, he started throwing it up so I stopped giving it to him. I have tried other NB canned in the past and he wouldnt eat them, leaving just the veggie one.
So getting frustrated (AGIAN) over what to feed him, giving that his choices are very limited I tried calling the vets. I got the receptionist and explained to her what was going on and that I needed some advice on changing his diet. She proceeded to say, that his bad breath was because his teeth needed to be clean, this could be true BUT his breath didnt stink UNTILL after he started the I/D, she didnt comment on the eye tearing but did say that he would probably need to be seen because of his itching.. UMM NO!! not that I have anything agaisnt taking him to to be seen but he had none of these symptoms untill after starting the food, SO it has to be the food!! :/ Oh and she also told me that I/D wasnt a low fat food?? :confused: That they did carry a low fat formula..:cool: UGH!! I *thought* that he was put on the i/d because it was for GI issues and LOW IN FAT!!
Anyways, Im waiting for the vet to call me back so I can discuss this with her all over again. :cool:

I/D would probably be a moderate fat food.

Purina EN or Royal Canin LF...

Thanks for your response..
Im going to assume that both of those products are vet prescribed only?
I dont think my vet carries anything but SD..

Yes. They can write you an rx for either. Petsmart carries RC and you can get EN from another vet in the area.

Thanks,

The vet did call me back and she did say that it was probably food allergy related. Being that the I/D has chicken in it she told me to try something that didnt have chicken in it, I always thought he was allergic to chicken so I stayed away from it, however I guess I didnt read the ingredients that well on the I/D..I dont remember chicken?? Anyways, she told me that I should try another protein source and offered one of thier Allgery formula's but the protein levels in those were higher than what he is on now and just to take his transistion really slow. Im sure I can find something on my own that is probably less expensive than what they have to offer..Im willing to take any suggestions??
Thanks

I forget if you said you had tried the NB dry kibble?

After Jackson's pancreatitis issue, I had him on Castor & Pollux Weight Mgt. food, which he really seemed to like, but the eye boogers got bad after a few weeks. Otherwise, had no complaints about the food.

Decided I wanted to try a limited ingredient diet, just for the heck of it. Sometimes it seems like there is just sooo many ingredients in dog food that doesn't seem necessary all the time. But maybe it's just me. Anyways did a whole bag of California Natural and the breath started stinking more, he began drinking a lot more water, his coat DID seem less shiny to me, he got bored of the taste really quickly... I will say most eye goop/crusties went away on the venison and poop was fine.

Long story short, I finally gave Natural Balance Lamb & Rice a try and am REALLY happy with it. We are halfway through the bag and he's doing fantastic in all aspects. Plus, I know I've said this before, but this really IS the most I've seen him like a food. I mean, the minute I pour it in his bowl, he eats it right up. He's always liked a bit larger kibbles as well so I think he prefers it for that reason too (gonna get Large Bites next bag). But honestly, even when I opened the bag it smelled surprisingly good. :confused: For kibble that is. I just thought it smelled really... fresh, maybe? I dunno. I had avoided this kibble in the past because it wasn't one of the grainless varieties but it actually seems better to me, ingredient-wise, than their grainless formulas.

Vet wanted Gizmo on a lower in fat dog food as well. We tried SD Ideal Balance and he seemd to get a little of an upset belly. I asked the vet if Natural Balance LID Chicken small bites would be okay and I think it's 10% fat and 20% protein and the vet okayed it. He seems to like it. No tummy troubles.

I know looking for the low in fat is frustrating. Espeically when you walk into Petsmart and get attacked by the Blue Buffalo peeps. :p Wow, I'm just bashing Petsmart this week.

Thanks for repsonding.. I have mixed feelings about NB (as odd as that sounds). I have tried several of thier food items in the past, including samples. Ive tried their venison and duck formulas dry, canned, and food roll. They wouldnt touch the duck dry or canned but loved the food roll, however with all of thier food rolls that we tried they would drink a ton of water and Tucker was having accidents in the house. I also tried the venison and sweet potatoe (it smelled really really bad) my bigger dogs ate it but the littles wouldnt touch it. After feeding it to my beagle for several months her coat turned colors, her white parts on her coat, turned a dingy yellow color and her black part on her back had orange tips. Even the vet said her coloring was very odd, to take her off the food because it was probably the sweet potatoe in the food causing her coat to change, within a few month after stopping the food her coat started changing back to its normal coloring. Also during that time she developed a tumor on her leg that we had removed and it was cancerous. Im not saying it was the food but sometimes it did make me think about it. I also tried their bison,lamb, and chicken in samples.. they wouldnt touch the bison, ate the lamb and chicken the first time I offered it but not the second. I got samples of thier vegetarian formula recently and they did seem interested in that for a bit, but after a few days of giving Tucker some canned he started throwing it up. :( I just dont know what to do anymore. :confused:
I do appreciate everyone responses.

I know alot of the "high quality" brands offer lower in fat options. I think it would be best to get a list that you think may work and run it by your vet. That's what we did.

Blue Buffalo, Wellness, California Naturals, Merrick, Canidae, Science Diet, are all foods that I know for a fact have lower in fat. Before changing it, run it by your vet, see what they think, and maybe they'll have some suggestions too!

Thanks again everyone for the help.
I decided to go with what the vet prescribed him. They put him on Royal Canin (which i didnt think they sold) Hypoallergenic Selected Protein Adult PW. Its crazy expensive and they dont keep it in stock so if he does well on it Im gonna have to get a second job (lol) and make sure I order a head of time. :cool:

I think that's a pretty safe place to be - what the vet suggests - if it doesn't work, they can suggest something else.

Even after I made the switch back to non-"premium" food, I had a soft spot for NB (don't even know why). But I have lost a lot of faith in the company within the last week and wouldn't consider feeding it to my dogs unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks Ellie May...I take to heart alot what you have to say about dog foods..:)..

Do you mind explaining further? Why in the last week?

Just curious because I really think this is the best Jackson has done on a food and also the most he liked a food. So I am definitely curious.

Probably shouldn't, but whatev. I'm fed up with these companies, so what the heck. NB and another popular company were very uncooperative when my vet asked them a simple question. She had to give the other company a pieve of her mind to get the info (bc she had to have it from them - it wasn't that she just felt like asking them random things). I think she gave up on getting the info from NB. Will find out next time I see her, I guess. Waste of her time. We can hope they did get back to her, but last I knew she was very unhappy... IMO, this kind of thing is completely unacceptable. If my vet calls and asks a question about a food and the company should have the answer, but yet they don't or refuse to answer, then I can't trust them.

Also fwiw, the big 4 (SD, RC, Purina, and Iams) send out manuals to vet offices showing all the nutrient level per cup of food and how that relates to AAFCO, etc. Not so for these other companies. Apparently some of them don't like to give this info away. Not okay for my doggies.