Suggestions on good quality dog food
 

Due to allergies (constant scratching), my vet advised me to feed Cody limited ingredient dog food with either Venison or Bison. I put him on Natural Balance limited ingredient with Venison (thank you YT family for your help on brands of limited ing.) I kept him on that for a couple of months, still scratching. Now he is on meds for environmental allergies. (don’t think I don’t hear all those “hehehe I told you so” lol) I can now change to a regular dog food, I need a little help there. I read about “Oats and Grains” don’t know if they are good or bad for our little ones, well, Cody not so little, tipping scale at 13 lbs. What is a good quality dry food for my boy. My last girl was on a Hills prescription food gotten from my vet. So many new brands of new dog food has come out in the last 7 years I don’t know what to get. Cody is not a picky eater, god bless this lil boy, he will eat what ever I give him (I was blessed in so many ways when he came into my life) are Oats & Grains harmful or just used as a filler and less meat is used? Keeping in mind he has allergies, although I know it’s not food related, but don’t know if this has to be kept in mind when selecting food for him. Can anyone give me suggestions. I don’t know if I want to use Blue Buffalo, with what I have recently read on YT about this brand. I have about a weeks supply of the limited ing, food, enough for a change over so I have to start ASAP. Thanking all that may reply in advance for any and all help.

I like Royal Canin but Callie's tummy just doesn't do well on it. Right now we are feeding wellness Toy the pieces are very tiny and that's what Callie prefers and she just seems to have a hard time with big pieces. She also loved the sample we got of Acana duck and pear but the pieces are just to big. I would stay away from blue buffalo. Grains are not bad for your dog unless for some reason they don't tolerate them well. I thought mine didn't tolerate them well but she is doing better on the regular foods then the grain free.

Thanks, I was thinking wellness, I haven't heard anything bad about it, and Pet Supplies carries that. How would I know if Cody's system couldn't tolerate grains, would he get diarrhea?

Wellness CORE has a grain-free formula. See the bag here:

Wellness CORE® Grain-Free Original Formula

Skin rash and or diarrhea I believe but diarrhea can happen with the switch sometimes even if it's slow. Most dogs don't have issues though.

I always do a 10 day switch over, longer if I the food. Thanks

Thank you for the link

I would say use something that is higher protein bc simple carbs can theoretically lend to increased inflammation in general...and you don't want that. Some nice ones might be Nature's Logic, Nature's Variety, Wellness CORE, Solid Gold's Small Bites, Orijen / Acana.

What a GREAT selection, thank you Ann. I have a Pet Supply and Pet Smart in my vicinity, I believe they carry all of these, not to sure about
Solid Gold's, Orijen / Acana. Monday lil guy & I are off to the store. I will kill 2 birds with one stone lol. 1-to buy food....2- to practice cody's behavior around other dogs. Thank you again.

Jax had really soft poo on RC and 'fattened' up LOL - at least, for him anyway, but he also did on Fromm regular grain inclusives. Oddball.

Fromm Lamb and Beef Grain-Free he LOVES though and seems to do pretty well on, as well as Farmina Cod. Acana Duck is what he always did best on, and he ate Acana in general for over 2yrs, but I haven't tried the 'newer' formulas with him. I was a bit disappointed with the addition of a bunch of lentils, peas, beans etc. But honestly he for sure did best on Acana, always looked the best, muscle tone, stool was the best, no eye boogers, energy, etc.

In general, he SEEMS to do better on either grain-free or minimal grain or limited ingredient. Like, he did fabulous on Purina Beyond lamb - but that's only got like 9 main ingredients. And then he also does/did great on a food like Acana. lol. So I can't exactly pinpoint why he does better IMO on certain foods or not.

For Cody... I don't know, maybe the Acana Duck LID has a shot? They have a new pork food as well, and lamb. All limited ingredient.

Do these foods come in dry form, Cody LOVES dry over canned. Thanks for all the selections

Soft poo was one of Callie's issues. Every one of the Fromm Callie tried they all made her break out even the grain free so she can join the odd ball group. I really wish Acana had smaller pieces because Callie loves it but almost acts like it hurts her to chew it yet she chews chews with no problems. I think even if you gave two company's the same recipe the same dog could do good on one but not the other.

Yes they all do I believe. The limited ingredient duck from Acana is one Callie really liked and you can buy like a sample size to try.

Gina is on Royal Canin adult small kibble, she's had no problems, she did have an allergic reaction to the RC Yorkie 29 puppy so we switched her to just RC puppy small kibble. Megan my last Yorkie was on Bil*Jac small adult for 10 years with no problems. Good luck as everyone has their favorite food to give their furbabies.
Cheers Quad & Gina:aimeeyork

Thank you Quad for your suggestions and input.