Recommendations for dog food for a dog with corn allergies? Alternatives to Nutro Lamb and Rice? Thanks!?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at
3:02 pm
I’m looking for something in the all natural, no grain realm. The less chemicals in, the better!
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Filed under: Pet Supplies
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If you want to go no grain, Orijen is probably the best on the market. Innova Evo, Blue Buffalo ‘Wilderness’, GO Natural, Horizon ‘Legacy’, Nature’s Variety ‘Instinct’, Solid ‘Gold Barking at the Moon’, Taste of the Wild, and Wellness ‘CORE’ also all have good reputations in the USA, some are harder to find than others, all of these are grain-free, all are also expensive. If you just want to go with something corn, wheat, soy, and byproduct free, I’d try Canidae, which has rice, but no other grains. It’s an excellent food that works well for most dogs that try it, and compared to other foods of the same quality, it is quite affordable. Most people can buy it near them, there’s a dealer locator on their website
I’m a big fan of a few lines of food. Wellness is one. They have a variety of foods both canned and kibble that are well labeled as to their contents and they actually contain…. food! Fromms is a good one too but really expensive.
Note: the more expensive holistic foods are not really as expensive as they look as the animal eats less of this food. Reason being, it actually includes proper nutrients.
One allergy often can lead to another as the immune system breaks down. Getting an excellent quality food can make the world of difference to many a pet. Seen it time and time again.
Oher option… homecooking. Much more trouble but if you can’t find a pre-prepped food that works, might be one way you will need to consider.
Good for you for thinking out of the box here.
I’m not a 100% sure, but I think the brand Solid Gold, canidae, california natural, and Fromm do not have corn or fillers. They are very health foods, but more expensive, For my 15 lb bag of canidae I pay about 26 bucks. you can’t get it at Big stores like Pet Smart, or Petco. Look around for smaller pet stores that have holistic food or natural food. (I’ve tried all of those brands and my dog loved them, loved solid gold but did have looser stools with it.)
you need to be specific as to what country you live in.. NUTRO is sold in many countries.. but not all other brands are..
in CANADA – I recommend NUTRAM Lamb and Rice
Solid Gold has a no grain or gluten food and 100% natural. It is available at some pet stores and online. I have 2 dogs that have siezures and since they have been on this food, we have had none (8) months so far.
I have a rottie who we think that has food allergies. He was getting reoccuring ear infections. I changed foods on him, even tho there wasn’t any corn in the other food, we put him on California Natural Herring Meal and Sweet Potato. We haven’t had any problems with ears since. It is an excellent food, basic, no crap in it. My Shih tzu is on the Innova still without any problems. I am very happy with their products.
http://www.naturapet.com/
Absolutely highly recommend Natural Balance dog foods. They carry 4 different Allergy Formulas… and 1 vegetarian formula.
Try Sweet Potato & Venison Dry food – this one contains NO wheat, barley, corn or oats. No additives or artificial ingredients. Click on the package to see more info for this flavour as well as customer testimonials.
In Toronto, they are available from Global Pet Foods, Pet Smart and Pet Valu.
FIRST: Call your local store to ensure they carry Natural Balance AND THAT flavour.
Dry food is highly recommended over wet food as the dry kibble helps to clean their teeth as the kibble scrapes against the tooth when chewed. Wet dog food contributes to plaque buildup along the gumline and can (if dental cleaning is not done on regular basis) cause tooth problem(s) in future.
Here’s the link to the Allergy Formula Dog Food page:
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/allergy.html
Come back and let us know how your dog does on this food.
i have a dog that stared with a corn allergy, so i gradually changed around and she ended up allergic to all grain, white potatoes, and even chicken. we were at our wits end and about to talk to the vet about putting her down to end her misery.
then my boss gave me one last thing to try, Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato. It is a grain free food, with such a small amount of white potatoes that her system ignored them. this food seriously saved her life, and it’s not super expensive.
wellness is a great food, it was the last one we tried but it is not grain free. the wellness core is but many of the people who’ve bought it have said that the dogs either hate it or love it, and for the price you could get two big bags of the Natural Balance.
Also Evo by Innova is a wonderful grain free food. we recommend it to many dogs with allergies. it is as close to a raw diet as you can get without actually having the raw meat. but it is very high in protein so we don’t recommend it for inactive dogs.
and finally there is the option of going raw. there are many pre-made raw diets out there, or you could pick up the book ‘The B.A.R.F. Diet’ and do it yourself. it is actually very healthy and is often the cure for many allergies. i know a woman with a Rhodesian Ridgeback and when she made the change her food bill went from over $100 a month on Nutro Natural Choice to $40 a month on the do it yourself raw diet.
i don’t recommend cooking food for dogs, because it generally cooks most of the nutrients out of the meat and they gain little to nothing from it nutritionally. if you are feeding meat the dog needs the bones to get calcium, or at least a supplement of some kind.
hope this helped at least a little!
Wellness. Innova. Canidae.
Several excellent brands:
Innova EVO http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp
Nature’s Variety Instinct http://www.naturesvariety.com/instinct_dog
Nature’s Variety Raw http://www.naturesvariety.com/raw_products
Natural Balance Allergy Line http://naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/allergy.html
Wellness Simple Solutions http://wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_simple_food_solutions_index.html
Nutro is a truly terrible brand – the above grain free ones are better. =)
Good luck!
EDIT: Dash, I’m so sorry, I meant to give you a thumbs up but instead I gave you a thumbs down! =(
I use Innova Evo and Merrick Before Grain and have had no problems with either my senior or puppy.
If you are located by a Pet Supplies Plus, I suggest that you speak to them. They have fantastic information on dog food and carry far more brands than the big boxes – petsmart and petco. They will give you some good alternatives.
Best of luck!
Here is a site that will show you which dog foods are the best and the worst. I suggest that you get any one of the dog foods that are top rated.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
Most of grocery store dog food formulas, like IAMS, Pedigree, Science Diet, Purina,and etc contain "meat and bone meal" which has been known to contain dead dogs and cats that were euthanized in animal shelters. Their bodies are picked up and bought by the truck load by "rendering plants" , that also pick up road kill, dead live stock, and etc. They are shredded, and boiled. They skim off the fat on the top of the "soup" and collected it and sell it to pet food companies as "animal fat", the rest of the animals’ remains are crushed up, dried and sold to dog and cat food companies as meat and bone meal.
You can read more about it here.
http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html
Here is an article where the owner of a rendering plant talks about it. He says that cremating the dead shelter animals would cause pollution, and that rendering them is good.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_12_26/ai_115041999
Here is further information on what you shouldn’t see in the ingredients list in your dog’s food.
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients
Top rated dog foods like Canidae contain good healthy ingredients.
The raw diet , which is also known as the B.A.R.F. diet is also another great option. Here is information on getting started on it.
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm