Grain free foods

I am thinking of switching my two to grain free food, Viv has cronic ear infections and I was told to try this.

My pet store carries the following:
EVO
Natures Variety Instinct
Orijen
Taste of the Wild

They vary between $45-$65 for a 25 or 30lb bag.

They are currently on Merrick Cowboy Cookout

Anyone use anyof the above? Any other suggestions?

Penny has been on Taste of the Wild fish and Orijen senior. She has done very well on both. I know that every time she gets any type of wheat or corn (and it is looking like oats, too), she gets a yeast infection in her ears. She is currently on Orijen and is thriving - perfect weight, tons of energy. One thing, though. Don't feed as much as they recommend. Penny is on a heaping 1/8 cup twice a day with yogurt and pumpkin and salmon oil. Any more and she would be a snausage.

There are a good amount of grain-free diets available. I have never used a grain-free kibble, as none of my pugs (knock on wood) have allergy issues that would lead more to believe they need the grain-free. BUT, that being said, I did switch to a low grain / low gluten food, Honest Kitchen Keen. They LOVE this food. It is their doggy crack for sure! Honest Kitchen makes completely grain-free varieties. I am still feeding kibble in the morning. I feed Holistic Select. I know it is not grain free, so I guess that would not help you.

Vickie, the president for Polar Pug Rescue, feeds rescues that are in need of grain-free food Canine Caviar I think.

I bet Lisa will have lots of awesome information for you.

I think Lisa (with Izzy & Aggy) feeds grain-free. You might shoot her a message, if she doesn't see this.

I use the Natural Balance Fish formula and have had good results with it.

I feed Angel a grain free - but it isn't one of the ones on your list/that your store carriers. We also use Natural Balance (Venison & Sweet Potato to be exact).

Angel gets a heaping 1/2 cup, 2x per day (she's dropping weight due to her age though, which is why I feed her generously).

Do you think it makes a difference if it was a meat or chicken vs a fish?
Viv first five yrs she was on chicken, then I switched her to a meat one, but her ears are still a mess, so I am wondering if the grain free should be fish or if it being grain free might just do the trick.
Edited to say I have two more stores I can hit up and see what they carry.

My bet is on grain-free. Penny's ears were horrendous until we went to grain-free, and I have to watch her treats and read labels like a hawk for any hint of grain. I'd give the grain-free a try. I bet Viv and Rupert will love it.

Pugsaunt wrote:My bet is on grain-free. Penny's ears were horrendous until we went to grain-free, and I have to watch her treats and read labels like a hawk for any hint of grain. I'd give the grain-free a try. I bet Viv and Rupert will love it.

Yeah I'm hoping that is it, since birth she has had chronic ear infections both yeast and I'm blanking on the other. I feel awful for her when she starts scratching and I know it is uncomfortable. Stupidly I never thought of grain free until I was talking with someone who's pug has allergies and she suggested that, said once she went grain free half of her pugs allergies went away incld her ear infections,she swears by it.

Donna wrote:Do you think it makes a difference if it was a meat or chicken vs a fish?
Viv first five yrs she was on chicken, then I switched her to a meat one, but her ears are still a mess, so I am wondering if the grain free should be fish or if it being grain free might just do the trick.
Edited to say I have two more stores I can hit up and see what they carry.

It's highly possible she could be intolerant of one of the protein sources too. If neither the chicken or meat seem to be helping, I'd try a fish (maybe just get a small bag, and see how she does for a couple of weeks).

Angel can't tolerate poultry - chicken, turkey, etc. She did ok on the fish, but it was really rich for her (upset tummy), and seems to do better on venison. She used to have chronic ear infections, and now it's been quite a while since she had those.

You could try just grain free to start, but just because she wasn't allergic to chicken before doesn't mean she isn't now. Also, keep in mind that when you do switch, it can take up to 3 months for the other food to be completely out of her system, so it won't be an instantaneous fix.
I haven't fed any of the ones you have listed, but I did struggle with Tyson's allergies for a while. If she does have issues with the chicken, make sure you find a food that doesn't use chicken fat or eggs in its formula at all. I know Nature's Instinct uses eggs, and there's a Before Grain kind that is fish based but still has chicken fat. Tyson eats Wellness Core Ocean, which is completely fish based.

I am not thinking I will see a change right away, had not realized her current food would stay in her system that long, besides I need to mix in her old with her new to start switching her over so she will still be eating it for a while.
I saw the Wellness Core, they were on Wellness for a while but I switched when they changed their formula. I don't know why I never did a fish diet with them.

I tried Evo but it's a very high protein food and though it was probably a coincidence, one of the girls (I can't remember which one anymore) got a UTI on it and I was concerned about the high amount of protein so we switched off of Evo. I fed Taste of the Wild for a long time - can't remember the name of the formula but I believe it was the bison one.

Remember, Donna, if you like a food but can't get it near you, www.k9cuisine.com delivers free if you spend more than $50 and they carry a large selection of foods.

The most common allergies to food in dogs come from Corn, Wheat, Soy, Gluten (watch out for oatmeal) and the protein source - usually Chicken since that is a common ingredient.

Duck and Buffalo are usually good choices as is fish. It is also a good idea to switch the protein source every time you buy a bag to lessen the chance of developing allergies.

Origin makes a Red Meat formula and a 6 fish formula and is grain free. It is also rich and some dogs have a low tolerance for the richness. Always add pumpkin when you are switching food and that will help with the digestion. But, it is a GREAT food and comes from a terrific manufacturer that locally sources their food in Canada and does use a co-packer (which I think is important)

Merrick makes a grain free food called Before Grains that has 3 flavors - Chicken, Buffalo and Salmon. Check the label for chicken products, though. I don't have easy access to the bags anymore!

Nature's Variety makes a great grain free duck formula called Instinct and a really good choice. I like their foods because they also make a good raw in many proteins and a high-quality canned in quite a few flavors (also under the Instinct brand).

Nature's Variety actually recommends a rotation diet, rotating between canned, kibble and raw on a regular basis so dogs are getting a variety of nutritional elements found in different proteins.

Have you considered feeding raw or canned? Kibble is the least nutritionally rich type of food for dogs and usually contains the most additives because they have to use them to get the product through the extruder. I've had virtually no food allergy problems with my 2 feeding raw or canned. Kimchi came to me with nasty ears and they have cleared up and not reoccurred since I switched her to raw.

When I feed kibble, I feed grain free, egg free if I can and with a protein that isn't chicken or beef. I've used Orijen, Natural Balance L.I.D., Acana, Wellness Core.

It may take 4 weeks to see a difference

Wow, there is so much more to consider than I originally thought.
I did raw for dinners for a while but then for what ever reason stopped.
I'm going to do a bit more research then start doing kibble in the morning and go back to raw for dinner. Since I have never done any kind of fish I might start there.
I had thought I was feeding them decent stuff but when this conversation came up about Viv's ears at a recent meet up I did not know the food I was feeding her could help her.
P.S Rachael, thanks for the link, I easily spend over $50 on a bag of food, my local pet stores are not the best.

I do avoid salmon now--Tank has shown some issues with Salmon so I don't feed any salmon or use salmon oil any more. I do have several dogs that don't do well with eggs and my shih tzu can't eat ANY poultry--not chicken, turkey or duck.

And watch out for flaxseed as that is a grain.

And I do tend to feed a very high protein in kibble.

I always look at two things when faced with the price of good pet food:
1) How much is a bag in comparison to the amount I spend on vet bills for ailments caused by food that isn't right?

2) Health comes from the inside out.

It is also cheaper to feed raw IF you make your own food.

Follow Doctor Karen Becker in Facebook. She always has a lot of great pointers to share. A quote of hers in in my sig.

I would second the potential protein intolerance. Reggie had chronic ear infections so we went to Innova Evo Red Meat Formula. His ears literally became inflamed within days of feeding. We stopped feeding and did a food trial via a new vet. Put him on a venison and potato and he has had maybe one ear infection in the last 3 or 4 years. Since then, he has become itchy after having chicken treats. At the same time, his seasonal allergies have worsened severely just in this last year, so he's apparently quite the allergic dog.

One suggestion I'd make is for the higher quality kibbles is to definitely be aware of the protein increase you're implementing. Unless you're highly increasing activity level, you theoretically should be feeding less of a higher protein food. This goes along with the theory that although higher quality foods will cost more, you should theoretically be feeding less and saving money there.

OK, so a few more questions possibly stupid! What would be considered a higher protein, like would it be red meat is the highest, then chicken then ? I am not a meat or fish eater so I just don't know I should but I don't.
I am going to start her on omega 3 supp today, I'll figure out what food I think will be best and start incorporating it into her current food, I just bought a 30lb bad but I can continue feeding that to Rupert as he has no issues with her ears or any other allergy.
How much should I add to her current food to start making the switch? They each get 1/4 of a cup for breakfast and the same for dinner, although I think I will start doing (again) either raw or Natures Variety canned for dinner.
For the life of me I don't know why I never considered a different protein source other than chicken or meat.

It takes a week or 10 days to switch their food. Start with 25% new food mixed with 75% current food. After 3-4 days change the mix to 50/50 then in 3-4 more days change to 75% new food and 25% old food, then in 3-4 days switch to 100% new food.

I also wanted to tell you that BG, Evo, Natures Variety and Orijen all have trial size bags. P&P carried them and they were about $2-$2.50 each. The manufacturers' or distributors' rep for your local store should be able to get them for you.

As for protein, Beef usually has a bit more protein than chicken but it all depends on which cuts of meat are used. I don't think, in dog food, it makes much of a difference. I've never had that questions asked before!

Not Afraid wrote:It takes a week or 10 days to switch their food. Start with 25% new food mixed with 75% current food. After 3-4 days change the mix to 50/50 then in 3-4 more days change to 75% new food and 25% old food, then in 3-4 days switch to 100% new food.

I also wanted to tell you that BG, Evo, Natures Variety and Orijen all have trial size bags. P&P carried them and they were about $2-$2.50 each. The manufacturers' or distributors' rep for your local store should be able to get them for you.

As for protein, Beef usually has a bit more protein than chicken but it all depends on which cuts of meat are used. I don't think, in dog food, it makes much of a difference. I've never had that questions asked before!

Thank you so much Lisa, off to the pet store.

I found the higher protein foods was causing our ear problems and some urine issues also. We are now on Now grain free which is about 22 percent protein. We upped the Omegas and started the Zymox ear drops which were a life saver (Amazon.com), ears are clear and no itching.

Donna wrote:OK, so a few more questions possibly stupid! What would be considered a higher protein, like would it be red meat is the highest, then chicken then ? I am not a meat or fish eater so I just don't know I should but I don't.

I can't recall the reccomended percent Crude Protein for dogs at maintenance, but I can look it up in my dog nutrition notes sometime tonight. But, if you can look at the food label of what they eat now to know a baseline that she does well on. Every food has a break down of crude fat, fiber, and crude protein. You will see these vary for diets for puppies, maintenance, active dogs, seniors, etc. Like I said, I can't remember exact numbers, but you can at least compare what your two to well on to foods you're looking to potentially switch to. For some reason, alternative protein sources are less commonly seen to cause allergies (venison, bison, salmon, kangeroo, etc).