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Natural choice has just introduced a new canned food called eatables. Dogs can choose from irish stew(irish terrier),chinese take out with sauce(chinese crested),Southern style dumplings with gravy(catahoula leopard dog)or hobo chili(labrodoole or your favorite designer dog) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />May be the answer for those finiky eaters.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

He hates his new food i think I will go back to diamond bad as I hate to but i am going with the lamb and rice this time. Also will changing foods so much be hard on him?

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.....will changing foods so much be hard on him?

Changing foods (for a dog with no allergy or sensitivity issues*) is no more a problem for dogs than it is for people, IMO. The only caveat is that it's best to do it gradually, and if a little diarrhea happens then slow it down even more.

* For a dog with allergies, it's different, and the answer would not be the same.

yes on the allergies

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yes on the allergies

Well, that's succinct.

Do you have ideas yet about what he's allergic to?

How old is he? Does he have the itchy-scratchies only, or has it progressed to inflammation inside his ears or in his armpits/groin? Does he have secondary skin or ear infections? Does he chew at or lick his paws? Red between the toes? Do his symptoms seem seasonal or constant?

Did the old food give him trouble, or just the new one? (BTW, the new food you initially asked about isn't a good choice, period, IMO, and even less desirable for a dog with allergies. That's why I gave you that comparison site and why I mentioned all the corn in the ingredient list.)

If his old food did not cause allergy symptoms, then I'd switch back ASAP, taking maybe three days to make the change.

If it DID cause symptoms, I'd be looking into an elimination diet.....perferably homemade or raw, but at least a very limited-ingredient commercial food (like duck and potato, or fish and sweet potato -- unless he has sampled cat fod in his environment -- or another food he has never eaten; allergies develop after repeated exposure, so you want a food he has not eaten).

http://www.cah.com/dr_library/fooddogs.html

http://www.pets1st.com/Articles/00112MGrabner008CanineHealthNutrition.asp

I have had a lot of experience with allergic rescued dogs, and I believe that a raw diet (or even a homecooked diet with the necessary bone/eggshell included; I have done both) with added Omega 3 EFAs is a great way to help with both inhalant (environmental) and food allergies. I believe that it helps strengthen the immune system and lower the susceptibility to allergies *and* eliminates the ingredients that many commercial foods are loaded with and that dogs don't handle well.

I don't mean this to sound like a lecture. I hope it doesn't. A dog can flourish on a high-quality commercial food, and there are good elimination diets available for purchase. Also, The Honest Kitchen is a great way to go raw without actually doing the handling of the ingredients, but that would be after you've determined that the ingredient list doesn't contain one of your dog's allergens.

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.....I believe that a raw diet (or even a homecooked diet with the necessary bone/eggshell included; I have done both) with added Omega 3 EFAs.....

Just to clarify, of course I didn't mean home-cooked bones; I used a combination of bone powder, eggshell, and the bones in canned fish.

I feed my dogs Canidae "All Life Stages" kibble with excellent results. They are very fit and healthy, have no funny odor, have beautiful coats, and their poop is consistent and firm. I pay $35 for a 40lb bag.

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I feed my dogs Canidae "All Life Stages" kibble with excellent results.......

Yes, this is one of the commercial foods with a commendable ingredient list. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Michael Stinson's dog has food allergies, evidently, so he will want to identify the ingredient culprit(s) with an elimination diet before using a food with so many protein sources (because many ingredients makes it next to impossible to eliminate all the possible allergens).

But yes, your choice of food beats the ingredient list for Purina High Pro by a LONG way, IMO. Yours has no wheat, corn products, or soy, all of which are common canine allergy and sensitivity triggers, and it has Omega 3 EFAs, too.

And I didn't know it was that reasonably priced.

For those of you who still feed kibble, I found some interesting research (I'll post it as soon as I find it again). It said that if you're going to feed dry, to switch brands between a few HIGH QUALITY brands every time you buy food. The theory is that no processed food offers everything your dog needs, but they're each high in some things and severely lacking in others. Over time, feeding the same food will produce deficiencies. Like in a raw diet, the overall balance is what counts; not every meal needs to be balanced in every way. Variety is essential.

I know many of you worry about stomach upset, but I've done this for periods of time when I couldn't feed raw, and had NO problems. I buy, for example, a bag of Canidae, a bag of Wellness, and a bag of Innova Evo, etc. I either mix them together in a large container or just feed one food one day, a different one the next, and so on.

I'd never heard this before (now that I think about it, it MAY be in NATURAL NUTRITION FOR DOGS AND CATS) but it makes sense if you think about it. A variety of kibble has to be better than one for the entire life of the dog. This method can also ease the eventual transition to raw, as the dog's stomach gets accustomed to digesting different foods-dogs seem to have more problems the longer they've been eating the same kibble, from what I've seen, perhaps because the food is a greater shock than if there's been some variety all along.

Jenni, strangly enough I have read that in literature about fish foods. Same reason. Obviously we are talking about quality foods anyway. In my program there are times because of unavailability or other reasons I have swapped foods on short (or no) notice and never had problems unless I had a dog with major allergies etc. For the most part they seem to not have any problems as far as upsets is concerned.
Also in processing the mills use different grades of ingridients. By changing some people say that this ensures that you can get the best of different things and avoid a depletion of others.