Let's talk about dog food

I have 2 recommendations. Foster Smith has an excellent line of dog food. Another is Rachel Ray's dog food. I too have dogs with food issues. All 3 of my dogs are over 60 lbs. It gets a bit pricey to feed these foods, but it's worth it. They eat less of it and we don't have to go to the vet as often.

Molly, terrier rott mix, 6 yo, has stomach issues. If I don't feed her quality food, her tummy rumbles constantly and she eats tissues, newspaper, stuffed animal stuffing... weird.
Surprise, chow mix, 13 yo, has skin issues.
Abby, lab hound mix, 3 yo, eats like a pig and is fat. She has skin issues on cheap food. She will rearrange a room scratching her behind on the furniture.

My girls are my kids.

hmmm... I used to feed my dogs Flint River Ranch and it seemed to do well for their coat but not sure it did so well for the dobe's weight, she's always had issues. The onlu way I could get it though was through the mail... not sure if that is still the case with it. Now, we feed Nutro Natural Choice. I' ve heard it's the best and it comes highly recommended around here. They all get dry and only the saints get it mixed with some can at dinner time. The one year old Saint gets puppy formula, thed y year old Saint eats large breed formula, and the dobe, who is around 12 eats the senior formula. She only gets the dry because of her weuight and it seems to have really gone under control. They also have a bunch of different formulas but I am afraid to change it for the dobe because of her sensitive stomach... food changes are hard on her. I have thought about the weight management one, but never really did it since the senuor has worked out well for her.

Just go to Taco Bell...

First thing that came to mind when i saw the title of this thread...

My dog gets itchy skin with a lot of dog foods, even the lamb and rice formulations. I've found the **** Van Patten's Duck and Potato as well as their Fish and Sweet Potato have worked well for him. Just recently I switched back to the Natural Choice, hoping he'd gotten over his itchiness since it was on sale for a lot cheaper. I've noticed him getting itchy again so I'll have to switch back.

yeah, Labby, the itching is a huge signal to allergies. We tried starting the younger Saint (female) on Green-Ums, they are a urine stabilizer or something that helps to reduce the female's urine from burning the lawn... has worked for as long as I have used it on the dobe and our passed female Saint. So, we started the year old Saint on it and the 2nd day, we noticed she started shaking her head... everything else seemed fine though... by day 3, us still not recognizing it was the pills that started this, she was shaking worse, maybe every 10 to 15 seconds, she became severly depressed and stopped eating. She was 6 months at the time and skipping meals when she is used to eating twice a day was worrisome. On the second day shee stopped eating, I began giving her water through a syringe in order to keep her hydrated and brought her to the vet. The vet thought that was a good idea but couldn't tell what the problem was. She didn't find any mites and her ears were clean but she was concerned about her shaking them so much as to cause a hematoma...which would not be good at all.... I asked if it could be due to an allergy and she said it might.... so she sent me home with the ear wash solution.... I asked Mr. Doll if we gave her anything that she might be reactiung to and he told me he had started her on the green-ums. As soon as we stopped with them, the itching was gone.... and so our hungry pup was back to eating, drinking, digging, eating my shoes, beating up on the older Saint, stealing bones from the dobe, oh the list goes on LOL.... not a dull moment with this one.

Wow DD, my guy isn't quite that bad, but I agree, it's some sort of food allergy. Not that it would stop him from eating, lol, but I'm going to have to switch him back to the more expensive food.

if you want to go the extra mile blue, you can make your own dog food for them...


all natural with veggies (carrots, beans, sweet potato, corn, etc) and whatever meat we find (venison, discounted ground turkey, lean beef, etc) brown it and seal it...lasts for about a week and works great as a supplement with some dry dog food of your choice

Bil and Jac gave my dogs the ithes now that I think of it too... but tyou're right, Labby, it was no where near the degree of the pup...