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  Elite Veteran
Posts: 1176
  
Location: Nor Cal | My 5 year old Golden Retriever is currently on Taste of the Wild and is starting to get hot spots again. I called my vet and he said to try switching my food. He put in an order for antibiotics as well. Can I have suggestions for a great grain free dog food? I don't have a Tractor Supply near me so something I can buy on amazon would be preferred.
Side note - he has reactions to poultry also so it has to be venison, bison, or fish.
Edited to add a picture of our adorable pup 
Edited by kelli&hotrod47 2017-02-01 10:40 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | https://www.chewy.com/diamond-naturals-grain-free-beef/dp/47131?utm_...
=cpc&utm_campaign=f&utm_content=Diamond&utm_term=&gclid=CLzLp_yq79ECFci2wAodPWcPSw&gclsrc=aw.ds
This is what we feed. I have a blue merle great dane, a JRT, and we had an elderly blue pit on it as well before she passed last year.
Everyone eats, weight is good, no allergy issues, no stinky poops!  |
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 Ms. Marine
Posts: 4627
Location: Texas | I feed my Aussie Diamond Naturals. He's an extremely picky eater and has a very sensitive stomach and he loves it. Have had no problems. |
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Member
Posts: 27
| We started feeding Merrick grain free and our dogs do not have hot spots or have an odor anymore. We were giving predisone for hot spots and now since we started the Merrick, no more predisone. Yeah!!! |
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Veteran
Posts: 103
| kelli&hotrod47 - 2017-02-01 10:36 AM
My 5 year old Golden Retriever is currently on Taste of the Wild and is starting to get hot spots again. I called my vet and he said to try switching my food. He put in an order for antibiotics as well. Can I have suggestions for a great grain free dog food? I don't have a Tractor Supply near me so something I can buy on amazon would be preferred.
Side note - he has reactions to poultry also so it has to be venison, bison, or fish.
Edited to add a picture of our adorable pup
My dog is on Taste of the Wild too.
The only one they have that is Canola Oil free is the Wetlands. My dog has done well on this one, but not the others.
Which one is your dog on? |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 615
Location: Wyoming | Merrick is the best. I have one with severe allergies to pretty much everything and she is doing great on the Pacific Catch. I buy it off of Amazon |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 560
Location: Where the buffalo roam | I have fed Orijen and currently feed GO - a bit pricey, but are well rated dog foods plus the grain free. I used to feed TOW, but had a young dog that would throw-up everytime we tried switching him from puppy food to the adult TOW. He is great on GO. |
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Member
Posts: 47
| Orijen and Acana (sister brands) are a great option, and are a great single source protein kibble. They do have some "mixes" like Grasslands, Ranchlands, etc. that have 3 or 4 protein sources as well. Im not sure if this is available in the states yet as it is mostly made/sourced in Alberta, but I believe they are starting to expand into the states. I have fed Acana, Orijen and Go as well. I only have shelties so a med bag lasts us quite a while. Im currently experimenting with Go, as the first 6 ingredients are meat meals (preferred) or fresh meats. I say I prefer the meal because the ingredient panel is listed before cooking, and meals have already been cooked. By product meals are another issue and undesirable. Long story short, I recommend all 3, but theyre all Canadian made/locally sourced so you might have to look into shipping. Best of luck! |
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Veteran
Posts: 155
| I fed taste of the wild, bison, and my dogs would get ear infections all the time. I switched to a different brand, lamb, with no chicken or any other type of meat. I also quit treats, or anything else and it has made a huge difference! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1176
Location: Nor Cal | BrightEyes - 2017-02-01 10:46 AM
kelli&hotrod47 - 2017-02-01 10:36 AM
My 5 year old Golden Retriever is currently on Taste of the Wild and is starting to get hot spots again. I called my vet and he said to try switching my food. He put in an order for antibiotics as well. Can I have suggestions for a great grain free dog food? I don't have a Tractor Supply near me so something I can buy on amazon would be preferred.
Side note - he has reactions to poultry also so it has to be venison, bison, or fish.
Edited to add a picture of our adorable pup
My dog is on Taste of the Wild too.
The only one they have that is Canola Oil free is the Wetlands. My dog has done well on this one, but not the others.
Which one is your dog on?
I believe its called Southwest Canyon - the Boar formula. |
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Veteran
Posts: 216
Location: In between 4 ridges | Blue Buffalo or Blue Wilderness
I switch it up between these and Taste of the Wild for my Aussie and Red Heeler.
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Nebraska | I used to work at a natural pet food store that drills product facts into their employees (not a bad thing- it was a very fun and informative job). If your vet thinks it's an allergic reaction that's triggering the hot spots, I'd suggest transitioning to a limited ingredient diet. We would usually suggest a brand that has some unusual proteins like Zignature. It's a pretty cool food, it comes in a number of different proteins that you don't usually see- like kangaroo and yes, venison and fish. Another good limited ingredient kibble is Earthborn- they have fish but not kangaroo.
In terms of animal protein, chicken is going to be the most common allergy in dogs. So don't worry- your dog isn't a weird one out.
Acana Singles are also excellent and limited-ingredient, same with raw (you can get totally balanced raw diets in freeze-dried and frozen form, but if you're ordering by mail freeze-dried is going to be more convenient). The only problem with these is that they can be pricey, but since they are so nutrient-dense you don't have to feed as much as you would other brands.
For ordering, you can also check out chewy.com. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 133
Location: SC Kansas | Whole Earth Farms is great too if you can get it!! My sisters Bichon has horrible allergies and gets hotspots and she switched from Taste of the wild to Whole Earth Farms. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 231
Location: On My Horse! | Nutro has a grain free dog food. A bit pricey, but you can find it at just about any pet store. Good luck :-) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 865
| NUTRO. Excellent. I've tried them all with my Labs and NUTRO is by far the best.
Edited by Texas Tornado 2017-02-05 8:59 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Nebraska | Tundra - 2017-02-01 12:31 PM
Orijen and Acana (sister brands) are a great option, and are a great single source protein kibble. They do have some "mixes" like Grasslands, Ranchlands, etc. that have 3 or 4 protein sources as well. Im not sure if this is available in the states yet as it is mostly made/sourced in Alberta, but I believe they are starting to expand into the states. I have fed Acana, Orijen and Go as well. I only have shelties so a med bag lasts us quite a while. Im currently experimenting with Go, as the first 6 ingredients are meat meals (preferred) or fresh meats. I say I prefer the meal because the ingredient panel is listed before cooking, and meals have already been cooked. By product meals are another issue and undesirable. Long story short, I recommend all 3, but theyre all Canadian made/locally sourced so you might have to look into shipping. Best of luck!
Acana and Orijen actually recently started making their foods in Kentucky. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 865
| Sorry I meant NULO dog food not Nutro |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | I've heard good things about Fromm. |
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Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | When you feed a "grain free" dog food there are a few things to look for. For the vast majority of dogs, the issue is not grain free so much as being sure there is not corn, wheat or soy in the food. Those are the three grains that most sensitive dogs are sensitive to.
You need a starch source in the dog food to hold it together. To eliminate grain altogether, most manufactures use potatoes as that starch source. Since the ingredients have to be listed in the order of inclusion, most to last, potatoes are often listed several different ways so that they can be spread throughout the ingredient list. If they simply had to list potatoes for all combined sources of it then it would be the number one ingredient. Most people would not chose to feed "potato dog food". As long as you do not have the terrible three, Corn, Wheat, Soy, in the ingredient list your dog may very well do better on a food that uses mild grain starch sources like Oatmeal, flaked barley or brown rice than it would on a grain free that is full of potato. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be |
99.999% of dogs who have food hypersensitivities are allergic to the protein (i.e. meat, soy, egg) component of the food. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| 1DSoon - 2017-02-07 7:53 PM
99.999% of dogs who have food hypersensitivities are allergic to the protein (i.e. meat, soy, egg) component of the food.
Yep, I changed the protein and my dog is doing much better |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | We feed ours 4Health and they make a grain free option. Our dog that used to get hot spot no longer gets them and shes keeping weight alot better. she used to be very nervous as well and after switching thats gone away. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1176
Location: Nor Cal | I got him on Natural Balance LID (Limited Ingredient Diet) the Sweet Potato and Salmon recipe. Makes his breath horrendous but his itching has drastically gone down and he has no more hot spots! |
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"Heck's Coming With Me"
Posts: 10794
Location: Kansas | I feed my dogs Purina One dry dog food which I'm sure has grain in it. They look and feel absolutely wonderful. Not sure you have to be that picky to have a healthy happy dog.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 625
Location: Harrisonville, Missouri | I feed Diamond Limited Ingredient, fish/potato to our German Shepherd and Blue Basics LID salmon/potato to my mini aussie. The mini had horrible hot spots, digging and itching all the time. Much better now and she's off all meds now. I also add coconut oil. They are both slick and shiny!
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 Expert
Posts: 1612
Location: Cocoa, Florida | I know people may think I'm crazy but I started a new feed within the last couple of years that I'm very happy with and can purchase from wal mart at a very decent price... let me start by saying I had a golden doodle puppy who had a very horrible stomach and diarrhea issue as a puppy. I started him on the Fromm grain free dog food and that didn't help at all, lots of vet bills and testing later someone suggested the "Pure Balance" dog food for sensitive stomachs sold at wal mart, I didn't want to buy a wal mart dog food so I tried the taste of the wild, more diarrhea, loose stools. Finally i gave in and tried the pure balance and waa laaa no more stomach issues. I don't know what the big difference was in the food but I haven't had any issues since.
I would also trust the brands that have been around for a long time, like purina one.
Here's the breakdown of my feed
Ingredients: Chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, brewers rice, pea protein, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), rice bran, dried plain beet pulp, dried egg product, natural flavor, oatmeal, sunflower oil, dried peas, dried carrots, whole flaxseed, dried cranberry, potassium chloride, salt, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), choline chloride, manganese proteinate, l-carnitine, copper proteinate, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, biotin, sodium selenite, vitamin D3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium iodate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), folic acid
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 5.6% |
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