I give organix because Abbie had terribly dry skin and I LOVE it. What are the first 4 ingredients on the bag?? I have a 90lb dog as well and he only eats about 3 1/2 cups a day because its rich in nutrients. So it may be more expensive, but in the long run you don’t need to purchase it as much. If I were to get like purina chow he’d need about a gallon a day!

Posted By Amys Animals on 02/10/2013 04:50 PM

My dog has been switched from all different kinds of foods and she still seems to have problems. Right now I am feeding her Nature’s Domain Turkey recipe from costco but her coat is SOOOOO dull and she has a lot of dandruff and also is VERY oily. She got a bath two weeks ago and is an inside dog.  She weighs 50 lbs.  I was thinking of home cooking food for her cause that may help her but I have no where to store a home cooked meal for a 50lb dog for a week or two.  I have been thinking of getting some sort of mini fridge to store rabbit food in but also to hopefully keep the dog food in.  I am wondering if there is any other dog foods I can try that may help her.  I am not sure if she has allergies or not.  I know she’s allergic to fleas, but idk about foods.  So far she has been on Taste of the Wild, Wellness Core, Nature’s Domain, and I can’t remember anything else. As you can see I have spent a lot on her dog food.  Taste of the Wild made her itchy and her coat was not good on that food.  Wellness Core seemed to be okay but it was very expensive!  I am looking to not spend a ton of money on her food but I also want the best for her.  What do you feed your dogs? Also, she is always gassy…. so I am assuming it’s her food.  What do you think of home cooking dog food?  I don’t want her to get sick or anything.  What should I do?   I am so confused and frustrated with dog food.  -.-  I just want her to have good health. She hasn’t really been sick but she did just get over an intestinal infection. Obviously she isn’t getting what she needs if her coat is dull and her skin is flaky and she’s gassy all the time.  I want to reverse all this and have her happy and healthy.  

thanks,

Amy

I have two shih tzus, my male is allergic to wheat/grains, so I feed them both Rachael Ray dog food, it has no wheat and is pretty much as natural as you can get for a good price. (We buy a big bag for around 20$, I can’t think of how many pounds it is though, but it lasts us about a month, and there’s 4 cups worth of food taken out of it each day.) And Pepper (The one with the wheat allergy.) had a really dull coat, and really flaky skin as well, so they also get a raw egg mixed in with their food once or twice a week, and each time I feed them, I put a spoon full of fish oil in with their food (You can get that at any pet store I believe, it also tells you how much to give for certain sized dogs.) Every couple days, I also mix in wet food (Purina) but I’m not sure if that’s done anything really, it’s more a treat for them. But I’ve noticed doing all that has helped with his coat. I know raw eggs are said to help with dull coats, and so is fish oil, so that’s worth a try before actually changing her food again. We tried that with Pepper before changing his food, until we went to the vet and they told us that he basically had a wheat/grain allergy, so we changed his food to something where the ingredients didn’t list anything like that, hence where the Rachael Ray food comes in, there’s no wheat, no soy, no by-product meal or fillers, and I think there’s a gluten free option as well. We feed the lamb and brown rice kind to our dogs and they like it better than any other food I’ve given them. But I hope that helps you.

She may be allergic to something that’s found in all of those dog foods(a grain, a type of meat, an additive, etc.), but that might be very difficult to narrow down. I would go with a homemade diet for a month or two and see if things clear up. If her coat doesn’t clear up, then you can try a home made elimination diet. I don’t know if you’re a part of any dog related forums, but I’m on one called Dogster, and they have a couple of different food sections, one of which is focused on the home made diet. I’ll include a couple of links you might find useful.
 

http://www.dogster.com/forums/Home_Prepared_Food_Recipes/thread/640881  –Balancing the diet in 21 easy steps — it shows how to use a spreadsheet to keep track of everything you feed your dog so it doesn’t get too much of one thing and not enough of another, and includes supplements and vitamins.

 http://www.dogster.com/forums/Home_Prepared_Food_Recipes/thread/750699  —Wanting to try home cooked — check out Maxwell’s post, she’s usually very helpful when it comes to diet related questions.

http://www.dogster.com/forums/Home_Prepared_Food_Recipes/thread/746604 — Home cooking beginner –again check out Maxwell’s posts.

I hope I was of some help, hope your dog gets better!

I have to disagree. A lot of dogs have a corn allergy and that food has corn. It’s a filler. It has no nutritional value, not even to us humans. The organic has lots of omegas for the skin and coat as well as glucosamine and chondroitin for the joints which is highly beneficial for larger dogs. I would recommend castor and Pollux organix. Rachel ray, Caesar and all those “celeb dog foods” are just for manufacturing and profit they are not as highly beneficial. You are probably seeing lots of improvement with your dogs coats because of the extra stuff you are adding. With organix you won’t need the additional stuff. Pooh Bear is 8 and he looks and acts 4. And that’s pretty good for such a large dog considering they have achey joints by sooner than smaller dogs.
It may be expensive, but worth it in the long run like I said, my 90lb dog only needs 3 1/2 cups a day to maintain his weight… And he sometimes doesn’t even eat it all because its so rich in nutrients.
It’s not just Organix, there are a lot of good brands just pay attention to the ingredients, especially the first 4, and avoid the corn fillers and nasty by-products (that’s just all the parts we don’t eat! Feet,beaks ect) our dogs have free range organic chicken as their number one ingredient and I am in love. Abbie has very dark, shiny black fur with no flakes anymore I’d give Rachel ray a 3.5 out of 5 rating because she doesnt use the by-products and other stuff. and Organix a 4.5 out of 5 because they have extra omegas and glucosamine and chondroitin. But Rachel Ray is def better than a lot of the food out there so if you are needing to save money go for her!

My dog has started to become sensitive to grains as she has grown older. We had to experiment a lot because she can’t handle the all-protein foods either. So she gets Acana and Nature’s Variety, mixed together half and half. It sounds weird, but for some reason it works for her. The vet couldn’t really explain it either.

Wow seems packed with carbs… The Turkey meal part is very good but then it’s carb,carb,carb. Lol there is only one protein source.

She’s probably gassy from all of those potatoes!