Science diet

[Pitbulover]

I myself don't agree w science diet. There is alot more dog foods out there w a higher protien quality. We try to also buy are food from a feed store. They have local brands that have smaller processing plant. With the dog food scare not long ago we are sceptical about the larger plants. The research i have done from that, was the bigger plants were putting in fillers that weren't on the bags. Not saying that they all don't do that but, they have less of a chance of mixing brands

[PSnyder]

Wow! So many choices and none seem to be the right one! I've owned dogs for 24 years and all have been fed Science Diet. I had one dog with many health issues including reduced liver function resulting from long-term seizure meds. That meant low fat. Science Diet prescription foods were the best option for him. Allergies aren't always food related. If your dog is chewing his feet because of allergies it could easily be from pollutants on your grass, certain carpet fibers, etc.
When I was a kid there weren't nearly the number of options for pet foods that we have now. Mom fed our cats and dogs out of the same bowl. Raw horse meat, grated carrots, a little dry oatmeal, water, a half teaspoon of powdered milk and horror of horrors, a little bacon grease! If there were left over veggies from one of our meals, but not enough to put on the table again, they went into the pet food bowl. After we had a roast, chicken or turkey a little was set aside to mix in the bowl as well. Our dogs and cats were healthy and lived long lives. One cat lived to be nearly 22 years old.
Sounds a lot like us. We're told we shouldn't eat this, that or the other and if we paid attention to every last bit of it we'd starve. Go with what you feel is right, if you aren't sure, rethink it, check around and go with your own instincts about what is right for your pets.

[Mattie]

I would want a much higher amount taking part in trails like this before I would start to believe it, 6 vets is a very small number.

It is fine to say that corn and soyer are not the main culperts with alergies in dogs but when you have a dog that is alergic to them that means nothing.

My dog is alergic to all cereals apart from white rice, he is alergic to brown rice. He is also alergic to all dairy products, all raw meat and all processed food that I have tried him with.

[Bro. Dave, OBB]

Mattie,

That's a lot of allergies. I'm sorry to hear that your dog is in such condition. I can't help but wonder if the allergies are a condition of birth or if they have developed over time?

Have you had your dog tested for the specific allergies or have you conducted a strict elimination diet program to determine the allergies or is your evidence strictly your own anecdotal observations?

Nothing wrong with anecdotal evidnce, it is frequently better than formalized testing. I'm just curious about this and also what are the symptoms exhibited by the allergies?

[Mattie]

Joe has brain damage, he was given drugs by his previous owner's teenage son and they training him by beating him. He was having seizures and the vet I had then put him on phenabarb without doing any tests, it didn't make any difference and I changed vets.

The vet I have now suggested I take out various foods to see how he was, with these foods out there are no seizures, add one of them, doesn't matter which one, and the seizures start again.

He now has a grade 4 heart murmour, leaking mitral valve and and an enlarge left ventrical as well.

I know the lady who fostered him before he went to his previous owners, she had him for about 6 weeks and fed him on rubbish, it was all she could afford, he never had a seizure while he was with her. He went to her after being picked up by someone who stopped some teenage boys using him as a ball.

[Bro. Dave, OBB]

Mattie,

What a horrible life that dog must have had before his previous foster Mom and now You. The world is so much better off for people like the two of you.

Have you tried adding a little bit of pro-biotics to his diet? Sometimes this can help with dealing with certain reactions to foods that may not technically be an allergy? They may, or may not, help with the digestion. I know it may seem odd, but it can be that something is lacking when these foods are eaten and that is what is triggering the seizures.

He probably doesn't need the dairy in his diet, but have you tried some vanilla pr plain yogurt, specifically one with the lactobacillus acidophilus in it? I know in humans that people who have lactose intolerance can often consume these type yogurts with little or no difficulty.

Does the dog do OK when the beef or other meat is cooked?

[LB]

I had a miniature poodle years ago, in the 60's who became diabetic at 12 years old and lived to be 20 year old! She ate prescription Science Diet for 8 years. She ate mostly canned as it was easy for me to measure out the same amount. Don't know anything about the quality now but there are lots of other foods to choose from even ones we make ourselves as long as they provide the right nutrition.

I also made a homemade version of it and froze it.

My Yorkie and Boston are on Royal Canin Duck and Potato Limited Ingredient Diet for skin issues. I get it from my vet. It is expensive but their skin looks wonderful. My Boston's skin was a mess when we adopted her a year ago. Now it's clear. My Yorkie doesn't scratch all the time and her skin looks so much better than it did. There are some by-products in
it. The other food I could have used is Natural Balance. I would have to drive 200 miles roundtrip to get it.

Just an FYI...once both of my dogs were eating the same food and both started vomiting 2-5 minutes after they ate. I took them both to the vet and he ended up giving me something to sooth their stomachs. I called the place where I purchased the food and they said there was no recall. So..I decided to call the 800 on the bag and they informed me that there had been a recall and they paid for my vet bills and coupons for new food. I went to another food as I felt they should have informed the retailer which they didn't. There was some sort of fungus in the food. Yuck! Sometimes it pays to be tenacious.

[Mattie]

He probably doesn't need the dairy in his diet, but have you tried some vanilla pr plain yogurt, specifically one with the lactobacillus acidophilus in it? I know in humans that people who have lactose intolerance can often consume these type yogurts with little or no difficulty.

Does the dog do OK when the beef or other meat is cooked?

For most dogs I sometimes use small pieces of cheese for treats, I can't with Joe, I have tried giving him plain bio yoghurt, he started to have seizures again. Tried it with goats milk yoghurt as well.

I can get away with cooked meat if it is in small quantities but he is fine with fish.

As long as he is happy and content, I am as well, he does keep to himself a lot, he is in his crate now fast asleep. He put himself in there and closed the door to keep the others out, usually one will join him if he leaves the door open. The door isn't fastened so he can get out if he wants.

[javamama]

The vet I have now suggested I take out various foods to see how he was, with these foods out there are no seizures, add one of them, doesn't matter which one, and the seizures start again.

i'm curious: what foods did the vet say to withhold?

my greyhound has been diagnosed with epilepsy...seizure-free on phenobarbitol for nine months before i got him...then a petit mal within the first week. ok since...but i'd love to address his condition thru diet if possible

[Mattie]

i'm curious: what foods did the vet say to withhold?

my greyhound has been diagnosed with epilepsy...seizure-free on phenobarbitol for nine months before i got him...then a petit mal within the first week. ok since...but i'd love to address his condition thru diet if possible

After my experience with the first vet I suggested to my vet that I try to do this and he agreed it would be a good idea, he didn't say which foods to take out, said I seemed to know more about this than he did but did ask for me to keep him up to date with it because he wanted to learn as well. I changed his food to one with very few ingredients, lamb, white rice and sugarbeet, he suddenly became seizure free. After about 3 months I started to add various foods, added yogurt at first, only a small teaspoon once a day, the seizure came again so stopped that, after a week I would try another food, either in his feed or by hand, again the seizures would start again.

To find the food that he could eat, as well as reading the ingredients I also dowsed to see if it would be suitable for Joe, only this food was, all the others including some well known food for dogs with alergies came out as not suitable. All these other foods had something in that I tested Joe for to see if he was alergic and he was.

I never completely trust dowsing which is why I added various foods at different times to see if he would react to them. The dowsing never made a mistake.

javamama, if you give me a list of ingredients in your dog's food, I will dowse, it will then give you something to work from. It would be better if I had a picture of him as well. I have done this for others, they took out the foods that I dowsed as wrong for the dog, the dog improved and when they introduced each food individually, the dogs reacted to them.