[Redwood]

So I made the mistake of letting my aunt know I frequent here, and now she has Questions.

She has a pair of happy pitties that unfortunately suffer from a lot of skin allergies. She normally feeds 4health but their lamb and rice (or potato? I don't remember) formula is leaving them super-itchy and dryskinned so she is hoping for reccomendations of a new food in the same price range of about 35-40$ for a 35-40pound bag.

I suggested she switch to raw feed and handed her my usual biweekly food rotation for our two and she said I was crazy dogs will die on raw. SO.

IS there anything of good quality for skin-allergy pups in her price range or is she going to have to consider coughing up more dough?

 

[Sabina88]

Has she tried a different protean source yet? She could try still getting 4health but a different protean source and possibly try grain free to see if that helps.

Adding something like coconut oil or fish oil may also help out their dry itchy skin

Hopefully others can recommend some other types of food.

 

[Redwood]

She's one of those people who are convinced every recipe by a maker is just 'flavored' differently and don't actually have different ingredients no matter what the bag says. She has ... interesting ideas, sometimes. But since one type of 4health wasn't too good, ALL OF THEM MUST BE BAD.

I told her ours did great on chicken and rice/salmon and potato when they were kibble but nope, all 4health is bad now. :/

 

[Sabina88]

Oh well, at least she's willing to change foods to begin with.

They might do ok on Blue, and I don't think its overly expensive if I remember correctly, I also like Taste of the wild, I think we payed somewhere between $40-50 for the bag I have now.

 

[Rain]

The best I can suggest is that she search chewy.com for a food that is lamb and grain free.

The problem is that every thing I'm seeing that's grain free is over $40 a bag.

This is the cheapest one that she may go for, best part is she can find it at Tractor Supply for a similar price although it might be a few dollars more. Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Dry Dog Food, 30-lb bag From what I'm seeing Taste of the Wild may be her best bet, the rest cost as much or more and most of them are a lower weight, like this one Blue Buffalo Freedom Adult Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Dry Dog Food, 24-lb bag

 

[timber]

Are you in the US or in another country?

 

[Blue Topaz]

If she won't go with 4Health, try the Kirkland brand of grain free food. They have a turkey and a salmon based on. It is made by the same company as the 4Health, so very reasonably priced. In Canada, you can get the 40lb bag for around $44.

 

[Dawnben]

So I made the mistake of letting my aunt know I frequent here, and now she has Questions.

She has a pair of happy pitties that unfortunately suffer from a lot of skin allergies. She normally feeds 4health but their lamb and rice (or potato?

Tell her it could be the lamb. My two did not do well on it and became really dry and flaky. I would also get rid of the potato. Go has one called sensitive and shine that would be a good choice. I don't know how the price compares.
Food for Dogs with Allergies | Petcurean GO! Sensitivity + Shine or try Zignature both are good foods for allergy dogs.

 

[supaflyskye]

I highly recommend Canidae's Pure line if you need something grain free, unfortunately it is more costly than their regular line, in the $50 range for a 25lb bag. If grain is not the issue, Canidae makes a duck and lentil based food(ETA: just saw this food also includes chicken meal, is it just lamb they have a problem w?) as well as a chicken and rice based food, both w/ some grain, that I will also highly recommend, it runs about $48 for a 44lb bag, a pretty good deal if you ask me. I feed my girl Canidae's 4 protein "All Life Stages" formula and have been super pleased w it.
Taste of the Wild is a great option as well, very good quality and economical.
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[Redwood]

I am in the US. Aunt is in the Northeast. I've passed on your suggestions!

 

[Redwood]

So dad and I went over aunt's house today to help tackle her hedges, and I asked what dog food she got now after all the suggestions. She said she decided to just skip it and feed them vegetarian, and said they liked it just fine.

Dad just looked at her with his angry look, then went inside, came back out with her dogs on a leash, put them in the truck and drove off. No idea where he went with them yet. Cousin had to come get me to bring me home.

 

[Rain]

Vegetarian? Ugh!!! If she's dead set on feeding them like a cow then I really hope she got them one of the vegetarian dog foods and didn't try and come up with her own recipe. If she did the later she'll have two very ill dogs a few months down the road.

 

[Redwood]

As far as I could get out of her it was mostly carrots and lettuce; she's. Kind of one of 'those' people. I really don't know how to put it. She and common sense parted ways a while back.

Dad came home with the dogs and refused to give her her dogs back so now there's four dogs in the house. They got 4health (grainfree whitefish, I can only guess when he left he took them to tractor supply) and an intro to raw feeding for dinner by way of delicious chicken backs. I imagine she'll get them back soon enough but until then what can I do besides feed them?

Not all the dogs are getting along but we have lots of bedrooms and babygates. I want a normal life with normal family and normal dogs, does anyone want to trade?

 

[timber]

Oh boy, what an awkward situation. Though, I am glad that your dad stood up and did something about what she's doing. Feeding carrots and lettuce?? What a bad idea. I hope you and your family can figure out what to do with this situation. I wish you all the best.

 

[Redwood]

Thanks, we're definitely going to need some extra luck around here for a while. Keeping them full time is just not gonna work, her girl is VERY anti-other-girl and I am so not putting Shadow in that situation for long.

 

[Rain]

Oh dear! I'm gonna hazard a guess that the carrots were not cooked. If they weren't they are completely undigestable for dogs. I give Zody raw carrots every now and then for a no calorie chew, they go in one end and come out the other unchanged.

 

[necro17]

why she only suspects the food

why she suddenly shift from kibble to vegetarian? since she is ready to prepare homecook meal for them, jus adding some meat wont any more effort.

Did she check for other reasons for sensitive skin? environment? grass? shampoo? Fleas? Ticks?

 

[Redwood]

Necro, I've long since given up trying to understand why she does the things she does. As far as I can tell, she made that decision because she had a lot of veggies. All I know about testing and checks was she brought them to the vet. She doesn't live with us and indepth conversations about her dogs right now aren't going over well.

Her dogs ate the rug though maybe they're rugatarians.

 

[Snownose]

Vegetarian is not the way to go with semi carnivores.....there will not be enough nutrients in the food.With allergies an elimination diet is the best......try to cut out one addition to diet and then the next........and so on.......very pricy and time consuming.......usually, allergies in multiple dogs can be diagnosed in no time at all.....it can be cleaning supplies, bedding, food.........but, usually,it is an obvious situation....

 

[TiggerBounce]

Horizon has good food. I think I've seen their pulsar fish formula for $40 a bag or so? It's sort of expensive. But fish is often a good novel protein, and it's also grain and potato free.