PSmitty Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Flaxseed is a grain last time I checked. Sorry, I didn't have an ingredient list in front of me. So, yes, you are correct, it contains a grain. But still, compared to their other formulas that all have rice, oats, barley, etc, in them, it's *closer* to being grain free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheRuffMuttGang Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 It is closer, but I tried Rumor on the Duck and Potato Formula by NB and she was even worse on that than she was on Canidae. Do most dogs have a general sensitivity to all grains or specific grains? With Rumor it seems to be ANY grain at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Flaxseed isn't used as a cereal grain or a significant contribution to the total energy of the food. In other words, there's not much in there. Trust me, if it were a "real" grain Ben couldn't eat this food. Don't go crazy, Woobie's mom - if you are dealing with allergies, only make one change at a time or you will drive yourself nuts wondering what made the difference when things happen. That's why you start with something simple and work your way up. For instance, Ben's violently allergic to grains, chicken, and chicken eggs. He's mildly allergic to venison, beef, and dairy products, and also tomato and alfalfa. He can have flaxseed but not straight flaxseed oil, for some reason. If you change foods but also add yogurt, and then see some kind of change for the worse, was it the yogurt or the food? Likewise, if you make a big change to a food with a lot of different new ingredients, and see a change for the worse, you'll be in the same position. Was it one of three or four protein sources, the carb sources, the herbs, the veggies and fruits, or more than one of these things? We like EVO RM too, but Ben can't stay on it very long because it's so loaded with different problem ingredients. He's not super sensitive to any of them, but the cumulative effect isn't worth feeding it to him for more than a few weeks at a time. It's the only other kibble he can eat though, so I like to rotate it in and of course the other dogs love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickkers Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 has anyone else found that their dog LOVES fish oil and flax seed oil caplets? after the first couple of times of slitting open the capsuls and letting my dogs mouth them they got the hang of it... now I can make it into 'treat time' where they will do tricks for capsuls and I don't have to puncture them or shove them down their throats or anything (with all 4 dogs). My dogs all get 2 caps of fish and 2 caps of flax each day and I can tell a HUGE difference in their coats...and when I ran out and they didn't get it for about a week they started getting dry skin. ETA: the BCs started getting dry skin...Pepper never gets dry skin but the caps make her coat super duper shiny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheRuffMuttGang Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 I guess every dog's sensitivity to ingredients is different. Rumor tried the Duck and Potato formula of NB and it didn't work for her. Even if the flaxseed is not a significant component in the food, it was enough to affect Rumor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Debbie, is it possible Rumor is sensitive to poultry? She's on the EVO RM, you said? If not RM, then nevermind. Some dogs do terrible on flaxseed. I'm not a huge fan of it but thankfully it's one of the few things in the universe Ben CAN eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheRuffMuttGang Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 My dogs will eat anything I hand to them, including pills, capsules, nasty medications and wads of paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheRuffMuttGang Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Rumor is on regular EVO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Mine love their fish oil capsules, too. Alex even ate his antibiotic like it was a treat. But, Lilly will spit out her Vitamin C if it's not disguised enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Sooooo, I'd like to hear the occasion that you discovered they'd eat wads of paper? I've got one of those. Unfortunately, though she's 13 years old going on 14, she's never sick. Ever. So, I never get to enjoy using that trait. Ben's been pilled so much it's a huge battle. The doxycycline especially, because it made him sick right after, made him a bad one to pill. The rest of my guys know "swallow." I don't have anyone who likes fish oil capsules, though I've certainly heard of it. I use a liquid that I can just pour on their dinners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheRuffMuttGang Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Haha! Seriously, you can offer my dogs anything from your hand and they will take it. They will also drop it on command if it's something you were only kidding about them actually eating, lol. Mine will all eat fish oil capsules like candy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WoobiesMom Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Thanks everyone. I think I'll try the NB potato and duck or swt. pot & fish formula first and see how that goes. If it is a grain allergy, the massive amounts of rice I've been giving him probably haven't helped much! I'll probably have to start out with the canned as he's really not a fan of dry kibble (spoiled!). He loved the slice of their tube food but I don't see that offered in the single source protein/single source carb varieties. I can get canned salmon pretty cheap at Costco and don't mind buying it if it would help him. Do you think I should try the plain food by itself before adding things like pumpkin, salmon or yogurt to the mix? I'd love to get him off the Benadryl. It appears to be helping with the itching but he's just groggy in a way I don't like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Anyone use Wysong products? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WoobiesMom Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 ooop! maybe not on the canned salmon. http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/11/4/440 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Welllll, in the first line they did state the dogs were fed strickly the canned salmon but it can still make one wonder. IronHorse, I've never heard of Wysong. I tried going on their website but either my computer's acting up or their website isn't that friendly. I'll try again later. (Our cable acts up sometimes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 If you use salmon food, I don't see why you can't add extra salmon. I'd hold back on other stuff for a couple weeks or until you see some kind of difference. The salmon is a good one to start out with. The duck canned has kelp and rosemary, to both of which I've heard instances of sensitivites. Very rare, but it's out there. I didn't realize we were talking about canned. That opens a lot more options. If you look, you should find other canned products with no grains. LOTS. Here, I'll look some up for you. There's several "all meat" canned products that are wonderful if you can find them. Canine Caviar, Evangers, and EVO all offer cool stuff like duck and rabbit (Canine Caviar offers venison tripe and Beaver!). And Neura has some 95% meat products that won't break the bank. Fromm has several fun grain free flavors. Evolve offers novel proteins like pheasant and turkey. Nature's Logic is a holistic canned with more "things" than I like, but no grains other than flax. The Wysong Au Jus line has extremely simple recipes. For instance, this is literally the entire ingredient list for the Duck Au Jus: Duck, Water Sufficient for Processing, Animal Plasma and Guar Gum Nature's Variety Instinct has a Border Collie that looks like Cord, in working pose on the can of Lamb - how can you go wrong? Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 IronHorse, I've never heard of Wysong. I tried going on their website but either my computer's acting up or their website isn't that friendly. I'll try again later. (Our cable acts up sometimes.) Hmm their website isn't loading for me either atm. working now Wysong I was just wondering if any others use their products. Personally I like their line and do use it occasionally just to keep things mixed up in my monkeys diets. They are mostly fed raw but I am a strong believer in variety. biggest drawback with wysong is availability,,i have to travel 80 miles to get it at a retail store. My dogs all love it though. (jasmine has become addicted to fresh tomatoes and i have to keep a close eye on her or she would rob my plants clean of ripe ones) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2napp Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Ok, I'm a lurker, I admit. I enjoy reading about everyone's BC's, though. I have a question concerning food. Lacee, my BC, just switched to Innova. She's not very pleased with it and I'm trying to think if I should just switch again, or try to make to food more tasty. I only feed dry, just because I've heard wet can give a dog diarrhea. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Which Innova do you feed her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyleew Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 I feed Barking at the Moon which is Solid Gold's grain-free food. Taz was on Benedryl before I started feeding it and now she doesn't have to take it anymore. I fed raw for a while, but recently went back to kibble because my dogs' coats looked terrible and they were vomiting a lot and just didn't seem to be doing well with it. So, I went back to feeding kibble and they are already looking better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2napp Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Which Innova do you feed her? I feed Lacee Innova Senior Plus. She's eight and not as active as before. We now live in a townhouse with no yard and with my health issues, it's hard to get her out as much as I would like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippin's person Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Thanks everyone. I think I'll try the NB potato and duck or swt. pot & fish formula first and see how that goes. If it is a grain allergy, the massive amounts of rice I've been giving him probably haven't helped much! I'll probably have to start out with the canned as he's really not a fan of dry kibble (spoiled!). He loved the slice of their tube food but I don't see that offered in the single source protein/single source carb varieties. I can get canned salmon pretty cheap at Costco and don't mind buying it if it would help him. Do you think I should try the plain food by itself before adding things like pumpkin, salmon or yogurt to the mix? I'd love to get him off the Benadryl. It appears to be helping with the itching but he's just groggy in a way I don't like. I agree with what others said about not changing too much at once, but one thing to consider is the protein source as well as the grain issue. Our puppy (and about half the pups in his litter) is very sensitive to chicken and gets diarrhea anytime he eats it--and chicken is in many foods somewhere. He does fine with duck and turkey (though we've only given turkey to him a couple times). One of our other dogs used to have the same reaction to any protein source BUT chicken (though he outgrew that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 I feed Lacee Innova Senior Plus. She's eight and not as active as before. We now live in a townhouse with no yard and with my health issues, it's hard to get her out as much as I would like. I can understand your concern in regards to the canned food but if you mix just enough canned to the dry, it shouldn't bother her, JIMO. Innova also sells a Senior Plus in cans. If you mix about 1/3 of the can in the dry, that might help without giving her diarrhea. If she still doesn't like it, maybe switching would be a good idea. Just do it gradually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 I agree with what others said about not changing too much at once, but one thing to consider is the protein source as well as the grain issue. Our puppy (and about half the pups in his litter) is very sensitive to chicken and gets diarrhea anytime he eats it--and chicken is in many foods somewhere. He does fine with duck and turkey (though we've only given turkey to him a couple times). One of our other dogs used to have the same reaction to any protein source BUT chicken (though he outgrew that). You have a good point. I have a friend who's standard poodle is allergic to all meats but can handle dairy products and plant protein. Meat makes Dunbar breakout in hives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2napp Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 I can understand your concern in regards to the canned food but if you mix just enough canned to the dry, it shouldn't bother her, JIMO. Innova also sells a Senior Plus in cans. If you mix about 1/3 of the can in the dry, that might help without giving her diarrhea. If she still doesn't like it, maybe switching would be a good idea. Just do it gradually. Thanks, I think I'll give the wet Innova a try and see if she likes it mixed with the dry. Thanks for your suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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