Looking for an alternative to Nature's Recipe

[biggiy05]

Roxy has been on Nature's Recipe healthy skin vegetarian recipe for about a year and a half. We've switched her over to Diamond brand lamb, meal and rice once my friend who has her sister told us about it when Roxy decided to be picky and refuse to eat. She took to the Diamond food right away and loved it.

We had a slight problem though. It gave Roxy VERY bad gas after being on the Diamond food for a few days. We went back to Nature's Recipe and she reluctantly ate it. Well we moved and she decided to be picky about her food yet again. Go back to Diamond food and she eats it with no problem. It's giving her gas once again. So far it's not as bad as it was the first time around but I also can't remember if it got worse the longer she was on it.

The fiancee doesn't want to go through that all over again. She doesn't like sitting on the couch and then suddenly her eyes start to water because the smell is that bad. I'm looking for an alternative to Nature's Recipe and Diamond brand food. I thought about trying a different flavor from Diamond but she doesn't like the idea. We want to avoid the dog foods with corn, wheat and soy in them.

 

[jemjdragon]

Maybe her tummy isn't used to the new food? I can't think of any alternatives though, sorry.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Was there a reason you wanted to switch from Nature's Recipe? Both of our dogs have allergies and we've had the best luck with Nature's Recipe and Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets.

 

[goReptiles]

It could be that the food was switched quickly versus over a week or so. Try a slow switch not a quick one.

I recommend EVO Innova always. It has no fillers or grains. It has low carbs and has loads of proteins. You just want to make sure that your dog is getting plenty of water, as the higher percent of proteins can affect the kidneys of a dog that doesn't get enough fluids.

Natural balance is ok, but it uses a lot of controversial fillers that many other brands don't use, as well as more grains. The brand has also been found on a few different recalls. It's a good brand when compared to other brands, but it's certainly not a top premium brand.

 

[reptile65]

I would recommend you talk to your vet about some possible options. Hills (Science Diet) and Royal Canin make some very good prescription diets that you might want to look into. There are only 4 pet food companies that actually have veterinary nutritionists on staff, including Hills, Royal Canin, and Iams (I can never remember the 4th one). In my opinion, I would much rather use one of those brands than a much pricier "premium" brand.

 

[Khrysty]

I'm wondering if it's just the switch from a meatless food to a food with lamb that's causing the gas. If that's the case, her body will get used to eating the meat-based food again and the gas should stop over a period of time.

 

[tlbowling]

Im sorry, I just came across this thread, and wanted to add my 2 cents I was feeding my Lab/Ridgeback Mix Nutro Natural Lamb & Rice, and everything was great until the store kept repeatedly running out of the food, and offered me the Natures Recipe that you are referring to, well everything was fine for months (or so I thought) but she started losing her hair in big patches, blood tests and skin scrapes came out perfect at the vet, and only thing I could come up with was the food change...so I switched her back to the Nutro Naturals Lamb & Rice again, and she was beautiful again in 2 or 3 months...so maybe you could try that, b/c whatevers in that OTHER food is obviously not very good, IMO.

 

[MiamiLeos]

Just a few words after my own battle with the dog foods, Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken. They sell it at *****. Best food ever

 

[Dog Shrink]

I would recommend you talk to your vet about some possible options. Hills (Science Diet) and Royal Canin make some very good prescription diets that you might want to look into. There are only 4 pet food companies that actually have veterinary nutritionists on staff, including Hills, Royal Canin, and Iams (I can never remember the 4th one). In my opinion, I would much rather use one of those brands than a much pricier "premium" brand.

finally a question in my field

Hills and science diet are junk. Nothing but grain and fillers. As far as the other brand... purina puts out a veterinary formula dog food as well, but also JUNK. Don't even get me started on Iams. One of the BIGGEST perpetrators of animal cruelty in the industry. Vets push this stuff because they get it at a great discount and sell it at a premium and make a TON of money on it. They are NOT nutritional gurus.

If you know how to read a nutritional label (or if you don't, I can send you a copy of a 13 page booklet I put together for my clients on how to read and interpret a nutritional label) you can find a better food than the prescription varities for half the price and much better quality. Take kidney formulas for example. A dog over 8 years old can NOT have any less than 18% protein or you risk protein deficiency disease, and the majority prescription kidney formulas are 12% or less. Make a lotta sense doesn't it?

What I would recommend is a brand called 4 Health from tractor supply. It has limited ingredients, good nutritional values, and cost about $1.00 a pound. My 10 yr old hypothyroid boxer/am bull dog (which are naturally prone to gas issues because of the smooshed up face) did wonderfully on it. Lost the excess weight, got rid of that moth eaten look to his fur and best of all NO GAS! If you like I can PM you the link to my dog forum since I don't know if I'm allowed to post it on the boards. Also don't be so down on corn. In it's whole form it is an alternative protein source. It's only crap when they use corn hulls or corn gluten meal. The biggest arguement against corn is that farmers/mass growers are genetically modifying the kernals to get more corn ears per stalk which IMO is just nasty. Don't mess with mother nature. God only knows what those chemicals do to the food and how our pets are reacting to it (not very well if you look at the rise in food related allergies in pets today versus 10 years ago).

 

[Dog Shrink]

Im sorry, I just came across this thread, and wanted to add my 2 cents I was feeding my Lab/Ridgeback Mix Nutro Natural Lamb & Rice, and everything was great until the store kept repeatedly running out of the food, and offered me the Natures Recipe that you are referring to, well everything was fine for months (or so I thought) but she started losing her hair in big patches, blood tests and skin scrapes came out perfect at the vet, and only thing I could come up with was the food change...so I switched her back to the Nutro Naturals Lamb & Rice again, and she was beautiful again in 2 or 3 months...so maybe you could try that, b/c whatevers in that OTHER food is obviously not very good, IMO.

I'd be careful feeding any nutro product to my dogs. They were all over the petfood recalls of 2007 and haven't changed a thing since to prevent that crap from happening all over again. Naturals was also on there as well as natural balance. ALL those companies use products imported into the USA, 4 Health Does NOT. All american baby. No cheap chinese chemicals gonna poison your pets that way.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Just a few words after my own battle with the dog foods, Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken. They sell it at *****. Best food ever

VERY pricy stuff there. I couldn't imagine feeding more than 2 dogs on that with the price. I bet I could find you something just as good for half the price.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Hey Nick,

Do you know how allergy prone dogs do on 4 Health? Our Bulldog has great skin but is prone to ear infections caused by allergies. The vet had us switch to a different protein source and I've noticed improvement but it certainly hasn't been a cure. The 4 Health has way more protein and fat which is appealing (as is less gas!). He has megaesophogus and doesn't process food as efficiently as normal dogs so extra protein is always good. I'm just wondering how he would do on a chicken based food...

(Sorry to thread hijack Andrew!)

 

[MiamiLeos]

VERY pricy stuff there. I couldn't imagine feeding more than 2 dogs on that with the price. I bet I could find you something just as good for half the price.

I feed 3 dogs , one large, one medium, and one teeny lol. I really love this food though. But I am also the kind of person who will give the best to my dogs that I can afford, and this is the best that I can afford. I'm open to somthing similar though if the price is really that different. It has to be lamb based though because my teeny dog has a sensitive tummy. The 15 lb bag at ***** is $30.. same price as the blue buffalo I used to feed, but I feel this food is considerably higher in quality than the blue, it has a lot less chemicals. I buy a bag every 3-4 weeks, so it's costing me around $8-$10 a week for all three dogs. Not terrible, but I would certainly like to know what similar brands are half the price :main_yes:

 

[biggiy05]

We went with the venison meal and rice flavor of nature's recipe and Roxy is back to eating like normal. Gabby our jack russell/poodle mix(don't ask) is on this food. Roxy is gaining weight and seems to like this much more. It's pricey but I want the best for my animals.