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  1. #1
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
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    Grain Free debacle

    So I had China to the vet recently and they asked me what food I'm feeding her. I've had her on grain free since I got her and they recommend blood work to check her taurine levels. They said they actually have lost a dog recently due to heart failure brought on by the grain free food. I did some searching o l line and found some interesting information. We checked her level and it is within the normal range but the lower end of it. I'm going to switch her to a different food and would like to know if anyone here has researched dog food and maybe has some in mind that are healthy. In the meantime I'm going to be researching. I'm not taking any chances. China had actually gone in for a yeast infection in her ear and I thought it was brought on by eating too much stuff with grains and so that's how we got into talking about grain free foods.....anyway so no s I'm looking for a new food and something hopefully healthy. Ill have to deal with itching later if that happens

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Check out this thread; several of us have been discussing it over the past week or so. Also, there is a Facebook group called Taurine-Deficient Dilated Cardiomyopathy that you might be interested in joining.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
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    Oh man...sorry I didn't see this and I was looking for a thread on the subject.
    So Montana had ear issues and and his paws would itch so somehow some way I got the notion that grains may have been his allergy. May have even been the vet can't remember. I switched him. Dakota- never any issues. Then came China- same yeast infections as Montana so I switched her. Less itching. Now this. The blood work was well worth the price and my vet did advise a switch.
    I've considered raw but don't know details I dont how to start or if ill just go back to proplan. It's whAt I gave Montana and Dakota in the beginning.
    I'm going to be making a decision and starting the switchover by end of week. Not taking any chances.

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by MontananDakota View Post
    Oh man...sorry I didn't see this and I was looking for a thread on the subject.
    So Montana had ear issues and and his paws would itch so somehow some way I got the notion that grains may have been his allergy. May have even been the vet can't remember. I switched him. Dakota- never any issues. Then came China- same yeast infections as Montana so I switched her. Less itching. Now this. The blood work was well worth the price and my vet did advise a switch.
    I've considered raw but don't know details I dont how to start or if ill just go back to proplan. It's whAt I gave Montana and Dakota in the beginning.
    I'm going to be making a decision and starting the switchover by end of week. Not taking any chances.
    For what it’s worth, from what I’ve read dogs are more likely to have issues with certain proteins than with grains. When you switched to grain free did you also switch main proteins by any chance? Perhaps that might be worth exploring. Mulder had issues (yeast infections, hot spots) with chicken that went away when we switched to a grain free but it was mostly because the grain free was lamb based. We eventually figured it out with some experimenting.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
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    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  7. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Consider food sensitivity testing too. Not cheap but it might save you a lot of trial and error in food switching. Another idea, what our new Vet had us do when Oban got so sick, a limited ingredient diet of a novel protein and a novel carb. For us those were turkey and sweet potato, both home cooked by me. We actually did this because of extreme gut issues but along the way all, ALL, his itching stopped. Some Vets do now believe itching and allergy like symptoms stem from the gut. Seems to have been true for us.
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  9. #6
    Senior Dog ZoeysMommy's Avatar
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    My yellow lab is doing well on lamb and rice. She has always been on a grain free food until recently as well. I think what Annette said above about it being the protein source sometimes is correct. She cant tolerate chicken, ears go crazy, feet get horrible, itchy, etc. Lamb and rice, she is perfectly fine

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  11. #7
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ZoeysMommy View Post
    My yellow lab is doing well on lamb and rice. She has always been on a grain free food until recently as well. I think what Annette said above about it being the protein source sometimes is correct. She cant tolerate chicken, ears go crazy, feet get horrible, itchy, etc. Lamb and rice, she is perfectly fine
    what brand are you feeding?

    And yes I did give that some thought previously about the specific protein. Thanks guys.

  12. #8
    Senior Dog ZoeysMommy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MontananDakota View Post
    what brand are you feeding?

    And yes I did give that some thought previously about the specific protein. Thanks guys.
    kirklands lamb and rice from Costco

  13. #9
    House Broken daisylubob's Avatar
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    Mine have always done well on Purina ProPlan Sport 30/20. Chicken is 1st ingredient. I switch occasionally to the Salmon and Rice.

 



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