Nature's Variety Instinct Duck Meal

[dobiegil2000]

We are thinking of switching our 5 month old labs food to this. He has allergies (we think) to chicken and bison (buffalo) and can not tolerate grains (anal glands). Is this a good choice for a puppy with these problems? We tried switching him over to Before Grains (only 1/8 of a cup of BG and 7/8 his regular food), and within one day, he was having very soft stools, so we knew after today, its not for him.

Robin

[Woofie]

Honestly, Nature's variety duck has too high a calcium level for a growing puppy.

Give California Natural lamb/rice puppy food a shot. This is an excellent food and can be fed for life. www.naturapet.com

I personally have never seen a difference in anal gland issues with or without feeding a food with grains.....my chihuahua has eaten everything, still has anal gland issues.

The ONLY grain-free foods I'm familiar with, suitable, and recommend for a puppy is

Orijen large breed puppy food....www.championpetfoods.com - this has chicken, however they also have a fish based formula that should be suitable for puppies too.

or Horizon Legacy puppy food, but this has chicken.

Careful when researching grain-free foods for puppies, most are not suitable for a dog under 2yrs or 24mnths; too high calcium, and can actually cause pup to grow too fast.

Perhaps Patty a breeder here, can chime in, IIRC, she fed Nature's variety to a litter of pups?? It might be the Prairie version versus the instinct though.

[LuckyLuna]

It would be fairly unusual for a 5 month old puppy to have allergies to chicken and bison; plus have grains affecting the anal glands. As Woofie said, Nature's Variety Instinct Duck Meal probably isn't the greatest choice for a puppy.

If you're set on grain-free with no chicken, you could try Acana Grasslands (lamb based) which is made by the same company as Orijen. It is an "all life stages" formula with 33% protein, 17% fat, appropriate calcium levels and 3.5% fiber which may be helpful for the anal gland issues.

Or you could try a limited ingredient formula, as Woofie suggests, like the California Natural Puppy version.

[Patty/Breeder]

Originally Posted by LuckyLuna

It would be fairly unusual for a 5 month old puppy to have allergies to chicken and bison; plus have grains affecting the anal glands. As Woofie said, Nature's Variety Instinct Duck Meal probably isn't the greatest choice for a puppy.

If you're set on grain-free with no chicken, you could try Acana Grasslands (lamb based) which is made by the same company as Orijen. It is an "all life stages" formula with 33% protein, 17% fat, appropriate calcium levels and 3.5% fiber which may be helpful for the anal gland issues.

Or you could try a limited ingredient formula, as Woofie suggests, like the California Natural Puppy version.

Ditto