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Get insights into natural dog food ingredients and learn how they support your pup’s overall health and well-being.
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Discover how to choose the right dog food based on your dog’s breed and size to support their unique nutritional needs and health.
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As far as dog food goes, I tend to recommend Hill's Science Diet or the higher end Purina products. If you are looking to go a more natural route you would want to try something like Earthborn or Acana. Periodontal disease can be delayed with regular teeth brushing if Ratchett will allow it. You should be able to purchase most of what I mentioned at one of those stores. Hope this makes sense.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
There are a lot of prescription brand foods to try. We tend to stick to prescription brands because we know they don't have any contamination of other products in the food. However, there is one food that I have seen some success with, called California Natural by Natura. You can also visit your local organic pet food store to see if there are other options available in your area, like Fromm, WIld Frontier, etc. I hope that you find something that is affordable for Harper to continue on, as you complete your evaluations during his food trial. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952600 Best wishes and take care.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Since Cash is a small dog, you might consider one of the more expensive options such as a dehydrated or fresh food diet. They are able to control their ingredients much more easily than a large manufacturing plant does that makes dry food. I have been very pleased with The Honest Kitchen ( https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/ ) and Just Food For Dogs ( https://www.justfoodfordogs.com/ ). Both have foods that will not have chicken and both have options without any poultry. You do not have to worry about the potential addition of chicken fat which a number of dry food companies do as well. If those are not good options for Cash, then you may consider a canned food which again will generally be safer than a dry food at making sure there isn't any chicken contamination. I have been pleased with Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets ( https://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/ ), but be sure to read the labels carefully. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and gives you some ideas. Thanks for using PetCoach.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Please keep in mind that she may be itchy because of allergies. Grain free food has nothing to do with being hypoallergenic helping with allergies and actually has not been really shown to have any benefit over food that contains grain. There have been reports that have linked grain free foods with heart disease. I would consider feeding her a canned or wet diet which may be easier to eat for her. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. You could add joint supplement such as Dasuquin or Cosequin to help with joint health. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
I like hydrolyzed protein diets for the hypoallergenic diet trial. Hills z/d and Purina HA are my 2 favorites. They make the protein sources so small that the immune system can not recognize it as an allergen. Diet trials should be continued for 12 weeks to know if they are helping. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.
Updated on September 24th, 2025