Dog Food Suggestions

[tonyterry]

My 7 year old Australian Shepherd just had bladder stone surgery and they came back as SILICA STONES which is more rare than rare.
I am having a terrible time finding a dog food that is grain free, wheat free, soy free corn free. It has to be a low SILICA diet. ANYONE OUT THERE THAT CAN HELP ME
Poor Rider is on chicken and rice and i know that can not be  forever, he is missing all of the vitamins and minerals

[Lynne Almeida]

Hi Terry, Willow here! 

I feed our gals The Honest Kitchen, it has several formulas and many are grain-free.  I think for silica you want to eliminate rice, corn and soy and go easy on the vegetables.  Maybe Orijen or Acana for a kibble?  I'm feeding Acana to our Golden Retriver foster; I think it's a great quality kibble high in meat content.

Hope Rider feels better and we'll see you guys soon!

[bhodges865]

I have been feeding Zignature for the last few years and LOVE it!!  Looking on their website, it should meet your needs.  And a lot of stores that carry it have samples you can try.  Here is what they say about their product:

Physiologically Tuned™, limited ingredient premium food for dogs. Hypo-allergenic meat first recipe, with no Corn, Wheat, Soy, Dairy or Chicken, Chicken Eggs or Chicken By-Products

You can order online if there isn't a store close to you.  I know Gail, who shows Aussies in NADAC, at Tin Woof Inn sells it and has samples in their store.

[Audri, Cee Cee, Lily, Toto, and Calypso]

I found this interesting and did a quick google search on what they were.  An article on Dogaware.com said that even drinking from water sources that may contain sand or hard water can develop these stones and should drink distilled water instead....  WOW!  There is a whole list of ingredients to avoid plus increase fluid intake.  The good news is, they don't reoccur if the diet is changed! 

This is one of the articles I looked at, but there were a whole slew of others.

http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjotherstones.html

[Vicki Storrs]

I work at a dog food store and the Orijin/Acana lines are one of the brands I have heartily endorsed, as I have found the company to be extremely reputable.  However just be aware that they have begun this year manufacturing in the US (as opposed to their home base in Canada) the products that they sell in the US.  While I don't believe they have changed their company standards and goals, they HAVE changed their formulations--necessary since they try to do as much local sourcing as possible. So for instance they are now using things like catfish that weren't in the Canadian manufactured foods.  And we are getting a number of customers who feed this line having their dogs having some issues with the new formulations...
Meanwhile in the last couple years I have had two dogs have bladder stones, a possible third one that will be checked out next week (and in around 40 years of dogs these have been my first problems with stones) and two nights ago I was in the ER with what turned out to be stones!  So I am looking for some possible environmental link that may have been causing this rash of issues!
Vicki

[Edraith]

Hmm i have been using Orijin and Acana and did not know that, I will pay attention...just went to vet today for GI issues. But in reality, she seems to get into something every 6-8 months. We do SAR as well as lots of hiking so who knows what all she gets into running in the woods sometimes drinking out of mud puddles or finding deer carcasses to roll in...lucky we don't have more issues than we do 

[tonyterry]

i have looked at all of these foods and they all have great protein but then lots of veggies that he is not suppose to have.  I am really struggling here, he can not live on white rice and chicken much longer, he is really hungry for some food with substance and i am sure that he is becoming malnourished

[MoabDiane]

My suggestion is that you contact Susan Wynn, DVM, in Georgia.  She can formulate a homemade diet specifically for your dog's health situation, or tell you the best commercial food to feed.
Unless you are IN the state of Georgia, you'll have to go through your local vet - since she hasn't seen your dog. 
Go to her website and you'll find the questionnaire to complete; the vet must complete a simple one page part of it.
susanwynn.com

diane

[Amanda Nelson]

i have looked at all of these foods and they all have great protein but then lots of veggies that he is not suppose to have.  I am really struggling here, he can not live on white rice and chicken much longer, he is really hungry for some food with substance and i am sure that he is becoming malnourished

You may have to look into making food for him, I would highly recommend Monica Segal. She does canine nutrition consults and does an excellent job.
Amanda

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[Vicki Storrs]

I know the vet school at UC Davis does nutritional consults (can be done remote, if you're not in that area) working with you and your vet. Can formulate home recipes as well as suggesting commercial options if suitable.
Vicki

[tonyterry]

I am working thru my vet in Reno to a vet in San Francisco(remote) Dr Lily Johnson a Nutritionist but it is taking sssoooooooooo long and feeding him chicken and rice now for 10 days is making me worry about his vitamins and minerals. 
Has anyone out there fed EVO

[tonyterry]

i am looking into ACANA and sent this to my vet to see if she approves it

[Vicki Storrs]

EVO was part of my rotation briefly in the early 2000's. I stopped feeding it when Procter and Gamble purchased the company in 2010. They had multiple recalls in 2013, then were sold to Mars in 2014.  Just my own preference, I try to stick with foods that are independently owned rather than being just a small part of some large corporation.
Champion makes Acana and Orijen. Besides being a Canadian company (gotta love the Canadians, right??!!) they identify their suppliers...by name...which for me inspires confidence. One of our sales reps toured their plant and his lunch was made with raw ingredients from the dog food.  I thought that was impressive. That being said, I have already mentioned their formula changes because of their new US plants (with the bags getting smaller) that have me a little concerned. I am reserving judgement until I see how it all shakes out.  The roll out has been gradual, seems like it was Acana first, protein source by protein source.  We just today got the first "American" bag of Orijen fish.

Vicki

[Sharon Nelson]

EVO was part of my rotation briefly in the early 2000's. I stopped feeding it when Procter and Gamble purchased the company in 2010. They had multiple recalls in 2013, then were sold to Mars in 2014.  Just my own preference, I try to stick with foods that are independently owned rather than being just a small part of some large corporation.
Champion makes Acana and Orijen. Besides being a Canadian company (gotta love the Canadians, right??!!) they identify their suppliers...by name...which for me inspires confidence. One of our sales reps toured their plant and his lunch was made with raw ingredients from the dog food.  I thought that was impressive. That being said, I have already mentioned their formula changes because of their new US plants (with the bags getting smaller) that have me a little concerned. I am reserving judgement until I see how it all shakes out.  The roll out has been gradual, seems like it was Acana first, protein source by protein source.  We just today got the first "American" bag of Orijen fish.

Vicki

I agree with your evaluation of EVO.  Used to be a great product but has changed hands several times.  No confidence there........

Orijen and Acana are off my list now that they are moving the product to the US.  "I" believe that some of the Canadian sources are much better than US sources... so I will stop using Acana now that is it rolling in with American sources.  I hope I am very wrong and Acana will remain a GREAT product, but I lost some confidence when they switched locations and sources.....

Feeding dogs is WAY too tough anymore!  Too much money is spent promoting the label names on most instead of producing the best possible quality!  But they do have to sell food to make a profit and so much of that is about their advertising dollar and the return on that dollar.

[Vicki Storrs]

Yeah, I agree, I just instinctively trust the Canadian and New Zealand/Australian brands more! Not ones that "seem" to be from down under because of their name, but actually are manufactured there.  And the sourcing of the of the ingredients has a lot to do with it. 
I BELIEVE Champion still has their Canadian plants, they're just manufacturing for Canada in them. A case where their success meant they needed more manufacturing capability and thought moving the plants closer to the market would be cost effective. But I'm worried that rational is going to come back to bite  them.  Maybe our Canadian NADAC people can smuggle it over the border for us!! (Just Kidding!)
Vicki