Turkey dog food for sensitive dog...paging Wendy Please!

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I have been feeding Zignature Turkey Limited Ingredient (switched from Wellness Turkey limited–never liked his coat on that one and it was $15 more a bag) with great success to my Doberman after he had a month of liquid poo following some strong antibiotics. He is the best he has ever looked and the best poop he’s ever had. He always had loose stools previously. The vet strongly encouraged me to find a food that worked and never switch. He also said stick to turkey/chicken because we know it doesn’t irritate him. http://www.zignature.com/zignature_turkey.html

Well it is constantly out of stock (this is the fourth freaking time) and the last thing you want to do with a dog with a sensitive stomach is have to switch food all the time. Ugh. I want to support the local store and I’ve talked to them about this issue three times now and it keeps happening.

He eats almost six cups of food a day (on any brand, he just burns calories), so cost is a concern.

I need to find something else, or at least a back-up. I thought about the Turkey grain free 4Health at TSC, but I would like to avoid Diamond. TOTW is out then too (personally had a bad issue with them last year). Are there other cost-effective, lower ingredient, turkey/chicken foods? Kirklands?

I worry about kidney issues with the ultra high protein foods. Any comments on that? Lots of calories are good here though.

I feel like there has to be something other than Dog Food Advisor for figuring this stuff out.

[Simkie]

Discover the miracle of Chewy’s:

http://www.chewy.com/dog/food-treats-332/zignature?gclid=CjwKEAiAj-KiBRC48YzhnLSg0D0SJAClOhK33x1RBl_-vsa2lVX_4AQC-Dz3hgBhcMpnbuIPiBzr9RoCsqjw_wcB

We get ALL of our pet food and litter delivered. Better pricing than local, no tax, and you set it up on auto-ship so you always have what you need.

[MunchingonHay]

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ is good too.

I tend to stay away from foods that come from feathers, (duck, chicken, turkey) because it sends Riley into a tailspin with allergies.

But I have had great success with Great Life. Its a grain and starch free food. We do the salmon one and I am pretty sure they have a variety that you can do.

Since your local store is not stocking what you need/want, can you call them 2 weeks before you are out and they can order it for you?

Or perhaps the best route is to go Amazon.com and do auto-delivery ?? Have you checked out Mr.Chewy.com?

[Marshfield]

I’m not sure how it is price point, but Natural Balance has a Duck and Potato and a Chicken and Sweet potato formula. Client feedback on those have been good. I also fed Zignature and liked it, discontinued it due to problems getting it. I use Amazon to get Merrick shipped to me.

[vtdobes]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7840115]
Discover the miracle of Chewy’s:

http://www.chewy.com/dog/food-treats-332/zignature?gclid=CjwKEAiAj-KiBRC48YzhnLSg0D0SJAClOhK33x1RBl_-vsa2lVX_4AQC-Dz3hgBhcMpnbuIPiBzr9RoCsqjw_wcB

We get ALL of our pet food and litter delivered. Better pricing than local, no tax, and you set it up on auto-ship so you always have what you need.[/QUOTE]

They are cheaper than your local? My local pet food store sells the Acana for about $7 less than Chewy’s…

[alto]

@TrotTrotPumpkn;7840078

I need to find something else, or at least a back-up. I thought about the Turkey grain free 4Health at TSC, but I would like to avoid Diamond. TOTW is out then too (personally had a bad issue with them last year). Are there other cost-effective, lower ingredient, turkey/chicken foods? Kirklands?

Diamond does a lot of manufacturing under license so if you really want to avoid them, you need to ask very specifically of the brand contacts.

(note that when a company manufactures under license, it is the branded name that controls many aspects of the “line” so don’t confuse Diamond policies with brand decisions)

If you like the current food why not contact them about direct shipping etc
(likely cheaper than sorting through an array of foods that may not work for your boy)

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=vtdobes;7840254]
They are cheaper than your local? My local pet food store sells the Acana for about $7 less than Chewy’s…[/QUOTE]

Yes. A couple bucks per bag cheaper than what I can get here locally (on the 25 lb Acana.) I did snag a bunch of short dated bags half off, which was nice…and also speaks to the demand for that kind of food in my area.

Add in no tax and the convenience, total no brainer for me. I can’t even FIND most of what we feed the cats at my local pet stores.

[Where_sMyWhite]

I used to feed my Bouvs ProPlan Turkey Barley and they seemed to do okay with it…

https://www.proplan.com/dry-dog-food/select-all-life-stages-natural-turkey-barley-formula/

I now feed my Border Terrier Keen from The Honest Kitchen (turkey based with grain but they have other combinations). Maybe not the cheapest but certainly high quality…

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/keen

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

[QUOTE=Where’sMyWhite;7840519]
I used to feed my Bouvs ProPlan Turkey Barley and they seemed to do okay with it…

https://www.proplan.com/dry-dog-food/select-all-life-stages-natural-turkey-barley-formula/

I now feed my Border Terrier Keen from The Honest Kitchen (turkey based with grain but they have other combinations). Maybe not the cheapest but certainly high quality…

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/keen[/QUOTE]

I fed ProPlan 30/20 before and had loose stools. Something in there bugged him. My other Doberman is on that right now and does fine. I think it makes his ears stink (floppy eared dog). When I’m done with this bag I would like to switch him to the same food if possible though.

Now I need to see what we paid for our last bag…I feel like $50 is right in the ballpark. I had not heard of Chewy’s…I wonder how they can do that with the shipping cost?

MunchingonHay–I probably need a new bag for this dog every two weeks! I go through a lot of food. I hate to store more than one extra bag at home–takes a lot of room up when you start doing that for four animals and putting it in the garage will attract rats/mice/etc. I’ve had multiple conversations with the local store about it.

[StGermain]

TrotTrotPumpkin - That’s the beauty of the auto replenishment and free shipping. Amazon also carries your brand, with free shipping if you’re a Prime member.

Did I tell you that I picked up a senior rescue dobie girl a month ago? She’s probably at least 8. Three homes that I know of in just the last six months. It was a bit of a rocky start, I understood why people were turning her over, but she’s settling in nicely. She’s red, so I call her Annie, because she’s had a hard knock life.

StG

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I think I knew you had gotten another dog, but not how it was going. That’s great news!

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;7840078]
I thought about the Turkey grain free 4Health at TSC, but I would like to avoid Diamond. TOTW is out then too (personally had a bad issue with them last year). Are there other cost-effective, lower ingredient, turkey/chicken foods? Kirklands?[/QUOTE]

When I last researched, Kirklands was manufactured by Diamond in the same plant as TOTW.

[wendy]

I worry about kidney issues with the ultra high protein foods. Any comments on that? Lots of calories are good here though.

that’s a complete myth. Even dogs who are suffering from kidney disease live longer if fed proper amounts of protein. Most dog foods have nowhere near sufficient protein for a dog. They need 30% OR HIGHER for optimal health.

If you want a very simple, poultry-based food with high calories what about Native #4 or Dr. Tims Momentum? Chicken and rice and that’s about it.

Why do you think your dog has a sensitive stomach? it sounds like the dog had a normal reaction to antibiotics which it should be over with now. Frankly, if the dog is eating six cups a day (3000 calories a day??? does your dog pull sleds in -40 degrees weather 12 hours a day? ) it doesn’t sound like the dog is doing very well on the food at all. How much poop is coming out of this dog on this diet? The Zignature food is mostly legumes which I personally think should be never fed to dogs. They can’t digest them easily, they are very unnatural. The dog food companies are using them to replace corn because they figured out consumers won’t buy corn and haven’t caught on to the legume scam yet.

I think Nature’s variety and Blue Buffalo both have limited ingredient turkey diets that aren’t loaded up with indigestible ingredients.

and the last thing you want to do with a dog with a sensitive stomach is have to switch food all the time.
unless your dog has some kind of allergy, sensitive stomachs are created by dog owners. If you switch what you feed every single day, meal to meal, you’ll find that 99% of dogs mysteriously don’t have sensitive stomachs anymore. Dogs are scavengers- they have, or should have, rock-solid stomachs that can eat anything. It’s this feeding the same thing day after day that creates sensitive stomachs.

Only dogs with allergies or other health problems have true stomach problems, and once you discover the cause you can just avoid it. What do you think is the cause of the dog’s “sensitivity”? You might have to avoid a particular ingredient.

However, have you seen the news stories about dog foods not having what they claim they have in them? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141001090342.htm

If you really want a limited ingredient diet, you’ll probably have to home-cook. Not that hard. Do you have any good, cheap sources of turkey?

[MunchingonHay]

[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;7841561]

MunchingonHay–I probably need a new bag for this dog every two weeks! I go through a lot of food. I hate to store more than one extra bag at home–takes a lot of room up when you start doing that for four animals and putting it in the garage will attract rats/mice/etc. I’ve had multiple conversations with the local store about it.[/QUOTE]

Jeez, you would think they would want the business.

You do go through a lot of food.

[FalseImpression]

any Orijen product is wonderful… and you can switch from one to the other without mixing… we just switch back from Acana Pacifica to Orijen and my dog is doing great. No tummy upset at all.
He was on 6 Fish and now he is on Pork and Squash…

[asb2517]

[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;7840078]
TOTW is out then too (personally had a bad issue with them last year). [/QUOTE]

A little off topic, but what was your problem with TOTW? This is what my dog was eating, but he’s acting like he doesn’t really like it now. I mean, he’ll eat it, but not really well.

I was running low on canned and TSC didn’t have any, so I bought a couple cans of Blue Wilderness turkey and he loved it…but ever since I switched back, he is turning up his nose at TOTW.

[french_fry]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7840115]
Discover the miracle of Chewy’s:

http://www.chewy.com/dog/food-treats-332/zignature?gclid=CjwKEAiAj-KiBRC48YzhnLSg0D0SJAClOhK33x1RBl_-vsa2lVX_4AQC-Dz3hgBhcMpnbuIPiBzr9RoCsqjw_wcB

We get ALL of our pet food and litter delivered. Better pricing than local, no tax, and you set it up on auto-ship so you always have what you need.[/QUOTE]

Chewy is AMAZING. In addition to having lower prices than anywhere else I can find locally or online, I somehow got another $20 or so knocked off of my order when I signed up for autoshipping every month.

I got $80 or so worth of cat food and litter shipped to my door the next day for about $50. Insane!

[RedMare01]

Earthborn Holistic. It’s manufactured close to me in Indiana. Here is some on Chewy, but lots of places sell it. http://www.chewy.com/dog/earthborn-holistic-primitive-natural/dp/28999

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I had an issue with TOTW puppy and TOTW adult formulas of the Prairie formula. Both dogs started on separate bags (same shipment) and got sick. TOTW refunded my money, but ugh–they didn’t pay my vet bill. I had fed TOTW in the past for a couple years (previous dog) with no issues. There were no recalls at the time this happened, btw.

He’s had diarrhea or soft stools from day one with me. I did make his food for awhile too, btw. Many bladder infections too (last one got into the prostate). I consulted with 5 vets total, btw, between 3 different clinics over his first year (my theory was they were never getting the initial infection cleaned up until the last time when he went on a much stronger antibiotic for a month). Really hard to get a sterile sample from him–actually impossible if he was conscious–he woudl void all his urine before they could get it–so they were trying. Anyway, it was the last vet who also specializes in allergy stuff (I was referred to him by the previous vet for the digestive stuff) who thought he might be one of the rare dogs who actually has a food allergy (I believe it must be trendy to suspect this or something, but most dogs don’t have one, per the vet). He was the one who said if I find a food that works, don’t change it. I am loath to deal with the runs again, but if I have to switch food I will. I have read a couple books on dog digestion/nutrition (did that when I was making my own food), but I don’t consider myself an expert.

FYI, I did have an issue with the prescription food one vet prescribed for the bladder crystals. That stuff was TOTAL crap and he was just a puppy. And the crystals went away when they got the infection cleared up. But that’s when I started making my own food. It’s just not sustainable for me to do that though.

He doesn’t produce as much poop on this as he did on the pro-plan or the wellness. He has always taken in a ton of calories. He’s 85 lb intact year old male–not fat at all, ribs are visible when he moves. I should say I cut him back to 5.5 cups (was 6) after I hurt my foot as he isn’t getting worked as much. I think he’s starting to really slow down on the growth (muscle), so I doubt he will stay at this level of calorie intake much longer.

I have used prescription probiotics, etc. before as well, although I quit when he quit having diarrhea.

I appreciate the feedback on the Zignature Wendy!

[QUOTE=MunchingonHay;7842914]
Jeez, you would think they would want the business.

You do go through a lot of food.[/QUOTE]

The more expensive the food the smaller the bag (just my observation). I think it is a 26 or 27 lb bag.

Sorry for the novel. Just trying to answer questions before they are asked.

Here is a picture showing current condition: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204300502346471&set=a.10204300497066339.1073741833.1646226472&type=3&theater

And a cute one of him:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204300502466474&set=a.10204300497066339.1073741833.1646226472&type=1&theater

[Mosey_2003]

What a handsome boy!