Question by Me: Good food for Cocker Spaniel dog (that helps avoid ear infections)?
Hi I just got a Cocker Spaniel dog. She does not have any problems but it appears that Cocker Spaniels are prone to ear infections. I have been reading websites about this and it seems that certain foods exacerbate the problem (make the problem worse).

With all of the reading I have done in the last few days I can’t remember what I had read. I think it is supposed to avoid certain ingredients (like fish? Or corn? I can’t remember if it said those were good or bad ingredients) due to allergies or unfavorable bacteria that is present in those foods.

I can’t find what I read but I would like some recommendations on good food for Cockers, specifically to fight against ear infections.

Thanks.

Best answer:

Answer by bluebonnetgranny
Any dog with long ears are subject to this. It is known as “Cocker ear” because it is so highly associated to the Cocker Spaniels. You would do good if you got some good ear wash & washed the inside of her ears at least once a month to prevent ear infections.

The formula for an ear wash that a Vet gave me is

1 part water
1 part apple cider vinegar
1 part rubbing alcohol

This is very good to use to clean ears on a regular basis but is not good for a dog who has an infection. It burns like crazy if the ear is infected.

I groomed for 15 years & used it all the time on all the dogs I groomed.

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Question by Matt: I think I changed my dog’s food to fast. Please Help.?
We recently adopted a 2 and 1/2 year old yellow lab. He is from Indiana and we are in New England. The dog came with a ziplock bag of food he was currently on (Prism by Eagle Pack). I found quickly that this food was not easy to come by at all so I opted to try a new food (Nutro Max). I knew that I was meant to stretch out the food over a week or longer during the transition process and I thought it was strange when I ran out of the old food after 4 days (It turned out the I was feeding him too much over all… almost double what he needed per day). I just continued with the food I had since prism was expensive and could only be bought online in a 30 lb bag, even from a specialty store. NOW, it has been two weeks to the day since we have had Bruce, our dog and he has been having scant amounts of bright red blood at the end of each stool.It seems to be no more than a tsp. worth of blood that is bright red and the stool is soft but mostly formed, not runny or frequent and no vomiting associated. I researched that this could be from a rapid food change, which turns out to be a problem when you cannot get the original food!
At the moment (being just today, I have started him on rice and boiled chicken mixed with his new food to try and ease him into the food we currently have).

We were just wondering words of advice, other strategies, similar problems. I also considered it to have the possibility of an allergy and trying to change the food all together (Eukanuba is my next choice). When should I start to see a difference in the stool? Does my plan of mixing the rice and chicken seem like a more positive approach?

Best answer:

Answer by Leslie Goudy
good thing to do but your dog’s digestive system might already be weakened and he might have giardia or coccidia i probably spelled this wrong but those are common bacterial infections in intestines and it is contagious and can contaminate your yard

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Question by Andrew T: Is it ok to keep a boxer puppy on science diet or change to a different food?
I Just adopted a boxer puppy from the shelter and while there they fed her science diet. I read on other sites that science diet is not a good food for “all dogs” like they say. I was looking towards a more natural food but still stay in a budget. The reason why i’m thinking about changing b/c boxers a prone to allergies with grains. Any boxer owners on here that could help please. But is it really a big deal since she’s been on it her whole life pretty much?

Best answer:

Answer by Dog Section Regular
You can always change the food. Science Diet is what most shelters are sponsored by, so once you adopt, they want you to continue to feed that food. That will NOT keep you on a budget! It’s over-priced CRAP.

Good foods:

Innova
Innova EVO
Wellness
Wellness CORE
Canidae
Solid Gold
California Natural
Natural Balance
Taste of the Wild
Merrick
Instinct
Orijen

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Question by Samantha: What Ingredients should be in a Hypoallergenic dog food ?
i have a two and a half year old golden retriever and i been noticing even when she is on flea medication like the advantage she still itches i know its not hot spots because she has no red patches but looking at her skin i noticed tiny red bumps and very dry skin when i took her to the vet she suggested omega 3 fatty acids which i brought salmon oil and salmon puffs but she was still itching and her coat is very thinning not full like a golden should be . I changed her food from science diet for the large breed to royal canine for golden retrievers but i think she has a food allergy from corn and wheat which are two ingredients in her royal canine .I know at one to three food allergies commonly affect goldens so my question is does anyone know the ingredients that are supposed to be in a hypoallergenic food and any good food for dogs that have allergies . i work at petsmart so any food you might name expensive or not i can find it and i get a discount so price doesn’t matter thanks .

Best answer:

Answer by Holly
It all depends on what your dog is allergic to. You may need to try a couple different foods before you find one that works for her.
Grain free food is your best bet. I would say try Orijen, Wellness, Taste of the Wild, Acana Grain Free foods.
If none of those work, Acana Lamb and Apple is a great food. One source of protein(lamb) and only one source of carbohydrate (oats). This is what I feed my Golden Retriever who has food sensitivities.

http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/show-product.php?formulation=la

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Question by Cindy: Dog food allergy experts only please!?
I have a 1 yr almost 9 month old mutt. As far as I know he’s mixed with lab, dane, and some chow. From the time we adopted him at the shelter at three months old, he has been fed high quality food. We started him off with Eukanuba, but I noticed after a while he was scratching and biting his paws, a common sign of food allergy. I then switched him to Natures Recipe, healthy skin formula. I was shocked to find the scratching still continued, only to discover he was now itching his back, and getting a bald spot. I knew it was mange, took him to the vet and got him treated. He was treated for the entire month where the scratching never stopped, after all his dips were done with I took him back to the vet as he now how more than one bald spot. Turns out this time he had a skin infection. He was then treated for that. He continues having the Natures recipe, and continues scratching, shedding severely (he has the coat of a black lab so I don’t know how he could shed this much without being bald). My vet puts him on Thera-Coat, a granual supplement for healthy skin and coat, on top of his food. The itching/scratching practically ceases. By this time, my wallet is really broken from over $ 1000 in vet bills from chronic skin infections and mange, and the $ 40 a month I was spending on the supplement as well as the $ 75 a month in dog food (he’s a very large dog lol). I go through financial rough times and cannot afford the thera coat for a month. He breaks into a skin infection and I decide to take him to a new vet. This vet prescribes his antibiotics, and suggests I try a venison sweet potato food or a fish sweet potato. I switch over to Nutro (I believe) formula with Venison and Sweet Potato to no avail.. Elwood still acts the same. I then start giving him a regiment of benadryl to prevent him from itching so much he gets skin infections, I have to completely stop taking him to the dog park ( in case of an outbreak occurring because of it).Through out the time I’ve had him, he’s had five total outbreaks of skin infection. Recently, I have lost my job and we could no longer afford to buy him the high quality food he was use to. We ended up buying him Purina. His itching practically ceases, and the shedding is reduced dramatically. After a couple of months, I felt bad about the low quality food and switch him back to NR. Within a week he has broken out into a skin infection, and now all together wont even eat the NR food. Curious, I discovered that the only thing all the formula of food had in common (except for the Purina) was Oatmeal, Barley, and Rice. Common ingredients in ALL high quality food. Is it possible those uncommon sources of food allergy are actually the cause of all of this?? Is there a high quality food out there that doesn’t have those in them? Should I just switch him to the cheaper low grade food?? Please help!!

Best answer:

Answer by pruin1
You can try one of two things…you can cook his food for him (boneless, skinless chicken or hamburger and green veggies and rice…its the most soothing thing you can feed but make sure you give him enough). If his allergies persist remove the rice and see if that helps. If you find that it does then switch him to a high quality grain free formula like Innova, or Orjen, or Fromms. Or you can just try the grain free formula and see if it makes a difference. It can be tough on their system at first though (can cause diarrhoea when you first Switch) so make sure you switch him slowly. Oatmeal, Barley and Rice are main ingredients in low and high quality food as they are fillers so it wouldn’t hurt to try one without. Food allergies are tricky so you really have to try a lot of different things to see whats causing the problem…grain free is worth a try.

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