Question by Pit Bull Passion: People feeding Natural Balance Synergy & order online..?
I have 2 American Pit Bull Terriers (Kohl and Cahlie) a APBT mix and a Doberman.

Cahlie is a rescue, I have had her for about 8 months — since she was 15 weeks old. She started developing some skin issues under her neck and on her chest and after numerous vet visits and scrapings (ruled out mange), antibiotics and allergy shots, vets concluded “some type of allergy” and can’t determine what. We don’t believe its a food allergy because she does not lick her paws, but Kohl does have a food allergy and he is on Natural balance Sweet Potato and Fish.

I am new at feeding Natural Balance and after about an hour and a half of talking with the staff at the pet store, we concluded on the same formula that Kohl is on. At the last minute I saw 1 bag of Natural Balance Synergy. I asked them about it and they told me the majority of people that own APBTs feed this to their dogs. They said it was the best I could get so I said I wanted it.

Here is my question:
They told me that Natural Balance Synergy, if Cahlie was not very active, would make her fat in a heartbeat. Cahlie is not overly active like most APBTs but she is active to a degree — when she feels like it she could run for miles, other times, she is just chilled. I wanted to know if Synergy was a good idea? Or should I stick with the Fish and Sweet Potato?

Another Question:
They told me that the store was no longer selling in a big bag, only 13 pound bags now. Buying 13 pound bags does not appeal to the larger breed owner..lol.. Was wondering about buying online? I have never purchased food online? What in your opinion is the best website to buy from?

**Price makes no difference**

Thank You
I didnt rule food allergy out, I just said we didnt think it was that because Kohl licked his paws. We kept it in mind, that is why we are trying the grain free. I just wanted to know if they were right about Synergy, or if The other formula was better.
Sammy — Yea, I didnt either, but hey..I guess if they bought grocery store food, they wouldnt be in there. I think she was refering to the majority that come in there and own the APBT purchase that brand.
Sammy — Asked the vet what they recomended, they said Science Diet…I said “NO”
*ATTENTION* I did not ask the Pet Store people which formula they thought would work. I went in there wanting to try the Natural Balance formula. I didnt know about Synergy until I saw it sitting on the shelf. I asked them about it, and they said what I told you they said (it makes then fat if they are not active). I asked the vet and they recommended science diet. I said no. I told them after all the anitbiotics and sprays failed, I wanted to try switching food. They didnt tell me what was wrong with her, they answered my questions about the formula for Natural Balance. Thats it.
EDIT:: If this makes any difference, Cahlie is the one in my profile pic. She is a rescue and not the typical active and lean APBT. She is a little shorter and a little stockier. That pic is a recent one so she is really short, but she is wide and its all muscle. Since she is already almost a year and she is that wide, I am assuming she will get wider in her 2nd year of growing. This is why I was so concerned with NBS making her gain weight. She is about 54 pounds and barely stands knee high.

Best answer:

Answer by Sammy Gabbie GO VEGAN!
Not all food allergies result in licking of paws. My Toy Poodle is allergice to processed dog food, so we went with raw. Her allergies resulted in a lot of gastric distress.

I recommend everyone research raw diets for dogs. They are as cheap as grocery store kibble on a monthly basis. http://healthydogforlife.com/ http://rawmeatybones.com/ http://thenaturallyhealthydog.com/

I know this doesn’t answer your question, but it won’t hurt to research.

Edit: I don’t believe the majority of people who own Pit Bulls feed expensive dog foods, as most Pit Bulls are poorly bred and purchased by the clueless. They probably feed grocery store dog food. To be honest, a homeopathic vet that’s studied nutrition and such would be a much better person to talk to about food allergies vs the 18 year old college student making $ 8-$ 10 an hour at Petsmart, Petco, etc.

Edit: Ok, I would feel more comfortable if you talked to a homeopathic vet about the food allergy issues. My guess is the people you talked to pretty much agreed with everything you said just to keep you happy and coming back.

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Question by Pug?Bug: My dog suffers really bad with his skin. People have told me to give him benadryl?
I have taken him to the vet and he gave him a course of antibiotics and an antifungal shampoo to wash him in. The antibiotics worked for a while but the condition had not cleared up so all in total he had antibiotics for a full month. The little spots he had cleared up but now they are back and he is constantly licking at himself. I have been advised to wash him with cold tar shampoo and to give him benadryl but as this is for humans wont it hurt my dog? He is due back at the vets in a couple of days for an allergy test but I wonderd if there was anything I could give him to help with the itchiness in the mean time
I have spoke to the vet about his diet and he seems to think that it is unlikely that it is a food allergy. He is fed Burns mini bites which are gluten and wheat free mixed with boiled chicken breast so the vet says it is unlikely this is the cause, although he is not ruling it out.
I am getting frustrated because this problems is not getting any better once his medication stops and I feel sorry for my poor dog!

Best answer:

Answer by Bozema
Benadryl will only help if the problem is an allergy. It won’t help other skin conditions. Ask your vet if it will help and what the appropriate dose is for your dog.

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Question by Nancy U: How do these people sleep at night?
For the last year or so, I have been doing a lot of online research in dog diet, using several websites. My favorite is http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ It lists just about every brand of dog food there is, giving the ingredient list for each food, and a review of the food. Most of the foods are given a “star rating”, 1-6.

My question is, how come there are so many terrible dog foods on the market? It is so sad that many dog owners don’t realize how terrible most of the dog foods out there really are. Most of them are full of corn, soy, and wheat, ingredients that are difficult to digest and can cause allergies, and animal byproducts. It makes it more difficult for the educated dog owner to buy high quality foods, because they are so expensive compared to the grocery store brands. Even several of the “veterinary diets” are full of junk.

Is there anything that can ever be done to shut down these companies that produce such unhealthy dog foods? Just the fact that these companies claim that their foods are healthy makes me sick. With the country becoming more concerned every year about our own diets and nutrition, why can’t we do the same for our beloved dogs?
Yeah there is, Bob.
http://www.fatcalories.com/

Best answer:

Answer by Bobbie L
Come on, get real. There is NO way of shutting down the giant conglomerates. People wil continue to feed these cheap dog foods, and places like WalMart and the grocery food chains will continue to sell it.

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Question by Cindy: Dog allergy/ skin problem help? (People with experience)?
Ok, so I have a black lab mix (after reading some questions on here it seems black labs are prone to skin problems?) who has chronic skin infections, itching, food allergies, and anything else you can name in the book.

I have taken my dog to two different vets. We have had him for nine months and he has had four skin infections. He is constantly scratching, and biting his bum area. My former vet didn’t want to figure out the problem, he just wanted to cover it up by giving him a supplement that made him shed less. I took him to another vet who said loosing hair around his butt area is always food allergy. So, since nobody around here does allergy testing ( I don’t know why?) I have been trying to figure out what my dog is allergic to by process of elimination.

So far I have eliminated all forms of chicken, wheat, corn and rice from his diet. This has all helped but has not made his itching and scratching go away. I stopped feeding him a supplement which my former vet was having me give him, called theracoat (which is for dry, itchy skin), because my new vet says that is just going to cover up the problem, not solve it. So since I have stopped, he has not recovered at all from this last skin infection (he got three weeks ago). He is no longer bleeding from his itchy spots, but he is still scratching and itching like crazy, and still has bald spots as a result. I give him benadryl when his itching gets out of control, but I don’t want to constantly cover up his problems! I have put him on a food that is venison and sweet potato. What other food allergy could he possibly have? Oh, I also bath him regularly with a oatmeal shampoo that is soap free and hypoallergenic.

Thanks!
He doesn’t have ringworm, he’s been checked for that one!

Best answer:

Answer by Kelle
Are you washing his bedding in detergent?

Don’t bathe much at all. 5 times a year is plenty. Over bathing causes skin problems.

Throw a little fish oil on the grain free food.

Don’t keep changing the diet. It takes months to know if a food is working.

Stop vet shopping.

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Question by I love my mutts~: Why won’t people listen about dog food? (kinda long)?
I work at a boarding kennel, we also sell pet supplies and carry Natura and Fromm brand foods. We try to educate people as much as we can about quality pet foods and allergies and things like that. This one guy is a fairly regular customer. He’s almost obsessed with his female German Shepherd, like any good pet owner. She has allergy problems and I suggested California Natural Lamb & Rice food. He put her on it and her allergies cleared up. She was happy and healthy and he kept her on it for quite a while. Then he decided it was too expensive and put her on Beneful. Now the dog has to get allergy shots at least once a month and take a Bendryl every day. He brought her in for boarding this last week and I bathed her last night to go home today. The dog’s skin is horrible, its splotchy and infected. Why can’t people see that they save money with quality foods? I’m sure that one bag of CN is much cheaper than Beneful, allergy shots and Benedryl together. We put some info in her food bin about Beneful verses Fromm Classic hoping he’ll buy the cheaper Fromm if he’s not going to get California Natural. Hopefully he tries it and doesn’t freak out, I’m off today so I don’t know. How can we better educate people about the benefits of quality food?
That was supposed to say store quality foods, ignore the low.
This is not an attack on Beneful or low store quality foods. This dog has severe allergies. We see many dogs come it with chronic allergies, skin infections and poor coat quality cause by individual problems on a certain food. We try to show them, based on ingredients, why that one food is bad for their dog and what foods could help them. If your dog does well on a food, fine.

Best answer:

Answer by Erika ?? Luv My Labs ??
You can’t – either they do it or don’t. You educated this dog owner and even proved it worked, but he went back to a brand he can afford.

Until the better quality dog food makers lower their prices – this will always be a problem.

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