Grain Free Dog Foods under fire?

We got a new 6 year old dog in Dec 2017 and it seems to have some digestive issues as well as some mild eye allegy iritation. Our vet suggested a new saliva type of test designed to detect allergies. I don't know much about it, but the wife said it'll save a bunch of trial and error with foods and the associated cost and time vs. the test cost. I agreed. Here's the results.

I researched foods, especially commonly available foods in either Petsmart or Petco, for the same reasons someone else mentioned...I want to be able to acquire some when I'm on on the road in the event I planned poorly or had a food catastrophe. I'm trying a Merrick brand, which was apparently acquired by Nestle-Purina a few years ago. It's a Texas based boutique brand that claims all the stuff all the other goochi brands claim, all U.S. sourced, natural, etc.. I dunno much about them other than what's out there on the web. It's available in all Petco stores and Chewy.com (but not Petsmart). Evidently, Nestle-Purina had enough juice to get a full aisle into Petco of the many Merrick types of food. I'm trying a 30 protien, 15 fat type https://www.merrickpetcare.com/dogs...-green-peas-recipe-with-ancient-grains?id=350 I couldn't find a 30/20 match to the ProPlan Sport we'd been using. This was the food that had the ingredients that fit our limitations and had acceptable protein/fat. I've been supplementing some cooked burger in it to boost the fat a bit. We've been using it for almost a week now and so far no change in his condition. I imagine any change in diet could take a while to show improvement. We don't have a problem with the high cost of this particular food if it solves the issue.
 
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I agree that when looking for a grain-free, limited ingredient dog food you tend to find that the protein and fat content is fairly low. I went with Zignature dog food and their pork formula. 31% protein and 18% fat. My Brittany is doing well on it with plenty of energy. The only complaint I have is that she does have a fair amount of stool every day but with only one dog it isn't a big issue. I might try going back to NutriSource Performance and see if there are any adverse effects with her allergies.
 
I just got a call back from our vet. They found our pointer has some kind of bug in his digestive tract which may be causing his loose stool and they want to start an extended therapy of Flagyl. Longer than the usual 10 day, that is. That's the issue that started us looking at diet issues. Looks like I'm going back to PPP as the other stuff didn't seem to get the dog's interest as well.
 
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Roaniecowpony said:
I just got a call back from our vet. They found our pointer has some kind of bug in his digestive tract which may be causing his loose stool and they want to start an extended therapy of Flagyl. Longer than the usual 10 day, that is. That's the issue that started us looking at diet issues. Looks like I'm going back to PPP as the other stuff didn't seem to get the dog's interest as well.
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I would suggest a probiotic after 10 days of treatment. Forti Flora from Purina is good stuff to the get the digestive system back on track. I read your previous post and I would not consider Merrick a very good food. Can't figure out why you need to boast the fat consumption of your dog. Very few dogs need a 30/20 unless they are trained for field trials or hunting heavy during the season. For a hunting dog, the only time they need the 30/20 is during the season. High protein and high fat content causes a lot of digestion problems. If you trial your dog, then I apologize. Dr. Tims, Orijen, Eagle Pack are some of the best. Victor is a good food that is inexpensive. If your dog was not eating well, it may have very well have been the parasite instead of the food. Curious as to whether it was worms, giardia, or possibly coccidia? You can prevent all worms simply by giving Sentinel Spectrum once a month. It won't help with Giardia and Coccidia, as they are hard to treat and easy for a dog to pick up. Either one of those will definitely cause a loose stool and loss of appetitie.
 
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Here is my 2 cents. Pick a food. Say proplan performance, and keep them on it for awhile. You can't possibly test a food that quick.... I feed all 11 of mine that with 0 issues from whelping to dirt nap. Get some metronidazole and treat the loose stool. Normally fixed over night. This vet seems like a quack. Sucking your wallet dry.
 
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