Blue Buffalo Dog Food and Allergies

Filed under: Dog allergies, Dog health product, Healthy Dog, Healthy Dog Food | Comments Off on Blue Buffalo Dog Food and Allergies

If your dog has food allergies, it can be really difficult to find a good brand of dog food. Symptoms of allergies include chronic ear infections, licking of the paws or rubbing the nose after eating, hot spots, excessive itchiness, and red eyes. (Of course, all of these can also be symptoms of other, more serious health conditions, so always talk with your vet when you notice symptoms like these.)

Previously, we fed our allergic dog Canidae and he liked it very much. We liked that it was known as a high-quality dog food and the price was still affordable. Sadly, they changed the formula. Fortunately, Vance’s only problems were an upset tummy (other dogs have gotten much sicker), but we were disappointed to have to begin the dog food quest again.

Choosing a new dog food is such a headache–there are so many brands on the market (and not every pet food shop carries every brand), and then within each brand there’s an excessive number of varieties. It’s enough to make me feed the dog nothing but rice and beans! (Don’t worry, I wouldn’t really. But it *is* frustrating.)

So, this last time, we tried a number of premium foods including California Naturals, Flint River, and Evo. He had allergic reactions to all of them (and we fed each for a month, just to be sure it was the new food and not residual allergies).

I was starting to feel very frustrated, and our vet had no specific suggestions (other than to keep trying new foods until we found the right one). Enter Blue Buffalo. Vance is now on his third bag of dog food (he’s 80lbs and the bags typically last about 5-6 weeks, though he’s been eating a bit more lately because it’s been so cold). He loves the stuff and gobbles it down with a vigor he doesn’t usually have for his morning meal. Alone, that wouldn’t be enough–just because I love ice cream doesn’t mean it’s good for me.

But, the ingredients list of Blue Buffalo is really solid, and we did extra research online and with our vet to find out if it would meet all of his nutritional needs.

And, best of all, no allergic reaction to the dog food! His ear infections have cleared up, he’s not itchy, and he doesn’t spend 20 minutes licking his front paws after eating.

We’re feeding the Adult Lamb and are very happy with it so far–Vance’s coat looks great, thick and healthy and shiny, and he’s got plenty of energy. If you’d like to support this site when you pick yours up (and get a discount, to boot), use the link in the sidebar to purchase from our favorite dog food supplier Pet Food Direct.

What do you feed your dog? And have you had any trouble with allergies?


Flea prevention favorites?

Filed under: Dog allergies, Dog Grooming, Dog health product, Healthy Dog | Comments Off on Flea prevention favorites?

Because our dog has allergies, we had to stop using a flea prevention skin treatment (Frontline). It irritated his skin (causing flaky, itchy patches where we’d applied it, even though we tried not to apply it in the same spot twice) and made my eyes water both to put it on him, and also to be around him for several hours after application.

So, we talked to the vet, and got a prescription for Sentinel instead. This has worked really well for us. It’s a once-a-month flea and heartworm prevention tablet, and from our vet, the cost is comparable to what we were paying for both heartworm and flea medicine before.

Because we try to keep things as chemical free as possible, we don’t use any chemical flea treatments, and have yet to have any fleas at all, which is really wonderful. This year, we are planning on using some of the suggested all natural flea abatements to eliminate mosquitoes (some all natural products do both but are marketed more for flea control). I’ll definitely let you know how that turns out!

Today, though, I’d like to know what you use for flea prevention. Do you use something applied topically? A flea collar? An all-natural approach? And how do you (and your dog!) like it?


Games to teach a dog

Filed under: Dog Fun, Healthy Dog | Comments Off on Games to teach a dog

Lately, we’ve been playing a lot of peek-a-boo with the dog. He loves when we pop up from behind something, and goes a little crazy, which is helpful because it’s been pouring rain non-stop and his walks are a little short. So, to fight the cabin fever, we’re keeping ourselves amused by teasing the dog. 😉

When did we become *that* couple?! (The one who, for entertainment, tortures the dog with games of peek-a-boo, I mean.)

Anyway, this got me thinking about games to teach a dog and I wanted to share one that Vance adores. We take an empty egg carton and put a treat in one of the egg spots. Then, we fill all the egg spots with old plastic Easter Eggs and let him try to find the treat. To train the game, we let him see where we put the treat, but now we hide it so that he has to take out as many plastic eggs as possible.

It’s really funny watching him try to get the slippery (especially after he’s drooled on them!) eggs out of the container, and he really enjoys that he finds yummy treats inside. Of course, this is a game that requires *careful* supervision–you don’t want your dog to crush the plastic egg and injure itself, so only play this game with dogs that are gentle and under careful watch.

What games have you taught your dog? I’d love some new ones to play with Vance to keep him busy during this *very* long winter.