I took Cody to the vet because he was having hair loss and redness around his mouth. He hind legs had patches of fur lost also. The vet said he having an allergic reaction when she saw him before she even examined him because his tummy was red. She gave him a shot, told us to give him benadryl, and gave us medicated shampoo to bathe him in twice a week. The vet also gave us a list of foods and things in dog food that can cause allergies in dogs. I have been feeding him Science Diet Lamb and Rice Formula since he was a puppy so why would he now be having an allergic reaction to it? This all started when it started getting warm. I think it might be something outside rather than his food. Does anyone have any opinions? Has anyone else's dog had this problem? 

Ingredients in Science Diet Lamb & Rice...

Lamb Meal, Brewers Rice, Rice Flour, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Corn Gluten Meal, Cracked Pearled Barley, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

The first thing you should know is that ingredients are weighed and listed from heaviest to lightest...thus, the ingredients that make up most of the food are listed first.

Brewers Rice is a processed rice product that is missing many of the nutrients contained in whole ground rice and brown rice

Corn Gluten Meal is an inexpensive by-product of human food processing which offers very little nutritional value and serves mainly to bind food together. It is not a harmful ingredient but should be avoided simply for its poor nutritional value and quality.

Animal Fat comes from an unspecified source. It could be any animal...roadkill, 4D animals (dead, diseased, disabled, dieing) dead zoo animals, and even euthanized dogs and cats. Plus, the chemical used to put pets to sleep makes it through the rendering process and into the food, and the collars, tags, and plastic bags on the dead animals aren't removed before being processed.

Chicken Liver Flavor is not shown here as a natural flavor, thus we can be 99% sure that it is a chemical flavoring.

Most of the 'minerals' are oxides and sulfates, which although not harmful, are poorly absorbed and are thus mostly useless.

 I highlighed all the other grain products other than brewer's rice and Corn gluten Meal in orange. Rat Terriers seem to be especially suseptable to grain allergies. 5 out of the first 6 ingredients are grains.

 Science diet is a one of the poorest quality food. Even if it isn't a grain allergy, I'd highly suggest switching her to a better food as soon as possible

 Here is a list of grainless dog foods you can check out:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=grain_free

well it work'd Shamus has got hair on his head AGAIN!!! boy that was a close one!!! after changing ALL the Pups back to NATURAL BALLANCE Duck &Potatoe, Shamus's hair has come back and his red blotches are all gone!!! quick too!!! I wrote them and they said something in the  NATURAL BALLANCE ULTRA DOG he is allergic too DAHH!!!At least there sending coupons for new food!! that's cool! and wrote me back the same day!!! with there appologies! its just bad that a food so expensive and well made would make even 1 dog sick! so you others out there beware!!! EVEN THE BEST BRANDS CAN BE BAD!if your dog is allergic

First of all NB isn't any more expensive than most high quality (or many low quality!!) foods.  One exception would be Canidae, it's cheaper, around here anyway.  And the food didn't make your dog sick if he has allergies - the ingredient he's allergic to did!  Geez, I'm allergic to corn and that would be like me eating corn tortillas and then saying the torilla maker make me sick.

And it's great that NB apologized and gave you a coupon.  Since it was an allergy and not something wrong with their food they really didn't need to do that but it shows they're concerned with customers.  Other companies won't even answer complaints!

yea ...I guess I was a little HARSH about them...I was just surprised I guess...that he had such a dramitic reaction to that food ( Ultra),when he never was allergic to cheap Kmart food or anything else! That's not say'n I don't Love NB I do, I have NEVER had a food so PERFECT for my PUPS! the price is not even an issue! I'd feed it if it was double  $$!!! its that good! I was just surprised is all! 2 foods in the same line shouldn't give that much of a reaction! But they were COOL about it!!! And I'll never change again, from the Duck&Potatoe! He is back to normal fast!

My dog Sophie has had problems with itching and licking for a while now and we can't figure it out. She has been on top of the line foods since we've got her when she was a puppy ( our dogs are our babies, so my husband stays on top of what dog foods are good and which one are not). She goes to the vet on a regular basis and we do frontline and everything, our other dogs are labs and do dock diving competitions so because they are in water all the time we take really good care of all our girls ears. We have tried different types of food thinking it my be a certain type of protein she is getting. She has been on grain free food pretty much all her life and is now eating raw (Nature Variety).  Also it is year round. She seems to be worse right now, we are thinking it my be something in the yard that she is allergic to. We have talked to the vet about it and all she could suggest is a allergy test which she said is about $300 and it may not tell us much. Also we have given her benadryl and others similar to it but it doesn't seem to do much for her. Any ideas???? Other wise we will have to go with the testing and hope it shows something.  Sorry such a long post.

I also forgot to say that Sophie gets fish oil twice a day and I try to give her a bath at least once a week with an oatmeal shampoo.

yea that is how Caesar was his whole life (he is 5 now)until just this year I changed to Natural Balance duck &potatoe, it is amazing!!! he has never NOT-BEEN itchey! he is now!! He did have a case of Demadex mange when I got him at 18 mons,and tried everything till I found Mitacin spray for Demadex Mange and that clear'd that up but he was still itchey, now he is outside all day and never itches at all so I know it wasn't outside allergys so Im guessing the preserivitives this has NONE! the oatmel shampoo never helped either! the one that Pets Best RX.com sells for mange works and the spray stop's them from itching too! and it has no pesticides! so you can us it with frontline I like that!

shamus's red blotches went away altogether 2 weeks!(I never too him to the vet at all(,cause I had seen this before w/Caesar!) he is fine now just a little dandruff on his bridge of his nose,and around his eyes but no red blotches!Im going to order some more Mitactin Kit from PetsbestRX.com and it will clear it up,it did when Caesar had it.Its hard to believe how a dog food will affect them! Now that there on Duck &Potatoe again he is fine he just couldn't take something...in there othe(Natural Balance ULTRA) dog food..still not sure what? but just backing up to a 2 ingred. food no fake treats and it work'd! 

I have had Sophie on Natural balance duck and potato also tried their fish and sweet potato, still had the itching. She is itching her skin raw I feel so bad. Might just have to take her in to get an allergy test done.

I have two rat terriers and one of them has a bad allergy problem. My husband and I had to have allergy test done on her and we found out that she is allergetic to everything and has to take allergy shots every 4 weeks. She is also put on special food that we have to order from the vet. If any one has any suggestions on dog treats that is for dogs with allergies I would like to know.

 Thank you BK

Greenies gave Fred REALLY bad allergies, ended up in a bloody (from scratching) rash mess on both sides of his ears one day.  Emergency trip to the vet, and I was told he had allergies and to figure out what was different in the last week.  The only change had been Greenies. Threw them out and problem solved, have never had problems again.

If you are looking for real high quality stuff, you will not find it at Petsmart, or Petco for that matter.  If you have no other options, Petsmart does sell Buffalo Blue (http://www.bluebuff.com), which is not at all a bad choice.  Fred was on Nutro when I got him, and I switched to Buffalo Blue when I learned how to read food labels and what to look for.  However, I also learned from experience that making one trip to get the good toy variety and prices, and another trip to get the best food I can wasn't a bad deal.  Fred is now happier than ever with Canidae, and I don't mind the extra trip to a local feed store at all.  Just my .02 cents.

You can check this site out http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php/cat/1 

From 1 through 6 Stars, Nutro and Natural Balance Super Premium are rated as 2 Star, Blue Buffalo as 4 Star, and Canidae as 5 Star.  Of course if you really want to go all out and get some Innova EVO (6 Star), then go for it! The better the food, the happier and healthier the pup  

Where can you buy Buffalo Blue and Canidae? At a livestock store or online? I have been feeding him Science Diet and thought it was a high quality dog food because it is sold at the vet but found it is not.

Petco sells Blue Buffalo, but neither they nor Pet Smart sell Canidae. You'll have to find a smaller store that carries it. Here's the store locator for Canidae on their website:

www.canidae.com/company/storelocator.html

And the Hills company pays many vets to push their food. My vet's office is stacked with this stuff too.

I was feeding Blue Buffalo and when any part of them was involved in the recall that's when I was done. Wasn't waiting to see what of theirs was reacalled next. Switched to Canidae and am so happy I did.

I saw this at Petsmart not to long ago and it is pretty bad.

Contains a lot of low quality grains, like Corn and Wheat. Also has an unspecified meat source -pountry fat- and garlic 'flavor', which is most likely a chemical flavoring since they don't specify otherwise, and even if it was natural, garlic containssulfoxides and disulfides which causes anemia in dogs.

 On top of this, it also has Menadione, which has ben linked to many serious health problems, and hasn't been specifically approved for long term use.