Natural Balance Allergy Formulas

[08chrissy08]

Pixie has been showing signs of food allergies so I'm looking for a new food to switch her over to see if it makes a difference. I know Natural Balance has a great reputation and a lot of you swear by it, and I know they have allergy formulas. I have a couple of questions for anyone that has their fluff on them. First, which do you use? I was thinking about the venison since I already know Pixie is not crazy about fish. Is the kibble size reasonable for these guys? Pixie has a hard time with bigger kibble, but I didn't see a small breed size for that formula. And of course, most importantly, did you see improvements with the allergies on it? Any problems come up that I should be aware of?

Thanks!

[MySugarbears]

I feed mine the NB Sweet Potato and Fish and sometimes the Sweet Potato and Venison. It has helped tremendously in dealing with Chloe's allergies. She was allergic to chicken so i switched her to NB Potato and Duck and she still chewed on her feet to the point that they were very pink and awful looking, her vet wanted to put her on steroids and i decided to rule out food allergies first before putting her on a steroid. Well since changing her food to the Sweet Potato and Fish she has stopped chewing her feet (they are finally white again) and she doesn't get anymore tear stains, she's allergic to all poultry. Noone has a hard time eating the kibble because of the size including Noelle who has the tiniest little features and a tiny mouth. Good Luck and let use know how she does.

[godiva goddess]

Hi, I started using NB Duck and Potato, thanks to Debbie and Melissa who recommended it to me. Mia has been on NB Duck and Potato for quite some time now and shes doing very well. The kibble size is medium..it is thinner but has a bigger circumference (so it is wider.) But, Mia has no problem eating this kibble, and she usually only prefers small bite sizes. Therefore, I don't think you would have a problem in terms of size. I don't think Mia had food allergies to begin with but the main reason I switched to NB is because I was looking for a grain free diet that does not have an excessive protein content. I think NB fits the criteria and Mia has been doing well. Hope it works out for Pixie!

[08chrissy08]

QUOTE (MySugarBears @ May 11 2009, 10:11 AM)

I feed mine the NB Sweet Potato and Fish and sometimes the Sweet Potato and Venison. It has helped tremendously in dealing with Chloe's allergies. She was allergic to chicken so i switched her to NB Potato and Duck and she still chewed on her feet to the point that they were very pink and awful looking, her vet wanted to put her on steroids and i decided to rule out food allergies first before putting her on a steroid. Well since changing her food to the Sweet Potato and Fish she has stopped chewing her feet (they are finally white again) and she doesn't get anymore tear stains, she's allergic to all poultry. Noone has a hard time eating the kibble because of the size including Noelle who has the tiniest little features and a tiny mouth. Good Luck and let use know how she does.[/B]

Excellent, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Pixie chews her feet too, not a ton, but enough that I feel I need to try something different.

[Hunter's Mom]

I do the venison and sweet potato. The kibble for venison is flat and a good size for malts - I have found that it helps Hunter slow his eating down. He was scarfing down the little bites formula and was actually choking a lot on his food.

We had trouble with the duck and potato - we saw a big increase in tear staining and the feet chewing did not stop since duck is considered a poultry. We haven't been able to try the sweet potato and fish formula because it is not kept in stock often enough at our petco and I didn't want to have to worry about switching so that's how we decided on venison.

[jmm]

Remember only 10% of skin allergies are due to food. 90% are due to inhalent allergies. Natural Balance also contains some things like flax seed oil, which can be allergens. If you want to do a food trial, you feed only that food, no treats or chews for 12 weeks. It typically takes about 8 weeks to notice any difference.

[luvmymacy]

We use the NB Potato and Duck Small Bites allergy formula and we have not had any problems.

[camfan]

NB Duck and Potato is the only of the allergy formulas that comes in small bites.
Ollie never liked the fish one.
Ollie has a sensitive tummy and the NB completely helped him. I also tried other premium brand allergy formulas and stuck w/ them for several weeks but NONE worked as well as the NB.
YoYo, our new rescue, is now on NB duck & potato and he's doing better already--stools are more firm, less biting and scratching--although it's suspected that SOME of his biting and scratching was due to nerves, not allergies. So time will tell...good luck!!!

[LittleDogLVR]

Tried NB and the Itching got Worse...........every dog is different !
We are on Natures Variety Instinct Rabbit right now and its been the best of anything we tried.
On our 3rd bag so its been just over 2 months......

[dwerten]

the duck and potato has small bites - does she have any other health issues? The venison and sweet potato i do not beleive makes the small bites -- you need to try for 12 weeks with no treats and feed a novel protein and novel carb to do proper elimination diet. Just remember 90% of allergies are environmental and if exhibiting signs this time of year and not winter most likely environmental but a hypoallergenic does help atopic dogs as well so minimal ingredient food should be fed to all allergy dogs


QUOTE (08chrissy08 @ May 11 2009, 01:01 PM)

Pixie has been showing signs of food allergies so I'm looking for a new food to switch her over to see if it makes a difference. I know Natural Balance has a great reputation and a lot of you swear by it, and I know they have allergy formulas. I have a couple of questions for anyone that has their fluff on them. First, which do you use? I was thinking about the venison since I already know Pixie is not crazy about fish. Is the kibble size reasonable for these guys? Pixie has a hard time with bigger kibble, but I didn't see a small breed size for that formula. And of course, most importantly, did you see improvements with the allergies on it? Any problems come up that I should be aware of?

Thanks![/B]