Decisions, decisions...

[carebehr]

Okay. I did some more research and this is what I found and came to. Bruiser has eaten dry foods from the cheapest stuff (when we got him) to Iams and then to Pedigree. Food doesn't seem to be a problem for him. Our weather is hot and VERY humid which can cause so many skin allergies for him. He isn't overweight (63lbs, 4 1/2 years old). He isn't very active. To save money on taking to the vet all the time (and since they don't know what is going on with him :/), I have looked into buying him better food than what the PX/BX carries. I noticed a lot of people on this site either feeds Nature's Variety, AvoDerm, Fromm, or raw. I can tell you right now that my husband is not going to do the raw food.

I looked up reviews online and I can't make a choice because some people are complaining about most of the brands I choose. What are your suggestions on the choices below?

Nature's Variety
Even with bad reviews I have seen online, if you feed your bulldog this brand, is it great?
-Grain Free Chicken
-Chicken and Brown Rice

Fromm
-Holistic
-Duck and Sweet Potato
-Pork and Applesauce
-Whitefish and Potato

AvoDerm
-Brown Rice, Oatmeal, and Chicken

These are what I have written down in my book. Thank you!

 

[KMARINO]

I have used Nature's Variety Grain Free for over a year, Vegas did have a problem with the chicken too! I use the Salmon and he does great on it. He was a mess with allergies too until I did the food change, he was on Iams the first year of his life. Just watch the chicken flavors. Although the cost is high the food does last a lot longer due to not feeding as much because it is not full of filler. Vegas is 2 and gets one cup in the morning and one cup in the evening, with a bedtime snack of either fruits or veggies. I personally love Nature's Variety.

 

[cali~jenn]

Havent used natures variety although it is a great food. I tried avoderm and it was just fine but wanted to try fromm and have stayed with it. I feed grain free and my boys LOVE it! Just be careful cuz it does have what I call crack in it and your baby will gobble it up. My boy gained like 3 pounds or so when I first switched. Had to cut them back big time! Any of the 3 you choose will be fine and there are always those who do complain about everything, have to kinda just jump in and figure out what you guys like.

 

[kim n the guys]

my boys love fromm the grain free, so any of those three are very good choices. Now you just have to close your eyes and say, "Eenie, meenie, minie, mo" LOL

 

[carebehr]

Thank you so much!!!

 

[anatess]

Does the PX/BX carry Blue Buffalo Wilderness? This brand seems to be more available at the regular pet stores. My dogs are on the grain-free duck and salmon flavors. I have a bichon frise and this breed is well-known for their allergies. He has that type of fur that is silky soft and doesn't shed - like a poodle. His coat is silky and he hasn't had allergies while on Blue Wilderness. But then, I've never really tried anything else.

 

[carebehr]

No. They don't seem to carry anything good...for anything!
I did come across a problem. I was told petflow.com doesn't ship overseas. So I came across petfooddirect.com. I made my selection of what I was going to try and it's over $30 to ship to me!!! So I looked up petco.com and they ship to APO. They have free shipping. Of course they don't have what I wanted to pick which was Fromm. They offer Pinnacle (which I have read is a good brand, but I don't know if anyone has used it for their bulldogs). They carry the AvoDerm I was thinking about (it has a bulldog on the package=good for them??), Wellness, Innova, Solid Gold, and other brands that we all are familiar with (Iams, etc). I am frustrated with this because as soon as I pick something, I have to start all over. There is a Holistic brand and I have read that people highly suggest this stuff. I guess to help me out, what do I need to stay AWAY from? Chicken and grains is what I have read. So is salmon good for bulldogs? Duck and Pork okay? Sorry to be such a pain.

 

[carebehr]

Okay. From petco.com, I have looked over the ones that I have read are the best brands.

Pinnacle Salmon & Potato
Holistic Select Anchovy, Sardine, and Salmon
Wellness Salmon and Rice OR Duck and Rice
Solid Gold Holistic Blendz Adult Maintenance Dog Food

Solid Gold was the only one that had 18 reviews, whereas the others had 2-5 reviews. So I guess Solid Gold is good? I noticed that a lot people bought the brand for the same reasons: allergies, chewing at the feet, scratching, ear infections, etc. Which is what my bulldog has problems with during the heat. What do you guys think?

 

[anatess]

Petco sells Blue Buffalo brand too.

They sell the Blue Basics line which is BB's line for dogs with allergies.

They also sell the Blue Wilderness but it doesn't look like it's the grain-free kind. I thought all Blue Wilderness line is grain-free, but that picture of the Blue Wilderness bag in Petco online doesn't look like the one I have - the bag I buy specifically states "grain-free" on the bag and it's only Duck flavor not Duck and Potato flavor like it is on Petco's website.

Anyway, look at this EBN food rating list here: English Bulldog News Forums ~ - Dog Food Ratings at English Bulldog News

In that list, Blue Wilderness is rated 6 stars while Avoderm and Solid Gold are rated 5. If you ask me - I don't think there's much difference between the 5-star and the 6-star, so Solid Gold and Avoderm should also be good as well as Blue Wilderness.

Note that in the list certain lines of the same brand of product have different star ratings. I don't see the Blue Basics in the list, so I don't know how it rates in EBN. But, even with Blue Wilderness rated at 6 stars, a different line in the same brand - Blue Chicken and Rice Senior - only rated 3 stars.

Hope this helps.

 

[BruceP]

Grain Free, Gluten Free, and in Gracie's case, Chicken Free made a huge difference. Fromm Beef Frittata was our choice and it turned out to be a good one. Apparently you cant get that but those are the features I'd look for if I were you.

 

[GatorRay]

I was also going to say what Bruce said, I would stay away from chicken and grains. From what I understand, AvoDerm is used by several on here with good results.

 

[cowsmom]

i would try the avoderm to as they make both regular and grain free and now oven baked. i believe several on here have used it with success as [MENTION=1906]GatorRay[/MENTION] said.