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Just cause it's a busy day for me, I'm gonna wait for Claudia to respond to this, lol.

However, check out the nutrition and feeding forum. There's a Sticky "What are you feeding your husky?" that will give you ideas.

Most of us feed The Honest Kitchen, which is a dehydrated raw or Taste of the Wild, which is a grain-free kibble. Many huskies are intolerant to grains and are notorious for sensitive stomachs.

I personally wouldn't feed either Natura Choice or Eukaneuba. I would check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com. It's a great site and rates popular pet foods. For the members that feed kibbles, we all feed at least 4*, mostly 5* or 6* foods.

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Ok, ok, I'll respond...but let me answer another post real quick before I forget...BRB!

That definitely sounds like a food allergy. Try to avoid anything with corn, wheat, soy, gluten, by-products, even some dairy products can be allergens to dogs.

Look at the ingredient list on your bag of dog food. What are the first few? If it's still Ol'Roy, I'd imagine it's a combination of corn (probably in various forms) and maybe some by-products. Dogs don't digest corn at all, so they gain no nutritional value from it and it passes straight through them (so you have to feed more food for them to feel "full" and they go to the bathroom a lot more!) Try to avoid anything with BHA as a preservative also... pretty sure this has been linked to cancer.

Some of the best foods you can buy from your local retail stores (like PetSmart) would be Blue Buffalo (all formulas except for their Wilderness line have rice in them, so they aren't completely grain free), Wellness is another good one.

Orijen, Wellness CORE, Taste of the Wild, Acana, Solid Gold and Innova EVO are just a few popular "premium" brand dog foods you could choose from. None are sold at your grocery store or chain pet specialty shops to my knowledge. You can find these either at a holistic pet food store, online, or even places like Boots, Bridles and Britches.

Allergies in animals can be very frustrating to pinpoint at times. Your vet might try to convince you to perform an allergy test to figure out what's going on. Try switching to a higher quality food before doing that. Allergy tests are very expensive and I've found that many times the food is the culprit. They might also try to push you into buying a prescription dog food, like Hills Science Diet. Again, try a more natural, holistic brand of dog food first. The ingredients in the majority of prescription foods aren't the best and it's also very expensive.

Hope this helps some! Keep us posted.

Kimberly ^_^

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Koda wrote:

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Most of us feed The Honest Kitchen, which is a dehydrated raw or Taste of the Wild, which is a grain-free kibble. Many huskies are intolerant to grains and are notorious for sensitive stomachs.

I personally wouldn't feed either Natura Choice or Eukaneuba. I would check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com. It's a great site and rates popular pet foods. For the members that feed kibbles, we all feed at least 4*, mostly 5* or 6* foods.

Ok, I'm back...
Check out the link for dog food analysis. It'll rate different dog food brands.

Most Sibes, including my female, cannot tolerate grains well, so we tend to look for good quality grain free dog food. Whether it's kibble, dehydrated, freeze-dried or raw, most of us will lean toward grain free. That doesn't mean to say you should go grain free, but if Meka is chewing, developing sores, or has soft poop/diarreha, she could very well have some food allergies.

Another person on the forum, her Sibe, Hobie was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis, an allergy which causes open sores primarily on the face. After trying steriods, creams and pills, she sought out a holistic vet and was suggested she feed Hobie a raw diet. Within a couple of months, his sores were almost completely gone. In her case, the process in which dog food is made, along with certain ingredients caused Hobie's reaction.

For my female, we went through a period of constant diarreha. I put her on a home cooked diet, consisting of hard boiled eggs and blanched carrots and got her BM's back to normal. When I tried to re-introduce her old kibble back slowly, she went soft again. Here is where it becomes trial and error. Eventually, after about 5 different dog food brands, I figured out she has intolerances to the cooking process for kibble when it comes to chicken. So her protein source is primarily fish.

Like Tori, I personally would not feed Eukanuba or Natura Choice.. There are a lot of kibble out there with cheap fillers, and lesser quality ingredients. It may be cheaper to feed, but the higher the quality the dog food, the less you'll need to feed. Someone once told me, 'If you had a child, would you feed McDonalds every day?' That would like feeding kibble that is rated low that contain cheap fillers, such as corn and rice.

Nutrition can be overwhelming - I sure was when I was figuring out Ginger's issues with diarreha....but we are here to help.

I don't want to blast you with TOO much info, because that'll just overwhelm you, so start with the dog food analysis site. What you end up feeding will depend on what's available to you locally. Otherwise, you could look at ordering dog food online. There are a few places that you can get good dog food for less than retail, which will at least offset the cost of shipping.

indigobluestarz wrote:

Thanks Kimberly I remember for sure seeing Wellness and Taste of the Wild but can't remember about the other brands. Writing them down though so I can go back tonight and start getting her eating better food.

What about Lamb vs. Chicken vs. Fish? Does it matter as long as it's a higher quality?

Wellness and TOTW are good kibble. Some of feed those brands. The protein source will depend on your preference. OR, if Meka is still showing signs of chewing, it would be the protein source as well...it'll be trial and error, as the 'cooking' process could also be what's causing her to chew, itch, etc.

Have you taken Meka to get checked by a vet yet? Maybe it might not be food intolerances after all...but you could always switch out to at least a grain free formula to see how she does.

Also, keep in mind that switching foods too fast can cause an upset tummy, so take at LEAST 2 weeks to transition her food when you switch.

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Aevyn was having problems with the food he was giving to us with, and just recently we made the switch to Orijen. It did come with a frequent buyer program, and compared to the 2-3* food we were feeding him it was only a .24c/lb price difference to go up to a 6*.

I'm not sure if you have them in the states, but Global Pet Foods is where we go - and if they don't currently carry what you want to try, they'll order it for you. They also have the frequent buyer programs for most of the brand-names they commonly carry.

Good luck~

my Girls Has The runs & Always Puking Their food up when They were on Iams & Chicken soup Food .. My girls Started to Do ALot Better once they got on TOTW ! Its The BEst Food i EVEr Bought ! They Girl LOve it And Icon is even Thinning Out a Lil Hope You Get the Issue Figured out But I Will Let u knw My 2 girls Do Great On All The TOTW'w And its Well Worth The $$