I need some advice for my sisters dog. She has an all white miniture schnauzer that has skin allergies, high cholesterol and triglycerides. She has been spending tons of money on vet visits, meds and vet recommended food to keep these issues down, which are not working. I've since talked her into giving a 6 star rated grain free food (Wellness Core) a try and is working splendidly! Now she needs to find treats that will help, not hinder this food with his issues. Any advice would be wonderful!

I also want to tell you what happened with the vet when she found out my sister stopped using her recommended food (Hills Science Ultra Z/D dog food) and switched to Wellness Core.

Kim (my sister) has had Buddy (her dog) on Wellness Core for a month and has seen a dramatic improvement in his skin and coat! She is thrilled! All she was waiting to find out about was if it was working for his Cholesterol and triglyceride levels. She got the call today and the vet said they are improving!! My sister then proceeds to tell her she put him on Wellness Core and the vet was not happy! She couldn't understand why my sister would not have him on her recommended food and put him on this food she has never heard of! Even though this food was doing everything they were wanting, she couldn't get past that Kim didn't use her food. She told my sister that she didn't know how to proceed now becuase she didn't know anything about this food. This vet wanted to put Buddy on medications and now she doesn't know how to proceed??? Really??? Why in the world would you want to proceed when the food is working??? Kim told her how I had learned about the grain free food on this forum and how it has done wonders for so many dogs with issues and that's why she chose to try it and she said the Vet didn't know what to say about that but yet still tried to talk her into switching back to her food. Kim refused! She told her this food has done more for her dog than anything that has been tried so far and she was not going to change it.

Wow. That's great that the new diet is working! Some vets just don't know any better. Took me a while to find a vet that I like that likes what I feed my girls and encourages raw even! My cat had issues with his paw pads being dry and cracked and gland problems. The vets just kept asking if I cleaned with some weird cleaner etc. Finally after 2 years of cracked paws I started researching cat foods and put him on a grain free diet. His feet look great now (they improved very quickly and it's been 2yrs now) and his gland problem went away! So he's no longer the stinky kitty! Bet you can guess with glads were acting up. lol.

I dunno what exactly her dog was reacting to in the other food, but I like Zukes and Chummy Yummys as treats. You can also buy the rolls of natural balance food and cut them up into treats. At agility the trainers call it doggy crack. lol.

That's crap about the vet, and I think maybe your sister should try to find a vet that is more open to food other than Science Diet. Thankfully our new vet here was pretty cool about it, even though she did try to pitch the Science Diet.

As far as treats go, we are completely grain free with Ghost, and have been using the Canyon Creek Ranch treats with no issues. We also have just started using the Blue Wilderness Salmon treats, which are like absolute crack for Ghost. You can get both at Petsmart.

Why not try homemade treats? That way she knows exactly what is going into it

blueeyedghost wrote:

That's crap about the vet, and I think maybe your sister should try to find a vet that is more open to food other than Science Diet. Thankfully our new vet here was pretty cool about it, even though she did try to pitch the Science Diet.

As far as treats go, we are completely grain free with Ghost, and have been using the Canyon Creek Ranch treats with no issues. We also have just started using the Blue Wilderness Salmon treats, which are like absolute crack for Ghost. You can get both at Petsmart.

I'm with you - they make money off Science Diet!

BTW - I gave mine the Canyon Creek ones (chicken jerky) until I found out they're made in China and irradiated. I thought that a one ingredient food would be ok, but have seen negative things about those types of treats. I just don't trust any treats made in China anymore.

mheath0429 wrote:

Why not try homemade treats? That way she knows exactly what is going into it

yes! I'm about to make a batch of Chili's Crack Cookies. Oatmeal, Rice Flour, egg, pumpkin and salmon oil. Everyone I've given them to is like "What the hell is in these? The dogs go WILD!".

Dog treat recipe – I adapted it from here : http://www.dogaware.com/diet/treats.html (Go Bananas Training Treats) - feel free to share!
3 cups oatmeal
1 1/4 cups rice flour
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin – or 2 bananas mashed (canned pumpkin – without spices)
2 tsp cinnamon
8 squirts Grizzly salmon oil (about 1/4 cup)

Mix liquids first, then add dry ingredients. Drop rounds onto parchment paper. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes – let cool. Store in fridge for a week or freeze. Yummy!

Oh, good to know about the Canyon Creek Ranch. I will look into alternative treats. Thanks!

Thanks for all your information! I think I'm gonna switch my dogs treats as well...lots of good grain free treats listed!

Oh and I forgot to mention, I looked up the hills food review and it contains a cancer causing agent which made my sister very upset that the vet recommended it. She lost her first Schnauzer to cancer.

Wellness actually makes "Well Bars" (little square doggie biscuits) that we have used and Sabaka LOVES! I can't remember the flavor he had. We've only bought one box and dumped them directly in the doggie cookie jar so I didn't see the box enough to remember. We have a few treats we will cycle through... the Wellness and By Nature (These are not grain-free and one flavor has something questionable - can't remember what - maybe soy???).

Yay for better health!

Yes! Ours love the Wellness "WellBites" in Salmon & Lamb. Got them at Petsmart for $7.99 on sale and they love them as much as the Solid Gold Jerky treats that are $18! The ingredient list looks pretty good.

We also use (and not all are perfect ingredients but better than most:
-Natural Balance LIT (limited ingredient treats)
-Anything from Zukes!
-Freeze dried liver (from Trader Joe's usually - it's cheap)
-Carolina Prime Sweet Tater Fries (only sweet potato - great rawhide alternative!) - http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11291286 (Made in the USA! - $3.49 a bag at Petsmart!!!)
-Carolina Prime Salmon Jerky (has some other ingredients - so careful - but ours are fine on it)
-Natural Balance rolls (they love them but I hate cutting them up)

If you don't live near a good pet store, Amazon.com has free shipping and carries Zuke's and Natural Balance at great prices.

I used the Dogswell treats until I found out they're just fancy packaging made in China.

Along with the Trader Joe's organic jerky rolls or the Nutro Natural Jerky Treats (it's like a pepperoni stick. Not grain free, sadly)

I supplement with baby carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc whenever we have it.

Chili's a little treat snob - he'll snip them before he eats them and will turn down Milkbones. hehe The little brat!

We use Buddy Biscuits soft and chewy treats (by Cloudstar) for training but OMG - the GAS!!!!!!!!!

You can't beat the Zuke's training treats! We've not had any gas issues but if we are doing LOTS of training (like a class) we will cut them in half, so as not to stuff him full of them! He goes nuts (just realizing the pun) for the peanut butter ones!

I recommend you use oatmeal soap for the allergies. This natural soap will surely treat the itch that allergies give.