short term use only.....their not designed for long term feeding...and most say so on the bag....so why vets recommend them is beyond me...instead of id for upset stomachs just go on a bland diet for a week....but some people cannot...elderly...work schudule....so these foods are for convience of the owner....

have you had him checked for entropion?


I don't rescue animals because I want to feel better about myself, or morally superior to anyone. The best part of my life with animals is the humility they teach and the humanity the foster.
Jon Katz "Soul of a Dog"

when I adopted Cain he had bad paws/hot spots from his former owner feeding him Beneful. I switched him to Prairie dog food and within a few weeks, his hot spots were gone and his paws had no more cysts.

I eventually moved him to Core (Low Fat) and am now dealing with the same crap you are: excessive tearing and face fold redness. I am in the process of switching him off of Core and onto Health Extension (cannot find Prairie anymore) and just started him on Monday. No changes yet but I am halfing Core and the new so once I get him on all new food, I would think within a week or two you would start to notice a slight difference.

Good luck...

I'm guessing that the "starch" is what is helping to absorb the bile to prevent his morning phlegm problems.

a quick look at the z/d...first thing I noticed is that the first ingredient is "starch"...honestly I have researched many dog foods and have never seen that. What kind of starch??? And the first ingredient should be a protein...chicken, beef, venison, etc. There are a lot of ingredients I can't even pronounce, so I would definitely look into those. A good resource is www.dogfoodproject.com.

that the RX food is crappy? I have read similar comments from others on the forum.

The reason I asked is because Spanky has been on Prescription Z/D Ultra since he had his allergy tests several weeks ago. His vet recommended getting him off of it as soon as possible. She also made a disparaging remark about the RX food, but I don't know why.

Anyway, after hours of internet research, the only other foods that meets his allergy requirements is California Natural Chicken & Rice. We went through the slow 4 week switch over from RX to CalNat as recommended. We found that with CalN, he had major throwing up phlegm in the am, even after having a bedtime treat of an additional 1/2 cup of food and Pepcid. With RX food he does not have that problem at all. What we have done is start feeing him CalN in the am and RX in the pm. That seems to work well for Spanky. There is no problem with his appetite. He seems to like both of them just fine.... actually, I think he would eat anything in his bowl!

Is there a problem with RX that I haven't heard about?

and her nose rope is just now really clearing up. She was on Angel's Eys (tylosan) to keep the tear stains away, and when we stopped that, and switced her to pre-made raw, her nose rope got NASTY and the tear stains came back almost instantly. It took at least 10 weeks for the nose rope to have a noticeable improvement, and the tear stains are just now, at 12 weeks starting to look like they are clearing up. We also started giving her just pure, ground, raw meat,(no veggies like the pre-made)alternating with the pre-made, so maybe that's why her face is really clearing up.
Anyways, my vet told me to give it 16 weeks before giving up on it!

Cathy
when she first came home

for the system to adjust to a new food...or a additive to a raw diet.....same with vit e and vit c...i always tell people it will take 30 to 60 days....

that the vet recommended, his tail got infected and he had tear stains. We put him back on his grain free TOTW and within 3 weeks, he was perfect again. Hasn't lost any weight, but his tail is dry and no stains. It can take a while for the food to make a difference. I would try to stick with it for 6 or more weeks to see if it works.

Kathy, Ollie and Chester

she had lousy skin issues and also skin fold issues too.
California natural is a very basic kibble..
I gave her the lamb and rice and it just has sunflower oil that is it..
it took a complete bag to see a big difference
the vet suggested she needed to increase her fluids to help her skin and her folds too
add some moist food in the same brand and that speeded things up much faster..
she did not like water
hope this helps