# best dry meal



## Foxhollow (Feb 4, 2014)

I have a one year old Vizsla and she is extremely active. She is almost always off leash and runs with her dog buddies a lot. I am presently feeding her 4 cups a day of a generic brand of food and she under weight. She weighs in at 41 lbs. and has been at that weight for 3 months now. I am getting all kinds of advice but I would like a little help from active Vizsla owners whose dogs are over the top active like mine!


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

I would recommend going on dogfoodadvisor.com and seeing what your food rates!


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Quite a few of us feed Taste of the Wild. That has been the food of choice for my dogs. There are many different grain free varieties to choose from.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Hello, Foxhollow, and welcome to the forums! I really can't help with your dog food question, though. I switch my dog's food around all the time, from one brand to another. He seems to like the variety.


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## marathonman (Jan 15, 2013)

Vizsla's tend to run lean, especially when they are younger. Our boy at 16 months still has a hard time keeping weight on. Our general rule is that if we can see spine, up his food intake. 
Recently our boy put on a little weight because he was on a sedative and wasn't allowed to do off leash run or go to day care for a week. As we got him back into it though, the weight has flown off.

I would highly suggest finding a quality kibble for your girl. Many of the generic brands are full of junk and don't provide quality nutrition. As MilesMom suggested, go to dogfoodadvisor.com for help, but a lot of us feed Taste of the Wild, Arcana, or Origen. I would also suggest supplementing her diet with other things for some extra protein. We add scrambled eggs in the morning and baked chicken at night. I've also used fish and bison. I doubt we'll ever make a switch to feeding raw but we've used some of the info for diet guidance.


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## gzagar (Jul 12, 2016)

Our 2 year old girl Nyla has been scratching (mainly neck and chest) since we've had her, as well as some other nuisance issues we've attributed to diet with the vet. We are transitioning away from a chicken based protein kibble.


From: Royal Canin Medium Sensitive Digestion Dry Dog Food (first 7 ingredients: Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Brown Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat, Brewers Rice Flour, Wheat

To: Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Grain-Free Sweet Potato & Bison Dry Dog Food (first 7 ingredients: Sweet Potatoes, Bison, Potato Protein, Pea Protein, Canola Oil (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols), Dicalcium Phosphate, Potato Fiber

Transitioning over slowly but noticed changes in one week: Coat looks better, stool looks better, less anal gland discharge.

Wondering if anyone else has transitioned away from grains...what made you do it and what have you noticed? Also open to any other protein suggestions than the Bison formula.

Thanks!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

One of my past vizslas was allergic to chicken, and something else. I just did trial, and error until I found the right food. 

I found Merrick simple ingredients, with fish as the protein worked for him.
It all depends on what is bothering your dog, as to what will be the correct food.

You could always test for allergies, if you can't figure it out.


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## tegee26 (Apr 25, 2018)

My current 12-year old lab developed a severe ear problem (and I mean severe ear infections) when he was about 3-years of age. We tried everything, including switching foods and going grain free, etc.

It wasn't until I switch (or found by accident) Annamaet Food http://www.annamaet.com/products . And literally within a few weeks his ear problems went away and never came back. Consequently I am a big believer in their line of food and have been loyal to them ever since. If you do some homework on them and their company you'll instantly see they are not a "big box store" brand of food.

We use their grain free formulas, a bit pricier but well worth it in my opinion.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

gzagar said:


> Our 2 year old girl Nyla has been scratching (mainly neck and chest) since we've had her, as well as some other nuisance issues we've attributed to diet with the vet. We are transitioning away from a chicken based protein kibble.
> 
> 
> From: Royal Canin Medium Sensitive Digestion Dry Dog Food (first 7 ingredients: Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Brown Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat, Brewers Rice Flour, Wheat
> ...


They are high performance machines, think: Ferrari. The second fastest breed @ 40mph. And being as expressive and sensitive as they are, also exquisitely reactive to everything, including their diet.

I rarely comment on people's food choices, but in this case, using a food that has as its first ingredient a meat "by product" (Royal Canin) is a frank invitation for problems..a "by product" is usually unidentifiable waste from the carcass... as well as "sweet potatoes" (Natural Balance) ..which is a glutinous, high glycemic starch used primarily b/c they're cheap and they artificially raise the protein content. They really do require a high performance meat based food where some identifiable meat meal(beef/fish/poultry)..which is concentrated and has 300% more protein than "regular" meat (which is mostly H2O). I'd recommend any V owner to select a grain free food based on that criteria, Dogfoodadvisor.com is a good resource.


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## pez999 (Apr 22, 2017)

Mine is allergic to chicken and we're suspecting peanut butter (as of late)...which sucks as it can be kind of hard to find certain treats or canned food without it. We've been using Acana (Duck & Pear) for almost a year now and he's loved it. Little higher in protein than the more generic brands but also don't have to feed as much of it. He eats about 1.5 cup twice a day (gets bully stick and other treats as well). Some other brands that are good and I've seen people use: Taste of the Wild, Earthborn, Orijen

If I had an extra fridge, I'd raw feed for sure. Might be an option to look into if you want.


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

We switch between Acana lamb, duck and fish versions and Orijen Six Fish to avoid getting bored. Adding a piece of salmon over the weekends when we compete for days in dock diving. He also gets raw goat milk daily, that is is main tree. No allergies, shiny coat, lean muscles.


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