Food problem (long post)

[Crested]

I've tried to get Ben to eat the same food that Bella eats (a thing called Serti or Friskies).
Before that he ate a thing called Hills d/d Egg and Rice that I got from the vet. See he's allergic to some dog foods. Some make him scratch the skin on his throat off (like Solid Gold).
I'll start from the begining to give you an idea of Ben's food problems.
When I got Ben he ate Pedigree Advance Puppy mixed with cheese or Cesar canned meat or something like that to make it tastyer for him. I had a hard time finding it in the shops here so when he should have gotten Junior, I had to change to adult. I wasn't so sure about the quality of the food and I tried Cesar Delicroque and other things. Then I heard of a porridge that I've given him ever since on the side of the dry food. Then I tried Nutro Choise Maintance Mini. He ate 3kg sacks for 6 months with VERY good results. His stomache worked very good, his skin was exellent, he was very active and happy in every way! I had no complains. Then I decided to buy a 15kg bag, so that it would last longer. I noticed that the color of the food was lighter, but didn't pay much attention to it. That's when the troubles started. He started to scratch the skin on his throat so that it started to bleed. No matter what we did he just continued to scratch. After we took Nutro away, he immediately stopped.
The vet gave the diagnosis that it was food allergy.
I tried many foods. Allergy foods, sensitive stomache foods, regular foods, market foods, canned foods, dry foods... But always gave the porridge on the side.
Now I tried the Hill's d/d Egg-Rice and Ben could eat it but it wasn't tasty and it had pretty much fat in it, because Ben got zits of it.
So now when I heard what foor Bella eats, I decided to try the same food so that the two of them wouldn't have to eat two diffirent foods and so I wouldn't have to watch like a hawk that Ben doesn't eat her food or she doesn't eat his food.
Unfortunatelly no matter how carefull I was, Ben got diharrea of that food, so I just had to forget it.
Now I decided to try the 3kg Nutro bags and he seems to be fine. I've not given him it many days yet, but he seems to be able to eat it.
Now I have a pretty tough question:

Should I give Bella Serti (pretty cheap market food) and Ben Nutro or should I change Bella's food to Nutro Choise Puppy Mini?

And another question: Do you have any idea of why Ben can eat the food from the 3kg Nutro bags but not the 15kg?

Thanks!

/Crest

[Mary's Mama]

Two things. The diarrhea from the change could be that you simply changed to quickly, some foods/dog require a more gradual approach.

I dont see anything wrong with putting Bella on the same Nutro that Ben gets. I have raised two puppies in the last year and both of them ate adult food. I think puppy food is not necessary, they grow too fast and get too fat! When you feed a puppy regular food, you just need to feed more than an adult would eat.

I think that the problem with the larger bag vs smaller bag was probably mold of some kind. I bet Ben does not have a food allergy but a mold allergy. It is better the buy less food more often so that you can be sure it stays fresh. Dog food can spoil and grow mold just the same as human food. I would stick to the smaller bags, feed Bella the same food (just a little extra, or if you free feed as much as she wants) and call it a day.

Good luck.

[Crested]

Thanks Mary's Mama!
I guess it could be mold allergy, but how can he get the same reacton of other foods too??? Sometimes he gets it from cookie crumbs etc. that fall on the floor too! It makes you really think. I would LOVE to go and get him allergy tested, but the tests are so horribly explensive! When I get the recources to get him allergy tested, don't think I will not hesitate to do so!!
[img]http://www.nutro.fi/img/ncmm.jpg[/img] This is the food I'm feeding him now. I couldn't find it on Nutro's own homepage, but I did find it on the finnish Nutro page.

Do you think I can change Bella's food from one to the other when she's so little?

I would feed her puppy food, because I would rest easier knowing she's getting the right ammount of everything she needs, but I would feed her Nutro.
[img]http://www.nutro.fi/img/ncmpm.jpg[/img] <-- this package.

[Peng1zrule]

this is a highly unscientific answer based on limited knowledge of the marketing world--but my guess is that the bigger bag has corn (or whatever he's allergic to) mixed in with it because it's bigger and they need to make it "cheaper" to market it at a price people will buy--smaller bag costs less, but you get a smaller amount, so you buy more often. Big bag can't be same price per pound as smaller bag or there wouldn't be a real profit. I am GUESSING the bigger bag is a slightly less high quality food--that it is "stretched" with some low quality ingrediant.