Our Jack Russell Terrier (now 3 years old) came home with us from the breeder at 8 weeks, with a bag of Purina dog food (and the breeder was feeding Purina to all his dogs) and she was also crawling with fleas. We treated her for fleas with Advantage, but she was still itching and scratching constantly. Nutro Lamb & Rice food was recommended to us by our vet... and I just "assumed" we were switching Lucy to a very high quality food. She remained on Nutro Lamb & Rice for 2 1/2 years. In September of 2004 Lucy went totally blind overnight from SARDS (suddenly acquired retinal degeneration syndrome) and SARDS (even after being around for around 20 years) at this time is still listed as "cause unknown" and not thought to be a hereditary condition.
The only "theory" so far on the cause of SARDS is a combination of diet, over- vaccinations, chemicals (such as flea treatments... yard treatments, household chemicals, etc.) that cause an immune problem that results in over-production of cortisol, which in turn causes cell damage that shows up in the retina destroying the cones & rods, and there is no treatment for this.
While I sure can't/don't "blame" the Nutro diet Lucy was on, because there is of course no way to pin point a single cause of for her blindness, changing her diet was just one of many things I've done to keep her as healthy as possible. After doing a lot of research I learned there were many other more "reputable" dog kibbles out there... but I just wasn't aware of this. My first change with Lucy was her kibble, and started feeding her Canidae. We had also recently adopted Holly from a rescue, and was having trouble keeping each dog out of the puppy/adult Nutro anyway, and picked Candae because it did not have a separate puppy/adult food (only a senior choice) so they could both eat the same food. Both Lucy & Holly have done wonderful on the Canidae. For their dinner feeding I also make them a "goodie" gravy topping using plain non-fat yogurt and alternate with high-quality canned dog foods, sardines, canned salmon, canned mackeral etc. mixed with left-over veggies, fruits etc. heated in the microwave, and then add the yogurt. They LOVE this topping on top of their kibble... and Lucy's skin is 100% normal these days! She is never itchy now... is is not on ANYTHING for fleas either... and no fleas!
Mordy said:
purr - as renee pointed out, canidae doesn't advertise as much as nutro does. what they save in advertising cost they can deduct from the price of the product. besides that, many of the big companies will charge what the market allows. if more people were aware of the fact that they can get better quality products for less money, they'd very likely be forced to sell their junk cheaper.
2pups622 - just what is it that you like so much about nutro, compared to better quality products? the cute advertising? i'd really be interested in hearing your opinion on this. and yeah, sure, there are many dogs out there that don't get food, or even worse quality food than the nutro, but the care for your dog is in your hands and you have the power to decide to protect your dog's health and maybe even prolong his or her life.
a good diet is the foundation for good health.