Pmi

[Sadiesmom]

I am a newbie here and I have a few questions.
I have a 5 yrold lab named Sadie and we are fighting allergies, I changed her food to PMI a soy free with chicken protein and I was wondering if PMI was a good food and if not what do I look for in a good food. I am trying to feed her better and can I add wheat germ oil and flax seed to this to help with her skin?
Has anyone hear heard of neem and if so can it be added?

I am really new to all this, the allergies seem to start when I put her on Iams..

 

[Cybill]

I've heard a lot of people compain about Iams because of the corn content. Besides causing allergic reactions, the corn can cause behaviorial problems, too, so you're wise to stay away from it.

I've heard a lot of people that have dogs with allergies will home cook or feed raw, but there are some very good foods out there. I think the favorite foods include Canidae, Innova, and Solid Gold, but I'm not sure if any of these specifically have an allergy type of formula. It might just be worth a shot to try one of the foods to see if it possibly makes a difference. It did make a remarkable difference for a friend of mine once she took her dog off of Iams.

Flaxseed oil is good for coats (probably good for the skin, too), but if you have a good quality food, I've heard you really don't need to add it as a supplement. Not sure about the wheat germ oil, but I'm sure others on this list will have some good input for you.

 

[Saje]

Neem is like nature's deet. It's used to kill insects and I've never heard of anyone wanting to put it in a food before.

I don't know what PMI is.

I'm going to move this to the food forum so you get more responses.

 

[showpug]

I too am not familiar with PMI, never heard of it. Could you post the ingredients or put a link to their website?

If you want to really learn about dog food, visit www.dogfoodproject.com. It's a really great site created by one of the Chaz members here. Take the time to really read it and you will learn a ton about how to identify good and bad ingredients in dog food.

For an allergic dog, you may want to consider something like California Natural. It has limited ingredients and works pretty well on some allergic dogs. I personally would only feed the puppy formulas though due to the fact that the adult formulas are very low in fat and protein. The puppy can be fed as an all life stage food. Canidae makes a chicken and rice and lamb and rice as well, but Canidae contains lecithin which if I understand correctly is made from soybeans.

 

[showpug]

I found their website and ingredients and must say this is a very poor quality food. I can tell you want what is best for your dog, so you may want to visit the website that I provided in my first post. You can also check out these sites to good food companies that make quality dog food.
www.naturapet.com
www.eaglepack.com
www.canidae.com
www.naturesvariety.com

Here are the ingredients I found for one of the PMI formulas: The poor quality ingredients are in bold -

INGREDIENTS: Ground yellow corn, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, chicken
by-product meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid), natural poultry flavor,
salt, sunflower oil, potassium chloride, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide,
vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement,
pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, menadone sodium bisulfite complex, calcium iodate, vitamin D3 supplement, ridoflavin supplement, cobalt carbonate,
folic acid, sodium selenite.

 

[Sadiesmom]

Thanks for the responses.I have probably made her worse then...I am headed to the website showpug suggested to lrearn more...

The neem wasn't to put in her food it was for worms and such I had read that you could use it instead of the dewormers at stores.

Thanks again,
SadiesMom

 

[Herschel]

PMI is Purina Mills Inc.

It's Purina--as Showpug posted, the ingredients are trash.

 

[Sadiesmom]

I went out looking for these brands and I am having a hard time finding them.My local feed stores don't have these. I won't be able to go to downtown Atl. until the weekend thats where we have a natural whole foods grocery store. I am going to call before I head down.Until then what to feed her? Should I go back and get a bag of lamb and rice Nutro Choice, out of all that I seen this seem to be the closest to natural i guess.But it is by science diet makers i was told. I don't know I am confusing myself now...LOL I just hate to see her suffering so and want to help.

 

[Herschel]

I searched the store locator at http://www.canidae.com and came up with 7 stores for Area Code 404.

Did you try the store locator tools on those websites?

 

[showpug]

Do you have access to Petco? If so, why don't you try Natural Balance? It's great for some allergic dogs. Just remember, to give a new food 6-8 weeks before you will see improvement.

 

[Saje]

Thanks for the responses.I have probably made her worse then...I am headed to the website showpug suggested to lrearn more...

The neem wasn't to put in her food it was for worms and such I had read that you could use it instead of the dewormers at stores.

Thanks again,
SadiesMom

Oh, where did you want to add the neem then if not to the food?

You can use Diatomaceous Earth as a natural dewormer. That can be added to foods.

 

[Sadiesmom]

I called the natural food store and they don't carry any of those foods, but the gentleman I spoke with suggested the Natural Balance venison and brown rice for allergies, I called my nearest Petco and they have it and I will be headed that way later this evening to pick some up....The neem was just something I ran across and was looking for more info..I am new to all this stuff and just asking questions. I have seen Diatomacous earth at Lowes, is that the one I use or is there another kind? I saw it in lawn and garden.Also what is this phiotics (spelling) and how does this help.

 

[Saje]

Don't get the stuff for lawns and gardens. You have to buy human grade Diatomacous Earth. I get mine at a health food store.

Phiotics? Probiotics? I'm not sure what you are referring to.

I've heard good things about natural balance though so that might be a good option for you

 

[Sadiesmom]

Probiotics

 

[Saje]

Probiotics are like the 'good bacteria' that you hear about in yogurt.

Check out Mordy's site for more

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=probiotics

 

[Sadiesmom]

I have been checking out the website and its a wealth of info, now if I can remember all the stuff I read...LOL

 

[Saje]

I know. I never remember it all lol. I try but I always forget something and have to double check.

 

[showpug]

I called the natural food store and they don't carry any of those foods, but the gentleman I spoke with suggested the Natural Balance venison and brown rice for allergies, I called my nearest Petco and they have it and I will be headed that way later this evening to pick some up....The neem was just something I ran across and was looking for more info..I am new to all this stuff and just asking questions. I have seen Diatomacous earth at Lowes, is that the one I use or is there another kind? I saw it in lawn and garden.Also what is this phiotics (spelling) and how does this help.

Natural Balance Venison and Brown rice would be a great option to try and SO MUCH better than the PMI. Good job

 

[Sadiesmom]

Thankyou guys I learned something new today...

 

[moxiegrl]

Good luck and let us know how shes doing