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I can't believe that such a large and supposedly reputable company could make such garbage. I have recently discovered through reading that most of their stuff has red dye #40 in it, which many dogs are allergic to. apparently, maggie is one of those dogs. (a 13 pound shih tzu) she can't even keep her food down and scratches for no reason constantly.I was feeding her kibbles and chunks, which i found out is pure crap for your dog. (a pet hot line informed us). I went to wal-mart yesterday and got her some dog chow, which is one of the products they offer that doesn't have the red dye. well, i bought some freaking nutrionally balanced version by mistake, and behold, it has the damn red dye in it! now, i have two bags of worthless dog food and a little pooch that pukes after eating her food and constantly scratches herself.

sorry man, thanks for the insight about the dog food though, I've been in the market for a dog, (looking at getting a Boston Terrier) and it's good to know some of the problems with some of the big name dog food manufactures.Sorry to hear about Maggie, but it's a good thing that with maybe a change in food your issues will be resolved... minus the $ it cost to figure this out...

Try Science Diet. It's a good brand.

Poor maggie!!! You could also tried to give her the same food as I give to my Labernois. It cost about 20$ more for a 60lbs bag compared to other popular brand but it's the best food you can give to your dog (for me) I don't know if you can have it in the usa, but if you can try it you wont be disapointed. Also they have a bag made specific for shih tzu, and it don't have red dye in it. Here is the link:http://www.royalcanin.us/dogfood/shihtzu.htmlGood luck!!!

excellent, that sounds exactly like something she needs! there is even a retailer not to far off. i'll have to talk to "mommy" and see what we can do to fix maggie up with some good stuff.thanks for the link.

I only feed my dogs organic dog food since the glueten(sp?) scare. I have been using Natural Balance Reduced Calorie. Both my dogs love it and we feel a lot better about giving it to them. It costs about a buck a pound though. But it's worth it.

Purina dog food, and pretty much anything you'd find at Wal-Mart, are not really good quality foods and may still make her scratch. You might want to try switching her to a higher quality food. It will be more expensive but likely worth it since she will feel a lot better.Cocoa came to us eating Purina Little Bites, and she scratched and bit at herself like she had fleas, even though she didn't. We switched her over to Nutro Natural Choice Small Bites Lamb & Rice and she doesn't scratch as much, and her coat is much shinier and prettier. The greasiness of the Purina would be enough to make me not want to eat it.

I've fed my German Shepherds Nutro since they were puppies. I think they even have a sensitive skin formula. It's really not that much more expensive. How much food can drunken pooch eat anyway? My two put away about 40 pounds a month.

One of my dogs, Gomez - also a shih tzu, has red dye 40 allergies. He also has several other allergies that have caused him lots of itching problems.We have found that (with the vet's consent), that it helps if we give him some benadryl (they make a benadryl free formula). We dilute 5 cc's with a minute amount of water and use it to soften his food...it works better than trying to administer the dose by other methods.We have another dog that we inherited that has a bad gingivitis issue (we got him that way). While regular brushing helps his teeth, it in no way helps his breath. For breath, try putting a little bit of peppermint oil (other friends use peppermint extract) in their water - works great!

Also, forgot to mention - with the extra food that Maggie can't eat, you can always donate it to an animal rescue. Several rescues and shelters are in need of dog food!

thanks everyone for the responses and advice. i guess we'll go to petsmart as soon as we can get there. (she gets to go with us if we go there) and i'll see what i can dig up!

Quote, originally posted by engineertwin2 » For breath, try putting a little bit of peppermint oil (other friends use peppermint extract) in their water - works great!Minty dog kisses!

Science Diet is a good product as mentioned above. Pricier but much better.

I have a cat and dog that both eat Iams.The cat gets iams indoor with hairball control. Any other brand of cat food she will get the runs and vomit it up.The dog gets Iams mini-chunks, being he don't chew his food anyways, he is such a pig. The smaller the chunks the easier on his tummy. He gets sick on nutro- lam&rice.I have tried other expensive brands but keep coming back to Iams only because it's seems to be the only food he don't get sick on. I have even tried the food that the vet sells. Still gets sick on it.http://us.iams.com/iams/en_US/...ID=11I stick with Iams. Some people tell me horror stories about their products but you know what. If your dog licks him or herself in their private parts I don't think anything could be worse than that.

I wondered why I wasn't feeling good,damn purina.

I've fed my dogs Pedigree for years. My dogs used to get the runs with any other "cheap stuff". I switched to Pedigree because I was told it was the best of the discount store brands at the time (that was 7 years ago).$18 for 60lbs at Sam's Club.

the best tip i learned while working at a vet clinic was to look at the first couple of ingredients listed, if its just corn and wheat and other crap, dont buy it. you want chicken or beef or some sort of protein up there in the top three ingrediants, i mean, they are naturally carnivores

+1 to NUTRO!! I'm in the Frequent Buyer Program...every 11th bag is FREE!http://www.nutroproducts.com/fbp.html(I believe the program is not available at Petco or Petsmart; we have neither)

I worked at a vet clinic for a few years, my dogs loves Purina puppy chow and now they love the Purina for big dogs (2 lab/springer spanies oopsies) I think it just depends on the dogs. They get upset tummies on most other foods.But, a lot of dogs have allergies, I have seen it more in pure breeds. Science diet is really good, the vet sells special formulas too like for allergies and such. There is also Eukanuba (I think it is Iams, but not sure) But we sold that at the vet and some dogs took it better.Good Luck!!

ha, here is purina's response to me after i sent them a message condemning their use of red dye #40:"Thank you for contacting Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.Although dogs and cats are unable to distinguish color, we know that appearance is considered by most pet owners when purchasing food for their pets. Please know that artificial color is used in some pet foods to give the product a more desirable and consistent appearance. The color does not affect the palatability or nutrition of the product. All colorings used in Nestlé Purina PetCare pet foods have been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and are added at very low levels. We are most anxious to restore your confidence in our products. Thus, we would like to mail a complimentary coupon for your use. Also, to help make up for some of your inconvenience, we will include several high value discount coupons we hope you'll use the next time you purchase Nestlé Purina PetCare Company products.Again, thank you for visiting our web site."are they seriously trying to tell me that there is no harm in red dye #40??? i don't care what was approved, it's a fact that red dye 40 causes allergies in many dogs!keithvibe, i have the same problem with maggie a lot of times. she even makes snorting noises when she eats!

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »appearance is considered by most pet owners when purchasing food for their pets.Sounds like B.S. to me

Quote, originally posted by HawaiiPontiacLover »Sounds like B.S. to me Definitely B.S. If a pet owner is that concerned about looks that they allow themselves to feed their pets something that is potentially dangerous to their pet's health and well being, perhaps those people don't deserve pets. Who gives a crap what the food looks like, just make sure it is good for the little ones!Especially with all the pet food recalls and such from earlier in the year, pet owners need to be more interested in buying food that won't kill off their pets! Feed them something good so they stand a chance at living a good, happy, long life.

i can't remember the last time i bought a certain dog food because it looked tasty.

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »...If a pet owner is that concerned about looks that they allow themselves to feed their pets something that is potentially dangerous to their pet's health and well being, perhaps those people don't deserve pets...Do you think any sane pet owner would knowingly feed their pet something potentially dangerous?I don't check the ingredients in my pet's food anymore (I did 7-8 years ago when I was choosing which food to feed my dogs), but if Pedigree suddenly started adding something that's my dogs were allergic to, I wouldn't think to check the food ingredient list...well, now I would, but not before reading this thread.

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »i can't remember the last time i bought a certain dog food because it looked tasty.Exactly! Since when does anybody go out and say "Oooh pretty, red and gold chunks of kibble, that looks much better than that other brown stuff!" I'm not really sure how Nestle will say that many owners are like that...

dude that sucks. i'm glad you found out before it was too late... my grandma had a lhasa apso when i was younger, and fed her purina. she had the same problem with scratching n biting. the lil thing would open up sores because of all the scratching. the vets told her the dog was allergic to fleas, and tried everything under the sun to get rid of em (baths, collars, etc). she ended up putting her to sleep, which i just found out this summer. i was told someone took her out of the yard when i was 15too bad my grandma or i didn't know this 2 decades ago, she woulda had a much better life