I recently switched to pro plan and I have been very happy with it. The allergy thread got me thinking about corn allergies. I know the pro plan line they are currently on has the second ingredient of corn gluten meal and my one girl has had an increase of ear and skin issues. For those who like pro plan, have you tried the sensitive skin and stomach formula for your 'allergy' labs (I don't see corn in that one). My girl is a picky eater and really likes the pro plan, so I hate to switch her off of it. I gave her buffalo once and she turned red as a beet in the ears so I am now really thinking that she has a food allergy.

I have an allergy prone GSD. I tried her on the Pro Plan S&S, but her itching, licking, and gunky ears/skin got worse.

I know others that it works wonders on. The vet I interned for last year recommended it to many clients and they had fabulous results.

Thanks for your experience. I am wondering at this point if we should just bite the bullet and see a dermatologist

All have my guys on Pro-Plan Selects Salmon and Brown Rice. They have been on it for about 4 months now. They seem to doing doing well on it.....nice coats, muscle and nice little stools. One of my boys does have environmental allergies and is going after his feet because of the leaf molds that are out this time of year....other than that I'm very pleased with the Pro-Plan Selects.

I took my boy to the Dermatologist last month and had him skin tested.....it was money well spent. I had the results from his allergy testing before I left. It is very helpful to know exactly what you're dealing with. JMO....Good Luck!

I must admit that my anti- big conglomerate food company attitude kept me from trying pro-plan for a very long time.
I tried all the pricier specialty foods and while some were good, none were good for all and some were available here, and others there, and what a pain in the buttocks.
I finally tried Pro-plan SS for my two that have the itchys and was really thrilled with the results. Better than the foods I was feeding before that averages a good 10-20$ more a bag.

I noticed a big difference after only a couple months, and now many months into it, all are doing super.

I now have all mine on Proplan, two on SS and three on Lamb and Rice. I wish the lamb and rice didnt have corn, but it is still doing really well for everyone.
As a side note, I love the support I have gotten from the reps I have talked to and the breeder plan is great.
Annie

Some of our dogs do great on Pro-Plan but many can not eat it due to ear/allergy issues. Yes, the corn gluten meal is likely the culprit.

I switched one of my girls over to Pro plan, WELL NEVER AGAIN will I bother doing that, her hair simply just fell out to the point that she looked quite hairless, her stomach was red and raw and her back was and still is bald, she had a very thick dark chocolate coat now I hide her when ever anyone comes to visit, when I say bald I mean NO HAIR WHATSOEVER, just skin. Since I have taken her off it the scratching has stopped and her skin is no longer inflamed, still waiting for the hair to grow back tho. My stud dog will not eat it at all.

So what do you normally feed her????

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Replying to:

I switched one of my girls over to Pro plan, WELL NEVER AGAIN will I bother doing that, her hair simply just fell out to the point that she looked quite hairless, her stomach was red and raw and her back was and still is bald, she had a very thick dark chocolate coat now I hide her when ever anyone comes to visit, when I say bald I mean NO HAIR WHATSOEVER, just skin. Since I have taken her off it the scratching has stopped and her skin is no longer inflamed, still waiting for the hair to grow back tho. My stud dog will not eat it at all.

I used to use ProPlan exclusively but about 10 years ago I noticed that no matter what kind or variety I used I personally did not have good results. However, that all being said if I have found out anything in my years in dogs it is that everyone has a favorite food, and not every dog reacts the same way to a specific food brand. My only advice to anyone would be to find what works for your dog(s) and just keep your ears open to learn about other food and nutrition issues.

Yikes...keeping my ears open has been my problem *smile*
I have been one for the food merry go round, always thinking there might be something just a little bit better. Royal Canin, to Blue Buffalo, to Canidae, now to proplan.
I am doing my best to stay put for a while:)
I think it is nutty how results can vary so much between dogs...some do so well on a food and others do so poorly. I guess it shows how truly individual they all are eh?
Annie

I've used Pro Plan for the past 18 months and my dogs love it and do well on it. One time when I went in to Petco to buy my 200 Pounds in bulk purchase, they didn't have enough Chicken and Rice so I decided to buy 6 bags of Beef and Rice. For somre reason, my dogs didn't do well in the Beef. Their stools were looser and they began to itch more. I ended up taking the other 5 bags back and replacing it with Chicken and Rice.

What I like about Pro Plan is that I can buy the Weight Management for our 8 yr old chubbsters and our fat sensative Schnauzer who gets little bump acne if he gets anything over 10 % Fat kibble. I'm not having to buy all these different brands of dog food for our dogs and I still get my 10 % discount and buy 10 get 1 free and the weight circles for the breeder program.

I don't like the corn in dog food either but for some reason, my dogs do better on Pro Plan than some premium kibble that has NO CORN in it.

I guess this thread should be a sign that not all Labs are the same and just because you buy the most expensive kibble out there doesn't mean all dogs will do well on it.

I've had ear problems with Pro Plan Chicken and Rice. When I switched to Royal Canin Lab 30, the ear problem cleared up. Sometimes I have to feed up in the wintertime to keep the dogs in proper weight, but otherwise, I like RC alot and wouldn't go back to PP.

"I've used Pro Plan for the past 18 months and my dogs love it and do well on it. One time when I went in to Petco to buy my 200 Pounds in bulk purchase, they didn't have enough Chicken and Rice so I decided to buy 6 bags of Beef and Rice."

Joy,
I have been buying Proplan from Petco myself and was wondering about the "bulk purchase" you were talking about.
Do you get a decent discount?
I was considering buying 10 bags at a time as we go through about 5 a month.

Any info would be appreciated:)
Annie

Anne I am a "petco" bulk purchaser. It works great for me. Fortunately they carry the brand and varieties that I use for the 4-legged kids, plus the cat and guinea pig. Register with them for the Petco Card and introduce yourself to the manager as it has been my experience that if you have a problem they have enough turnover in regular staff that you may have more fun than you want. With the bulk purchase you get 10% off when you buy 200 lbs or more. You can mix brands, even buy toys etc. They will also match prices prior to giving you the 10% PLUS they will then honor coupons!! I shop everywhere for other things (joy of having children plus dogs!) so I keep my eyes open for who has what on sale and I write it down - how much and where. Good luck and have fun shopping!!

HI Anne,

I forgot to mention that I call ahead and ask if they are running the $6.00 off per C & R Pro Plan. I don't wait until I am out of food because they may not have it on sale that week.

Yes, the Petcos do seem to go through a quick turnover in staff and sometimes the cashier does not know how to run the Pro Plan Bucks the company sends you from the "Circles" you send in, nor do the new cashiers understand how the 200 pound discount works. Last time I did a Pro Plan run and the entire cashiers on duty didn't know how to run the discount program, the lady called the Federal Way Store since she knew that manager and was able to walk the cashier through the discounts in the computer.

When I buy 6 bags of Pro Plan, it turns out to be something like $150.00 with the 10 % discount and $6.00 off per bag.

When I go in there with all my Pro Plan $7.00 buck coupons, a 10% Petco coupon on entire purchase, 200 Pound 10 % discount, $6.00 off per bag, I'm smiling all the way out to my rig. Of course when you buy in bulk like this, it's not long before Petco sends you their free bag coupon !!

sounds like i may have to start going to Petco rather than Petsmart!!

I was feeding Nutro for over 10 years, recently the past 3 years feeding ultra. A couple friends suggested trying proplan, so i did, and my picky eater now EATS and stools are no longer soft and I clean up less.

Thanks so much for the info!
That will help me out a great deal.
It is a little annoying though, because our Petco just opened up about a month ago and I went in and asked for the manager right away and told them I used 5 bags a month and was looking to see if there were any additional ways I could save money and all I got was advice to sign up for pet perks.
To be honest, I was still happy because you are right, the free bag with my coupons as well would have been a really nice extra, especially if I can catch them on the 6$ off periods. 10% extra is certainly even better though!


One last questions...I have noticed that it is more often the chicken and rice that goes on sale, (never the SS) I am feeding three of mine the Lamb and Rice, no particular reason really, other than the statement that it contained no by-products, but I am wondering if they might do as well on the chicken and rice or should I not mess with a good thing as everyone really is doing fantastic.

Thanks again,
Annie

So Anne, did the manager at your new Petco tell you that they don't have the buy 200 pounds or more and get a 10 % discount ? You'd need to buy 6 bags to get your 10 % discount since 5 bags only adds up to 187.5 pounds.

If you dogs are doing good on the Lamb and Rice, I would stick with it !!

Petco in our are puts their Pro Plan Chick N Rice on sale alot and I'm wondering if the reason is because they sale the most of that one ?? I've gone in there many different times during the month and found the Large Breed Puppy Pro Plan on sale as well as the Beef N Rice, Weight Maintence to. They must rotate the Pro Plan sales during the month.

I had no luck with ears on the Sensitive Skin & Stomach.

Although we switched to proplan, we also had good luck with Blue buffalo, maybe you could try that?
Without starting any controversy....gosh knows we don't need any more of that around here....when I got really concerned with my girls ears and skin I fed raw. I know that some have their issues with it, and I respect it, truly I do, but I can not really tell you just how well she did. Coat, ears, skin...everything was great.
And quick too.
For me though, life just wanst conducive to the raw feeding lifestyle. I eased her back onto a corn free food and she has not had problems since.
When I have my little dream kennel I would really consider setting up my doggy area to be more friendly to raw feeding.
Didn't mean to share so much, but I have known a few people who had ear/skin issues and tried doing similar with success.
Annie

Pro Plan selects salmon and rice has no corn but I was also told by my vet some dogs are allergic to different rices too......I guess if it were me I would find a food that works and stick to it, I have found that sometimes the preium foods you think have the best ingredients are not what always works best. I had tried a all natural food that has great ingredients in it and thought the dogs showld all do great on this......I switched from Purina One Lamb and Rice 2 months into it and now I have dryer coats a lack of luster, and itch ears...>after never having a hot spot I now have one on one of my girls......I since have switch back and they are doing great, coat color is bold and beautiful again , ears cleared up and hot spot almost all gone after only 4 weeks because of this I have come to the conclussion change is not always good no matter how good the food sounds so for me I am sticking with Purina One Lamb and Rice, it works for my gang.....what ever works

Thank you so much for the tip on petco selling bulk (200 lbs) food on a 10% discount! I also had a 10% off coupon from my Petco Pals card, and was able to use both! I got 20 % off my entire purchase, I am so happy!

Why don't they tell you about this? I had to read it here. Not that that is a bad thing, but it would have been nice to know sooner. They were really cool about it, and even loaded into my car for me.

I guess it is one of those things that they figure most pet people would never care about (the 200lb 10% discount) But our Petco is great, they are even talking about helping us out through a sponsorship for our 4 day All-breed show! Yippee as all contributions help keep the entry fees down.