[Beau123]

I have a 3 year old black lab. He has had almost constant ear infections over the last two years. The vet believes he has sensitive skin since he licks his coat (no hot spots). Recently I took him off commercial dog food (which I still feed my other labs w/no problem). Within 4 days his ears cleared up. Prior to this I had been flushing his ears and using Otomax. I am feeding him chicken, potatoes, rice, and mix in string beans and carrots. I am concerned about providing a healthy home cooked diet. Any recommendations? FYI my dog is very fit, not overweight, and has a very shinny coat.

[450donn]

Most of the grocery store bought commercial dog food is garbage, not fit to feed third world animals, so changing is a good thing.

[labman]

What does your vet say? I hope if the home cooked diet was his idea, it was only offered as a temporary expediency. Although there are people and supposedly even vets backing them, a safe, home made diet is not something easily done. Many dogs seem to do well on them for a time, and then suddenly die of failure of the liver or pancreas.

Likely a week or 2 on such a diet won't hurt him while you look for alternatives. The first place you should go is the vet. Has he talked about doing blood work to identify the allergen? Quite likely there are a number of chows that you can count on providing the complete and balanced diet your dog needs without the allergens creating his problems. Condemning commercial chows because a few dogs have allergies is like refusing to have the dog vaccinated because of the few bad reactions.

The web is full of sites selling recipes and special ingredients. Likely you need go no further than the banner ads at the top of this page. One of the few places providing both sides is Articles 2 That link will take you to a list of articles from both view points. I think anybody with a rational mind and critical thinking skills will conclude the safest thing to feed their dog is a commercial dog chow. It is true, some dogs won't do well on one chow or another, but with a little work, you should be able to find the right one for your dog.

In reading through some of the stuff you will find, you have to wonder if what you have been feeding has such terrible ingredients in it, how are your other dogs doing so well on it? Much of my opinion on this subject comes not from my own few dogs, but the thousands of dogs I see in the dog guide program I have been a part of since 1991.