Q: What is the best food to feed my Shar-Pei?

A: There are many foods on the market today and not all food is created equal. The first thing that any owner of any dog, especially a Pei, needs to realize, is that dogs, like humans, have many allergies. As a breed Pei are especially sensitive to Soybean Meal. The ingredients in dog foods are listed in descending order on the bag and most dog foods have Soybean Meal as a very high ingredient. Other allergens, (allergy reaction causing items), are corn and wheat. These ingredients are also quite prevalent in most dog foods. As an owner, you have to read the bags and see what is in the food you are feeding the dog. I personally recommend finding a food that has no corn, no wheat, but definitely NO SOYBEAN MEAL. I have found a good food called Diamond Lamb Meal and Rice. This food is rice, corn, and soybean meal free and is quite reasonable when compared to a food like Pedigree. Cost of the food is important also. I am buying the Diamond food for 20 to 23 dollars for a 40 pound bag, and Pedigree costs around 16 dollars for a 40 pound bag at Wal-Mart. Diamond is not found in grocery stores but is usually available at feed stores and the larger pet superstores like SuperPetz. There are other good foods out there, like Nutro and Nature's Recipe, but are usually priced much higher. I have not tried these foods, so cannot say wether they are just as good as Diamond, but the ingredients lead me to believe that they are.

Q: How do I know if my dog is allergic to the food I am feeding?

A: This Question is hard to answer, because there are so many possible signs. Your dog could scratch a lot, which could be signs of other problems, ear shaking and scratching at the ears for long period of times is another possibility, so is skin that feels hot to the touch. One of my dogs would start itching about 2 hours after eating and the itching would intensify over the next 3 to 4 hours and then would start to taper off, after the next feeding, it would start all over again. Observation of your dog is crucial here. If you suspect a food allergy problem there is only one way to find out. You should feed the dog something different or cook chicken and rice and feed that for a week or two, then reintroduce the food you were feeding. If you see some of the signs of allergy disappear then come back when feeding the original food then a food allergy is possible. One other thing that I have noticed is that if your dog does not seem to want to eat the food you are feeding, then there maybe a good reason for this. Some of my dogs did not want to eat some of the foods that I was feeding them, I would add many things to the food to try to get them to eat. Amazingly, when I changed to the Diamond food, they will even eat it dry which I never thought I would see. They knew that the food did not make them feel good, so they didn't want to eat it.

Q: What is Chicken and Rice and how do I make it?

A: Chicken and Rice is just what it sounds like, cooked chicken and rice mixed together and fed to the dog. It is easy to make and relatively inexpensive to procure. I buy chicken legs and quarters usually in ten pound packs when it is on sale. It can be purchased for as little as 19 cents to 49 cents a pound on sale. I boil the chicken until the meat is falling of the bones and drain the chicken and remove the meat from the bones. I then cook the rice in the chicken broth using a rice cooker. Usually, I cook 6 cups of rice for 10 pounds of chicken. I then shred the chicken meat and mix it with the rice. It will keep 2 to 3 weeks, in covered dishes in the refrigerator. I also keep the extra broth and mix it with food when I feed the dog. When feeding time comes I heat the amount of food I am going to feed for one minute in the microwave and I heat the broth as well. I then poor a little broth over the food and feed the dog.