My Dog is Allergic to Fromm.

I've recently been reading a lot about the Fromm Family company. They sound pretty awesome. It's a multi-generation business that has been making dog food since the earliest days of dog food, and was involved in the development of the distemper vaccine. However, I will have to admire Fromm from afar because Brisbane is allergic to all of their food.

Photo by Erin Koski

In addition to being basically the oldest single-owner dog food company out there, Fromm is pretty amazing at quality control. They test every batch of food for harmful bacteria before they send it out, and they've never had a recall. They also test stuff during production to make sure it actually matches the guaranteed analysis on the label. Their Four Star Nutritionals line is even made for rotational feeding! With a variety that includes Greek cuisine and Polynesian fruits, it's pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, Fromm puts egg into every single food they make. Brisbane is allergic to eggs. He's also allergic to chicken, turkey, and duck, but those aren't in every single Fromm product. They make a whole lot of foods, too. The Four Star line alone includes eleven different kibbles. The Gold line includes another dozen foods, and the two Classics foods bring the grand total to 25 different dry dog foods. All made with eggs.

I like the Fromm company enough that I went as far as to contact them via their website to ask if they were planning to add any limited-ingredient diets. Their nutritionist actually called me the next day, which I thought was pretty cool. What he had to say was less cool.

"Fromm only makes foods for normal dogs." That is, in fact, a direct quote. He told me they discuss making limited-ingredient diets every few years, but the concept never gets any further than the discussion stage. I got the distinct impression that he was entirely uninterested in the whole conversation, and was perplexed that I had even bothered to communicate with the company. I'm guessing that such a deeply-entrenched company makes changes very slowly, so I'm not expecting anything new from them in the next few years.

So there you have it. Fromm sounds like a really cool company. I'd be a lot less interested in them if I wasn't awash in samples of their products at work. I can tell people that I've heard that Fromm is good, but can't make a personal recommendation because my dog is allergic to Fromm. I have to say the same thing every time I am offered yet another free sample. Fromm doesn't want me as a customer, my dog isn't normal.