Needing good and bad feedback on this food if anyone has tried it for IBD/PLE/secondary Lymphangiectasia issues...we had zero luck with ZD Ultra.

Thanks,
Kathy and Stevie

Have you diagnosed any allergies by skin or blood tests?

Purina HA starts off with corn starch as the main ingredient.

http://www.allivet.com/Purina-Canine-HA-Hy...ula-p/26996.htm

Dr. Alan Ebringer in the UK has determined that Crohn's disease is caused by overgrowth by Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp), and that feeding starch to people with Crohn's (and ankylosing spondylitis) is contraindicated. Not that your pup has Crohn's, but if IBD/PLE is the same in the hound, this means:

1) Feeding high-carb food is what probably caused this disorder
2) Feeding starch is the LAST thing you want to do

But- I offer no guarantees that your pup has Kp infection. It's a simple perianal swab followed by culture on MacConkey agar to find out. To the best of my knowledge, this has not been explored in the canine. Of course, it may not be Kp, and could be one of a number of organisms that do well on carbohydrates.

My advice would be to feed raw food. If that is not feasible, then a bagged kibble that is as low in carbohydrates and entirely lacking starch is strongly recommended. There is absolutely no nutritional requirement for carbohydrate in the canine; of the three macronutrients (fats, proteins, carbohydrates), only fats and proteins are required. The feeding of polymeric carbohydrates (mainly starches as found in grains) to the canine could be the cause of bacterial overgrowth in the gut, as these are not well-digested, and serve to feed bacteria in the intestines. This leads to damage, and then PLE, diarrhea, and other malabsorption.

I had no luck with either. I did as Ahicks51 recommends, and it worked.

For my greyhound, it seemed to be carbs that were the trouble. And there is no kibble, hypoallergenic or not, that is carb free. Grain free, yes, but not carb free.

What happened on the ZD/Ultra? How long was pup on it? Does pup have a firm diagnosis, or just suspected at this point? What meds have been tried?

ZD and HA are useful when an allergy to some meat proteins is suspected, but when you don't know which one pup is allergic to. As such, they can be useful for allergy-caused IBD.

I believe this is what my friend's Husky-Chow mix is on -- he has some autoimmune diseases and was diagnosed with IBD a couple of years ago. She did a lot of research into the various foods with hydrolyzed proteins, which is what the vet decided he needed, and determined this was the best, with no ethoxyquin if I've got the brand right. He's been on the food now for a year or two and has been doing well, no recurrence of intestinal problems. (The kibble is weirdly pale -- she calls it his "sugar pops"!) But any decision like this should be under the supervision of a vet, I'm sure.

I am currently feeding Joplin Eukanuba Low Residue. It works for him (a relapse of Inflammatory Bowel Disease) in addition or because of meds... I'm not 100% that he'd do any better or worse on any other food, but this one seems to work. He does not have allergies or PLE. It is middle-of-the-road as far as calories are concerned, so I have to feed a fair bit to get weight on him, even though he's digesting now.

I've seen HA work for dogs as well as Low Residue, but my vet has used Low Residue for a long time, and I've seen it work on many dogs, especially old ones.

Lynn

My dog Sunny was diagnosed with PLE in late July - he has been eating Natural Balance Venison and potato but his protein levels are basically unchanged- up a little then down the next test. I am switching him to raw tonight.