Need To Switch Food

[Guest JsMom]

I'm embarrassed to say that it has taken me 6 years to figure out our dog is allergic to his food. When we first got him, he was on the cheapest food you can get (Ace or something like that) and he had horrible stools. He also had parasites, so we cleared that up and switched his food. He did fine for awhile but the food he was on became really hard to find in large bags locally. It didn't make sense to keep him on it, so we switched again. Then we realized how sensitive his stomach is, and had a hard time finding something that worked for him. We ended up with Kirkland (Costco) Chicken and Rice. (The Lamb & Rice was no good.)

 

Over the course of the years, he has exhibited some weird seasonal symptoms, like getting a sensitive stomach and not eating when it first gets hot in summer. He's definitely more frisky in winter. Also, he goes through periods of terrible gas, incessant licking, and some butt-chewing. Sometimes all at once, sometimes, one thing at a time. It just seemed like the usual dog stuff.

 

I thought nothing of all that til last month, when he had HORRIBLE diarrhea. Like, nothing solid came out. I had switched his food to something I hoped he'd like better, it had worked for a few weeks, and then... not so much.

 

I had him on a bland diet for about 3 weeks while things firmed up again. (He tested negative for parasites and giardia.) Now he's doing fine, and I did the gradual (over 2 weeks) switch back to the Kirkland Chicken and Rice. Guess who's chewing, licking and stinking up the joint?

 

I was talking to my sister, whose poodle has allergies and can't eat poultry at all. She does the paw- and butt-chewing routine too. I finally put it together that our dog may be allergic to his food, but how do I know if it's the chicken or some other ingredient that might be in a beef formula kibble?

 

I have no idea how to go about choosing a new food for him. If it wasn't so expensive (and unhealthy) I'd just keep him on real beef and rice! I want a high quality food that is also inexpensive, if possible. Any recs for how to find a good one for him?

[Guest greyhoundude]

I had similar problems a few years ago with some garbage called Nutra Nuggets. I switched my guys to Orijen, which is a high-quality, grain-free, gluten-free food. Quite expensive, however. A less expensive, high quality option is Taste Of The Wild. My guys like the TOTW Salmon flavor and the Lamb flavor. A good site for food reviews: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

 

 

 

I'm embarrassed to say that it has taken me 6 years to figure out our dog is allergic to his food. When we first got him, he was on the cheapest food you can get (Ace or something like that) and he had horrible stools. He also had parasites, so we cleared that up and switched his food. He did fine for awhile but the food he was on became really hard to find in large bags locally. It didn't make sense to keep him on it, so we switched again. Then we realized how sensitive his stomach is, and had a hard time finding something that worked for him. We ended up with Kirkland (Costco) Chicken and Rice. (The Lamb & Rice was no good.)

 

Over the course of the years, he has exhibited some weird seasonal symptoms, like getting a sensitive stomach and not eating when it first gets hot in summer. He's definitely more frisky in winter. Also, he goes through periods of terrible gas, incessant licking, and some butt-chewing. Sometimes all at once, sometimes, one thing at a time. It just seemed like the usual dog stuff.

 

I thought nothing of all that til last month, when he had HORRIBLE diarrhea. Like, nothing solid came out. I had switched his food to something I hoped he'd like better, it had worked for a few weeks, and then... not so much.

 

I had him on a bland diet for about 3 weeks while things firmed up again. (He tested negative for parasites and giardia.) Now he's doing fine, and I did the gradual (over 2 weeks) switch back to the Kirkland Chicken and Rice. Guess who's chewing, licking and stinking up the joint?

 

I was talking to my sister, whose poodle has allergies and can't eat poultry at all. She does the paw- and butt-chewing routine too. I finally put it together that our dog may be allergic to his food, but how do I know if it's the chicken or some other ingredient that might be in a beef formula kibble?

 

I have no idea how to go about choosing a new food for him. If it wasn't so expensive (and unhealthy) I'd just keep him on real beef and rice! I want a high quality food that is also inexpensive, if possible. Any recs for how to find a good one for him?

[MaryJane]

For a commercial dog food you can try the Natural balance Limited Ingredient Venison and Sweet potato - it does not have any chicken so if your dog has chicken allergies this food should be OK but, you need to switch very slowly from the rice and hamburg otherwise you'll get diarrhea just from switching. With the fosters I usually switched about 1/4 to 1/3 cup a day so it could take up to 2 weeks for a total switch. If you are going to get diarrhea, I usually found that it would happen the day after I had the dog up to 1 cup of the new dog food - that seemed to be the tipping point.

 

Note, Natural Balance also makes other "Limited Ingredient" foods so if the venison does not work one of the others might. I also found that the Natural Balance had decent ingredients and was OK in price.

 

Good Luck

[Guest shanesmom]

I go to Costco too and have my new greyhound on the Nature's Domain Salmon and Sweet Potato. He loves it and is doing really well on it. He is a black greyhound so when I first brought him home just a little over a week ago, I could see that his skin was not in good condition and he had lots of white flakes and was chewing himself. His coat is amazingly better now in just this short amount of time. Elton could not eat any of the foods from Costco so I guess it all depends on the dog but this seems to be a really good food for Ace. It's a grain free food too.

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

Out of curiosity have you had any tick disease testing done?

[Guest JsMom]

No tick disease testing recently, but frequently in the past and it's always been negative. He has always chewed his rear and licked his paws, but it seems to be worse in the spring/summer so I assumed the allergies were just environmental, not his food. It's now clear that it's DEFINITELY his food, and I'm suspecting (after more reading) that it's either the chicken or the brewer's yeast.

 

Shanesmom, I had switched him to the grain-free salmon meal food from Costco to see if he'd like it better, and that's what started the horrible digestive issues, so we can't go back to that. Another grey owner recommended it to me and I was so excited when he did so well on it at first. His poop was literally half the size it normally is. Then it all went downhill after a few weeks....

[Greytlady94]

Have you considered a raw diet?

[Guest JsMom]

I've considered it, but am worried that I won't be able to give him a good balance of what he needs, and that I won't give him enough/feed him too much. If I could just hand him a piece of chicken and be done with it, that'd be great, but I know there's more to it than that. Also, the times I've given him a half a turkey neck as a treat, he's gotten sick nearly every time. I don't know if it's because he's not chewing thoroughly enough or if it's too rich for him (he does fine with chicken necks and I know he doesn't chew those well either).

[TheFullHouse]

I feed Gee Taste Of The Wild Wetlands formula. It has turkey and duck in it and she does really well on it. She's my girl who doesn't do well on the salmon and sweet potato formulas.

[TwiggysMom]

I'm not sure what you were using for the bland diet, but if it was chicken-based, it is pretty safe to say that chicken is not the problem. I have found that only about 50% of my fosters have been able to handle the Kirkland Chicken formula. It seems to be a good food, but maybe it is too low fiber, or one of the lesser ingredients is causing the problem.

 

I find it helpful to do specific meat-based bland diets to rule in out particular proteins and/or carbs. You can tell if beef works but not chicken or turkey, or if potatoes work but not rice pretty simply that way.

 

It is really hard to suggest a particular food, not knowing what will work for any given dog, but that said, since I've been using it, all of my fosters have done well on GO! Natural Chicken formula (but very few places carry it and it's fairly expensive - and wouldn't work for a dog who has intolerance of chicken or rice).

 

Good luck!

[Guest JsMom]

His bland diet was ground beef and brown rice, so I know it's not the rice. He's had food with corn in it before, and that didn't seem to agree with him, so we avoid corn, even though it could well have been something else.

 

My sister claims her dog is allergic to turkey and chicken, although I've read lots of things here and elsewhere that say that's pretty unusual. I went on the dog food review website and it noted that the Costco brand has brewer's yeast in it, which can be a potential allergen for some dogs. So I'm not sure if it's the chicken, the yeast, or something else. He's doing fine on the food now, although his stools are a bit softer than they were on the bland diet and on the salmon meal (pre-digestive uproar) but still okay. He's just licking more so that makes me think he's got an allergy.

 

I'm just not sure how to figure out what he's allergic to, so we don't switch to another food that has that same allergen in it. Do I need to put him back on the bland diet before swtiching to a new food?

[TheFullHouse]

Have you considered seasonal allergies? The chewing and licking sound like some sort of seasonal allergy, maybe to the grass. Since he does better in the winter, you might want to try a grain free food and see if that solves the problem. My girl Gee has allergies, specifically to the grass and pollen. I put her on a grain free food and she's doing wonderfully.

[MaryJane]

His bland diet was ground beef and brown rice, so I know it's not the rice. He's had food with corn in it before, and that didn't seem to agree with him, so we avoid corn, even though it could well have been something else.

 

My sister claims her dog is allergic to turkey and chicken, although I've read lots of things here and elsewhere that say that's pretty unusual. I went on the dog food review website and it noted that the Costco brand has brewer's yeast in it, which can be a potential allergen for some dogs. So I'm not sure if it's the chicken, the yeast, or something else. He's doing fine on the food now, although his stools are a bit softer than they were on the bland diet and on the salmon meal (pre-digestive uproar) but still okay. He's just licking more so that makes me think he's got an allergy.

 

I'm just not sure how to figure out what he's allergic to, so we don't switch to another food that has that same allergen in it. Do I need to put him back on the bland diet before swtiching to a new food?

 

 

Chicken sensitivity/allergies are pretty common with greyhounds so I'm a little confused as to where you are getting the information that it is unusual.

[Guest JsMom]

I saw it on this forum (don't remember which thread) relatively recently, and then somewhere else in my search of the various dog food ingredients. So that's a big problem... Not only getting conflicting info about what common allergens are but trying to figure out which it is for us.

 

I have always been convinced he has seasonal/environmental allergies, but the butt-chewing goes on all year long, off and on. The paw licking could well be from outside, but I swear he didn't lick or chew the entire time he was on the bland (beef/rice) diet. I only realized that after I started to switch back over to kibble, and on the second day of the transition, he started licking. That's when I realized he hadn't been doing that at all up until that day. So maybe it's both...

[Batmom]

If you suspect food allergies, I would really recommend a classic* elimination diet -- one protein (in your case, sounds like beef would work) and if you need to, one carb (rice if that has worked) for 12 weeks. No added treats, no supplements other than absolutely necessary meds such as heartworm. Assuming symptoms clear up and have been absent for at least 3 weeks by the end of the 12 weeks, then add ONE thing to the diet. Give it 3 weeks to see if any symptoms develop. Then add ONE more thing .... etc.

 

If you're wanting to feed a commercial food eventually, you might target a food and gradually add the ingredients (other than vitamins/minerals) to your dog's diet. If no problems, then transition to the commercial food. Solid Gold has a beef-based kibble but IIRC it has some fish in it, don't recall if it has any chicken. You could check ingredients on their website.

 

If you like to give treats for training or throughout the day, you can get freeze-dried beef with no added ingredients -- sitstay.com and petfooddirect.com carry one or two brands. It's costly, but it's just temporary. It really is worth going the distance on an elimination diet.

 

 

*True elimination diet usually calls for a novel protein -- that is, one the dog hasn't had before. So far I haven't found it necessary to do that. All my suspect allergy dogs have been able to eat beef. I have had one who was allergic to fish/fish oil, and one who had a digestive intolerance to chicken. In terms of common allergies in dogs, IIRC beef and wheat top the list, so knowing what's common in dogs in general has been of no help for my own pets.

[Guest JsMom]

Thanks, Batmom. I have been reluctant to put him back on the bland diet, but I'm thinking that may be the way to go. I have been waiting to see if the symptoms go away now that his stomach has settled back down and the licking is still going on.

 

I have been looking for a food to try switching him to, just to see if it could be that easy, but I'm so confused. I looked at some limited ingredient foods (Natural Balance LID seems to be mentioned quite a bit here) but they are grain-free, which I'm not so sure is a good thing for us. (The food that made him sick was a grain-free salmon meal formula.) Should I give it a try, and just add rice to his food, or go with something else? Do they need grains in their diet? (I'm pretty sure the allergy is either the chicken or the brewer's yeast in his regular food, not the rice since he did well on it during the bland diet.)

[Batmom]

They don't *need* grains. Some dogs do fine with a particular grain (such as rice or oatmeal), some don't. Usually any issues are to a specific grain rather than all of them. The "grain-free food!" is a bit of a fad just now.

[Guest JsMom]

So whatever made him sick was either a coincidence or something about the other food, other than the fact it was grain-free? I was starting to think it was just too much protein, but that's not possible, is it?

[Batmom]

Unless he had a pretty serious kidney issue, you wouldn't expect too much protein to make him feel ill. BUT, some of the grain-free foods are quite high in fat, and THAT could make him ill. Or, it could be some other ingredient in the food. Commercial foods have a lot of ingredients, and sometimes the one that doesn't agree with a given dog is the one you least suspect.

 

FWIW, most of my dogs seem to do best on foods with no more than @ 16% fat, and it seems to work better if that is animal fat rather than vegetable fat such as sunflower oil. All dogs are different, tho!

[XTRAWLD]

Hand up. I've got an allergic dog. He's a PITA but we love him anyway.

 

To tell you the truth, the only way to be certain if and what he's allergic to is to go through testing.

 

We had blood testing done, which is actually less accurate than skin testing. We could not keep Kasey off meds long enough to go for the skin testing. His allergies were exhibited mostly on his face, ears especially.

 

When you do blood testing, they will give you a full report of allergens that hit high, medium and low on the scoreboard. Those are the allergens in general that you want to try to avoid. Your boy may not be allergic to chicken, but perhaps he's allergic to the corn or the oats or the soy that's in the ingredients. Of the odd things, Kasey is allergic to Kelp....found as an ingredient in some cookies. It would be extremely difficult for you to narrow down what he is allergic to without some guidance. He's even allergic to certain grasses (note your itchy paw comment) and dust and tobacco smoke - the latter was his trigger. We moved into a house that was smoke filled and his senses went into over load. He just hit his limit and it's been a struggle to bring him back down ever since.

 

If you happen to find a food that works on his allergies, it might not work on his bowels. It really is a huge trial and error timeline, and it will not be fixed quickly. You have to resist giving him scraps, and look for cookies that also avoid the same allergens. We switched to raw, but it was difficult there too. He had allergies to chicken and to pork - what's left....lamb that gives him gas and it's expensive....etc...etc.... He's finally on some food now (kibble) that doesn't have ANY allergens and I think this is the best he's been in 3 years. Yes, it took us THAT long to get him right. He's on meds to assist with that, it's too difficult to get rid of all environmental allergens but at least reducing his food allergens is a big help.

 

I would like to suggest you to do testing since you are suspecting allergies and then go from there.

[Guest Swifthounds]

No, you dog doesn't need grains or other carbs. They only thing they are needed for is actually making and forming kibble. Dogs have no dietary need for them.

 

With the list of ingredients getting longer and longer as companies try to differentiate themselves in the market while saving money by subbing as many vegetable sources for more expensive/sensitive animal products, it's become very difficult to weed out ingredients that might be causing the issue.

 

I would go with the bland diet for now if that works for the dog to get everything stabilized and then look for a food with a small number of ingredients and try slowly transitioning. The fewer suspects you have, the easier it is to weed out the culprit. The tricky part is getting the dog stabilized on something so that you know whats causing the issue. Unfortunately, irritation and reaction beget irritation and reaction.

 

I'm not a fan of any if the allergy testing, but Rhys because I've seen some strange results (including the same exact allergy test administer twice and producing opposite results) and had the results make no sense (a dog that twice tested as allergic to chicken but who now lives on a raw diet that I closes chicken and has no allergy issues).

[Guest JsMom]

OMG, this is getting crazy. So I thought maybe I should switch proteins b/c of course it could be a chicken issue... It's not, b/c the food that made him sick (but alleviated his allergy symptoms) has chicken in it in addition to salmon. I looked it up on dogfoodadvisor.com b/c I wanted to check the fat content, certain that THAT was what made him sick. Nope, it's 17% fat, which apparently isn't particularly high.

 

I need to sort this out b/c my head is a jumble...

 

Something in the salmon/chicken grain free food made him sick.

Something in his regular chicken/rice food makes him itchy/gassy. I'm suspecting possible chicken allergy, but more likely it's the brewers yeast (according to the dog food review site it's an allergen.)

I tried him on the lamb/rice formula of his regular food a couple of times, but it gave him tummy issues, so lamb is out. Does that mean venison and buffalo would be too rich for him too?

His bland diet of beef and rice alleviated everything, but there doesn't seem to be many beef-based foods that don't have yeast in them.

 

When we first got him, he stole some potato salad off the table. He puked. I assumed it was b/c he didn't fully digest the potato chunks. He's gotten sick a few other times when he's had potato, but IDK if it's lack of chewing or if they just make him sick. Either way, I'm avoiding potato.

 

So, no corn, potato, yeast, chicken... Preferably a limited ingredient food to rule out whatever else could be a problem. Preferably a beef-based food since he does well on that. Where does that leave me? All the beef-based foods I've seen have either corn or chicken in them. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much about the chicken? Maybe try a bland chicken/rice only diet to see if that alleviates the itching?

[Batmom]

Wouldn't hurt to try him on chicken/rice homecooked. Then you would know it wasn't the chicken. Might not be lamb, either -- could be something else about that food. See how much fun this is???? (I'm actually commiserating with you .)

 

Solid Gold Mmillennia is a beef-based food. I don't think it has any chicken in it but check their website to be sure.

[MaryJane]

Wouldn't hurt to try him on chicken/rice homecooked. Then you would know it wasn't the chicken. Might not be lamb, either -- could be something else about that food. See how much fun this is???? (I'm actually commiserating with you .)

 

Solid Gold Mmillennia is a beef-based food. I don't think it has any chicken in it but check their website to be sure.

 

The Solid Gold Beef & Barley does not have chicken (at least 2 years ago it didn't) - it's one of the few that doesn't but, I've found when I used it for fosters that it could be a bit too rich for some of them.

 

If you are looking for a limited ingredient try the Natural balance Venison and Sweet potato.

[GreyTzu]

Have his stool checked for worms and regardless of the results, I would worm him every 10 days for about a month with Drontal Plus. Danger had several bouts with hooks and I finally just bought Drontal Plus from AU and wormed the heck out of him. It cleared up his poop problems and he has not had food issues since.

 

Due to economic crisis in our house, we switched from Solid Gold Lamb and Rice to Purina One Lamb and Rice with no problems.