Sigh. I Think We're Dealing With A Chicken Allergy?

[Guest carriej]

Ok.

 

Some of you had been following Chance's rash. We did several rounds of antibiotics, it always seemed to clear up and come back.

 

However, it seems as though it's now turning into an all over body thing. His skin is really dry and dandruffy, and it's not shiny like it used to be. Plus it kind of looks like his hair is thinning in other places. He is also ITCHY all over. He will kick his feet if you touch him anywhere.

 

I have an itchy, miserable hound, which makes me a sad, helpless human

 

I am just going to try switching his food. He is currently on Acana, chicken and burbank potato. Seems as though chicken is a pretty common allergy, and he will be receiving a higher quality food regardless.

 

So now I want suggestions on nice food. I am kind of hoping to stay within the Acana-Orijen (man Orijen is nuts expensive now compared to when I used to feed it) but the local pet store recommended natural balance as it's a limited ingredient food.

 

I am kind of weird about Natural Balance because it's owned by Del Monte which makes a lot of cheap dog food, but it has a nice price tag at about $75 for the big bag, vs $90 for the orijen.

 

There isn't much to pick from. Natural Balance, Taste of the wild, Fromm, Acana, Orijen. I think that's it. Oh, and maybe Canidae - have to check.

 

Anyone have a chicken-allergy hound and what foods do you like? I have ALWAYS fed Acana/Orijen, never a problem. I see Acana has a new "singles" which is a limited ingredient formula but my local store doesn't have it. I might inquire to see if she can bring it in.

[Busderpuddle]

I have been really happy with feeding Ruby Fromm. We do use the chicken one however because she has allergies to other proteins.

[MaryJane]

One of my dogs has a severe chicken allergy - he gets home-made which is a route you might want to try one day. I have another dog with seizures so, I have to be careful of what I feed her - she gets home-made too (she now has IBD and gets fish protein only. My youngest dog does not have any problems with food but, sometimes the other two will try and finish what he has so, I had to make sure it was preservative free and no chicken and I went with the Arcana duck and Barlett pear. While I used it, I liked it .. but eventually I switched him over to home-made too. The ingredients in the Arcana are sourced from Canada so, not likely to have ingredients from "China" but, you might want to confirm just in case. They also have their own processing plant/kitchen where the foods are made, so their food does not get mixed up with other manufacturers which is also a good thing.

 

I used to use the Natural Balance all the time for fosters that had food allergies - it was a good product for the price and the "vension and sweet potato" was one of the ones that seemed to work the best for diarrhea but, you had to switch over slow. As you noted, they were taken over by another company so hard to know whether their standards will be the same.

 

Surprisingly, IAMs has come out with some limited ingredient like Ocean fish and rice (also salmon and red lentils) which might be a good option. I don't have much experience with these as they are relatively new.

 

One last caution - chicken fat shows up in many places so you do have to read the ingredients with a fine-tooth comb. If it mentions fat without identifying the source - it is probable chicken. Also, many vitamins/treats have chicken flavor which means that they are likely made with chicken.

[BellaBean]

Try the Acana Pacifica or Ranchlands. No chicken in either and it's grain free. My guy who has lots of food allergies including chicken did amazing on it!

[galgrey]

Princess developed a problem with chicken and I switched both girls to Earthborn Holistic's Great Plains Feast. It's bison and lamb and is grain free. It has worked really well for them.

[XTRAWLD]

Kasey is allergic to chicken, among other things. It was only until I went through multiple food trials that I went raw years later. Problem solved. I never got nearly as close on any kibble as I do with raw. Chicken aside we might have had a chance to get very limited on ingredients but oats and soy and other stuff....really really difficult. Good luck.

[GeorgeofNE]

Not sure why so many people immediately assume an allergy is to FOOD.

 

It's pollen season. If these symptoms are fairly recent, there is a very good chance it is an inhalant allergy such as pollen. My brother had a dog who was allergic to grass!

 

Do antihistamines make him stop itching? Have you had him seen by the vet, because staph infections are very common when a dog is very itchy. A short course of steroids and antibiotics are probably in order if he is as uncomfortable as he sounds. And if antihistamines DON'T work, you need a veterinary diet that is totally unique, and you need to feed him NOTHING else for 8-12 weeks to see if it works. There is nothing to indicate your dog is allergic to chicken in what I read!

 

My dog has seasonal allergies, most likely rag weed since he gets itchy closer to fall. I give him 2x daily Benadryl throughout his itchy season, and he does quite well!

[Batmom]

Even if the allergy IS to food, you can't determine that or pinpoint the problem item without an elimination diet (which means feeding one unadulterated protein source and nothing else -- no treats, supplements, etc. other than needed meds like heartworm -- for at least 12 weeks). One of my dogs was allergic to fish and fish oil, a minor ingredient in nearly every food on the market.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Batmom

[Guest dee]

I use Nutri Choice with lamb....it is grain free and comes with various choices....salmon. Lamb, chicken. All my dogs have done well on it. My labradoodle has all kinds of allergies and the lamb seems to be gentle on the stomach.

[a_daerr]

Definitely agree with George and Batmom. It seems like a lot of owners jump to food allergy right away, but true food allergies are not very common in dogs. And even if he is legitimately allergic to something in the food, it could be an ingredient halfway down the list (not necessarily the protein source). Before you go through the stress and hassle of an elimination diet, I'd try an antihistimine or steroid shot first. Seasonal allergies are really bad this time of year.

[CharlieRhea]

My Dear Steppy had so many food allergies and also environmental. He was a 110lb German Shepherd and I would put in about a tsp of local raw

honey in his food for the pollen allergies. It did seem to help. As long as there isn't Diabetes involved because of the sugar content it

might help but it should be started at the beginning of the pollen season.

[Guest carriej]

Not sure why so many people immediately assume an allergy is to FOOD.

 

It's pollen season. If these symptoms are fairly recent, there is a very good chance it is an inhalant allergy such as pollen. My brother had a dog who was allergic to grass!

 

Do antihistamines make him stop itching? Have you had him seen by the vet, because staph infections are very common when a dog is very itchy. A short course of steroids and antibiotics are probably in order if he is as uncomfortable as he sounds. And if antihistamines DON'T work, you need a veterinary diet that is totally unique, and you need to feed him NOTHING else for 8-12 weeks to see if it works. There is nothing to indicate your dog is allergic to chicken in what I read!

 

My dog has seasonal allergies, most likely rag weed since he gets itchy closer to fall. I give him 2x daily Benadryl throughout his itchy season, and he does quite well!

We have been dealing with this rash since before Christmas, and I live in Canada. So unless he is allergic to snow...

 

If you had read the original post, you would see that he has been through several rounds of antibiotics. We used Cephalex, Clavamox, along with Bactroban, Panalog and Theraderm which is a steroidal/antifungal/antibacterial cream.

 

Nothing is working. We have done scrapings and punches and cultures and there's nothing unusual. Elevated bacteria levels. We put him on antibiotics, the rash clears up a bit and looks less inflamed but persists. He is off them for two days, and it comes flaming back. My vet told me that bacterial infections are usually secondary to something like an allergy, and inquired about the food which put the idea in my head.

 

He didn't come to us with this rash; and we fed him on rice and beef for the first 3-4 weeks he was here. We slowly introduced dog food, and right around the time he started eating dog food (Acana Chicken and Burbank Potato) full time, the rash started. We have been battling it ever since.

 

Either way, we will be switching him to a better food. It's the only thing we have not tried yet. If it doesn't work, we are back at the drawing board again. As far as steroid shot or antihistamines, they have not been brought up by my vet.

[a_daerr]

He didn't come to us with this rash; and we fed him on rice and beef for the first 3-4 weeks he was here. We slowly introduced dog food, and right around the time he started eating dog food (Acana Chicken and Burbank Potato) full time, the rash started.

 

Do you know what food he was on before you adopted him?

[Guest carriej]

He came from an adoption group in Florida, then into Canada where I picked him up. I am not exactly sure which group as we are not given any of his information other than a vaccination list and his racing information.

[a_daerr]

Hmmmm… I wonder if you'd have better luck switching to a different brand, but same protein source. Here's why I say that. When Henry was on TOTW, he constantly had itchy paws and bum. I don't think it was an allergy per se, more of an intolerance. I really wanted TOTW to work, so I tried different formulas over the next several months (bison, fish, turkey), and they all made him itchy. When I took him totally off TOTW and switched (this time to IAMS). The problem went away. I finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't the protein source at all. It was some ingredient that TOTW put in all of their formulas. It could've been some obscure thing way far down on the list. I think a lot of people convince themselves that the allergy/intolerance is related to the big ingredients (wheat, grain, soy, protein), then end up dismissing a lot of choices that *could* work.

 

In your situation, I'd probably start small before ruling out every kibble with X protein or X carb source. Does that make sense?

[Guest carriej]

It does make sense, for sure. It could certainly be something obscure. If the new food doesn't work (I already purchased a bag) then we will be switching brands altogether. I am just stuck/loyal to Acana/Orijen as I feel very safe using them. However Acana and Orijen do use all the same fruits/veggies/herbs in their food. That being said, they HAVE reformulated their lamb, duck, and pork foods to be "limited ingredient" which do not include the same stuff. They aren't available here yet though.

 

We are omitting:Chicken meal, deboned chicken, steel-cut oats, whole egg, chicken fat, oat flakes, chicken liver, and chicken liver oil.

 

I think the next choice on the list is Natural Balance limited ingredient lamb and rice if there is no improvement.

[hikinghounds]

I switched my boys to Earthborn Great Plains when I wanted to get away from chicken and it has been great. They really like it and have consistently good stools. They did well when I tried Orejin Red Meat, but one of them wasn't that into the taste and the cost was high. I switched to the Earthborn from Taste of the Wild High Prairie in January.

[Sambuca]

I had a foster with a horrible skin infection (even the vet was shocked at his condition). He was bright red and missing lots of hair. He was on antibiotics for weeks with no help. I cut chicken out of his diet, and his adopter avoids it, and he's been fine since. He's eating Natures Domain salmon and sweet potato food. It's the Costco version of Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream. Bu is intolerant to chicken and he's on the same food and does well.

 

Make sure to read all the ingredients on everything you buy for him! They sneak chicken in everywhere!

Edited June 19, 2014 by Sambuca

[galgrey]

Even if the allergy IS to food, you can't determine that or pinpoint the problem item without an elimination diet (which means feeding one unadulterated protein source and nothing else -- no treats, supplements, etc. other than needed meds like heartworm -- for at least 12 weeks). One of my dogs was allergic to fish and fish oil, a minor ingredient in nearly every food on the market.

It too a while but I found chicken and rice to be the culprits for Princess.

[Guest carriej]

Hi Folks,

 

Knock on wood, Chance is doing better.

 

He looks so much less inflamed. There is still some inflammation, but its been cut back considerably so far. Let's hope it keeps up! His skin is still dry, so hopefully after a few more weeks on the fishy food (that smells like a fish fry when you open it) his skin condition improves.

 

We went from This:

 

 

To This:

[gryhnd_adoptee]

My fuzzy girlie has trouble with chicken and fish, and I was finding that even though a lot of foods are not chicken based, they still contain some chicken products further down in the ingredient list. I finally settled on Merrick Texas Beef Grain Free and both girls are doing great on it. They have no itchies now, better coats, cleaner ears, and above all, no anal gland issues which they were both having on fish based kibble.