Food Allergies - Elimination - Suggestions

[Guest carriej]

Hi Folks,

 

Chance has food allergies quite badly.

 

We currently have him on a food that is working, Yay! However, we are mystified.

 

Chance was on this food first, which he had a rash.

 

INGREDIENTS

 

Dehydrated chicken (22%), deboned chicken (19%), whole potato, steel-cut oats, peas, whole egg (3%), deboned flounder (3%), sun-cured alfalfa, chicken fat (2%), oat flakes, chicken liver (2%), chicken liver oil (2%), herring oil (2%), pea fiber, whole apples, whole pears, sweet potato, pumpkin, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, spinach, cranberries, blueberries, kelp, chicory root, juniper berries, angelica root, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, lavender, rosemary.

 

SUPPLEMENTS

 

Vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation.

 

Then we went to this food, rash got way worse.

 

INGREDIENTS

 

Fresh boneless salmon (13%), dehydrated salmon (12%), dehydrated herring (10%), dehydrated whitefish (10%), green peas, red lentils, fresh boneless herring (5%), fresh boneless flounder (4%), herring oil (4%), field beans, canola oil, sun-cured alfalfa, pea fiber, natural fish flavor (2%), whole apples, whole pears, pumpkin, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, spinach greens, cranberries, blueberries, kelp, chicory root, juniper berries, angelica root, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, lavender, rosemary.

 

SUPPLEMENTS

 

Vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product.

 

Now we're on this.. And it works! Rash disappeared over a few weeks and hair is growing back! YAY!

 

INGREDIENTS

 

Lamb meal, deboned lamb*, green lentils, red lentils, lamb liver* apples*, lamb fat, green peas, yellow peas, canola oil, algae, garbanzo beans, pumpkin*, carrots*, lamb tripe*, lamb kidney*, freeze-dried lamb liver*, kelp*, chicory root, ginger root, peppermint leaf, lemon balm, mixed tocopherols (preservative), dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product.
*DELIVERED FRESH OR RAW

 

SUPPLEMENTS: ONLY 1.

 

The ultimate food mimics the one Mother Nature intended your dog to eat.

ACANA Lamb & Okanagan Apple is loaded with a full 50% of lamb, including lamb meat, liver, tripe and cartilage —all of which deliver nutrients naturally, dramatically reducing the need for synthetic ingredients in ACANA foods. That’s why Zinc Proteinate is the only supplement in ACANA Lamb & Okanagan Apple.

 

Now for the mysterious part. I decided (after tossing about $100 worth of treats) to pick him up some new treats. After humming and haahing over the small selection at my local store I purchased the treat with the fewest ingredients I could find other than freeze dried.

 

It has the following ingredients: Barley, Peanut Butter, Bananas, Oats, Cinnamon, Mixed Tocopherols.

 

 

While I do realize that oats were present in one of the diets, I wasn't convinced he has an oat or grain allergy. He was eating pretty grainy-wheaty food before he arrived with me and he did fine on it... Yet on those new treats I see a few spots had broken out where he gets his rash, so I stopped giving him them immediately.

 

Can anyone recommend me a treat that has similar ingredients to his current lamb formula food?

 

 

[BellaBean]

Orijen (same company as Acana) has a freeze dried lamb treat you might try. My gang loves the bison version!

 

http://www.chewy.com/dog/orijen-ranch-raised-lamb-singles/dp/46176

[GeorgeofNE]

You're assuming it's a FOOD allergy.

 

This is the time of year when many seasonal allergies act up--the improvement on one diet could be coincidence based on what pollens are around where you live.

 

A rash sounds like a contact allergy to me--could be anything from laundry detergent used on his blankets or bedding to a cleaning product.

 

Have you seen a dermatologist?

[Guest carriej]

I have seen everything. As of next month, he will have had the rash for an entire calendar year. Unless he's allergic to snow, he spent the entire winter with this rash. It was an area about the size of my palm, and our vet said she thinks it was caused more by trauma from scratching/licking that area more than an actual "rash" but that's what I've been calling it.

 

There have been skin scrapings and biopsies and all that jazz. Well over $1000 spent for it to come up inconclusive and the suggestion to start food trials. The only thing our vet mentioned, is that he was "yeasty" which she said is usually a secondary thing caused by an allergy. When we switched his food, it took about a month but his fur shined and cleared out. I can pet him now without feeling like I need to go wash my hands lol.

 

Ontop of the rashy area, he was a very oily and stinky dog. Like his coat stunk, even after baths. All of this is gone now, but we are pretty confident it was a food allergy - not really an assumption due to the fact that he had it over all the seasons. We tried barrier creams and covering it, this has been an adventure for sure. However I am glad to see the rash gone.

[Remolacha]

I had an IBD dog for 9 years, so I feel your pain For treats, try freeze dried or dehydrated versions of his main protein, lamb. You can also try freeze dried/dehydrated veggies (sweet potatoes, green tripe), liver. Single ingredient is key, you usually know right away if something is going to work, and if it doesn't, you know exactly what the problem is.

 

The other thing, and I have no scientific basis for this, just what I learned with Fletcher, something about the processing of the ingredients could cause a problem for him. Things he could tolerate raw, freeze dried, or dehydrated, upset his system if they were otherwise commercially processed. I have a friend who had an IBD cat that was the same

[4My2Greys]

Believe me I know about dealing with food allergies. One thing I will caution you about is feeding just one food for an extended amount of time. What I found happened with Nadir is that when I fed something over a prolonged period he would also develop an allergy or intolerance to that item. It is best if you can first determine the meat proteins he is okay with. Once you've established those you can then look at the individual grains or other carbohydrates he does not react to and keeping to limited ingredient kibbles hopefully come up with a few that you can feed on a rotational basis.

I know you had problems with the first food you listed, but did you ever try feeding him just chicken to see if there was a reaction? He may have been reacting to the fish/fish oil in it all along.

[Fruitycake]

There are freeze dried lamb lung treats out there that I think Monty would take your arm off for. I don't know the brand, but I know that there are those out there that are only lamb lung with nothing else added, which sounds safe. Expensive, but safe.

[Guest carriej]

We have not tried feeding him just chicken - too terrified to to be completely honest. It could very well be just the fish... So many diets put fish oil or fish something in them.

We are trying some orijen freeze dried bison or something. Smells like chocolate (weird).

 

What kind of symptoms were you guys looking at with food allergies? The strangest thing is that Chance never had bowel issues. I always assumed food allergy = bad poops but our vet said that wasn't usually the case.

[GeorgeofNE]

I believe the most common sign of a food allergy is itchy feet. Dogs with red feet that they lick or chew at are usually food allergic.

 

The greasy coat and stuff sounds like something else, maybe autoimmune??

[CharlieRhea]

Re: treats, i'd go with fruitycakes suggestion of lamb lung since Chance has been doing well on Acana lamb, excellent food. Merrick makes freeze dried lamb lung. Stinky coat goes along with yeasty which is a reaction to food usually. Anything from potato to a protein. I have seen chicken as the biggest trigger for dogs. Also when you use a shampoo I would go with hypoallergenic and stay away from the oatmeal shampoos because of Chances allergies. I used to put in a tsp of local raw honey for one of my dogs years ago who had allergies to just about everything other than venison and environmental, hence the honey. I wouldn't suggest it to a diabetic dog of course. When you do introduce a new protein do it perhaps with a treat and wait at least a month to see if there is a reaction. Other than that I would stick with what works which seems to be the lamb.

 

PS if the coat is dry and you don't want to chance, no pun intended, fish oil, I use approx. a tsp of raw unrefined coconut oil. Easily digested and very healthy. I buy it in a local supermarket.

Edited September 24, 2014 by CharlieRhea

[cleptogrey]

i would eliminate EVERYTHING and start with plain old overcooked white rice. you can throw in a doggie vitamin if you are really concerned about nutrition. then after a couple of weeks of white rice, see what's cooking w/ his skin. if it seems to be clearing up then ONE source of protein- ground turkey, or beef and go down the list- it's what you can buy in the supermarket. 2 week trials w/ each protein source, of course if there is a reaction then eliminate that quickly. you should be able to see if there is an adverse reaction to a protein.

 

have you put him on a regime of benadryl to stop the allergic reaction? the histamine levels are high and need to be reduced, benadryl should nip it in the butt. but this may be going on too long for simple benadryl, your vet will know if a shot of steroids is needed to calm things down. (that's what is done w/ humans- i know, i'm an allergy queen).

 

from tolerating rice you can then start introducing slowly- wheat- pasta, yams- sweet potato. so, basically your dog is getting a carb and a protein and a vitamin. they can exist on this- i know since not only have i had 2 dogs who had medical problems(kidney and parvo survivor) who did well for 6 years on limited carb intake. also a friend's old saluki who had major breathing problems that happened to be allergies- went on rice and a protein- off of commercial food and lived another 2 years to the ripe old age of 18!!

 

an electric rice cooker will be your best friend!

 

have you thought about contact allergy in the house? that's a PITA, hopefully reducing carb source and protein source will do the trick.

[CharlieRhea]

cleptogrey, she said the acana lamb is working so why do this elimination diet?

[Jerilyn]

Fromm has a lamb and cranberry treat that looks pretty close to the food you're using. No fish, but they do have chicken fat.

http://frommfamily.com/products/four-star/dog/treats/#lamb-with-cranberry

[cleptogrey]

you don't know if he can tolerate yams- they were included in his diet w/ way too many other variables. they are a great treat- easy to dehydrate in the nesco dehydrators. that's why i suggested elimination diet- then you really know what single items he may have. it looks like you can also give him carrots- they are in his current food- buy the oversize cooking carrots- they love them.

 

"While I do realize that oats were present in one of the diets, I wasn't convinced he has an oat or grain allergy. He was eating pretty grainy-wheaty food before he arrived with me and he did fine on it... "

which food was that? i looked and compared both foods he broke out on- and they both had FISH- lots of varieties. mmmm.....

[Guest carriej]

He is doing well on the lamb so far. His skin isn't red anymore, and I was brushing him today in the sun and he was gleaming.

 

With NO treats and just the plain lamb acana food he doesn't break out. Maybe I am just silly, but I would like to find him a few treats that he can have. Peanut butter, bananas, carrots all seem fine for treats but it would be nice to get him a packaged treat.

 

He was on hills science diet advanced fitness at the adoption group along with raw beef. As far as I know he didn't have any allergy issues there as he came to us fine. He also ate rice + boiled ground beef his first few weeks here and did fine. It wasn't until the introduction of kibble foods (all acana brand) that we started seeing issues.

[greysmom]

Most major brand kibbles also have treats in their different lines. You might see if Acana does.

 

Packaged treats are really just a short cut for the people involved, *he* probably doesn't care if his treat comes out of a plastic bag or out of your oven.

 

If this food is doing the trick, then make treats out of it. Crush the kibble in small batches in a blender or food processor, mix with an egg or two, and some water or low fat broth until it just forms a sticky dough. You can roll it out and cut cookies. I basically make refrigerator cookies - create a long cyclinder of the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap or wax paper, refrigerate for several hours until firm, then slice it into 1/4 in slices and bake in the oven.

[tbhounds]

Save yourself a lot of frustration, time and money and feed a prescription hypoallergenic food. Feed nothing but that-no treats or snacks, no heartworm pills etc.... Feed only that food for 8ish weeks. Surprised your vet didn't recommend this. Also frequent bathing will clean and help the skin to heal. It's a myth that over bathing will dry out a coat--you must use a gentle soap free shampoo.

[Guest carriej]

Here we go.

 

So we stopped giving him everything. It had been getting quite a bit better with feeding him the new food, but cutting out treats, etc, looks much better now.

 

Here is from this morning. So in about 2 weeks, crazy results.