Allergies To Dog Food

[Guest ms3569]

I adopted a greyhound in December 2014. He was on Cosco brand dog food in his foster home. We don't have a Cosco near our home so we transitioned him to a new food. We asked one of the volunteers from the adoption agency what food they would recommend for him. Nutro Natural Choice brown rice and chicken with oatmeal was recommended and our Vet. also thought this was a good choice. In January he developed a rash on his Right back leg that was treated with a steroid/antibiotic ointment. Symptoms improved after 10 days of use. The rash has reoccurred a couple times since then each time responded to ointment. Over the last week rash has come back on both rear legs. Tonight we saw another Vet. in practice and she feels he may be allergic to food. She is giving him a trial of Hill prescription z/d ultra food as well as starting him on Zyrtec and antibiotic. The food is very expensive $85.00 for a 25lb bag. Has anyone had problems with skin allergies and/or experience with this food. I'm willing to try the food for a couple months but can't afford the food forever. Please share your experiences and thoughts on food choices.

[3greytjoys]

I had a highly food allergic dog many years ago (different breed who had severe IBD). She was limited to vet prescribed unique protein foods like venison, etc. The great news is there are many more simple ingredient foods available in the general pet food market now for very reasonable prices. I'm guessing your vet may be doing a special elimination diet first, and will then try to isolate a specific ingredient sensitivity. Hopefully, you'll soon be able to transition to a more affordable simple ingredient food available in pet stores. Whole Dog Journal publishes an excellent extensive kibble brand review annually each February. You may be able to request this past Feb. as a single copy (vs. full year subscription).

 

I assume you've already tried washing your hound with a sensitive skin pet shampoo, and dog beds with a mild soap, rinsing thoroughly (2-3 times), etc.

 

Posting a photo might help too.

[a_daerr]

IMHO, it's a little soon to jump to conclusions about a food allergy. It's April, prime time for seasonal allergies and insects. There could be a whole range of other explanations for the rash. While there are dogs with legitimate food allergies, some research concludes that they are grossly over-diagnosed (which may or may not have anything to do with the wholistic/grain-free/limited ingredient food craze). If you can't afford script food, don't be afraid to try something else. Just my two cents.

[Guest KayGreat]

Hi! No answers but we'll be watching this thread closely. We are struggling with a very similar situation - our 5 year old had been fine for over a year on Costco and iams food, then this fall he began licking the insides of his rear legs until they get raw and bloody. Our vet treated w antibiotics, which helps but only in the short term, and Zyrtec, which hasn't done anything we can observe; we have also switched to the prescription Hills d/d venison and potato food. It has been 3 months and we have not seen much of an improvement, unfortunately. Our vet advised us to eliminate all other foods and treats during the food trial; we've done our best but have not been completely successful with that - our compromise has been to use only venison treats. We found the best price for the food at chewy .com but also don't anticipate that he will be on it forever.

 

The only strategy we have come up with is to have him wear pants (XS boys long johns modified) whenever we are not directly supervising him. It's frustrating for both us and him.

 

Hope someone here will have more insight!

[XTRAWLD]

We struggled for years with food trials to get Kasey correctly diagnosed with food and environmental allergies. He would have skin flare ups affecting his ears, so severely it was misdiagnosed as scabies!

 

He's allergic to the most weird things, and unfortunately very commonly found in kibble....oatmeal for example, kelp, chicken.....sigh. Let's not forget the common grass outside..... We moved to a raw diet and his improvement was ten fold. I know that's perhaps something you aren't considering at this time, but that's an option.

 

While you've had him a very short time, the rash really could be anything, so to say it's 100% related to a food allergy, it's unclear. Was he laying on a bed with a detergent or fabric softener that didn't agree with him for example? How about outside on some grass? If it's environmental, you can also try Benadryl for allergy relief. There are also lots and lots of meds that can aid with allergy relief. They are not cheap and you have to do trials of that to see what really works for your hound as well. Keep a bottle of sucralfate handy as the meds can put a lot of wear and tear on the stomachs. If you really want to go through more expense, there is always a serum that can be developed for your hound to inject him with everything he is allergic to in order to build an immunity.....resolutions medically are endless if you have the time and money. We've done nearly everything, trust me.

 

It wouldn't hurt though to move to a Limited Ingredient Diet and see if the rash goes away. I'm not privy to Hill's and food stocked at the vet. They seem to push people to buy the kibble and IMO it's not as good as some other LTD on the market. In fact, Kasey was allergic to stuff that was in those very bags at the vet! Be mindful that food trials to see what does and doesn't flame up the skin on your dog takes incredible amount of patience and time. You'll have to feed one whole big bag of new stuff for it to even be deemed an improvement - AND NOTHING ELSE. No treats, no scraps, nothing - for weeks. So really think about whether you want to go down that road and if you do to be fully committed for the best results. And don't forget to do skin and blood testing to help you along, but do this before he's on any meds.

 

To get past the rest of his allergic reactions, (the poor chap just has to have cookies and bones and treats) we resorted to a low dose of predisone which he's been on since 2008. That with a raw diet is as good as it's going to get for us here.

 

Good luck.

Edited April 11, 2015 by XTRAWLD