Dry food and allergies

[Bella-Boo]

I am trying to find a good dry food that helps with allergies. I know Natural Balance is a good one but I was wondering what other good brands there are that people have tried and found to be helpful for allergies. Has anyone tried that Blue Buffalo brand? Is it any good? Thanks!

[marcerella02]

There are many good brands- you just want to look for:
1- food that does not have corn
2- food that does not have wheat
3- food that does not have chicken

those are your main culprits. You should also look for a food that has a rare protein- like duck or fish or something.

[Vinniedoggy]

The first thing you have to do is ascertain the CAUSE of the allergies. I recently adopted a little guy who has pretty bad allergies. He underwent allergy testing and it was determined that his allergies are all environmental (grass, mold, pollen, etc). His allergies are not food related. But treatment for food allergies is quite different from environmental allergies.

Environmental allergies can be helped by diet, but will probably not be solved by diet alone. A good, balanced RAW diet can really help mild environmental allergies. My older dog, Vinnie, has been eating Nature's Variety raw medallions for 6+ years and his allergies significantly improved with the raw diet (he also gets some homemade raw food, which I will explain shortly). This has helped keep his allergies under control.

For Alex, my new guy with loads of allergy issues, we are doing a homemade raw diet for now. He gets a combination of raw meats (beef, chicken, salmon) that includes a variety of organ meats (beef hearts, chicken livers, lamb kidneys). He also gets plain yogurt and pumpkin, along with a variety of supplements (salmon oil, bone meal, acidophillus, and a couple of whole food supplements). He has also been started on allergy shots to build up his immunity to the things he's allergic to. And he takes a Zyrtec at night. So far, this approach has worked wonders for him. He is well on his way to being allergy free!

Food allergies can be trickier to deal with. The FIRST thing you must do is an elimination diet. You will need to talk to your vet about this. I did it with Vinnie years ago and it was hard, but not impossible. However, it is the only way to know if your dog has a food allergy and, if so, what he/she is allergic to.

[Patti]

I have one with allergies and mild MVD and we have had good results on California Natural

[hugz4all4]

Originally Posted by Patti

I have one with allergies and mild MVD and we have had good results on California Natural

I have one with food allergies and one that has to have a low fat/low protien diet and we too have used california natural with great results. I had my sheltie at the vets about 2 weeks ago for a check up and blood work for his phenobarbital level check and its the first time in a few years that we didnt have to have it rechecked because of his fatty blood condition, so he is doing even better on california natural than the prescription diet the vet had him on. Ive been using their new grain free line, of lamb dry and thier lamb and rice canned.

[Ringo1]

Ringo and chicken do not get along; we've had good results with Blue Buffalo Wilderness, the Duck version.

However, lately, he's been getting jealous of Lucy's dinnertime food which is Wellness Limited Ingredient - Duck and Rice or something like that. Ringo does well on that too.

He also has environmental allergies - which we treat with OTC Zyrtek when needed.

[TankNPico]

So far, Tank the Yorkshire Terror is doing ok. But he's only 6 months old. However my 9 year old Mellow Maltese has mild MVD and is on a homemade diet. Lately he has exhibited tiny little pimple-looking things on the base of his tail and on his tummy. Then he licks them, they get infected and we have to treat.

My vet said it looked like a food allergy (he has an MVD Maltese, also) but his only suggestion was to feed a rare protein with a carb so I priced rabbit at the store today and it's $10 a pound!

I will research this California Natural and the Blue Buffalo and hope I can get it locally. Thanks for the information, friends!

[Ringo1]

Blue Buffalo might be too high protein for your little one with MVD. Lucy has mild MVD and I keep her on the Wellness Limited Ingredient. She also eats the Natural Balance Vegetarian for breakfast. Ringo has to have a few of those too. Sigh.

You might consider the Wellness Limited Ingredient which is a medium protein food - only 20%. The rating food site had concerns about whether it has enough meat product - which was a plus for my Lucy who doesn't always do well with meat. The meat is Duck and a lot of folks don't like giving that to their MVD dog. So far, Lucy is doing fine on it.

[TankNPico]

Originally Posted by Patti

I have one with allergies and mild MVD and we have had good results on California Natural

Is the California Natural formulated for MVD/Liver dogs? I have my MVD Maltese on homemade diet but he's developed an ongoing allergy and it may be the chicken and eggs in the two recipes I make for him. So I thought I'd try a hypoallergenic diet for 30 days to see if that makes a difference before I pay to have a homemade recipe formulated.

My new Yorkie, Tank, is on RC Yorkie Puppy and is doing well but I am having a BAT done next week and hopefully there won't be a problem.

[Ladymom]

As Vinniedoggy said, environmental allergies are much more common than food allergies. Dogs can be allergic to grass, pollen, carpet fibers, even the perfumes and dyes added to the laundry detergent you wash their bedding in.

There is no one food that is good for allergies. A dog can become allergic to anything with constant exposure to that ingredient. The key is to rotate through different foods regularly to avoid having him build up the antibodies that trigger an allergic reaction.

Adding fatty acids to his diet can help with allergies, too.

Omega Fatty Acids: Sources, Effects, and Therapeutic Usesin Dogs

[TankNPico]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

Blue Buffalo might be too high protein for your little one with MVD. Lucy has mild MVD and I keep her on the Wellness Limited Ingredient. She also eats the Natural Balance Vegetarian for breakfast. Ringo has to have a few of those too. Sigh.

You might consider the Wellness Limited Ingredient which is a medium protein food - only 20%. The rating food site had concerns about whether it has enough meat product - which was a plus for my Lucy who doesn't always do well with meat. The meat is Duck and a lot of folks don't like giving that to their MVD dog. So far, Lucy is doing fine on it.

Thank you for this reply. I was researching Blue Buffalo and California Natural and it occured to me they would be too high protein. Maybe the duck is too fatty for MVD dogs? I guess I could cut the protein by mixing it with Natural Balance Vegetarian.

I hope he's open to a new taste! Mom's home cooking may have him spoiled for anything else.

[princessizzy]

Originally Posted by Vinniedoggy

The first thing you have to do is ascertain the CAUSE of the allergies. I recently adopted a little guy who has pretty bad allergies. He underwent allergy testing and it was determined that his allergies are all environmental (grass, mold, pollen, etc). His allergies are not food related. But treatment for food allergies is quite different from environmental allergies.

Environmental allergies can be helped by diet, but will probably not be solved by diet alone. A good, balanced RAW diet can really help mild environmental allergies. My older dog, Vinnie, has been eating Nature's Variety raw medallions for 6+ years and his allergies significantly improved with the raw diet (he also gets some homemade raw food, which I will explain shortly). This has helped keep his allergies under control.

For Alex, my new guy with loads of allergy issues, we are doing a homemade raw diet for now. He gets a combination of raw meats (beef, chicken, salmon) that includes a variety of organ meats (beef hearts, chicken livers, lamb kidneys). He also gets plain yogurt and pumpkin, along with a variety of supplements (salmon oil, bone meal, acidophillus, and a couple of whole food supplements). He has also been started on allergy shots to build up his immunity to the things he's allergic to. And he takes a Zyrtec at night. So far, this approach has worked wonders for him. He is well on his way to being allergy free!

Food allergies can be trickier to deal with. The FIRST thing you must do is an elimination diet. You will need to talk to your vet about this. I did it with Vinnie years ago and it was hard, but not impossible. However, it is the only way to know if your dog has a food allergy and, if so, what he/she is allergic to.

:thum bup:

Izzy is on the raw too from Natures Variety.. We love it... we also use natural balance L,I,D sweet potato and Bison for kibble all day long.