allergies and food
 

The vet changed my babies' food because Lucy developed hot spots, was biting her front paws, and scratching.

I was feeding her Flint River Products natural baked kibble. The vet put them on Science Diet D/D. (potato and venison)

They HATE it. The pieces are huge and hard and they look absolutely disgusted when they eat it.

What can I feed them that will help with Lucy's allergies, taste good, and Rebel can have, too? I was feeding them Royal Canin Y28, but no one on YT seems to have a very good opinion of it and I want to give them something healthy.

I'm at a loss - everything I read suggests something different:eek:

I feed mine California Natural. It comes in small bites and canned and they have a health bisquit I break up for their treats. Cali scratches all the time so I put her on one food only. She is still scratching but it's a good food and all 3 of mine will eat it.

I'm on their website. Which one do you feed?

You could try Orijen's 6-Fish kibble, many dogs see miracles on a fish based diet. Or, Natures Variety, Wellness. You're right, the RC is not good - a lot of fillers. Plus, allergy foods are often too low in protein.

I asked Marcel's nutritionist about ALLLLLL the skin allergies I read about on here, and this is what she said:

"Skin problems are often very similar to IBS in that they are rooted in food
allergies which if untreated, develop into more and more problems. The
reason is that the skin is an "elimination" organ and when there is
inflammation in the bowels/colon, the body is trying to release the toxins
any way it can--often times it is through the skin. I work with many very
complex skin conditions and most of the time, the pets have hidden bowel
issues such as candida overgrowth."

So, finding the right food (and the allergens) is so key. Good luck w/ your baby!

Solid Gold Wee Bit
 

I use Solid Gold Wee Bit - really tiny food and supplement with Missing Link - an Omega 3 product. For training treats and for a mix of soft food in his dish to get him to eat more - Natural Balance. All good healthy food.

Natural Balance duck and potato is supposed to be a great food for allergies, there are a lot of people on YT that use and say it works great. You can buy Natural Balance at Petco and it's an excellent food.

I feed mine venison and rice Wellness simple solutions (has just 5 ingredients) - my little picky eater LOVES it.

Lady has food allergies and she has done really well on Natures Variety canned and kibble. I stick with venison, duck, salmon, etc, "odd" protein sources.

You want to avoid foods with the three big allergy triggers: soy, wheat and corn. Royal Canin contains corn which may explain your dog's itching.

Potato, Potato Starch, Venison, Potato Protein, Pork Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Soybean Oil, Natural Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Powdered Cellulose, Venison Meal, Fish Oil, Iodized Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, Glycerol Monostearate, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Tryptophan, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Citric Acid and Ethoxyquin, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Here are the ingredients to the D/D dry. No wonder they don't like it. Actually, I would get them off this food because it contains ethoxyquin which, in my opinion, should NEVER be put in dog food. I am also seeing pork fat. I'm not so sure I would want my Yorkie eating that... The Flint River products have chicken and wheat in them. Ellie does really well with chicken but some dogs don't (allergies), so you might want a food without. Wheat is also a major allegen. Your vet may be on the right track to feed a food with venison since it's a bit more exotic. You could also try fish or rabbit:eek: Have you looked into California Natural, Wellness...?

yuck... sounds gross.. you know it is crap when a starch is the first ingredient... stop that food asap!

do you know WHAT she is allergic to??? you can always home cook.. that way you are SURE to eliminate what bothers her (my guess would be corn wheat or chicken) while still giving her brother some good stuff :) plus you can't get any healthier :) if you are interested in this and want more info.. pm me :) otherwise i agree with Anne, Orijen is the way i would go! good luck! allergies are tough.. Layla has environmental allergies and is just miserable when they are bad.

You need to find a food free of: wheat, barley, rye, soy, dairy, and corn. I just started my allergy yorkie on Orijen 6 Fresh Fish. I'll let you know how it works!

omg- this food IS awful. My dogs couldn't even eat it they swallowed it WHOLE. One day i decided to bite down on a piece. Well no wonder they were swallowing it whole... dang food was so HARD they couldn't chew it if they wanted to. THey loved it though. It was coated junk. it would leave slimey goo on their food dishes. I now feed wellness and i also now wet their food and even warm it in the micro. THEY GO CRAZY when it's time to feed them! It's so funny. It's a lot more work to do this instead of just reaching in the food container to put out dry food but my girls love it. And after all, it's all about my girls. :-) lol !!!

another link to visit is: dogfoodanalysis.com
verrrry good info. look up Hills D/D and see how bad that food is. It is coated SAWDUST and it even lists sawdust in the ingredients! :-O

we are still battling allergies and just recently switched to wellness. We use the reduced calorie formula. I also feed wellness venison and sweet potato to give meds and as treats. go to wellnessdogfood.com and you can read about their food. very good food. I bet you would be very impressed as i also was. this company is incredible! they also make wellness wellbites. my girls go absolutely out of their mind for these treats that contain sweet potato, apples, oatmeal and blueberries. OMG! they literally wake me up each morning because they know it's time for their snack.

I am also currently wanting to order this- someone posted this on line and lots had great things to say about it for skin irritations and itching.

http://www.vetamerica.com/index.asp?...ROD&ProdID=674

So far we are 3 wks on the wellness dog food and i have noticed a huge difference. still a tiny bit of itching but NOTHING like before. she would itch and itch and just itch constantly. I would lay in bed at night and literally listen to her scratch like crazy. I felt AWFUL for her. I felt i needed to really reseach and try anything i possibly could with her. so far it has helped her. I hear it takes a good 2 months or longer before we see any real improvement but so far so good.

[url]http://www.vetamerica.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=674