Best Food for Allergies?

[smatt]

I have two yorkies, one is 3 years old and has been eating Innova Red Meat Little Bites for about 6-8 months. My other one is almost 2 years old and has been eating Orijen Fresh Fish. Both do fine on their food but they constantly lick and bite their paws. I switched my one to the Orijen grain free because I thought the grain could be the problem but now I don't think so. I have looked at the Fromm brand foods but what does everyone think a good food would be for me to try? Open to any suggestions. Thanks!!

[sganow]

Boy, that's a tough one. You can try a limited ingredients food like California Natural or Natural Balance and see what happens. If you email the companies they will send you coupons or samples.

[BLowry]

My daughter switched her goldens food to Wellness because of allergies to the food she was feeding him (can't remember what it was) he is doing fine now. I'm sure there are others out there as well.

[amandawash]

Keep in mind most allergies are environmental. Of course if they are having a reaction to the environment and have a sensitivity to a certain food ingredient everything will seem worse. Put he or she on a good salmon oil supplement. The salmon oil has mega doses of omega-3 fatty acids which are about the best natural anti-inflammatory you can get. That will help a ton for mild allergies.

If it is a true food allergy, keep in mind it can take up to three months for the immune response to settle down. If you truly feel it is a food allergy you'll need to do an elimination diet. Good luck.

[PennysMum]

Licking and biting at the feet is almost always a pollen or grass allergy rather than a food allergy. It doesn't mean that they can't have food allergies too, but that feet-specific irritation is usually environmental.

Have you tried Benedryl or another antihistamine to see if that will help?

[Gina Hamblin]

Originally Posted by smatt

I have two yorkies, one is 3 years old and has been eating Innova Red Meat Little Bites for about 6-8 months. My other one is almost 2 years old and has been eating Orijen Fresh Fish. Both do fine on their food but they constantly lick and bite their paws. I switched my one to the Orijen grain free because I thought the grain could be the problem but now I don't think so. I have looked at the Fromm brand foods but what does everyone think a good food would be for me to try? Open to any suggestions. Thanks!!

Not sure if I am doing this right by responding here. We have been through it all. Now on a Food Trial and the vet just put our "Finn" on Hills Prescription Diet Z/D Ultra Allergen Free Dry and Canned Food. We just started and boy is it hard! Finn diggs at his paws and ears! Doc sd. only way to eliminate alergies to start with food. He also put him on Prednisone and we have been on benadryl forever. This is only our Second Day. Alergy test cost around $320.00 and still don't show everything. We have tried everything. Don't know if this helps but I am anxious to see all the responses. Here's the BIG PROBLEM, vet sd. we would have to do this for 12 weeks. This food is nasty. I can't imagine having to stay on this for that long. Good Luck.

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by Gina Hamblin

Not sure if I am doing this right by responding here. We have been through it all. Now on a Food Trial and the vet just put our "Finn" on Hills Prescription Diet Z/D Ultra Allergen Free Dry and Canned Food. We just started and boy is it hard! Finn diggs at his paws and ears! Doc sd. only way to eliminate alergies to start with food. He also put him on Prednisone and we have been on benadryl forever. This is only our Second Day. Alergy test cost around $320.00 and still don't show everything. We have tried everything. Don't know if this helps but I am anxious to see all the responses. Here's the BIG PROBLEM, vet sd. we would have to do this for 12 weeks. This food is nasty. I can't imagine having to stay on this for that long. Good Luck.

my non allergy dogs itched like crazy on hill's ultra z/d - hate that food i have been dealing with allergies for 5 years with my dd and food is 10% of allergies and environmental 90% -- a good food is natural balance venison and sweet potato - it is limited ingredients - only issue is it has flaxseed in it and some dogs are allergic to flax. It takes 12 weeks to do food elimination diet but you should start to see some relief.

If you have to use something stronger than benedryl - temaril p is safer than prednisone as it is prednisolone which is broken down pred and much easier on liver and less side effects. It also has an antihistamine in it tavist so i would recommend this over prednisone. The allergy testing is for environmental only as blood cannot determine food allergy.

[Gina Hamblin]

Ok, Did I read that prednisolone is better for them? That is what Finn is on, I looked at the bottle. I was very worried about prednisone. Also when I took him out the other day he started sneezing. It just kills me to put him through this food trial and it is going to be environment that he is allergic to. So far he is eating the food but we'll see just how long that lasts, he is such a picky little eater. We live in a very small town in Kentucky that only has a Wal-Mart to shop at so if we get anything we have to go out of town. I love your suggestions and will stay posted to everyone's experiences. THANKS!

[MaddiesMommie]

UGH! I hate this for you. I also have a Yorkie that suffers from allergies. I switched her to California Natural b/c it is a limited ingredient food made by Natura. This helped with her skin itchies and chewing on her feet.

[chicos2009]

i also have a problem with my chico but what i did was put some fish oil in his food .and also put a flea coaller 100% and bingo he stop iching but it took 2 weeks and i saw the results .i feel more happy now with the change.t worked very well i dont see his misery

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by Gina Hamblin

Ok, Did I read that prednisolone is better for them? That is what Finn is on, I looked at the bottle. I was very worried about prednisone. Also when I took him out the other day he started sneezing. It just kills me to put him through this food trial and it is going to be environment that he is allergic to. So far he is eating the food but we'll see just how long that lasts, he is such a picky little eater. We live in a very small town in Kentucky that only has a Wal-Mart to shop at so if we get anything we have to go out of town. I love your suggestions and will stay posted to everyone's experiences. THANKS!

yes prednisolone is better than prednisone so i prefer temarilp over prednisone. How is your baby doing? You can order food from petfooddirect.com - they have it all and if food lasts a long time with these little guys just get a big bag when going in town

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Gina Hamblin

Ok, Did I read that prednisolone is better for them? That is what Finn is on, I looked at the bottle. I was very worried about prednisone. Also when I took him out the other day he started sneezing. It just kills me to put him through this food trial and it is going to be environment that he is allergic to. So far he is eating the food but we'll see just how long that lasts, he is such a picky little eater. We live in a very small town in Kentucky that only has a Wal-Mart to shop at so if we get anything we have to go out of town. I love your suggestions and will stay posted to everyone's experiences. THANKS!

Have you tried Atopica yet? I would try that before prednisone/prednisolone.

[Ellie May]

This is all too familiar.

First, remember that there is a 90% chance that this is environmental and not food related (statistically speaking), however, food allergies do seem to be a bit more common in Yorkies (just from what I've seen on YT).

You do need to use the new food for two to three months to notice any difference if it is a food allergy.

Prednisolone is better for the liver than prednisone.

Atopica can be used (usually for environmental) and it is better.

Z/D Ultra and Purina HA just made Ellie's intestinal issues (possibly caused by food intolerance) worse.

Certain types of fish oil can help.

Benadryl seems to be a waste of time in our case.

The vet can give a steroid injection if the itching gets out of hand and the dog needs immediate relief.

If it were my normal, healthy dog, I'd probably switch to Natural Balance Duck and Potato and think about Atopica and fish oil.

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Have you tried Atopica yet? I would try that before prednisone/prednisolone.

i agree but the dog needs relief while doing food trial to determine food or flea first before going on atopica for environmental so it is only to provide relief until they rule out these two things. Our derm had us do food trial first to make sure for 12 weeks then we did atopica which is safer than temarilp and ultra zd food is not a food the dermatologist recommended by internal medicine had me use for dex and dd after pancreatitis as it could work for both and dex who never has allergies itched like crazy and so did demi as i put her on it too so i do not like ultra zd -- i think a better food trial for 12 weeks is natural balance venison and sweet potato but if the dog is miserable you need to give relief and being the vet gave prednisone i would go with temarilp as well and atopica can take up to 60 days to provide relief so our derm gave dd temarilp while doing atopica and she is so bad that even upping atopica dose she was still on temarilp after a year but vomitting all the time after a year her atopica so i figured one drug is better than two and since she no longer tolerates the atopica i put her just on temarilp 1/2 every other day a very mild dose and her blood work was perfect after a year of just doing this

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

This is all too familiar.

First, remember that there is a 90% chance that this is environmental and not food related (statistically speaking), however, food allergies do seem to be a bit more common in Yorkies (just from what I've seen on YT).

You do need to use the new food for two to three months to notice any difference if it is a food allergy.

Prednisolone is better for the liver than prednisone.

Atopica can be used (usually for environmental) and it is better.

Z/D Ultra and Purina HA just made Ellie's intestinal issues (possibly caused by food intolerance) worse.

Certain types of fish oil can help.

Benadryl seems to be a waste of time in our case.

The vet can give a steroid injection if the itching gets out of hand and the dog needs immediate relief.

If it were my normal, healthy dog, I'd probably switch to Natural Balance Duck and Potato and think about Atopica and fish oil.

purina ha is what my allergy dog and ibd dog are on and have helped my ibd dog tremendously as he was a very sick boy for a year after having pancreatitis and almost dying so that is not my first choice with allergies as it does have soy in it BUT for ibd dogs it helps trememdously and many use on ibd group as it is a very low fat at 8% so that food has been a miracle for my dog and the minute he gets anything else he goes into a vomitting attack.

After doing the food trial the next step a derm does is antihistamine trial as antihistamines are better than atopica and temarilp - zyrtec is one many are having great success with on my allergy group and that is not one we used as it was not being used in 2006 - also antihistamines work better if being combined with fish oil. I prefer Welcome to Nordic Naturals omega 3 as it is sardine and anchovies - but yorkies are prone to pancreatitis so be careful as while rare fatty acids can trigger pancreatitis in dogs predisposed so if it were me before doing that i would have a blood panel done and check triglycerides bc if they are high on 12 hr fast i would not supplement with fatty acids as your dog is more predisposed to pancreatitis as my dex had severe pancreatitis and he is the only of my 3 that has high fasting triglycerides and internal medicine specialist confirmed this with me