Prescription Diet z/d
 

Prescription Diet z/d anyone heard anything about this. Pros/Cons, our vet wanted us to put Chewy on this because he has really bad allergies. He chews /licks his paws all the time and the hair on the tip of his nose is falling off. Any suggestions? The food we are on now is Solid Gold Weebits. My other two don't seem to have any symptoms.

Oh and I forgot how to transition food. It's been a long time since we changed food.

Well I wouldn't do it- but that's nothing to base your opinion on :) The food you have him on now is a great food- the prescription- not so much.

Does the vet think it is a food related allergy?

is the food he is on now chicken based? A lot of dogs (mine included) are allergic to chicken. Layla is so bad that within an hour of giving her some she is chewing her paws and scratching at her face. Before going to the prescription I would switch food- Something like Natural Balance has rare protein sources like venison, duck, fish. The "rarer" the protein the less likely your dog will have an allergy.

ALSO (sorry- we know a lot about allergies!) this could be an environemental issue. If that is the case- the diet change will do you no good. I would not spend the money on the food until you know if it is diet or environmental.

I would change to a rare meat- give it a few months before you decide if it is the food- you will not see an immediate change. Keep him on a high quality food- i think it will be better for him in the long run.

If he is having a particularly bad day you can give him Benedryl. Layla is 6 lbs and she gets 1/4 of an adult regular strength (25 mg) pill every 3-4 hours.

Hope that helped.

well i did not have good luck with it as dex and demi do not have allergies and they itched like crazy on it so not a fan of it. If allergies I recommend natural balance fish and sweet potato, venison and sweet potato or nb duck and sweet potato as they are cheaper and they work if food allergy related but remember 90% of the time it is environmental anyway but still allergy dogs should be on limited ingredient food - you also live in california where allergies are the worst :( How old is Chewy as allergies start from ages 6mos to 3 years

Dakota has been on zd ultra for about 3 years I think. Weve tried everything, he gets the runs, and he gets yeast infections on his skin, in his ears, toes all over with almost every kind of food except that. So thats all he can have except some veggies. Suki on the other hand has alergies and scratches. The zd didnt do a thing for her at all, but hers is not food alergies either. Good luck.

i have heard of some having success with it so that is good to see you had success with it

The vet said he wasn't sure it was a food allergy and he recommended doing a two month trial for food allergy. I haven't started him on it yet because I wanted to see what you all ladies thought.

Chewy will be two years old in March. I can't remember when it started because it has been going on for a while and I didn't even know it was allergies until just recently when I mentioned paw biting on here and someone said it was allergies and then I noticed the missing hair on the tip of his nose.

the vet had chester do temaril p which is benadryl and some prednisone, which if it helps it is not food related it is enviromental which is what chester has. I would talke to the vet about that or try benadryl alone and see if that helps, I bet it is enviromental, chester still licks his feet sometimes and he is on the wee bits and other protein sources no change.

Sadly, the hills prescription food is horrible. It is filled with junk. If you have a local pet food store- not petco/smart, they don't carry the right food- go talk to the owners about your dog's symtoms. They will be able to find a food that will help or at least a few to try to find the right one. If it is not a food allergy, there are other healthy supplements that may be able to boost their immune system so the allergies are less.

The perscription food is pushed by vets because of their relationship and money they get from them. Google it.

I don't mean to be so blunt, but many people rely on their vet for nutrition information. They didn't go to school for school for it (I know a few vets and asked what they learned in school about dog nutrition- pretty much nothing). They go to school for shots, surgery, etc.

atopica is safer so if you can do atopica then better to do than steroids. Temarilp is the last resort and it is tavis and prednisolone in that and prednisolone is easier on liver than prednisone

do the natural balance for 12 weeks no treats as the paw licking and then loss of hair on face from probably rubbing can be food allergy so give it a shot and use a novel protein and novel carb which is one he never has eaten before and try that first

honestly i see your point but in some cases it works as my dog was very sick for a year off and on from pancreatitis and ibd cost me 10k and now he has been on vet food purina ha for 4 years no vomitting and it was the last resort so sometimes it works and my dog will get nothing but this forever after the horrible year we had with him

Hey Debbie, where we get that.

petco carries it - natural balance i would go with venison and sweet potato

I would definitely try a higher quality food like everyone is suggesting. There are many brands and flavors without chicken and other allergy-causing ingredients.

Good luck:thumbup: