My dog may have food allergies, what kind of food should I get for her?

Question

I took my 8 month old puppy to the vet because she has been scratching a lot lately. He said that it's likely she has allergies he's just not sure what she's allergic to. He told me to give her benedryl throughout the day and bathe her with special shampoo. After doing some research on the internet I've come to the conclusion that it may be food allergies. Before I start cooking her all of these different types of diets I was wondering if anyone had been through the same thing and had any suggestions. I realize that different dogs are allergic to different things but any advice on a good food for dogs with food allergies would be great.

Answer 1

My dog has a laundry list of food allergies. I feed her Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice formula. After 3 days her skin started to get better and the itching stopped. After 4 weeks I started introducing new foods to her one at a time for 3 days only one per week. If I got a reaction I had a positive allergen. My dog is allergic to chicken, lamb, liver, eggs, and wheat. Natural Balance makes 3 foods that my dog could eat.

She also suffers from Summer Itch. This is a common contact dermatitis that dogs get. They react to something in the grass when it is active in the late spring/summer. I bathe my dog once a month with NUSAL-T, a coal tar shampoo.

For info on the food visit http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com

To order NUSAL-T visit http://www.valleyvet.com

To find single ingredient treats for any meat or fish based allergy diet visit http://www.petextras.com

I spent close to $1000 at the vet before I did this on my own. Food allergies generally do not manifest until a dog is around 18 months. My dog was 10 weeks.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Ask the vet. There are food you can get through the vet that are specifically for the detection of food allergies. Wellness makes a special food that has only a few ingredients that can be used for the same thing. The regular foods won't work. Beef,Lamb,Chicken,,,all the usual proteins are out. Venison,Duckand Rabbit are the usual ones in the special foods. The grains have to be limited too. Usually a Duck and potato formula or something similar has to be used. The food will only have two or three ingredients. And NO other foods can cross the dogs lips!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ask the vet for guidence as to how long to do a trial and exactly which food would be the best to try.

Do not just start using a Lamb and Rice. Both those ingredients are HIGH on the allergy causing list!!!!!!!!!!! None of the hypo-allergenic diets are Lamb based!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

It could be allergies, dry winter skin, poor diet, or a combination. For dry skin, add a little olive oil to his food or massage an odorless oil like safflower oil into his skin. There are special supplements for dry skin, but an honest vet will tell you that a little olive oil works just as well. For allergies, you first need to ascertain what he is allergic to...or if he just needs a high-quality food. There is no one best food. Just follow the rules: no fillers, no preservatives, no by-products. There are high-quality foods to fit a range of budgets. If that doesn't help, he probably does have an allergy to something. I'd start by switching to kibble made from an animal that is not grass-fed, like duck or salmon. Then start eliminating certain grains.

Answer 4

Foods with alternative protein sources and no corn, wheat or soy etc. One of the better allergy formula foods is Natural Balance, they have several different formulas like Duck & Potato, Sweet Potato and Fish or Venison and Brown Rice... all of these are the ideal kinds of food to be feeding a dog with allergies. Go here for more info about Natural Balance Allergy Formulas...... http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/allergy/home.html

Answer 5

One of my dogs had a lot of allergy problems. She had been eating cooked hamburger with her dry dog food. We have stopped giving her the hamburger, and she's much better.
I'm not a vet, but I would try dog food with one type of flavor for 2 weeks at a time and see if she gets better. For example, you could give her lamb flavored food for 2 weeks, and if she gets better, keep her on it. If she gets worse, change to beef flavor for 2 weeks or something like that.
Some dog foods and treats have more than one flavor mixed in. I would stick with food that just has one flavor at a time until you figure out what she might be allergic to.
Call your vet and ask him or her to recommend a food, or ask someone at the pet store. Good luck!

Answer 6

Science Diet.
They have food specially made for dogs with food allergies. Its a bland recipe of duck, rabbit vinison and rice and potatoes. Your right about it possibly being food allergies a lot of dogs have this. Go to your local pet store or Vet they will help you find the right food for your dog.

Answer 7

Oh boy do I know this one! My dog is allergic to wheat, soy, turkey, potatoes.... try finding a dog food that doesn't have wheat or soy in it! The only one I've found is BilJac. They have puppy, senior, regular and fat dog formulas. I had to give my dog allergy shots every other day, now she's on Atopica and Ketokonizal. Expensive, but keeps her from scratching 7/24!

Answer 8

Without knowing what your dog is allergic to it would be hard to sugest the right diet. If want to know exactly what your dog is allergic to ask the vet how much is allergy testing is and if is not able to provide that service who would they recommend. Otherwise you will be spending a very long time cooking different types off food.

Answer 9

foods without corn, corn gluten, soy and stuff like that. they are all fillers that allow companies to make alot of dog food for cheap. the problem is that many dogs become allergic to the corn or soy products. you should look into all natural/hollistic foods. check the labels but good ones are wellness, innova, nutro ultra. there's also a newer food i started feeding recently that i think is the best so far, it called Blue buffalo. the bag will have a label on it that says BLUE in bold blue letters and it's only at Petsmart i think. i tried wellnes and my dog got the runs. with the blue she's doing fine.

Answer 10

My parents dog has the same problem. The dog would be itchy and lose hair. MY mom switched to a dog food that has lamb and rice. That's what the vet told her to do. It makes the dogs coat shinier and thicker, and relieved the allergy problem. Nutro Natural Choice: Lamb and rice is the brand my mom uses. You can purchase it at Pet smart. Hope this is helpful.