I have have dogs w/food allergies. The food from the vet is expensive. Does any one know of a cheaper food?

Question

8mo. labs. although uncommon this early in there life, they suffer from skin and food allergies. I got them from amish puppy mill and have been committed to giving them a good home. I currently have them on Hills prescription diet from there vet. I was wondering if any body else dealt with this and found a cheaper brand or idea. They are also fatty acid supplement. They are really great dogs.

Answer 1

my lucy is the same way shes allergic to corn and wheat. so i feed her nutro its all healthy no bi-products in it...and most grocery brands are packed with bi-products. At petco i buy a 25lb bag for about 23$ its pricey but far less expensive than the vets! also cooked chicken without the skin and fat is a good treat! good luck....

Answer 2

Go to a Pet Store such as Petsmart or Petco-take with you a can of the Hills prescription diet and then once in the store go to a employee or Manager and explain why you have a can of dog food-perhaps they can help you check the CONTENTS of your food against the Contents of the foods they have if not you'll have to---Hill is I believe Science Diet-check also Authority-but the Contents must be exactly.Since dogs are Carnivorous ask your vet if you can prepare food like chicken-a package of cutup chicken approx $4.or Beef Meat from Butcher. Boiled Brown rice or White rice can you in between feed Homemade, give a Multi Vitamin and the fatty acid supplement(Vit E,Fish oil,flax oil?) You can probably take the Fatty Acid supplement go to a Health Food store and get the exact same ingredients in a Fatty acid supplement chl the amount too but cheaper--perhaps you can feed homemade 1 day and the vet Food the next day if you can't find cheaper food and since prescription doubt it----but bet you can get list from VET that you can buy from store esp Meat-a dogs main requirement, and intersperse with canned. Hope this helps

Answer 3

you haven't said what exactly they are allergic to. But I gave my dog brown rice and cooked turkey meat (the stuff that comes in a 'roll' like a big fat sausage?), then you can add the supplements they need to take. Much cheaper than 'specialist' dog food.

Answer 4

you may want to try puppy chow/food

i'm no vet and i didn't have a dog - but was told the same thing about my cat who had the same symptoms.

i decided i couldn't afford to pay more for my cat's diet than my own so i called all the animal food companies looking for a less costly alternative. Eukanuba was one but it made my cat vomit. Finally i found someone at the Purina company who told me there was no such thing as an 'allergy free' animal food - what allergy free means is that the food is 'highly digestible' he told me to give the highly digestable kitten chow a try.

i did. that along with nixing his plastic bowl for glass worked. in fact it kept him 'allergy' free and alive for 18 years.

another alternative was to feed them a combination of cooked rice, cooked hamberger, cooked chicken. and cottage cheese.