Dogs with allergies need a new food?

Question

I have two Standard Poodles, and they both have allergies. One is allergic to wheat (but not oats or barley), and the other is allergic to turkey. Does anyone know a veterinary diet that would be ok for both of them to eat? Please do not suggest brands like Iams or Pedigree; the popular commercial brands are the worst for their allergies.

I have heard of Hill's z/d, but my vet says that lots of dogs hate the taste. I would prefer not to go with the BARF diet because I have cats, and I don't want them treating themselves to extras. I forgot to mention, but the reason I am looking for a new food is because their current food is being discontinued. I'm trying something by Eagle Pack; family friends who own a cousin to my wheat-allergy pup use it and apparently have fantastic results. They also claim the breeder recommended it.

More details...Wheat seems to give both dogs ear infections, but one worse than the other. Even regular cleaning doesn't seem to help. Turkey causes the other dog's muzzle to become very swollen, and she gets very lethargic. Luckily this only happened once.

Answer 1

I understand the problem your facing. I too stay away from those very popular yet garbage dog foods like pedigree, Iams, and many others..If you need help looking for the right food go onto this website www.dogfoodanalisys.com. It rates dog foods from 1 to 6 stars...gives you all the ingredients present, and with some will give you a review of the food..I can only say that it opened my eyes to what I thought was a good food when in fact it really wasn't. Royal Canin....sounded promising...but taking a good look at all the ingredients....wow...certain ingredients caused a lot of stress to kidneys, and liver...causing yeast infections, ear infections, and allergies.. it also contained a very controversial ingredient known as saw dust...

I since switched my pup over to Canidea All Life Stages.. I'm sure the site I recommended will help you as it has me...Good Luck

Answer 2

I don't know what the cause of allergies are. My dog has a severe corn allergy, and she didn't develop it until she was a year and a half old. I had to change her diet, change her treats, and when I go buy her treats at the store I have to sit and read all the labels to make sure there is no corn in anything. We had a dog that we had for 13 years and she never had allergies, thought when she started getting older, the food no longer agreed with her stomach so we had to change foods, but it wasn't allergies. My sisters dog has no allergies. I know for a fact that my dog didn't develop allergies from too clean an environment, because I'm sort of a messy person. I know that corn is indigestible by dogs, it just passes through their bodies, so maybe at some point it just had a bad reaction on her body and an allergy was created.

Answer 3

Here are a few that are good for allergies: Solid Gold holistic blendz, Wellness, Natural Balance, Timberwolf Organics, and Innova there are several more but these are really good foods. These are 100% human grade dog food with NO corn, wheat, soy, grain fractions, fillers or by products – and naturally preserved.
The best thing you can do is research the different brands. Meat should be the first ingredient and the foods should NOT contain corn, wheat, soy, beef or by-products and it should also be made from human grade ingredients.

Answer 4

You will get plenty of suggestions for food but there is something else you should consider for your pets ...
I have been giving my dog Omega 3-6-9 for several years now , he used to get allergy's and have dry skin and since I have been giving him this supplement his allergies have gone away ..As dogs age, they face increased risk of heart problems, stiffening joints and loss of zest and vigor. These health risks can be reduced by a diet consistently supplemented with readily accessible omega-3 fatty acids found only in fish oils. These omega-3 fatty acids are essential building blocks all dogs and cats need for maintaining a balanced metabolism. Scientific studies also show these fatty acids help maintain the immune system.
You can buy it at any pharmacy in a generic brand which is the same but much cheaper then a vets office ....

Answer 5

Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance - Potato & Duck or Sweet Potato & Fish Formula,

Natura Pet Products - Innova Evo Red Meat

Solid Gold - Barking at the Moon

Timberwolf Organics - Ocean Blue

Canine Caviar - Venison & Split Pea Adult Dinner.

You can go to their respective websites and find store locations. These foods are all completely grain free.

I feed my dogs Canidae which contains turkey, but I have heard good things from other dog owners about the foods I have listed here. I also give my dogs super omega capsules every other day as well as vitamin E oil because they need it to utilize the omega oils. Their skin and coats look great so the other poster's suggestion regarding trying Omega oils to resolve your dogs' problems would certainly be worth a shot.

Answer 6

Try one of the several high quality diets for allergies. You can find some made from venison, and duck and potato as well.

They won't contain all the fillers that are common allergens, so your first dog won't have a problem, and for the second dog there's plenty without turkey.

Nature's Variety has several good selections, such as lamb, beef, chicken and venison. None of their products contain wheat. Another one I'd recommend looking at is Natural Balance.

Here's how to spot more high quality foods:


Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Nutro Natural, Innova, Innova Evo and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm.........

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html.....

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html.....

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m...

Answer 7

You would probably be best served by a veterinary diet line such as Hills Prescription Diet, Eukanuba Veterinary Diet, Purina has one, or IVD. These tend to be available only from veterinarians, but an online search might bring up a source.

You could go to a novel souce diet such as fish and potato, duck and barley, venison and rice etc. Eukanuba even has a kangaroo/oat diet in their veterinary line. You will need to be an ingredient detective, seeking out known offenders.

Lamb and rice was once a good choice for elimination diet not because they are inherently good for skin, but because they were once rare ingredients in pet food and one could assume that most dogs had not been previously exposed. With so many lamb and rice diets on the market, I no longer consider it as a first choice when doing diet trials.

The main limitation to novel food source is that while they may work initially, possibly for a long time and indefinitely on occasion, dogs who have food allergies tend to be very good at developing new sensitivities and can, over time, become intolerent of the new diet ingredients as well. This can lead to an endless search for ever more exotic food sources.

A newer approach to the problem is the development of hydrolyzed protein diets. Hills Prescription Diet z/d and Purina Veterinary Diet HA are both foods of this type. In these diets the proteins (the usual cause of problems) has been broken down into very small subunits that the dog (or cat) cannot, at least theorhetically, form an allergic response to.

Answer 8

This kind of food no recall either.

The Solid Gold Dog Food does not have these ingredients like other commerical foods. It does not contain any of the ingredients that most of the dogs are allergic to.

Here is a website:

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/


The ingredients that are not include here:

1. NO WHEAT

2. NO SOYBEANS

3. NO CORN

4. NO ANIMAL FAT ADDED

5. NO POULTRY FAT

6. NO BY-PRODUCT

7. NO SUGAR ADDED

8. NO ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES ADDED

9. NO SALT ADDED

10. NO SUNFLOWER

Hope this helps your dogs. Wished you luck.

Answer 9

My dog had allergies for awhile and I gave her Science diet ZD. There a two types. They are expensive and you have to get them from your vet.
There is a food made by Natural Life. It's called Lamaderm, and I bought some a Walmart. Here's the info I found about it at petfooddirect.com. Hope that helps out a little.

New Packaging and Ingredients. For dogs with skin or digestion problems. The only lamb and rice formula that contains none of the ingredients that dogs are most allergic to. There's no wheat, no corn, no dairy products, no poultry, and no dried yeast. Lamaderm contains lamb, one of the most non-allergic meats you can serve your pet. Also contains ground brown rice, the most digestible of all grains. With regular feeding of Lamaderm, your dog will get more nourishment from his food and both of you will be a lot happier!

Answer 10

One of my dogs has food allergies (we gather that it is a wheat and chicken allergy), so I feed *both* of my dogs Solid Gold Hunden Flocken -- a premium, holistic, human-grade food that is specially formulated for dogs with food allergies. The ingredients are top-notch, and I've been really happy with the results.

Here's the Solid Gold website:
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/