Food Allergy in Dog

[NemoIsLost]

I started another thread about dogs itchy belly and piriton. He's had 3 days of piriton with no effect.
I've just been reading up and it sounds like a food allergy......itchy belly sometimes with red pustules, watery eyes sometimes with 'eye bogies'
I will be taking him to the vet but does anyone have experience of food allergy in dogs?
He's 7 months old and is fed pets at home 'step up to naturals' which is puppy kibble with no wheat.....

[Wolfiefan]

We have a dog with allergies. Many dogs are allergic to chicken for example. We feed raw and were advised to do an exclusion diet. Feed a new protein she hadn’t had before and only that for an extended period of time. Then reintroduce a protein at a time and watch for issues.
We had bloods done. Expensive and unsure how reliable it is.

[BiteyShark]

Is it chicken that's in the one you feed? I think lots of dogs can have issues with chicken.

Maybe get a small bag of a completely different protein to any that's in the PAH food you are currently feeding and trial that for a few weeks.

I haven't had this type of issue but due to a different problem I did look into what an exclusion diet would mean and I think you need to try an eliminate everything and try one protein for sometime to work out what is causing the problem but your vet can advise better.

[BiteyShark]

Ah cross posted with Wolfie

[Starlingsarebullies]

Our old labrador was allergic to almost everything including wheat, grass and dust. One of the symptoms was inflamed red patches on her skin. She was treated with desensitising injections and we had to wash her regularly in a special shampoo. Unfortunately the treatment was quite expensive but in our case was covered by insurance.

[NemoIsLost]

The main ingredient in his food is chicken!
Is it worth trying a wet food? or just see what the vet says first?
Thank you for your replies🐶

[BiteyShark]

I would see the vet anyway to take a look at the rash and get their initial advice.

If you think the trigger is definitely food have a look at other proteins you could switch to. In the past I have used millies wolfheart which has many different proteins (wet and kibble) and non of them are chicken (it gets good ratings on allaboutdogfood.co.uk).

Also look at any snacks you feed though as often they contain a variety of things that your dog may not tolerate.

[Wolfiefan]

Worth talking to your vet. We now have a very short list of what madam can eat. Also definitely need to look at treats.

[NemoIsLost]

he loves a pigs ear but only has one a week, and the occasional beef tail. He has 2 calming biscuits at bedtime 😌

[Soubriquet]

Yep.

My Jack Russell who was pts 6 years ago, was allergic to:-
Rice
Wheat
Chicken
Beef
Turkey
And other stuff too

He would have explosive diarrhoea, sickness and itchy skin so badly he would mutilate himself.

We finally found a food he could eat and have no problems
Fish4dogs

It was a nightmare finding food for him.

[SconeofDestiny]

Generally, my experience of vets is that many of them have a very limited knowledge of food allergies, so you might as well set up an elimination diet yourself.

It might be particular brands of dog food that contain substances that he is allergic to so I'd start by giving him a very bland diet that you prepare yourself to get his body back into equilibrium. Then introduce new foods on a weekly or fortnightly basis to check for any sensitivities.

[snowone]

My advice all day long is to go and see a raw diet specialist! Dry and wet dog food is full of rubbish they don't need - raw feed is meat, offal and bone, no crap, no wheat / rice / bulkers, no preservatives / E numbers etc etc.

[snowone]

Ps for treats our dog has frozen chickens feet and whole frozen fish. He loves them.

[NemoIsLost]

I'm quite scared of raw food, I don't know why! it seems very popular tho

[Wolfiefan]

It isn’t for everyone. I buy completes. Defrost and tip in bowl. I avoid anything with rice and veg or fruit though. I am immunocompromised due to medication so have to wash up and wash hands thoroughly. Oh and dog has her own freezer. She likes tripe. Smelly stuff!

[Soubriquet]

I can reccomend Bella and duke for raw food

It comes ready made so all you have to do is de-frost and serve

It’s out of my price range at the moment so my dogs are fed a mixture of dry and wet but all is grain free

[NemoIsLost]

thank you it's something I will look into

[snowone]

Don't be scared.....it's ace! We also buy complete meals which are ready mixed, they suit us and the dog loves them. Some people buy all the separate components as it does work out cheaper but is more of a faff. We have a raw food specialist shop in our area, they are great at advising and pointing you in the right direction.

[NemoIsLost]

UPDATE if anyone is interested......
The vet said it's some kind of allergy, not fleas, mites or ringworm. He has scratched the skin and caused an infection. we have 2 weeks of antibiotics and steroids to try, then go from there.

[GreenyEye]

yep, we managed to have a dog that was allergic to the proteins in Beef, pork, chicken and turkey! It meant every food and treat (other than milk bones and do chocolate) was off limits!

He lived on a diet of raw minced lamb, grated swede and carrot, and a scoop of quaker porridge oats for 10 years!

[NemoIsLost]

Greeny how hard was it to find out the allergies? The vet said actual food allergies are quite rare. He advised me not to change his food yet.

[Els1e]

Our dog has developed allergies recently too so i’ll be interested to hear how you get on. Currently he is on antihistamine and antibiotics. He has a vet check next week and she is saying he might have to go onto steroids if things don’t improve. We are not sure if it is food or other related.

[NemoIsLost]

He's actually scratching less already which is the steroids. Apparently the steroids can make them more hungry and thirsty. I didn't think a Lab could be more hungry

[BiteyShark]

Steroids are notorious for making them more hungry and thirsty and therefore they want to pee more. He was so hungry he ate a rag and needed emergency surgery to remove it and I am sure it was the steroids that contributed to that.

They also made my dog hyper so watch out for that.

[NemoIsLost]

omg thanks for the warning bitey
the vet said if it gets too much we can drop them down to one a day

[Honeyroar]

I think I posted on your other thread, one of my dogs is allergic. My vet suggested a grain free (including rice) food and to avoid all flavours apart from salmon and turkey, as lots of dogs react to chicken and red meats. He said that you need to stick with changes for a good six weeks before you will see any real differences.

As I previously mentioned, our dog is allergic to grass too, so we keep her off all grass in summer, where possible. Our vet said to also try and keep the dog's bedding in neutral colours (red dyes cause more reactions than other colours) and suggested putting bedding into an old, pale coloured, well worn cotton duvet cover. We actually didn't do this one, as the change of feed and keeping JRT off grass seemed to be just enough to stop her scratching herself raw.