Cocker spaniel Anti-allergy diet

[Newmummy2026]

Any advice for brands of dog food (ideally dry kibble) for a 2yr old cocker spaniel who is having recurrent ear infections?

our Vet has suggested trying him on a hydrolysed diet for suspected allergies. He occasionally chews his front paws also, so I agree it looks more like an allergy. Currently he has Forthglade chicken kibble. He isn’t too fussed about it anyway. We are guilty of giving cooked chicken breast or rice with some of his meals. This often results in diarrhoea for a day or two so we’re stopping this now.

I’ve looked into Purina and Farmina. I’ve heard bad reviews for Royal Canin.

looking online feels like a minefield and wondered if anyone has experiences (good & bad) they could share? Not quite sure where to start

Thanks!

hi, there are 3 options for a hydrolysed diet - Royal Canin Anallergenic, Hill's z/d or Purina HA. Anything else marketed as "hypoallergenic" won't work for this as an elimination diet. These diets are hydrolysed to such small particles that they are incapable of mounting an allergic response within the body (they still look/taste like normal dry dog food kibble though). They are all good, not sure what negative things you've heard about Royal Canin - it's an excellent diet formulated by veterinary nutritionists and made in a factory which is scrupulously cleaned beforehand so there is no risk of contamination from "normal" diets. They give a money back guarantee too if your dog won't eat it (although it's very palatable)
You need to pick one and feed ONLY that for 10 weeks, no snacks/treats/scavenging/leftovers. Then if the ear problems and paw chewing have resolved, you can gradually introduce individual ingredients one by one to try to identify which one he reacts to (i.e. the ear/skin problems recur). Your vet can guide you on how to do this.

Try going raw. I have always found it to be a miracle.

Have a look at country Hunter frozen raw food. It looks like ice cubes and you give the amount of cubes based on weight. For a dog your size it won’t be too expensive either. Also very small tiny poos.