Purina hypoallergenic dog food

[ElsaSnow]

Any experience with this food for dogs with itching and recurring ear issues?

My dog is nearly 5 has been on the same food since she was about 8 months old - combo of Millie’s wolfheart duck and veg kibble and a spoonful of forthglade duck and veg wet food. Her coat is good, her poops are ideal, she is calm and generally happy and healthy. She is a spaniel mix and was spayed when she was younger.

Apart from recurring ear infections and increased itching. She has always suffered ear infections usually at least 2/3 per year since we got her but the past 6 months or so she’s more itchy, paw licking and the ear infections seem to clear up and then come back again within a few weeks. Nothing has changed in her diet, routine, home etc. Vet suggested trying purina hypoallergenic for a few months to see if any improvement. The food stinks or like a weird potato type smell (my children had milk allergies and had to use prescription formula neocate and it smells similar!) The food looks like honeycomb lol like the cereal golden nuggets! I mean she is eating it ok so I’ll persevere but it’s made her poop like a mouldy green colour and it’s smaller - is this common? Will it go back to normal once she’s got used to the food? She’s still itching and paw licking not noticed an improvement there yet. How long did anyone else notice improvement and did you remain on this food or try something else?

Thanks so for the long message!

Not tried that particular one, but our itchy foot chewing, ear suffering Bedlington eats Lily's kitchen.
He's not remotely food driven and quite often goes for a couple of days between eating.
The one that he enjoys is woodland wander- or similar whimsical name.
It doesn't contain chicken and is grain free. Both of which seem to heighten his issues

I had a spaniel who suffered from ear infections and itching. The hypoallergenic foods didn't make much of a difference. The only thing that kept his conditions at bay were steroids.
If you have insurance and can afford it, it might be worth asking for a referral to a dermatologist. It is expensive though - our first appointment was just under £3k.

Our dog used to get ear infections regularly. We arranged for an allergy test and it turns out she is allergic to most of the meats most commonly used in dog foods. On our vets advice we swapped to Purina HA and she's been fine since. It doesn't look appealing but I mix in chopped carrot/broccoli.

Thank you for replies. We know beef, chicken and grains def make her worse. The duck seemed good for her for a long time and supposedly is one of the more novel proteins as not in as many dog foods but I guess she’s reacting to the duck now. Unfortunately when we changed insurance the other year they excluded anything to do with her ears/skin/allergies as a prior condition so would not be covered for any investigation or treatment which is why we are trying the diet route. I will persevere with the purina for a couple of months as the vet said and then see how things are.

@Notonthestairshow long until you noticed an improvement on the purina? So I know when to expect to see a change.

She was getting ear infections every 10-12 weeks or so. We’d treat it with antibiotics and it would clear up and then she’d start head shaking again.

I guess we knew it had definitely had a positive impact after 6 months and no infections.

She’s been on it 18 months now and no reoccurrence.

Amazing @Notonthestairsi will hope for the same!

@Notonthestairssorry one more question do you use just the kibble or the tins of wet food too? We’ve started with just the kibble for now.

This. I had a boxer that was allergic to everything. The only thing that stopped her itching was a low dose of steroids every day. This made a massive improvement to her life. The vet was happy to give a prescription and I’d buy the steroids (using the same prescription) at various online med companies so I had a good stock of them.

She ate Field and Trial Duck and Rice.

Our cat uses Hill which is expensive but he loves it