Question by Kathy Morrison: Does any know of good brand of dog food for a possible food allergy?
I have an 8 year old Mini Schnauzer. She had what seems to be anal gland problems. She constantly licks back there. The vet believes she may have a food allergy and wants to put her on z/c Hills prescription dog food. I now have her on Wellness Super5Mix Complete Health Whitefish & Sweet Potato Recipe Dry Dog Food and mix in some wet food from wellness so she’ll eat it. At one time she had pimples on her skin so I switched her from Iams to Wellness 3 years ago. The skin problems went away but the anal issue still continued. No my question…. Does any know of good brand of dog food for a possible food allergy. Really don’t want to switch to prescription if I can avoid it and still get the same results.

Best answer:

Answer by Harris
you need to see a vet to determine if it is an allergy. Even a vet may not be able to determine if it is an allergy but you will at least know for sure what is going on and a proper course of action. You seem to have fixed the food issue, but there may be another problem as well.

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Question by Kelly: Dog Food Recommendations?
I have an 8 month old Jack Russell Chihuahua who has special needs when it comes to food. She was suffering from a bad intestinal illness when I got her and she has since recovered due to the persistent care of us and our vet.
To prevent any further illness, she must be on a high quality diet with no beef, wheat, soy, corn, and things like that. She has had chronic ear infections and itchy skin which may be due to food allergies.
I know I want to give her a holistic food like Wellness, EVO, Canidae, etc, not the crap from the supermarket. I know all about by-products and preservatives and do not want them in the food either. I was going to go with Wellness, but I heard that it can cause horrible diharrea and intestinal upset, but she cant handle that in her condition.
So, I would like recommendations on what brand I should feed her and what brand works best with your dog. Also, if youve had bad experiences with some of these holistic/high quality foods, let me know about that too
Usually raw diets are great for dogs because they have more bacteria and a shorter intestinal tract so salmonella and e. coli rarely if ever affect them. However, my dogs intestinal tract has already been compromised and vets are not sure if she could fight off such bacteria if she was ever exposed.
Again, home cooking is a great idea, but id be worried about meeting all her nutritional needs and balancing all the ingredients. I want to make sure she is getting all the nutrients and vitamins she needs.
I would really like a dry and canned brand I could buy that would suit her needs… any suggestions or things I should stay away from?

Best answer:

Answer by bettathang
My dog doesn’t have any special problems, but he did do well on Evo when we were feeidng kibble. Have you considered a raw diet? I know it has worked really well for some dogs with bowel problems, and you’ll definitely be sure of the ingredients going into your dog’s food.

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Question by Bordeaux: Allergic dog prescribed Hill’s z/d food?!?
My dog has been having some serious issues with allergies since I adopted him from the local shelter 3 months ago. We weren’t sure if he had only environmental allergies or if there were food sensitivities also, but now we are pretty sure he’s deathly allergic to some foods too.

Last saturday I tried to introduce EVO red meat to slowly switch him to grain-free but he refused to eat anything other than two pieces of kibble. Apparently that was enough to set him off in a serious allergic reaction with scratching, chewing at his skin furiously, and a couple of red spots in his belly. Well, on Tuesday night he managed to eat a tiny piece of chocolate and then his body almost shut down. After yet another extremely expensive trip to the vet’s due to diarrhea, widespread rashes, muscle tremors and serious lethargy, he was sent home with prescription food for the intestinal issues (the i/d). Last night the vet called with the blood test results that ruled out any other health issues, which makes him pretty confident the dog has extreme food sensitivities. He now put my dog on Hill’s prescription z/d food for 3 months to do a proper food trial. After that, if the symptoms have cleared up and we are sure it was all due to food allergies, we will start experimenting with other foods and protein sources to see if we can find something else he can eat.

Has anyone here been through this? Besides the obscene cost of this food ($ 90+ for a 27.5 lb bag), it seems to me that the food is not really “healthy” either. I guess I’m looking for people who have tried this elimination food trial and have good or bad results to report. Should I hope for the best and do the 3 month food trial or what?!?

Thanks!
I have tried switching him to Wellness whitefish and sweet potato, but he had a pretty serious vomiting episode a little under 2 weeks after starting the new diet (plus bad gas, frequent stools, dry heaving, etc). The last food he was on was California Natural lamb meal and rice, which did not provoke any serious reaction but didn’t help either. I had just bought a small bag of Pinnacle duck and potato food to start transitioning again when all hell broke lose from the chocolate poisoning episode…
BTW, I am not an idiot. The dog stole the chocolate while I was driving myself crazy looking for my keys, which I lost during the snow storm and have never been able to find. I guess in the shuffle of looking under everything and opening every drawer we overlooked the dog and the chocolate.

Best answer:

Answer by Lolo
I had a labrador that was allergic to the wind if it blew. The vet had him on Science Diet too. I switched him to Wellness Whitefish and Sweet Potato. He loved it and didnt suffer from food allergies any more. It’s healthier, human grade, and uses fish as a source of protein. Explore Wellness foods. I think your dog would do well on it.

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Question by XxKarToonxX: My dog won’t eat her food? I think she might not like it?
Kay, I know this is a long one, but if you’re a pet owner, I’m sure you’ll understand!

I have a Pekingese, she’s about 13 years old. It’s been a couple years that she’s being picky eater! I try to switch brands and flavors each time I buy her food, but she always ends up leaving half of it there! She always leave the light and dark brown bits of her dry dog food. I always end up throwing away the bits she won’t eat. Yesterday, she was out of food so I went to the store and bought her a bag of Kibble ‘n Bits Homestyle Chicken dog food. I got her one of the big bags; and when I got home and filled her bowl, she refused to eat it. I know for a fact that she was hungry because her bowl had been empty since I got home from school and my mom hadn’t noticed she was out of food. I was previously feeding her the same dog food but Homestyle Beef flavor and I thought I’d change it up for her. She hasn’t touched her dry food since yesterday and all she’s eaten is half a can of Pedigree Chopped Beef wet food…She’s actually also very picky about wet canned food too! I think Chopped Beef flavor is the only one she eats!

Here’s some other info about my dog:
- Other than human food, as far as I know, she doesn’t have allergies…although I think those Beggin’ Strips bacon treats are as bad as human food is for her!
- She’s had many different brands of dry dog foods before; mainly Purina, I think.
- I think she became a picky eater when we went on vacation to Mexico one year. I don’t know what kind of food we bought her there after she finished her dog food from home…that was years ago though, could that still have anything to do with this now?
- She doesn’t have any scheduled times to eat. Her food is there in her bowl, changed constantly, and covered when we know for a fact that she won’t be eating.
- She’s used to eating around others, her food and water bowls are near the kitchen, so privacy and distractions are generally not a problem for her.
- We don’t give her human food (she has “allergies” to that and her skin tends to like open up & can get infected…it’ll look like a really bad scrape, she’ll scratch at it a lot, and it really seems painful for her. She’s been given meds for this about 3 times already. One of her vets said that since she had it once, she’ll most likely keep getting it.)
- She does, however, always hang around the kitchen, especially when we’re cooking, to see what she can pick up. Or my little brother sometimes leaves things lying around. but this isn’t a constant problem.
- She has boiled chicken and boiled rice mixed together as a kind of special food. One time she got very sick (whole other long story) and nearly died. After she got better, the vet told us to give her boiled chicken and rice to encourage her to eat. But it’s really rare if she does eat this since my mom doesn’t make it for her too often. So i don’t think she’s distracted with that..

….I think that’s it…Again, I’m really sorry this is SO long but I’m really worried because she hasn’t eaten well in nearly 3 days! I appreciate all suggestions,,,as long as they’re not dumb. lol
Please and thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by Wakada
You may think it is bad for your dog to eat the same food for its entire life, but it is important for it to have a steady diet, so STOP buying different food each time you are at the store. Your dog is in its later years of life, make one last switch to a dog food for elderly dogs, it doesn’t need as much protein as it did earlier in life.

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Question by Berenice Sanchez: What is the best dry dog food for a lab who is loosing a lot of hair?
We just arrived to Japan a few months ago and my 16 month old black lab is loosing alot of hair. We went to a vet in town and they ran tests and said she was OK. We give her Eukanuba for healthy skin and coat and they said it could be her dog food is not giving her enough nutrients with this new climate change. They told me royal canin “Select Skin” is the best for her but the price for a 20kg bag runs around 101 US Dollars. I asked about science diet and they kept insisting on their brand. Is there an alternative dog food that would help my dog with her excessive hair loss or possible allergies to the new climate and not cost as much?
Thank you all for the info….I forgot to mention that my black lab is not spayed and she does have some bald spots around her neck

Best answer:

Answer by Charneyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
I back up Roberts answer

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