[brithannah]

Hi there,

My dog Oliver is approaching his third birthday, and has had chronic vomiting and intermittent intestinal upset since he was 6 months old. I’ve spent thousands in vet bills for this illness, and has been on Hill’s Prescription z/d and i/d since Valentine’s Day this year. In fact, the vet says he just needs to be on prescription food for the rest of his life. I can’t afford that, and I don’t like the ingredients in the food.

I just sat down and sorted through every ingredient from every brand of food my dog has ever been on that has caused a reaction (which has been every one except the prescription foods). I highlighted common ingredients, added up the number of occurrences in each to try to determine likely food intolerances.

The biggest ingredient themes are Chicken, Rice, and Potato.

I’ve been researching potential foods for weeks, but the only chicken, rice, and potato-free food I’ve seen is “GO! Sensitivity + Shine Grain Free, Potato Free Turkey Recipe.” Anyone have experience with this food, or have any other suggestions?

Anyone have advice for narrowing down food intolerances without a $300 “Nutriscan” test?

Thanks!

[pugmomsandy]

You can do an elimination diet. Try a single protein and single carb for 2 weeks and check for reactions. Example fish and sweet potato. Or fish and quinoa (gluten free). Be sure no treats are given unless it’s the single protein or carb. You can add in a vit/mineral supplement later as a dog can have a reaction to any ingredient including supplements and you wouldn’t know if it was the food or supplement.

You can google more on elimination diets as there are probably some variations.

[somebodysme]

I have seen good comments about this food where they sell it. Go to the on line retailers and you will usually see comments. Also check the comments here after the food review. You could try it and see. Honestly… I know that the ingredients don’t seem that great but if the food is the only thing your dog has done good on, I would maybe try a few other foods but if they don’t work just get back on the RX food if it’s working for your dog. He can’t be sick all the time…that’s not good!

Maybe you could find a food with similar ingredients(to the RX) leaving out the bad stuff?

[pugmomsandy]

There’s only a few foods that are really limited ingredient. For kibble there is Natural Balance LID, and Nature’s Variety Instinct LID. Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance and The Honest Kitchen Zeal are single protein and it doesn’t have a large number of ingredients. I would suggest adding a probiotic and digestive enzyme to the foods.

[paige-s]

The food i would Suggest eliminates Chicken, Potato and ANY grain altogether.. its called Canine Caviar. it has venison, duck, or herring available for the grain free diets. its very similar to a raw diet but in kibble form (dehydrated raw pretty much).

this food has prebiotics and probiotics in the food so its Fantastic for allergy prone dogs, it also has Kelp which is good for fighting off any pollutants as well.

I would HIGHLY recommend this food since you would not have to add any supplements to the food at all. look the food up, its extremely limited in the ingredients and you will understand what each ingredient is which is always a benefit.

[paige-s]

The food i would Suggest eliminates Chicken, Potato and ANY grain altogether.. its called Canine Caviar. it has venison, duck, or herring available for the grain free diets. its very similar to a raw diet but in kibble form (dehydrated raw pretty much).

this food has prebiotics and probiotics in the food so its Fantastic for allergy prone dogs, it also has Kelp which is good for fighting off any pollutants as well.

I would HIGHLY recommend this food since you would not have to add any supplements to the food at all. look the food up, its extremely limited in the ingredients and you will understand what each ingredient is which is always a benefit.
this food will help with dogs who throw up a lot, i work in a global pet foods in Ontario and ive seen this food do fantastic things for dogs with the exact same symptoms. i hope this helps.

[somebodysme]

I’ve read good things about Canine Caviar too, no one near me sells it though. I agree with Sandy, start with a LID and go from there. I recently tried Earthborn Holistic’s Coastal Catch but after two weeks I didn’t see any change at all with my dogs allergies…am trying NV LID now. Unless you get allergy tests done, it’s just trial and error. I’ve even heard that the allergy test isn’t really all the great either…any opinions on that subject? $300 isn’t all that bad if it tells us accurately what to feed our dogs!

[theBCnut]

Allergy tests are not all that acurate. You can get both false positives and false negatives.

[somebodysme]

That sounds about right Patty. Plus if the dog is getting upset stomach, that really doesn’t mean an allergy but a food intolerance. Like for instance, pinto beans make me sick but that doesn’t mean that I’m allergic to pinto beans…but rather that I cannot digest them. So digestive enzymes would be in order.

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