[David H]

Basically, I’ve done a ton of research on my hyper allergic dog on this site and others to find him food but am having trouble.

We recently did an (expensive) allergy test to see what exactly he is allergic to and it turned out to be quite a lot. I love this dog with all of me so I want to find him something that he enjoys and that he is not allergic to.

We have been giving him Canidae Pure Goodness Salmon and Sweet Potato but I realized today that it contains white potatoes as well as sweet potatoes (he is allergic to white not sweet potatoes) so I need another option. I will try to include an Imgur or similar link so you can see his allergies (there are a lot) if anyone can help me figure this out. Thanks.

Here is the imgur link. I hope they are allowed on this forum: https://imgur.com/a/9rXy3Rz

The key things he is allergic to are:

Milk (VERY allergic)
Liver, Beef
Beet
Potato, White
Lamb
Barley
Kangaroo
Turkey
Soybean
Chicken
Brewer’s Yeast

[Patricia A]

What are symptoms that he is displaying? If it is digestive, such as diarrhea, then possibility of too much fat in diet. If skin issue then first look into irritants such as flea bites or even something as overlooked as bedding washed with scented detergent?
I never found any validation that allergy tests work . Hope link works below.

Research Update: Testing for Food Allergies

So hard to actually do elimination diet. There are so many ingredients in dog food that might cause sensitivity other then just the protein. If you take a look at the ingredient list on the average kibble you’ll see what I mean.
Possibly try a one protein food without added supplements. Freeze dried such as Vital Essentials just the protein/flavor with no extras’ I believe. Very expensive to feed however. I believe it also comes in frozen which is more cost saving. I use Primal, small batch, Bixbi Rawbbles, and at times Stella Chewys.
Just go VERY, VERY, VERY slowly with switch. Also if you look at reviews on DA you’ll see the 5* rated foods in these brands. I ONLY use the proteins DA rates in the brand with 5*’s. The ones that rate lower are too much fat to protein. This can cause loose stools and stomach upset all the way to pancreatitis in some dogs.
I use a SMALL amount of kibble as base to stretch the freeze dried. This being Stella Chewys raw coated grain free.. If you look at their f/b page there are many who had trouble with diet and most do well on this kibble.
Hope this helps. Again any change in diet much go so slowly.

[crazy4cats]

As the link that Patricia posted states, allergy tests are very inaccurate. Unfortunately, an elimination diet is the best way to determine the problem ingredients. You would need to feed a prescription hydrolyzed diet to clear his symptoms and then gradually add a protein one at a time to see if there is a reaction. The hard part is he will not be able to eat anything else during the trial.
Rx diets can be very useful! I have a cat with presumed IBD on one. He’s doing awesome! Another, on an Rx urinary diet that saved his life. Good luck!

[Jane P]

I suggest Zignature– they have several formulas that your dog should be able to eat including goat, venison, catfish, whitefish, salmon and trout, and pork. I do not believe they include the allergens you list.

[shivam B]

Hey, I also faced this problem when I was a beginner in caring for my dog (rockey) but then I referred to https://dtua.org/ and got loads of information here. Finally, it came to feeding the dog which I am still a bit apprehensive of feeding raw food to my rockey! My suggestion is you should follow some good dogs based community, It will very helpful to you.

[Amy H]

Hi everyone, joining the conversation. Our lab started with diarrhea, itchy skin, and ear mites as a young pup. Finally had him tested and he has severe allergies to dust mites, ragweed, cottonwood, meadow fescue grass, hickory, goldenrod, sorrel, willow, and lots of food. He is getting allergy shots weekly through Heska plus Zyrtec and Apoquel. I’ve tried several different foods and felt pretty comfortable with Orijen Original, but it was just purchased by Mars.
My boy is 101 pounds, and I want to find new food, I tried raw food and the poor thing had a horrible reaction. Vomiting and diarrhea, when I blended a very small amount with his existing food.
I do know the only way to be certain with foods is to do an elimination diet(I have two dogs and this would be difficult) That being said, his testing shows he is fine with all proteins, it’s the binders he is allergic to, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, rice, barley, corn, flax, milk, oats, peanut, soybean, wheat, and green beans.
Does anyone have any experience with Farmina Skin and Coat or AnnaMaet’s Sensitive Skin and Stomach?

[Lisa V]

I responded several years ago to a post here called “Diet for Protein Losing Enteropathy (PLE)” when my dog was diagnosed with PLE or an auto immune disease 8 years ago. For the past 3 years he’s been on a homemade diet of boiled chicken breast (no skin), brown rice mixed with frozen veggies, a hard boiled egg and some pumpkin. I also give him a can of Kasik’s salmon for 1 meal daily. It’s almost 100% salmon other than some amount of pea starch. You might want to investigate that. My guy is turning 12 in February, his vet at Tufts said he would die within days to weeks 3 years ago when I took him off meds but he’s doing pretty well getting mostly homemade food. I do supplement with a small amount of Royal Canin Veterniary Diet Gastrointestinal low fat dry dog food just to give him some texture. He’s about 101 lbs.

[Lisa V]

If it were my dog I would start generic with rice only, then introduce one item at a time.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Amy H!
How were your pup’s allergies determined? Most allergy tests are not reliable and most dog allergies are usually environmental, not food related.

That being said, the best way to determine food allergies is by an elimination diet. An elimination diet might be started with a novel protein or a hydrolyzed Rx food to clear the system and then slowly adding in a new protein one at a time to determine a possible allergy.

Glad you are not feeding Orijen any longer. It along with Champion’s other formulas are some of the most that are correlated with dilated cardiomyopathy. Mars is a great dog food manufacturer. They employ experts, own their own manufacturing plants, do a ton of research and perform feed trials.

Best of luck to you figuring this out!

[Author]

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