Dog Diets

[sanantone]

After dealing with this for seven years, I'm desperate to find a diet that works for a dog that has recurring urinary tract infections and is allergic to beef and chicken. She seems to be allergic to all poultry, actually. 

Years ago, she was put on a prescription dog food for urinary problems, but the food is made out of chicken. I don't know what genius decided to only make prescription dog food out of one of the most common food allergens. While my dog stopped having UTIs, she was itching horribly, and I believe the skin allergies caused the cysts she still has. 

Does anyone have experience with holistic veterinarians? I might have to start making my dog's food. She's seen several different veterinarians, and they have no solution for dogs allergic to chicken. A few people have recommended holistic veterinarians. I was skeptical, but they can't be any worse than allopathic veterinarians.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Next door to the (allopathic) vet my family goes to, there's an artisanal local home-cooked dog food shop that critiques big corporate dog food but seems to avoid pseudoscientific woo. To help customers who need to customize their food, they publish recipes to make meatloaf and cookies at home. You'd have to substitute one ingredient, the grain mix sold at the shop, from a source local to you. They also publish general information about their ingredients.

[dfrecore]

I know there are lots of LID dog foods out now (Limited Ingredient Diets), with different proteins like duck, buffalo, salmon, etc. There are also hypoallergenic dog foods, which I think is a subset of the LID's.

My mom's dogs used to have skin problems, and they were on kangaroo meat dog food (who knew!?!). They used to only be able to get it at their vet with an Rx, but I think you can buy these kinds of dog foods everywhere now. It had to be a meat that they hadn't been exposed to before (so that ruled out beef, chicken, pork, salmon, and a few other things they'd fed them from the table, in addition to dog food they'd tried).

When we were looking to switch, our vet said you have to be very meticulous about switching, and not try a whole bunch of things. There's a specific way to do it so you can rule out things, and switching around means you've just made it more difficult, since now all of those proteins are out. So I'd do some research and talk to a vet or two before making diet changes.

[sanantone]

I know there are lots of LID dog foods out now (Limited Ingredient Diets), with different proteins like duck, buffalo, salmon, etc.  There are also hypoallergenic dog foods, which I think is a subset of the LID's.

My mom's dogs used to have skin problems, and they were on kangaroo meat dog food (who knew!?!).  They used to only be able to get it at their vet with an Rx, but I think you can buy these kinds of dog foods everywhere now.  It had to be a meat that they hadn't been exposed to before (so that ruled out beef, chicken, pork, salmon, and a few other things they'd fed them from the table, in addition to dog food they'd tried).

When we were looking to switch, our vet said you have to be very meticulous about switching, and not try a whole bunch of things.  There's a specific way to do it so you can rule out things, and switching around means you've just made it more difficult, since now all of those proteins are out.  So I'd do some research and talk to a vet or two before making diet changes.

I've identified what she's allergic to, but she needs a urinary blend that prevents UTIs and crystals in urine. All of the urinary dog foods are made out of chicken. 

I found a Royal Canin variety that's for urinary health and has hydrolyzed protein. Hydrolyzed protein is broken down so much that the body doesn't recognize what it is. Even though it starts as chicken, the body won't recognize it as chicken. My dog was prescribed a hydrolyzed protein variety before, but it was for digestive problems. 

I'm going to see if I need a prescription or if I can just pick this up at Petsmart.

[ROYISAGIRL]

My dog had a similar issue plus some additional allergies we had to end up raw feeding him. He made a complete turnaround

[suzycupcake]

Curious what type of dog it is?

We do English Bulldog rescue and have a couple of our own and after years of doing this, have found that they can have the craziest allergies and reactions to foods. After a lot of trial and error, we have both of the bullies on Zignature Trout & Salmon. It seems fish proteins are the least likely to cause them problems. Not sure if that helps you or not but I also want to point out a website for you called Dog Food Advisor. They have provided us a lot of help determining what might work and might not with the multiple bully issues. It is also important to know whatever company you go with, how many recalls they have had. Hope this helps!

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/

Susan

[sanantone]

Curious what type of dog it is?

We do English Bulldog rescue and have a couple of our own and after years of doing this, have found that they can have the craziest allergies and reactions to foods. After a lot of trial and error, we have both of the bullies on Zignature Trout & Salmon. It seems fish proteins are the least likely to cause them problems. Not sure if that helps you or not but I also want to point out a website for you called Dog Food Advisor.  They have provided us a lot of help determining what might work and might not with the multiple bully issues. It is also important to know whatever company you go with, how many recalls they have had.  Hope this helps!

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/

Susan

American Staffordshire/German Shepherd/Labrador/Boxer

She's tried almost every meat out there. She only itches with beef and chicken, and she has diarrhea with beef, chicken, and turkey. She didn't have a reaction with duck, but since she started having reactions with turkey, I decided to just cut all poultry out. Over the years, I've tried several premium brands mostly based off of Dog Advisor reviews. Some are more nutritious than others. The main issue is not the food allergies because it's easy to avoid the meats she's allergic to. The main issue is the recurring problem of urinary tract infections. All of the urinary prescription foods are made out of chicken, but I think she'll be fine with hydrolyzed chicken protein. 

Speaking of Dog Food Advisor, veterinarians are blaming boutique diets on the increase in heart problems in dogs. Boutique diets include grain-free and exotic meats. One theory is that, since they are made out of meats low in taurine, this is what's causing the heart problems. Beef and chicken are high in taurine. Too bad that beef and chicken are the most common food allergens for dogs. Even when dogs have normal taurine levels, veterinarians are saying that they could be deficient in other nutrients, which could also lead to heart problems. Of course, they provide no solution for dogs with allergies or dogs who get bad gas from eating corn.

[Jenniferinfl]

I used california naturals a lot when my collie mix was still alive. What was the UTI diagnosis? I imagine she must be producing some kind of crystal that is triggering the infection- is it struvite, oxalate or some other type? I can't remember much that would help you now, but, one type of crystal is caused by ash in dog food and the other kind is more from them not getting enough fluid. In other words, one kind only the special diet would help or finding a similar low ash food. The other kind of crystal you can deal with by just feeding canned food instead of dry. Of course, there's a veterinary diet for both even though for one kind it's pretty much not necessary and any decent canned food does the same thing.

Cats are notorious for urinary tract infections- mine stopped getting them when I started feeding more canned food, even cheap canned food.

Towards the end of my collie's life, diet wasn't enough to control her allergies and her allergies actually destroyed her ear canals. It was the craziest thing. We tried her on a trial of Apoquel and that would have made all the difference for her, but, there were shortages when it first came out. If your dog hasn't tried Apoquel, I definitely recommend it. If allergies are just itchy paws and so on, then maybe it's overkill. But, it would have been a lifechanger for my dog. She was definitely the happiest the month or so she was on that.

She was totally healthy in every other way, but, I had to have her put down at age 17 because her ear canals were so destroyed from the constant inflammation that the only option was to completely remove her ear canals and have her learn how to walk again without those balance centers.

California Naturals bought her about 10 good years that she wouldn't have had otherwise- but, sure with Apoquel would have been available to make the last years a bit better.

[sanantone]

I can't remember what kind of crystals she had. She hasn't had them in a while. Her recent UTIs have been caused by bacteria. Her water and food bowls are cleaned every day.

My dog was on Apoquel for one month, but the various vets I've been to haven't recommended it since because she hasn't been itchy. I had long eliminated beef from her diet, but once I eliminated poultry too, the itching became rare.

Her new vet (I had to get a new one since I moved) said that she had white blood cells and enterococci in her urine this time around. During the past month, I fed her FreshPet, and she had no problems with diarrhea. I transitioned her back to dry food, and the vet said that she had diarrhea while being boarded. They gave her some probiotics. I might have to start giving her probiotics every day and keep her on fresh food.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Hey, there's a six-course online Diploma in Companion Animal Nutrition from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Course descriptions.