Chicken Allergy-Food Options?

[Bethany]

HI All! After months of trying to figure out what was wrong with our little golden doodle, we finally realized she has a huge sensitivity to chicken. She was having diarrhea and soft stools for months and now that we have eliminated chicken, after many trial and errors, her stools have been so much better!

We are trying to find a food that has no chicken in it but that is also appetizing. We are finding that many foods have "animal fat" which could contain chicken so we are trying to avoid.

I would love some recommendations on yummy, healthy, and good food without chicken, chicken fat for our little dood. Currently we are on a very basic food, LID, but she doesn't seem to care for it. 

I tried to do a search here but couldn't find any relating, happy to look at other posts if there are any similar!

TIA!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

So it's important to know that every different protein source is unrelated, and has a very different molecular structure. Even if your dog is sensitive to chicken, that doesn't mean he is sensitive to all poultry. A protein molecule from chicken looks very different from a protein molecule from turkey or duck; that's how forensic pathologists can identify stomach contents, even when they are partially digested, lol. 

And since ALL allergies (and most food sensitivities) are caused by the immune system identifying specific protein molecules and reacting, most dogs who have problems with chicken will not have problems with other poultry. 
Just FYI :) 

[Bethany]

I was wondering that, so that is SO helpful. I like that it does allow her to have more options too. Now, is it okay to keep switching in between to find one she loves? Or how should I go about switching? I have a feeling she gets sick of different flavors too, so is it okay to switching proteins monthly/bimonthly?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

When you are switching formulas within the same line  (i.e. Wellness Simple Solutions Salmon to Wellness Simple Solutions Turkey), you do not need to transition. The nutritional profiles are identical within the same brand and the same line. (That would not apply if you were to try a food from the Wellness Core line, for example.) Most brands have more than one line, so it's important to understand the difference. 
You can switch with each bag, you can even buy two different formulas and give one for breakfast and one for dinner, lol. Whatever you want to do, as long as it's the same LINE, not just brand. 
But picky eating and trying to find foods that our dogs "like" is a whole other topic. We had a wonderful discussion about this here a while back, and it's still one of my favorites. Please do yourself a favor and read through it, it's fun and funny, but it's also full of great advice and you might just have a lightbulb moment.
https://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/an-ode...

[Laura and Angus]

Thanks for the heads-up ... I say poultry because we didn't narrow it down between chicken/turkey/duck - we just stopped poultry products. Most of the ones he had were chicken, but sometimes there was turkey.

Our pup doesn't have a food allergy that we know of, but he had loose stools and diarrhea/vomiting on an off for nearly the whole first year we had him. As soon as we stopped with any chicken/poultry products, he was better and bouts of tummy issues were few and far between --- and likely attributed to the fact that he eats random stuff. Fortunately, switching to other proteins helped us and we didn't need to narrow it down further to figure out if it was just chicken or if other poultry would bother him.

He does, however, have seasonal allergies that cause some sneezing and a lot of itching for which he takes Zyrtec daily.

Since our pup is 4 years old and doing fine food-wise, I think we're okay with just sticking to other proteins like lamb, bison, beef, and fish. Definitely helpful advice to keep in mind if we ever get another puppy, though.