Can you recommend a kibble for an allergic 6.5 month old pup?

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

Georgia has allergies, as I mentioned in another post. My vet is pretty sure it's food allergies, since she scratches all over from the day I brought her home, and it hasn't changed with the weather except now she has some little bumps in certain areas.

I have been feeding her Orijen puppy. It has chicken, turkey, eggs and fish as the protein. So I've been advised to look for a food that doesn't have the same proteins, is grain free, and has as few protein sources and ingredients as possible.

I think she can probably switch to an adult food at this point without any serious issues.

I have been looking at all the foods in the recommended list. It's a bit of an overwhelming task and thought others might have ideas. Acana Lamb and apple looked good, but the protein content may be too low, also looking at the ranchlands or grasslands formulas but they contain several sources of protein.

Any recommendations?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

According to all of the veterinary literature I have read on the subject for the past 5 and a half years, it would be beyond exceptionally rare for 8 week old puppy (who has after all only been eating any kind of solid food for 4 weeks at the most) to have a food allergy. It takes at least 3-4 months at the earliest of repeatedly eating a particular protein for an allergy to develop. It would be possible certainly for a dog to have an allergy to pea protein, but not from the day he came home. And diarrhea is rarely a symptom of allergies; an intolerance, yes, but that's a very different thing. Itching on the other hand, would not be caused by a food intolerance, but could be caused by allergies of any kind. 

If your dog is doing great on the Natural Balance, stay with it. I'm not feeding what I would like to feed either, for health reasons. The only real problem with Natural Balance is that they were recently sold to a multinational corporation, so the likelihood of sourcing issues down the road is large. I would continue with the current food but start to look for other LID formulas that use lamb as the sole protein, just in case; there are a lot of them out there. Use our Recommended Brands list as a guide. 

Remember that it is not just the ingredients in a particular formula that make it work or not work for your dog. Macronutrient percentages, fiber content, and fatty acid ratios & content can also make a difference from one food to another. 

[lori]

Thanks Karen. I have almost been feeling guilty feeding the Natural Balance but your reply does make me feel better. I have been looking at the recommended brands but most do have the peas. I am convinced that he cannot tolerate chicken and turkey, which were in the Acana Prairie, but am unsure about the peas, that is why I was asking. I do not think the peas were the orig. problem but they were in the Wild Prairie and Lamb formula from acana too, so possibly it is also an issue, but I am not positive. 

Do you have any suggestions on additional healthy treats that we can add to the diet. We have slowly tried different veggies and have found so far he loves carrot stix and cauliflower but snubs his nose at broccoli and peas (thought we could try the peas to see if that was a problem but he wouldn't even taste it) We also give Origen freeze tried lamb as treats after grooming and he does well with that. As for toys, the only other flavoring that we give is bacon flavored. That seems ok too.  This is all so confusing and your replies, based on your experiences do help, as we all just want the best for our doodles. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

For treats, you can try dehydrated sweet potatoes, there are several different companies that make them on our recommended list. Raw vegetables are indigestible for dogs anyway, so I wouldn't worry about his not liking broccoli, lol. Fruitables has a line of fruit & veggies treats that you could try, too. 

[lori]

Thanks I will try your suggestion. Regarding the vegetables,  I actually thought I was adding some nutrients, but if they are not digestible, would it  be better to not feed them at all?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They do add some good fiber to the diet, and if your dog likes them, why not? No nutrients, really, but no calories either, and he still thinks he is getting a treat. Win-win! :)

[Shari Becker]

Hi Lori, Karen has given you so much great info. here. Our puppy is quite allergic, too. We've had good luck with the Acana singles: Lamb and Apple. I have been using it in conjunction with freeze dried raw formulas, and she tolerates it best. I'm looking forward to this summer when they will eliminate the grains from the product. Lexi doesn't seem to do well on any mixed protein kibble. I have no idea why. I keep thinking a fish-based food would be great for her coat, and I may try one next. I have found that Lexi can tolerate beef, lamb, rabbit, duck and peanut butter pretty well. Our allergies are more or less under control now (as best as possible), and treats don't seem to make a difference. So I buy the tiny training treats that are mostly grain-free and from the healthier companies. I've also boiled a piece of liver, sliced and dehydrated it in my oven. I keep a bag in the freezer, and take out treats as I need them. I've baked my own cookies, those don't bother her either. We feed Lexi pieces of raw apple, yogurt cheese or goat cheese, cooked carrots, cooked broccoli (which she loves), cooked sweet potatoes, tiny pieces of plain (unprocessed) turkey deli. Honestly, she's as happy with pieces of Acana kibble as she is with anything else. My dog thinks anything edible is a treat.... 

[lori]

Hi Shari,

Thank you for the good suggestions. I wish that we had good results with the Acana lamb too but for some reason Ollie could not tolerate it. I am not sure if it is the percentages in it or maybe the peas, but unfortunately it didn't work for us. Thankfully Ollie's issues are also now under control and that is why I guess I am nervous about trying new things. I know turkey is definitely a problem but apple and other veggies may be good. I notice that you cook your vegetables and I was wondering if this is better than raw or another reason why they should be cooked?

I would like to try the liver too, can you use lamb? Sorry but since it is not one of my personal favorites(LOL) I am  a little unsure on the preparation and how to dehydrate it. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

If it helps you at all, we have a 6 year old doodle with both food and environmental allergies (dermatologist confirmed) and we have to feed the NB LI foods as well because at this point there isn't another choice.  I like you didn't like it, but not much else to do.  As for treats we dehydrate our own sweet potatoes for a crunchy treat.  You can make them any size you like.  We found that even with the NB LI treats that Lucy reacted to the smoke flavoring in them.  Our dermatologist also said that even during our food trial we could use pears, apples and carrots as treats.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's funny you mention the smoke flavoring in the NB treats, Sheri. When JD was eating the food, he also couldn't eat the treats due to the smoke flavoring. I think the trigger for his IBD was a smoked ham bone. :(

[lori]

Hi and thank you for the reply as it does help to know that your 6 year old doodle is also on the NB LI and doing well. We have had golden retrievers and other breeds in the past and this is our first time experiencing food allergies. We also have stayed away from the NB LI treats because of the additional ingredients  in them that are not in the foods and smoke flavoring (as we found out from a chew toy of all things) also caused reactions. So now we watch everything, food, treats, toys. The sweet potato treats sound like a good idea. Do you dehydrate (not sure how to do that) and then freeze? I am sure that you have probably been thru a lot more than we have at this point, so any recommendations that are given, are surely appreciated.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I just dehydrate and put in a tupperware container.  Since we have two doodles we go through them pretty quickly.  Our dehydrator has 4 trays.  I have through trial and error finally settled on making ours about the size of a quarter or 1/2 dollar.  They shrink a lot when they are cooking so I load the dehydrator really full.  I let them go until they are crunchy and snap if you bend them.  Some of the ones you get at the store are sticky and bendy, but ours are more like a hard treat.  It take probably 18 hours or better to do a whole dehydrator full.  I usually do them over night.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There are some discussions here in TFG about making your own dehydrator treats, with recipes.