Dog with horrible allergies..

[CedarAcres]

My parents dog, who is a rescue mutt, has always had horrible allergies. He gets ear infections constantly, his feet are always itchy and he gets cysts between his toes. He's about 12 years old now, and his allergies have gotten worse as the years have gone on. Grain free food helped for a few years. He's on benadryl twice a day at our vets recommendation. Our vet said that she believes he's allergic to the proteins in certain meats so she wanted us to try him on a protein that he has never eaten before, so a food with an alternate meat type (one of the foods had kangaroo in it actually). So they switched him to that food, and he did so well! Then there was a recall and I couldn't find the food anywhere. So his allergies flared up again.

The food is back in stock now.. but I just feel so awful for him. How long until he gets used to this food and it doesn't help anymore? Does anyone else have a dog with allergies like this? I'd appreciate any tips so I could pass them on to my parents.

 

[Angiebubs]

Sorry to hear this! I know that Brewers yeast helps with dogs that have skin allergies, not sure about food allergies though :-( You could also try giving him a cooked egg each day-good protein and would also help with conditioning his coat

 

[txnative]

Kangaroo, rabbit and duck are typically the meats the dermatologists suggest for dogs like this since most of our dogs will not have eaten those.

There are many people out there who feed their dogs raw meat and veggies only for a variety of health reasons - I do and my dogs are quite happy. Do a search for BARF (Bones and raw food) diets.

My sister has a golden retriever who is allergic to all meats and is actually on a vegetarian dog food.

There are options out there

Good luck!

Margaret

 

[CedarAcres]

I've heard some great things about a raw diet! Although I don't think my parents would go for it, but I'll mention it to them. I have managed to get my mom to switch over to giving him veggies for treats though, since he used to get quite a few low quality ones each day that I'm sure weren't helping things. They've had him about 10 years and he's been pretty spoiled with unhealthy treats through the years, and as a result he is so picky. I'm interested in the vegetarian food though! I know our feed store doesn't stock it since I'm in there at least twice a week, but there's another one nearby that I can check. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[naturalfeddogs]

Probably the most species appropriate diet you could feed would be prey model raw. It's nothing more than a variety of raw meat, bones and organs. Those three things are all a dog needs, and the health benefits are amazing. Here is some info on it, since you really need to learn about it first before starting.....http://preymodelraw.com