Moon's Graden

We just took in a foster dog for the rescue network we volunteer with
(www.labadoption.org).  This dog has food allergies and is currently
on Hill's Prescription Diet Z/D.  Has anyone had experience with food
allergies in their lab - and has anyone ever used Nature's Recipe
Venison and Rice formula?

The prescription food is very expensive, and we'd like to find an
over-the-counter brand that will be just as good for him.  He'll be
much easier to place in a "forever home" if we can eliminate the
excessive costs associated with his health problem. He's been
surrendered, adopted, and re-surrendered because of the allergy
problems and the cost associated with the prescription food (people
can be so frustrating).

On a side note, he's a 2 year old neutered male yellow lab.  Seems to
be a really polite dog (gets along great with my dog) but is very
overweight right now - nothing a few trips to the dog park won't cure,
though...we'll be taking his picture tomorrow and his information
should be on the "available labs" page in a few days.

Thanks!

    Caitlin was very itchy when I rescued her. I switched her to Nutro
Natural Choice and gave her a 1000 mg. fish oil capsule a day and her
itching stopped within a week. I blame the corn in Iams/Eukanuba.
   I don't think much of Hill's products and have no experience with
Nature's Recipe.

Madison had severe itching on the rear half of her body- it seemed to be the
worst around the top of her tail.  The vet switched her to the ZD diet for
one bag's worth (17 pounds for $60!!) to see if it was a food allergy, which
it did end up being.  He attributed it to a cornmeal allergy.  She was on
Hills Science Diet before, and their first ingredient is Cornmeal.  After
the 40 days on ZD, he had me put her on one of three foods (my choice)-
Nutro, Eukanuba, or Flint River Ranch.  The Hill's Prescription Diet ZD was
also a choice, but I cant afford food that expensive unless absolutely
necessary.  From what I understood from him, Nutro (and I assume the others
as well) use only the corn GLUTEN versus milling the whole kernel of corn- a
more expensive process but dogs dont seem to react to the gluten (the white
middle of the corn) unless they have a gluten allergy too, which will put
you back in the  $60/17.5 pound bags of food.

I chose to put her on the Nutro, and she's been itch free for 30 days now.

Good Luck!
Kim & Madison

There are some kibble dog foods that are very high quality and contain few
ingredients, eliminating common allergens. They tend to be on the more
expensive side of the kibble market, but are much less than prescription
diets and found at most pet stores. My girl was allergic to something in
Eukanuba and we switched to Innova, no more wet eyes.

Two I can think of are:
Innova Dog (18 ingredients) but some dogs get diarrhea

California Natural Lamb and Rice (made by the same people as Innova) (5
ingredients), basically lamb and rice and that's it. The say they made this
recipe specifically for dogs with food allergies.

Their website can be found at:
http://www.naturapet.com/

For lists of dog food labels check out:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wolfepack/food.html

Hello,

My friend has a chocolate lab that has bad food allergies to Nutro,
Science Diet and Iams.  I had him try the food I feed my lab (Eagle
Pack Natural www.eaglepack.com) and his allergies have cleared up
completely.  His dog is doing very well now.

Ray Trautman

=================================================
    "I'm the NRA"        NRA & GOA Life Member

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Thanks for the information!  We've been doing some research into a few
other brands.  Anyone else have experience feeding these?

Wysong
http://ighawaii.com/naturally/wysong/dogfood.html#Anergen

Natural Balance Duck/potato or venison/potato
(Allergy Formula)
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/products/PandD.html

From what I've seen, the most important things to stay clear of are
beef, corn, and wheat products.  Anything else?

Thanks again,

Hollie

I put my Remy on the NB.  Oh my goodness the Lab gas!!!!!!  Never used
Wysong.

Laura

Beef, corn and wheat are foods that some dogs might be allergeic to,
but its more important to know what your dog is allergic to.

Has he had any allergy testing done?

I would stick to a very simple food - with few few ingredients, like
California Natural. Then you can slowly introduce other foods if he
does OK with the CN and see what he reacts to.

CN is a good food for dogs with allergies for the reason that it is
very simple.

The California Natural site lists the following as the most common food
allergens:

Beef & Beef Byproducts
Pork
Glutens (Wheat, Corn)
Milk
Corn or Corn Oil
Yeast
Fish or Fish Oils
Wheat
Artificial Colors
Artificial Flavors
Chemical Preservatives

I hear good things about Wysong, but don't anyone who The Archetype has rice
gluten. It's a gluten but it's rice.

Looking at the label the NB looks pretty good. But everything I've ever read
about looking at dog food labels said that meat should be the number one
ingredient--in the NB it's potatoes, OTOH, the second and third ingredients
are Duck and Duck Meal, that should be a fair amount of animal protein.

Okay - I think we figured out the hard way that our foster dog Max is
allergic to beef.  We didn't realize that Heartgard made a tablet, so
we gave him the same chewable that we give our own dog.  (Big Whoops!)

We saw the results of that this morning out in the yard.  So, I guess
it's a good thing that we figured this out so soon.  If one little
chewable sets off his system like that....

Anyways,  Thank you to everyone for your responses and information.
We're new to dealing with allergies and appreciate all the help!

Hollie, Brodie, and the now recovered Max

(p.s. - Max has his picture up at http://www.labadoption.org under
available labs!)

Just wondering if anyone knows of a good flea/tick preventative to use
in place of Biospot (similar product to Frontline)?

With his food allergy and allready itchy-sensitive skin I don't want
to risk any more trauma for poor Max.  He's miserable enough -
although the oatmeal bath last night seemed to help.  :-)

I don't want him to get fleas or ticks, but I'm hoping there's another
product that will be easy on his tender skin.

Thanks again!

Hollie