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My dog had massive diarrhea, horrid gas, irritated skin so the vet recommended Purina HA (Hypoallergenic)...You have to get it from the vet and its a little pricy but soooo worth it!!!
I suspect that my 7 month old Cavalier may have allergies and before I go running him to the vet (he really hates the vet) I thought I'd run my reasons for suspicion by you guys on this board.
1. He is constantly rubbing his face on the carpet to the point that I'm afraid he's going to get carpet burn. He does this most when he first gets up in the morning or after he's been in his crate for half an hour or so. He will rub his face all over me, the furniture and the carpet and make sniffling noises while he does this.
2. He bites his paws a lot.
3. He has to be let outside to poop about 5-6 times a day and it typically is softer than what i'd call normal.
4. He licks himself obsessively.
5. He is what I'd consider abnormally hyperactive and abnormally aggressive (snaps) for his breed
6. He frequently rubs his face with his paws
We currently have him on Innova Puppy Formula.
Let me know what you guys think. Am I making a big deal of nothing or is this worth looking into?
Another vote for Blue Buffalo here. I use their canned dog food as a backup for when I can't feed raw, and also as Kong filling. They have a lamb & rice version of the canned food.
Evanger's is another good brand for canned food - I had some samples recently (or rather, my pets did ) and the canned ground buffalo was a *huge* hit with the dog and the cats. They are pricey but good quality.
Also, mimi, did you try raw chicken with your dog? Often when they are allergic to a protein, it's limited to the cooked/processed version, since the processing changes it quite a bit.
i use orijen here cause my one male chihuahua is a diabetic and he has horrible allergies .He used to eat totw but with the preservative they use he turned allergic to it too . it seems like anything foreign like preservative etc he becomes allergic to it .
It all depends upon what your animal is allergic to. I think my Pomeranian is allergic to corn and probably other grains too and dogs never were meant to be grain eaters. I was thinking---Pomeranians are descended from the Spitz and/or other Eskimo type dogs so they would have originally eaten fish and whatever they could find in a short Arctic summer, like berries. So I'm going to change his diet accordingly.
If a dog had originally been a hunting dog, then maybe he should be eating ducks and other birds.
Maybe thinking about the breed's origins will lead us to know what to feed them. ???
i absolutly agree that it realy depdns on what your dog is allergic to...
a dog alergic to chicken going on a chicken based food is going to continue having issues...
if your dog has allergies spend the money and get an allergy pannel, itll save you time doing an elimination diet...
if allergy pannel is out of the question start with the most common allergens first...as always avoid byproducts and go grain free first...
if grain free doesnt work try switching the protein...instead of chicken, try lamb, if not try duck, if not try fish ect...
my personal belife is that the best food for a dog with allergies is a raw diet with "unusual" proteins (duck, rabbit, quail, veal, venison, buffalo, ect...) meats that wouldnt be as common in comercial foods and then less likely to cause alleric reaction...
that being said...
ive known ALOT of people have good results with natural balance allergy formulas...the bison and sweet potato, venison and sweet potato, duck and potato, and sweet potato and fish all seem to be very well recived by "allergy dogs"
merriks before grain is another popular choice as well as wolfsong and taste of the wild brands.
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