Elimination diet

I would love to hear other peoples experiences if they have done an elimination diet to find out allergies.

So far, no matter what we feed Odin, he still scratches. Nothing seems to make it worse or better. He stopped getting loose poop after we stopped with a food that had fish and oatmeal..but how do we know what caused it?

Is it hard to keep him off other foods? If the food we feed him is brown rice and venison..and those are the only ingredients, how long before we can add other foods? How long before we should notice results from the new allergy food? Are there any other foods out there we can feed at the same time that shouldn't cause allergies (he loves beets and peas and carrots!).

We are going to purchase the new food this weekend, slowly change it, and go from there. If there is brown rice in the food, can I make him treats with brown rice and beets maybe? Or would I be screwing up the whole process?

What can we use for kong fillers? (I was thinking only moistened kibble then right?)

You have thought about allergy testing right?

Let me tell you this, people don't agree, but the vet I worked for said 6 months for allergies to completely disappear. My doggies have been on solid gold for nearly 5 months now, I guess. And just this week Boo's stool finally became solid. They say with the natural foods, if you're feeding too much, the stool is soft. I wouldn't worry about the stool until you get the allergies in check. Work on the stool afterward.

Have you checked into Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Duck and Potato food? There are no grains, no chicken, nothing that a lot of dogs are allergic to.
The food is made in the U.S. but is available in Canada. A few people that I talk to swear by it for their dogs will allergies.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/products/PandD.html

I've never thought about the Natural Balance ones. We have tried the semi-soft food for training. If they had a semi-soft food that was the same as the dry, that would be perfect..checking the website now... nope..the semi-soft stuff has wheat...They do have potato and duck treats though that are meant to compliment the food! That's great!

We will try the wellness first and go from there. If Odin doesn't like it or his itchies don't go away...then we will try it.

Prin, do you know how long it should take for itchyness to go away?? We want to do allergy testing but I hear it's really expensive.

The major itching should disappear within a couple of weeks...