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Old July 4th, 2005, 11:26 AM
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Changing foods - again!

A week or two ago I asked about Duck vs Chicken and if they were the same for allergy purposes.. Halo has been on this duck food for about two weeks now and while she's not harshly reacting to it, she seems to be very dry and irritated around her eyes - which she was not before. So I'm figuring I should probably take her off this diet and try the AvoDerm that Cactus Flower suggested to me. I do believe Halo may be reacting to a meat protein allergy - definitely poultry though. My question is this, is it too early to switch her diet again!! She had been on the Wellness fish and sweet potato and that wasn't too bad, but all the while she has been getting deer meat on her food so it's hard to say exactly whether it's the dry food or the deer meat. I'm leaning to what Cactus Flower suggested, putting her on the vegetarian diet and slowly reintroducing meat products to see how it goes. She does love cooked carrots so I guess I could cook some of those and put it on her food for her treats... So is it too soon to change her again or should I let her go for a bit longer??
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Old July 4th, 2005, 11:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dog Dancer
A week or two ago I asked about Duck vs Chicken and if they were the same for allergy purposes.. Halo has been on this duck food for about two weeks now and while she's not harshly reacting to it, she seems to be very dry and irritated around her eyes - which she was not before. So I'm figuring I should probably take her off this diet and try the AvoDerm that Cactus Flower suggested to me. I do believe Halo may be reacting to a meat protein allergy - definitely poultry though. My question is this, is it too early to switch her diet again!! She had been on the Wellness fish and sweet potato and that wasn't too bad, but all the while she has been getting deer meat on her food so it's hard to say exactly whether it's the dry food or the deer meat. I'm leaning to what Cactus Flower suggested, putting her on the vegetarian diet and slowly reintroducing meat products to see how it goes. She does love cooked carrots so I guess I could cook some of those and put it on her food for her treats... So is it too soon to change her again or should I let her go for a bit longer??
You haven't given the new food a chance if she has only been eating for a week or two. I would wait a few more weeks before doing anything drastic. It could take a few months before you notice a difference. The dryness around her eyes could indeed be an allergy but not necessarily to food. Have you tried giving her Benadryl?
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Old July 4th, 2005, 12:12 PM
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Benadryl

Hi CopperBelle, Thanks for your input. That's what I figured, changing too often can't be helping either, and how long do you wait to make sure it's actually the food that is causing the irritant. I haven't tried the Benadryl yet, but was planning to get some this week to give it a try. I think the eye problem could be seasonal even, who knows. I think before changing I'll cut the game meat out of her diet and stick with the duck and potato and give her cooked carrots for her topping treat (boy do we spoil these fur babies ) I just don't really know how long it would take to see her react to a new food, if it would be immediate and you should see if it will subside after her system adjusts to it, or what. I hate these allergies - argh!
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Old July 4th, 2005, 01:25 PM
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Why did she get wellness just for a while? If she was doing well on it, why didn't you continue?

While I agree that switching foods is not helping, if after fully switching, new symptoms arise, I'd switch.

Meanwhile, I would eliminate anything else. No carrots, no deer meet. It makes it so much harder to figure out what is the root of the problem when there are a bunch of things to look at. Give just the food for a couple more weeks. As long as the doggy's allergies don't get worse, continue. When the allergies clear up, then you can add "dressings" to the food, but one by one. You have to give the doggy time to react to each one. So if it's deer meat, then give just that with the food for a couple of weeks and see what happens.
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Old July 4th, 2005, 01:39 PM
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Hi Prin, I really value your input here as well. Actually Halo was on Wellness for some time (let's say five months). She didn't really have huge issues, although she had small flareups on her tummy of rash type welts. Nothing that was severe enough for treatment, just small outbreaks. So I switched her to the Solid Gold Wolf King that you suggested as you said Boo did so well on that. Halo's symptoms got worse on this brand - hence my suspiscion that it may be a meat protein issue. So after about two months on the Wolf King I switched her to Dick Van Patten Natural Balance (not sure the name right now) allergy formula with duck and potato as the pet store lady said another lab with poultry allergies used that one with great success. Now her eyes have flared up after being on this for just about two weeks. I did have her at the vet about the time I changed her, but before the eye issue. He said she should probably go back on the fish and potato at that time as her tummy had a few welts on it. So now I'm just baffled and worried that I'm switching her diet toomuch, and probably nothing will help if I keep giving her deer meat. So immediately I'll stop that no matter what. I'm SOOOO confused though now. Should I go back to fish & potato, vegetarian ???? Help!!!
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Old July 4th, 2005, 03:09 PM
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It is going to be hard to pinpoint what is causing the allergies if you do not eliminate everything else from her diet but the new food. This also includes dog cookies. They are often full of wheat etc....

I would continue to feed what you are feeding for a few more weeks. Don't give her anything else, this includes carrot topping, venison, dog cookies, etc... If you have to give her a treat, give her a few pieces of kibble. If of course you see in a few days that her symptoms are getting worse then I would stop this food. I know people who feed Natural Balance, Duck and Potato and it has not caused an allergic reaction in their dogs. I believe they even sell dog cookies made of the same ingredients. If she is okay on the food then you cal slowly introduce a new food, one at a time and not more than one food every two weeks.

Sorry I don't know anything about vegetarian diets.
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Old July 4th, 2005, 03:29 PM
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Thanks

Yes Copperbelle they do sell dog biscuits of this brand also. So okay, I won't jump the gun and change anything other than no more meat on her food. Hopefully BF will go with the flow.... He likes to give them treats which is so tough. If this doesn't help with the symptoms I'll try the AvoDerm that Cactus Flower said helped so much with Raj. I just feel so bad for Halo with her little rashes and all, although she seems happy enough.
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Old July 4th, 2005, 05:30 PM
Safyre Safyre is offline
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Dog Dancer - i don't have any advice, only support. my dog has allergies as well, and after trying a few foods, we found she did well on Iams Lamb and rice. We left her on that for the past few months, as we felt bad about switching and making symptoms reappear and what not. Just today, we have started to introduce Nutro Lamb and Rice, and boy does she love it. We'll see how it goes
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Old July 4th, 2005, 05:49 PM
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Hi Safyre, thanks for the best wishes. As you can relate it's very frustrating isn't it. I have tried lamb and rice with Halo and it didn't work. I'm amazed how many pets have allergies these days, so it's nice to get some advice from the people on this Board and everyone is soooo helpful :love: and supportive too. So good luck to you too with your allergy issues. Thanks again.
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