Trying a new food for Goob...

[Luvmypitgirls]

So today I bought Goob a new food. With his allergy issues, I'm trying to find a quality food that will agree with him. So today we picked up some Natural Balance L.I.D. (Limited Ingredient Diets) in the Sweet Potato and Venison Formula, and it's Grain Free. It runs a tad more expensive than Orijen, but if it agrees with him I'm willing to pay the extra. I can get away with buying the smaller bags since it's just him eating it.
I would have preferred the Sweet Potato and Bison, since Bison is a leaner meat than Venison, but they didn't have the smaller bag in stock. There is also a Natural Balance L.I.D. Vegetarian Formula that we can look at if we don't have any luck with the the venison or bison formulas.
I would rather not feed him a vegetarian diet as that just seems so unnatural to me. But I suppose if it comes down to that then we'll have to do it.
I just want to get him off the steroids completely.
Keep your fingers crossed that this food will do the trick
Hubby suggested feeding Goob raw, but I'd like to avoid that if at all possible too. Not because I think badly of it, but because I honestly don't know enough about it. Does anyone else have a dog with allergies that eats raw?

[mastifflover]

Have you checked out Timberwolf organics? My friend swears by Serengetti cat foods. Her cat was on prescription foods and she is now on this Serengetti and is healthier and looks better than she has in a long time and no health issues in the last 9 months. She calls it the miracle food and best yet the cat loves it.
http://www.herbalpetfoods.com/

[Marty11]

Let me know how the new food goes. I've tried everything. No luck. Remember to stay on it for 8-12 wks before you'll know.

[Luvmypitgirls]

Originally Posted by mastifflover

Have you checked out Timberwolf organics? My friend swears by Serengetti cat foods. Her cat was on prescription foods and she is now on this Serengetti and is healthier and looks better than she has in a long time and no health issues in the last 9 months. She calls it the miracle food and best yet the cat loves it.
http://www.herbalpetfoods.com/

Originally Posted by Marty11

Let me know how the new food goes. I've tried everything. No luck. Remember to stay on it for 8-12 wks before you'll know.

mastifflover thank you for the link, I will be looking into that even more should this NB not work.

Marty, thank you, unless he has an immediate severe reaction I will be giving it 8-12 wks as you suggest to see if there is improvement.

[Dog Dancer]

It really is so much hit and miss with allergies. Halo used to be super responsive to anything with poultry or poultry fat (so we had to avoid anything listing animal fat as that was too vague). I wanted to say we tried one of the vegetarian diets with her and she was so sick on it. It just didn't keep her full and every morning she'd vomit bile because her belly was empty even though she was fed morning and night. After one week we stopped it completely, it was a HUGE mistake for her. I would definitely go raw before vegetarian. There's so much info out there on raw feeding. I'd love to see someone publish "RAW FEEDING FOR DUMMIES."

I used to use Timberwolf and now we are feeding Evo Regional Red which seems to agree with her. That said, as she has aged her super sensitivity to chicken has faded and she can now eat some fresh chicken as a treat, but I still avoid it in her foods as I don't want to overload her with it. Good luck with Goober's diet.

[chico2]

LMPG,I was just going to ask about Goob and here you are,obviously he's still with you
I hope you can get his allergies under control

[mastifflover]

You are welcome I looked into it for Buddy but he was just too big for me to be feeding him that. But if money was not an issue I would have switched in a second. I tried a bag with him and he loved it but when I figured how much it would cost to feed 190 pounds of dog I opted for other food. Good luck with the NB I hope it works for Goober and more pics please

[cassiek]

Originally Posted by Luvmypitgirls

So today I bought Goob a new food. With his allergy issues, I'm trying to find a quality food that will agree with him. So today we picked up some Natural Balance L.I.D. (Limited Ingredient Diets) in the Sweet Potato and Venison Formula, and it's Grain Free. It runs a tad more expensive than Orijen, but if it agrees with him I'm willing to pay the extra. I can get away with buying the smaller bags since it's just him eating it.
I would have preferred the Sweet Potato and Bison, since Bison is a leaner meat than Venison, but they didn't have the smaller bag in stock. There is also a Natural Balance L.I.D. Vegetarian Formula that we can look at if we don't have any luck with the the venison or bison formulas.
I would rather not feed him a vegetarian diet as that just seems so unnatural to me. But I suppose if it comes down to that then we'll have to do it.
I just want to get him off the steroids completely.
Keep your fingers crossed that this food will do the trick
Hubby suggested feeding Goob raw, but I'd like to avoid that if at all possible too. Not because I think badly of it, but because I honestly don't know enough about it. Does anyone else have a dog with allergies that eats raw?

LMPG, I have become quite the expert (unfortunately ) on allergies with Furby.

They have been very, very difficult to manage in Furby's case so I have become famailiar with all types of treatments, foods, shampoos, etc. for allergies.

I feed all the dogs 50/50 raw and kibble (including Furby). It can be done, but it all depends what the dog is allergic to. After years of trying many, many diets (including Medi-Cal Vegetarian ) I eventually had a allergy panel done by a lab in Calgary. My vet in Fort Mac took a serum sample and sent it off to them. Turns out, he is allergic to almost everything (go figure!), especially many environmental allergens (weeds, trees, grasses etc).

Food-wise he is allergic to Beef (which includes Bison), and all types of Poultry... oh and rice which is weird

I think your best bet would be to have an allergy panel done 1st to determine exactly what he is allergic to (the list is quite extensive that they test for). It may be that he has mainly environmental allergies and those are handled much differently than food allergies. I think to have an allergy panel done on Furby it was around $100.00.

I have had a difficult time finding food to feed Furby. I was on Orijen 6 Fish, and I am recently trying out the California Natural Lamb Meal (Grain Free). Someone on here also mentioned trying Acana Grasslands, which is mainly lamb and fish I believe, which would also be appropriate in his case (the panel determined he is not allergic to lamb or fish).

For raw, I have to stick to novel protiens which can be difficult to get, and are very expensive. Since he can't have cow, bison, or any type of poultry, I usually stick to lamb or rabbit. I usually get it through Urban Carnivore and it is expensive! (And he is a little guy, Goobs would probably cost a fair bit to feed raw if you can't get the meat any other way and had to go through a company like UC). While many dogs with food allergies are allergic to beef and chicken, some aren't, so he may be able to eat these types of proteins no problem... in which case they are not very expensive to feed raw. Raw has been really helpful with Furby in getting his skin and coat in much better condition

I think its important to remember too, that only something like 10% of allergies in dogs are food-related. It's likely he has some enviromental allergies as well which can't be determined from food trials. But, I think food trials would be a good start!

If you do do an allergy panel, you can eliminate the foods from his diet he is allergic to. If he does have enviromental allergies, you have some options. You can try Atopica (which is not a steriod but was $150/month for my little guy and it's dosage is based on the weight of the dog), or the lab that does the panels, can make up a custom injection for the dog that gradually desensitizes him to what he/she is allergic to. It's not that pricey (I think they quoted me around $20/month), but can take a considerably long time to see results (upwards of a year).

Good luck! Hey, if we do meet up in HR, I would be happy to show you the paperwork I got back from the lab in Calgary of Furby's allergy panel. If you have any Q's about allergies, feel free to PM me, I'd be happy to share some of the knowledge I've gained!

[Luvmypitgirls]

cassiek, thank you for your insight greatly appreciated. Once we finalize the adoption I am going to have an allergy panel done. I think it is well worth the money to figure out just what it is that we are dealing with here. I think he may have some environmental allergies, like grass etc. I also think he could be allergic to certain foods like chicken.
Goob weighs in at 66lbs, we'd like to keep him within the 60 -70 pound range, he's a big boy but we don't want him getting fat.
Thanks again and I will probably be pm'ing you regarding the allergy panel testing to learn more.

[cassiek]

Originally Posted by Luvmypitgirls

cassiek, thank you for your insight greatly appreciated. Once we finalize the adoption I am going to have an allergy panel done. I think it is well worth the money to figure out just what it is that we are dealing with here. I think he may have some environmental allergies, like grass etc. I also think he could be allergic to certain foods like chicken.
Goob weighs in at 66lbs, we'd like to keep him within the 60 -70 pound range, he's a big boy but we don't want him getting fat.
Thanks again and I will probably be pm'ing you regarding the allergy panel testing to learn more.

No worries! I think the panel is a good start. I tried for years doing food trials, steriods, shampoos etc. and finally it just made the most sense instead of spinning in circles assuming a lot of "ifs", to find out once and for all what he was allergic to. (Although, I almost enjoyed being in my happy dreamland when I thought he was only allergic to beef/chicken and didn't even realize a dog could have such extensive environmental allergies as well! )

In the meantime, I would avoid foods with chicken and beef, as those tend to be what most dogs are allergic to in regards to food. I would stick with novel proteins like lamb, or vension like you mentioned. Be careful with Bison. I was informed that Bison is the same protein as Cow, and as such can cause an allergic reaction just like Cow does.

Once you find out what he's allergic to, and you can control his food better, you may only need to give the steriods in the summer when the trees, grasses, etc. are worst

To give you an idea, the panel at BOA labs in Calgary tests for:

Food - Beef/Bison, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, fish, milk, eggs, corn, rice, soybean wheat

Molds - Alternaria, Mix Aspergillus, Helminthosporium, Cladosporium, Mix Penicillium, Rhizopus, Smut Mix, Stemphylium, Candida, Sacchromyces

Inhalents - House dust, mite mix, cat hair/dander, dog hair/dander, horse hair/ dander, mix feathers, flea, cockroach, human dander

Grasses - June/Blue grass, brome, bermuda, johnson, meadow fescue, orchard grass, red top, timothy grass, quack grass, perennial rye grass, velvet, canary, grain mix

Weeds - Dock/Sorrell, lambs quarter, pigweed, english plantain, cocklebur, goldenrod, ragweed mix, russian thistle, sage, scale, greasewood, poverty weed, kochia, rabbitbush

Tress - Box Elder/Maple, hazelnut, elm, cedar mix, cotton wood, pines, willow, birch, alder, ash, oak walnut

If the dog shows allergies to any of the above they rank them as eitheir HP (high positive) or LP (low positive)

Hope this helps!

[Luvmypitgirls]

It does help thank you.
I'm going to book him an appt for testing.
I just hope he isn't allergic to ....me

[mastifflover]

No dog could possibly be allergic to you Good luck with the testing

[cassiek]

Originally Posted by Luvmypitgirls

It does help thank you.
I'm going to book him an appt for testing.
I just hope he isn't allergic to ....me

Haha, I'm sure he is not allergic to you... although, I did giggle when I read that they test for dog hair/dander... I thought how terrible would it be to be allergic to yourself? Plus, with the other 3 dogs in the house, Furby would have just been miserable if that was the case.

Keep me posted with what you find out! I may try the Atopica again and/or the injections in the fall/winter when the environmental allergens are not such a huge factor for Furbs.