Food Allergy

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dandrus1022
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Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:15 am

I have a 4 year old yellow lab and for the last 4 months i have been feeding him Purina Pro Plan Performance. He has been very itchy lately, always scratching and licking his paws and legs. he has sores on his chest from what i thought he was getting from going there the thorn bushes but it seems that it could be excessive itching? I think he has an allergy to chicken which is in his food? i used to feed him Purina One Lamb and Rice and he was fine. What do you guys think i should do? i want to keep him on a high protein food but dont want chicken as an ingredient. Give me ideas on food i should try

Thanks Dave

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AZ Brittany Guy
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by AZ Brittany Guy » Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:15 am

I was fighting the same problem with one of my males for over a year. Thought is was spear grass at first but finally ruled it out. He had open sores in the webbing of his feet and it finally took a trip to a different vet to get me to try an allergy test. Found out he was allergic to beef, milk, soybean, corn, barley, white potato, fish mix and green peas. I used a company called Spectrum who did a screening panel. It cost about $140 and included a list of dog feed products that he would not have a reaction to. You my want to ask your vet to run a test. It will save you a lot of time and your dog a lot of unnecessary discomfort.

Good Luck

dandrus1022
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:42 am

Thanks for the input! Hes going in to the vet soon here. Ill have them run tests to see whats going on

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 10:38 am

How about the pro plan lamb and rice? I just want to give him the protein he needs for hunting

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ezzy333
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:32 am

dandrus1022 wrote:How about the pro plan lamb and rice? I just want to give him the protein he needs for hunting
Dogs need fats and carbs for energy to hunt. The protein is mainly used to rebuild tissue afterwards. Any decent feed, and there are thousands of them, will provide what your dog needs. Just feed more when he is working.

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Sharon
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by Sharon » Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:59 am

There's no certainty it's the food.
Particularly in the Fall plants are shedding seeds; there's goldenrod, ragweed etc. etc .
My dog is allergic to freshly cut grass ( cis-3-Hexenal fluid). Only suffers from itching during the months that grass is being cut. I just use Benedryl during that time period.
Diagnosing an allergy is a complicated business. I think it's better to just treat the itching than to try and figure out what it is. If the itching becomes infected , see the vet.
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:20 pm

He has sores on his chest from what i believe is from itching so much. He has never had this problem before until this year when i switched his food

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by Karen » Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:36 pm

So switch his food back to whatever you were feeding before Pro Plan and see if the sores & itching go away. You should know in as little as few days. If the itching continues and the sores don't begin to heal, it's probably a seasonal allergy, and one that severe will require meds from your vet. And I'm with Ezzy on this one. Feed more during hunting season if you need to.
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MGIII
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Food Allergy

Post by MGIII » Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:38 pm

AZ Brittany Guy wrote:I was fighting the same problem with one of my males for over a year. Thought is was spear grass at first but finally ruled it out. He had open sores in the webbing of his feet and it finally took a trip to a different vet to get me to try an allergy test. Found out he was allergic to beef, milk, soybean, corn, barley, white potato, fish mix and green peas. I used a company called Spectrum who did a screening panel. It cost about $140 and included a list of dog feed products that he would not have a reaction to. You my want to ask your vet to run a test. It will save you a lot of time and your dog a lot of unnecessary discomfort.

Good Luck

Sounds like the allergy test is the way to go. I didn't even know you could give a dog allergy tests. And $140 sure beats the heck out of the guess work

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by FisherGuyRye » Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:02 pm

I put this in a different thread a couple weeks ago, but I used to feed Pro Plan Large Breed Chicken and Rice. My 10mo GSP had real bad dandruff, ear wax build up and ear infections continuously. After multiple trips to the vet, I switched over to Natures Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Lamb Meal and Pea Formula and she has been doing great! Everything cleared up in a few weeks.

After reading several articles, it seems like a common allergy is poultry and grains. You have to watch the treats you feed also as that may be the culprit...

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:29 pm

FisherGuyRye wrote:I put this in a different thread a couple weeks ago, but I used to feed Pro Plan Large Breed Chicken and Rice. My 10mo GSP had real bad dandruff, ear wax build up and ear infections continuously. After multiple trips to the vet, I switched over to Natures Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Lamb Meal and Pea Formula and she has been doing great! Everything cleared up in a few weeks.

After reading several articles, it seems like a common allergy is poultry and grains. You have to watch the treats you feed also as that may be the culprit...
In reality food allergies are quite rare. And of the few that do happen they are almost always related to a protein source and not a carb such as rice, corn, oats, wheat, or any other grain.
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:47 pm

I just bought the lamb and rice he was on before do hopefully everything will clear up! His ears are all red and inflamed too

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by Sharon » Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:32 pm

dandrus1022 wrote:He has sores on his chest from what i believe is from itching so much. He has never had this problem before until this year when i switched his food
My vet said "If the itching causes sore , see me as she'll need an antibiotic."

( Sure can't get allergy testing done up here for $140.00.)
" We are more than our gender, skin color, class, sexuality or age; we are unlimited potential, and can not be defined by one label." quote A. Bartlett

dandrus1022
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:21 pm

Sharon wrote:
dandrus1022 wrote:He has sores on his chest from what i believe is from itching so much. He has never had this problem before until this year when i switched his food
My vet said "If the itching causes sore , see me as she'll need an antibiotic."

( Sure can't get allergy testing done up here for $140.00.)
Yeah hes going to the vet in the next week so ill ask her what she thinks about the itching and sores. Thank you all for the input i really appreciate it!

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by dandrus1022 » Wed Nov 05, 2014 8:16 pm

Hunter went to the vet the other day and she said she thinks it is a food allergy but can't be sure without a test. She told me to keep him on the lamb and rice if it seems to clear his itching up and she gave me antibiotics for his sores. Will he be fine without a high protein diet? If i just feed a little extra of the lamb and rice when he needs it will that be okay?

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ezzy333
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Nov 05, 2014 9:25 pm

That's all he needs.
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by MonsterDad » Tue Nov 11, 2014 6:07 am

dandrus1022 wrote:Hunter went to the vet the other day and she said she thinks it is a food allergy but can't be sure without a test. She told me to keep him on the lamb and rice if it seems to clear his itching up and she gave me antibiotics for his sores. Will he be fine without a high protein diet? If i just feed a little extra of the lamb and rice when he needs it will that be okay?
The Lamb & Rice food you bought has a lot of chicken in it. You mentioned you didn't want a food with chicken. It also has corn gluten and soy so I doubt it has much Lamb in it.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:40 am

MonsterDad wrote:
dandrus1022 wrote:Hunter went to the vet the other day and she said she thinks it is a food allergy but can't be sure without a test. She told me to keep him on the lamb and rice if it seems to clear his itching up and she gave me antibiotics for his sores. Will he be fine without a high protein diet? If i just feed a little extra of the lamb and rice when he needs it will that be okay?
The Lamb & Rice food you bought has a lot of chicken in it. You mentioned you didn't want a food with chicken. It also has corn gluten and soy so I doubt it has much Lamb in it.
Tell us about the chicken in it and how you know that corn gluten is so bad when it has been proven to be one of the most complete protein sources we have. In this case I don't think anyone is concerned with how much lamb is in it, just that it isn't chicken.

Ezzy
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by MonsterDad » Tue Nov 11, 2014 10:30 am

ezzy333 wrote:
MonsterDad wrote:
dandrus1022 wrote:Hunter went to the vet the other day and she said she thinks it is a food allergy but can't be sure without a test. She told me to keep him on the lamb and rice if it seems to clear his itching up and she gave me antibiotics for his sores. Will he be fine without a high protein diet? If i just feed a little extra of the lamb and rice when he needs it will that be okay?
The Lamb & Rice food you bought has a lot of chicken in it. You mentioned you didn't want a food with chicken. It also has corn gluten and soy so I doubt it has much Lamb in it.
Tell us about the chicken in it and how you know that corn gluten is so bad when it has been proven to be one of the most complete protein sources we have. In this case I don't think anyone is concerned with how much lamb is in it, just that it isn't chicken.

Ezzy
The food has poultry by product meal in it which will contain chicken protein. Maybe you should read once in a while. It also has wheat, soy and lots of other garbage and its expensive. Corn gluten is a dirt cheap source of protein so best to save it for the chickens and hogs.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Tue Nov 11, 2014 2:34 pm

Dad, I have never read the label on that food and probably never will since I don't use it, so I will just let some of you fanatics read it and tell us about it. Seems strange they would use poultry by-products but it is very hard to replace nutritionally. I am sure we all should listen to what you think is garbage instead of listening to the nutritionist who have done the work and test that prove the value of the ingredients that they are including in a good dog food. Wish you were there to tell me how I was wasting my time when I was involved in making garbage that I thought was dog food. And we really screwed up when we tried our darnedest to keep the cost as low as possible while keeping the quality as high as possible when we used those low cost ingredients that fulfilled the dogs nutrient requirements.
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by RickB » Tue Nov 11, 2014 3:14 pm

You really need to get the dog tested. More common than food allergies is inhaled allergies (atopy). You are jumping through some hoops and it may not even be the food. Or it could be a combination. I had a dog with both food allergies and inhaled allergies.

With the test, you immediately know what foods to avoid. No guesswork.

With my dog, he would get really itchy and he would go on antibiotics (cephalexin). This would seem to clear everything up...he would stop presenting symptoms. Once off the antibiotics, the itchiness would creep in again.

I put the dog on hyposensitization shots and put him on a feed he could tolerate. Kept him on benadryl during the spring and fall. Kept my medicine cabinet stocked with aquarium-grade cephalexin. Did some alternative med treatments as well. With all that, he never again needed the antibiotics. Stopped the benadryl also. Just the shots and the alternative med stuff.

See a doc...see a specialist. It'll save you in the long run.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by MonsterDad » Wed Nov 12, 2014 5:22 am

ezzy333 wrote:Dad, I have never read the label on that food and probably never will since I don't use it, so I will just let some of you fanatics read it and tell us about it. Seems strange they would use poultry by-products but it is very hard to replace nutritionally. I am sure we all should listen to what you think is garbage instead of listening to the nutritionist who have done the work and test that prove the value of the ingredients that they are including in a good dog food. Wish you were there to tell me how I was wasting my time when I was involved in making garbage that I thought was dog food. And we really screwed up when we tried our darnedest to keep the cost as low as possible while keeping the quality as high as possible when we used those low cost ingredients that fulfilled the dogs nutrient requirements.
https://www.proplan.com/dry-dog-food/sa ... e-formula/
https://www.purinaone.com/dogs/products ... -nutrition

Here you go Mr. Expert. Next time you open your mouth you might as well research your point.

There are many good Lamb foods out there that actually use a lot of Lamb and label the foods honestly rather than what Purina does.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:01 am

MonsterDad wrote:
ezzy333 wrote:Dad, I have never read the label on that food and probably never will since I don't use it, so I will just let some of you fanatics read it and tell us about it. Seems strange they would use poultry by-products but it is very hard to replace nutritionally. I am sure we all should listen to what you think is garbage instead of listening to the nutritionist who have done the work and test that prove the value of the ingredients that they are including in a good dog food. Wish you were there to tell me how I was wasting my time when I was involved in making garbage that I thought was dog food. And we really screwed up when we tried our darnedest to keep the cost as low as possible while keeping the quality as high as possible when we used those low cost ingredients that fulfilled the dogs nutrient requirements.
https://www.proplan.com/dry-dog-food/sa ... e-formula/
https://www.purinaone.com/dogs/products ... -nutrition

Here you go Mr. Expert. Next time you open your mouth you might as well research your point.

There are many good Lamb foods out there that actually use a lot of Lamb and label the foods honestly rather than what Purina does.


Sorry, I am not an expert but I do know what makes a good dog food is not controlled by your feeling about certain companies that are not based on proven facts. I too, am not a big fan of Purina's present feeds, but I do not question their quality largely because I know what they have done and are still doing for the sporting dogs over the past century. There is no one in the field that comes close to spending the time and resources that they have to better what our dogs eat. I do think you can get good feeds cheaper but am not sure you can get better. Look at the two Purina feeds you supplied the links to and see how each is formulated for different purposes and even though you can not judge quality from reading a bag you can see some differences due to a dogs different needs at different stages of life and activity.
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by gamekeeper » Wed Nov 12, 2014 1:27 pm

I have tried all the foods over the years and presently use plane old Purina Chow,the chow is just a carrier for the nutrition and balance that we put in it,know as Shea Stew.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:10 pm

gamekeeper wrote:I have tried all the foods over the years and presently use plane old Purina Chow,the chow is just a carrier for the nutrition and balance that we put in it,know as Shea Stew.
OK I am not sure I have any idea what you are trying to say. Would you please fill us all in a little better?
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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Re: Food Allergy

Post by Sharon » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:22 pm

[quote="ezzy333


Sorry, I am not an expert but I do know what makes a good dog food is not controlled by your feeling about certain companies that are not based on proven facts. I too, am not a big fan of Purina's present feeds, but I do not question their quality largely because I know what they have done and are still doing for the sporting dogs over the past century. There is no one in the field that comes close to spending the time and resources that they have to better what our dogs eat. I do think you can get good feeds cheaper but am not sure you can get better. Look at the two Purina feeds you supplied the links to and see how each is formulated for different purposes and even though you can not judge quality from reading a bag you can see some differences due to a dogs different needs at different stages of life and activity.[/quote]

Absolutely. Have fed Purina since 1951 and absolutely no complaints.
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Re: Food Allergy

Post by big steve46 » Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:24 am

There are allergies, and there are sensitivities.
Allergies usually have an antigen/antibody reaction, and are usually protein related. Sensitivities are related to chemicals affecting the nervous system, and can be in the food source or elsewhere. It may be important to differentiate the two types of problems for the best treatment. It can be difficult to diagnose with routine testing. Trial and error can be a less expensive way to start.

If one wants to call both an "allergy," that's acceptable as long as you realize the problem does not have to be protein in nature, and can be difficult to pinpoint.
big steve

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