Allergies..can anyone recomend a food or vitamins

[lwds]

^ Earthbath and Buddy Wash are two great shampoos.

I know bee pollen has helped dogs that have inhalant allergies and dogs with weak immune systems. My dogs get it daily along with me, I swear by it. Fish oil (+ vitamin E) is another good supplement for skin/coat (among other health benefits).

If Pinnacle doesn't work out, I would give an elimination diet a go. But have you considered a prepackaged raw diet such as Nature's Variety (love the stuff and it's easy to feed)? I haven't been here that long, but have you talked with experienced raw feeders for information on an appropriate raw diet? If that was what helped him, you might want to seriously reconsider going back on it. I see the best results with dogs who have allergies (both food and inhalant) on a raw diet VS a simple kibble.

You also might want to address any potential environmental allergens... washing bedding weekly (and not using strong scented detergents or any fabric softener + running the rinse cycle twice), vacuuming on a regular basis and rinsing/washing his paws/legs (depending on how tall he is) after he goes outside are a few ideas.

[wolfsoul]

What foods did you feed him on raw? Atleast you know he's not allergic to those foods.

I recommend trying California Natural. It has very few ingredients. Chicken Soup has ALOT of ingredients so it's no surprise he is allergic to something in there -- not only are some of the formulas 3-4 meat sources but there are milk products in there as well. There is a chicken as well as a lamb formula of California Natural.

Usually the more exotic the meat, the better. Beef is generally the most common meat allergen, followed by chicken and then lamb, as these are the three most common meats used in pet foods. Beef is definatly one to stay away from but use your judgement on chicken and lamb as these aren't nearly as common of allergens. Rice is the easiest grain to digest and usually dogs won't be allergic to it but stay away from everything else, especially wheat and corn. Also keep away from by-products, colours/dyes, etc. That's one reason California Natural is nice, all it basically has is chicken and rice (even if it has way too much rice in my opinion).

For the skin, try getting a soothing shampoo. If his skin is moist and he has hot spots (or welts, anything with moisture) I recommend a coal tar shampoo. Nova pearls has an awesome formula because it takes the moisture out and basically adds it's own "good" moisture in. As far as I know it is the only shampoo that does this. Don't use Coal Tar unless the moist -- typically tar is quite a harsh treatment and should only be used in very bad skin conditions. Sulphur ans salicylic acid is better for dry skin, don't try it for moisture. Lavendar, aloe vera, wheat grass, calendula, etc are all things that are good for the skin and are added to alot of different shampoos. Oatmeal is typically for soothing dry skin and I don't think this is his problem. Avoid any and all chemicals -- just look for nice, soothing, natural shampoos. Nature's Specialties, Cain and Able, Wags, and Ikaria all have some very good all-natural skin-healing formulas.

My vet sells a spray called Allergex that you spray a few times into the dog's mouth a half hour before it eats -- it's all herbal and quite safe. I believe it's only $20. I can try to find a website for you, but if you can't find it in your area I'd be willing to send you some.

[Aspen and Misty]

Jordan - It tends to take him 2 weeks to devlop an allergy. I'm assuming that while on RAW he was fed so many diffrent meats and nevr had one for to many days in a row if it made it so he did not have allergies. I fed him beef, chicken, turkey many other kinds of meats. Basically anything and everything the grocery store sold he ate.

Right now Konnor is on 3 pills a day, twice a day along with a spray for his tummy to clear up his bumps. There have been significant improvments, however I do not want to medicate him for the rest of his life. So I will take him off his meds once he is fully on his new Duck and Potato food. If he does not have a reaction while off his meds then I will consider the food a success. If he does have a reaction then I will continue to do more research and try feeding him RAW again.

Thank you everyone for your help! I really apreciate it. I know I havn't responded to all of your post, but I am reading them all and learning from them all. I greatly apreciate the help you guys are providing for me and Konnor.


Ashley

[iamgobsmacked]

With a dog with allergies, I would be very careful with rotating. Not that I think it's bad, I do it for one of my older dogs that does best on 50% kibble (and 25% canned + 25% water), but only with foods I know my dog can handle. The trick is to see what your dog can handle and can't, and it can be more trickier with a dog with allergies as the progress can go down hill quickly.

btw, I know a lot of dogs that have had issues with Wellness since they changed (LOTS of poop problems).

And I have five dogs, have treated hundreds of others who do very well on Wellness. And in fact the excretion becomes much less than prior. However, not all foods work for all animals. Overall, however, Wellness is one of the best foods for allergy prone animals primarily because it only contains five ingredients. Which makes elimination diets more doable. It is also good to have a few choices of foods that allergenic animals can thrive on because tolerance thresholds can and do occur frequently. By periodic rotation this is less likely to occur.

I would not suggest cod liver oil if someone feeds kibble, the vitamin A + D can build up to toxic levels.

Alternating on three weeks of ground flax seed, then switching to cod liver oil will insure that plenty of the Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids to support the skin are available. It has been shown that animals with frequent skin eruptions, hot spots etcetera benefit greatly from extra supplementation from these important fatty acids. Since these are insoluble they do not metabolize out of the body as readily as other vitamins. ( a good thing for pets with allergies and skin disorders) Although toxic overloads can and do occur, the amount of oil present in a single capsule on a rotated basis will not cause toxic overload even if these supplements, are present in pet food. And of course the three week rotation will help to flush and assure that over build up does not occur. Toxic overloads frequently occur when a diet primarily containing vitamins A & D are adopted and supplementation is excessive. Distilled water also facilitates the removal of any unused vitamins and minerals that collect outside the cells. The cell absorb what they need to function, the balance circulate as waste.

I don't think I would want to offer distilled water all of the time (instead every once in awhile and rotated with filtered).

Filtered water still contains many of the inorganic minerals that are harmful to the body, since inorganic minerals cannot be absorbed they circulate outside the cells and remain in the system as free radicals. Of the total minerals in water only 1% are of any limited value to the body. The trace minerals are easily replaced with food. One single glass of orange juice for instance contains more minerals than gallons of drinking water. And in order to consume these from water you are also consuming minerals that are not useful and in fact toxic to the body. The minerals in water in fact only become bio-available to the body when they have passed over the soil and into plants that we consume.

[lwds]

And I have five dogs, have treated hundreds of others who do very well on Wellness. And in fact the excretion becomes much less than prior. However, not all foods work for all animals. Overall, however, Wellness is one of the best foods for allergy prone animals primarily because it only contains five ingredients. Which makes elimination diets more doable. It is also good to have a few choices of foods that allergenic animals can thrive on because tolerance thresholds can and do occur frequently. By periodic rotation this is less likely to occur.

That's fine - but I also would like to put it out there for people to know.

When all of my dogs were on kibble (still do for one of my dogs), I rotated for the reason you stated (didn't want to overuse ingredients and protein sources), but with allergies, it's a whole other ball game. I have seen dogs go down hill and have to recover all over again because their owner thought food blank would be OK to try. Am I against rotating? No, all I'm saying is the owners need to be careful.

Alternating on three weeks of ground flax seed, then switching to cod liver oil will insure that plenty of the Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids to support the skin are available. It has been shown that animals with frequent skin eruptions, hot spots etcetera benefit greatly from extra supplementation from these important fatty acids. Since these are insoluble they do not metabolize out of the body as readily as other vitamins. ( a good thing for pets with allergies and skin disorders) Although toxic overloads can and do occur, the amount of oil present in a single capsule on a rotated basis will not cause toxic overload even if these supplements, are present in pet food. And of course the three week rotation will help to flush and assure that over build up does not occur. Toxic overloads frequently occur when a diet primarily containing vitamins A & D are adopted and supplementation is excessive.

Working with terriers who are notorious for allergies, I know how helpful EFAs are. That said, I still do not recommend anyone who feeds a commercial diet supplement with cod liver oil, I gave my reason. Flax seed and fish oil I do recommend and use.

Filtered water still contains many of the inorganic minerals that are harmful to the body, since inorganic minerals cannot be absorbed they circulate outside the cells and remain in the system as free radicals. Of the total minerals in water only 1% are of any limited value to the body. The trace minerals are easily replaced with food. One single glass of orange juice for instance contains more minerals than gallons of drinking water. And in order to consume these from water you are also consuming minerals that are not useful and in fact toxic to the body. The minerals in water in fact only become bio-available to the body when they have passed over the soil and into plants that we consume.

I don't buy into the whole filtered water is bad or is of lesser quality than distilled except in some cases (I think where you live and how cheap you go on a filter needs to be taken into consideration).