Need Help! Switching for allergies

[abby's mum]

Background - Abby is currently on Natural Balance Ultra Premium. She gets Old Mother Hubbard Peanut Butter Treats and Natural Balance Food Roll occasionally. Her coat is very shiny and she eats it fairly well.

The Problem - She gets itchy and/or dry skin. The vet has agreed that she has allergies but they are not terrible by any means. He suggested a change of diet.

Solution???
Food - I would like to stick with N.B. but I am not sure which to choose (Potato & Duck or Brown Rice & Venison). Wellness is also available nearby. I would like to here some opinions.

Treats - If she can only have one protein and one carb, what treats can I give her? Can she still get Food Roll?

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Poetic_thing]

My guy gets the NB duck and potato. THey also have the canned food and biscuits. He LOVES it all and the amazing thing is his coat, ears, skin, feet, eyes and well basically everything...he is doing awesome on it.

 

[BeckyNC]

You know, I was on the Wellness website this past weekend and noticed they now have an allergy kibble. Maybe that's an option for you? I saw a thread earlier today in which the original poster asked if anyone had tried this kibble...

 

[abby's mum]

Poetic Thing - so can you ever give him other treats? or just the potato & duck treats? sounds silly but I don't want to mess the diet up!

 

[SammynDqtz]

Maybe it is something like dust, fleas etc. that may be causing the problem. My mixed breed is having a time of it with her allergies right now. She is VERY sensitive to fleas (she has VERY few) but just a few are enough to send her wild! She is eating Chicken Soup and/or Wellness, and I am just starting to add supplement like Missing Link to her food. I have been looking around and found some natural flea shampoo I will be ordering soon. I don't want to do any more harm with chemical sprays or shampoos. It's tough, I have tried many things over the last few years, though there has been improvement, it's hard for me to watch her be uncomfortable like she is. hopefully these new foods and supplements will help her find relief. Good luck with Abby. Hope she too can get some relief.

 

[littleone]

Hi -

Here's are tip for treats that should be OK (our Mastiff has food allergies so I've had to get creative):

- for the carb treat you can give either an Oriental rice cracker (made of brown rice & a bit of sea salt) or a mini rice cake (plain unflavored low salt). They are small, crunchy, easy to store and bring along with you on a walk, etc. You can also give banana either fresh or try cutting into chunks and freezing them. Both our boys love either the fresh or frozen fruit.

- for the protein treat, if you are willing to do a little prep work, these are good. From your post it looks like you need to feed her only duck or venison. I do this with lamb, but, I think you could also do it with other meats as well. Take partially frozen meat and slice very thinly into strips. You can either microwave the strips or oven bake them. If you zap them, place the strips on a few thicknesses of paper towels on a plate (to absorb fat/juice), give them about 8-10 minutes at medium power. You may want to split the cook time evenly to flip the strips over. If you oven bake them, place the strips on a rack in the pan. You want a low oven (220 F - sorry don't know what the conversion to Celsius temps would be), give them about 20-30 minutes, turning them once. Keep an eye on them regardless of cooking method to be sure they don't burn. They are done when they are hard and dry. You now have homemade saltfree doggie jerky! To store, wrap tightly and refrigerate.

Hope this helps!

 

[binky]

I've posted a number of times regarding my "allergy boy". We've tried just about everything - antihistamines, steroids, switching food, home cooking, single protein/single carb diet. While your situation doesn't seem to be nearly as complicated as ours, try searching on my username "binky" and check out my various posts.

We're currently on Eagle Pack Holistic (fish variety) kibble and using the NZYMES Yeast Kit www.nzymes.com My guy is doing the best he ever has, after 2-1/2 years of trial & error.

 

[lorishields]

Could the allergy be to the wheat in the treats? From my understanding wheat is a high allergen for dogs, juts like corn! I cant feed OMH treats because of the wheat, it gives my boxer major gas!!

 

[Tango's Mama]

Tango has pretty bad skin allergies and I recently switched from the Wellness fish and sweet potato to the new food they came out with called Simple Solutions. Tango is a hard one to feed he hates to eat, But he really seems to enjoy this food! It has only 5 main ingrediants so there is not alot to it really. You can check out the info about it on the OMH site. One more thing he has always been on the skinny side(because he wont eat) and in two months he gained 5 pounds! He will be 7 in may and he looks the best he has ever looked. No itching..no inflammed skin..less shedding. They sell pretty small bags too so you can give it a try without spending too much.

Tango & Michele

 

[harleyboxer]

I tried the Natural Balance Ultra with Harley and it didn't work for him either. It has way to many ingredients in it for dogs that are prone to allergies and stomach upsets.