Dog Allergies

[MadisonM]

Hello,

My Goldendoodle F1b was having skin itches, an ear infection, and a smell for 9 months. I was feeding him small batch raw beef patties, i changed him to one ingredient rabbit(cooked), and everything went away within two weeks. After two months i tried to swtich back to small batch raw patties in rabbit and within two days he started with the itching.

What do you take away from this? He is allergic to the extras in the small batch formula? The rabbit is hard to get and crazy expensive, so i'm trying to figure out what to do.

Thank you.

 

[NancyK]

Viva Raw makes a pure line of products where they are single proteins without all the extras. In my opinion, the extras are definitely potential triggers. You might also consider ground whole prey from My Pet Carnivore or Hare Today. These contain only single proteins but have the meat, bone and organs. This is a way to determine if a particular protein or extra is the problem.

Nancy

 

[GinnyW]

As a lay person, I would be inclined to say he needs more variety, not less. He has become overly sensitive to this food, and by itself it is not meeting his needs. Dogs won't starve themselves when you offer alternatives, so don't worry about any notion of "complete" nutrition in in or another product. Just, without fussing, offer something completely different, perhaps just for now, not worrying and with great joy and excitement.

Do read everything on this site about not just diet, but about the Happiness Protocol and about meeting dietary needs over the long haul. Doodles are a crap shoot, genetically speaking, so be adventurous and find out what makes THIS guy happy. "Happy" is much more valuable than some notion of great nutrition, but both can be achieved over time - and you have his whole life in which to make him happy.

 

[wholecat]

Viva Raw makes a pure line of products where they are single proteins without all the extras. In my opinion, the extras are definitely potential triggers. You might also consider ground whole prey from My Pet Carnivore or Hare Today. These contain only single proteins but have the meat, bone and organs. This is a way to determine if a particular protein or extra is the problem.

Nancy

Sharing a recent post on Viva Raw:

Another Viva Raw recall - heads up!

https://vivarawpets.com/pages/lot-21495-21975-recall On another note, my pets have been enjoying Grass Land Beef. 👌🏼 For anyone interested, I am including communication from them regarding their products & procedures (organic, hormones, vaccines, etc) below...

www.holisticactions.com

From my experience, like Nancy mentions, extras can be potential triggers and complicate the view for what's going on for allergic/food-sensitive animals, so the single protein foods are helpful to find non-triggering food sources and to help figure out more clearly what foods might be triggers. I've had good luck with Oma's Pride raw and Wysong canned foods (can request samples from Wysong). These companies offer single proteins, and raw foods for dogs and cats. Wysong has rabbit and other proteins. Oma's Pride (retail) has quite a few proteins. If you need other options, it has been harder to find single protein raw food options for cats, but it seems there are a lot more dog food offerings overall, so there may be a wider range of other options out there for you too. Hare Today is good for bulk raw meat once you figure out what proteins your pup can eat.

As a lay person, I would be inclined to say he needs more variety, not less. He has become overly sensitive to this food, and by itself it is not meeting his needs. Dogs won't starve themselves when you offer alternatives, so don't worry about any notion of "complete" nutrition in in or another product. Just, without fussing, offer something completely different, perhaps just for now, not worrying and with great joy and excitement.

Do read everything on this site about not just diet, but about the Happiness Protocol and about meeting dietary needs over the long haul. Doodles are a crap shoot, genetically speaking, so be adventurous and find out what makes THIS guy happy. "Happy" is much more valuable than some notion of great nutrition, but both can be achieved over time - and you have his whole life in which to make him happy.

Great ideas! Other good news, dogs seem to have a broader range of foods they can eat, including veg/fruit along with meats, compared to cats, so more choices to see what works best for your unique pup. IMHO, happiness and joy for our animals and ourselves both, can only contribute to better health. At the very least, it helps increase quality of life, especially in times when when our animals and (and usually us too) need it the most.

Hope your pup gets to eating better and feeling better soon, in a more sustainable way for mom too.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Welcome Madison. There is a lot you can learn here at HA!.

As Ginny said, do not focus on the skin as you study on the site. First, be sure you have taken the 101 class, especially Lesson one which helps you see that "allergies" are not CAUSED by "things" - like food, fleas, etc. All symptoms are caused by an imbalanced energy field (vital force). That can be pushed off balance by anything. Until you rebalance the energy field, changing the triggers (different proteins, maybe) will only be of temporary help. I have seen pups that over several years have done just like yours - fine with a new protein for a few weeks or months, then need another protein, etc.

Second, which will also address the true cause of allergies, is to go to the resource library. There you will also learn about being very happy when there are skin/ear symptoms as no dog dies from them. It reflects a healthier vital force than dogs with behavior, liver, GIT, etc, problems.

One great choice would be to create your holistic health care team now, when the symptoms of imbalance are on the skin level, so you will be a client if more severe problems or injuries occur. That is in lesson 5 of the 101 class (and for help finding a great holistic veterinarian you can read this article).

Schedule your monthly 15 minute Q/A for a bit more guidance with Dr. Jeff or myself.

As you read and study and seek veterinary care, post your questions here.

Dr. Christina