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1-year-old has always had allergies

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Bosn'sMom 
#1 ·
Sadie just turned 1 and went in for her spay earlier this week. The vet noticed that she still had pyoderma on her belly and yeasty ears (which I had JUST cleaned!). Sadie's also had one eye incident with green discharge, and now seems to have one itchy eye (but normal discharge). The vet has recommended changing her food.

She was on ProPlan Lamb & Rice from birth until approx. 10 months old. We switched her to ProPlan Sensitive Skin & Stomach about 6 weeks ago. It took her a little while to finish all the SSS at each meal, but she gobbles it up now. I thought it was helping her skin because she was shedding less and seemed to have less rashiness/ear gunk. But, I'm now thinking the major shedding was happening as part of her heat-cycle and ended naturally (i.e. not related to the food switch).

We also do use treats for training purposes, specifically Wellness WellBites (beef & turkey) and Zukes minis (chicken).

The vet recommended looking to a LID food and suggested Blue Buffalo or Natural Balance. I don't want to feed Blue Buffalo due to all the recalls.

I'm not sure where to start. I understand that to truly determine the cause of an allergy, you have cut out EVERYTHING. But how am going to train her at classes without some type of small soft treat? And are there other food brands I should be looking at for a Golden with some type of unknown but persistent allergies?
 
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#2 ·
I would HIGHLY recommend Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison. It has done wonders for our dog! He had a highly sensitive stomach and had two yest ear infections before we switched and it has been a miracle. His coat is gorgeous, teeth white etc. We know at least five other goldens on this food and all are in great health.
 
#3 ·
Its very hard when you have a sensitive pup. My last golden was super sensitive and needed a hypoallergenic diet. She could only tolerate that.

I'm not a big fan of Blue Buffalo personally, I know many people have a lot of success with Natural Balance LID diets. If you can find one with salmon, its anti inflammatory, and might help with the itching. Acana makes LID diets, but they are very protein dense and can be tough for some dogs to tolerate. Then its just about finding the right protein/carb combo that works for them. Generally if they don't do well with that, in my experience usually a dog is unlikely to tolerate another dog food brand either (its usually less about the specific brand, and more about the proteins), and they often end up on a hypoallergenic type diet. Purina, Royal Canin, and Science Diet make those (they are prescription diets).

You use kibble for training treats. Make sure she's hungry for class. It works well enough for normal run of the mill training. If your dog is on a Natural Balance protein that you could obtain and make yourself, (like pork or for people who have access to venison) you can cook that, not using any additives or flavors, cut it up into tiny pieces and use that for training. Or pick something like organic mozarella string cheese, which shouldn't have too many extra ingredients, is soft, and most dogs consider high value. Dog treats often have a lot of ingredients, including many various proteins and grains and additives, even the good ones, so they can be tough on sensitive pups. Use the kibble as much as you can and save the high value for when you need it, like when teaching a tough trick, or getting her attention when she's bored at the end of class, or in very distracting situations.

You want to watch out for anything she might be eating by accident, like dog/goose poop. Dog food contains tons of flavors and often a lot of it comes out in poop, making it extra enticing to dogs who want to eat it.
 
#5 ·
Thanks so much for your helpful reply!

Natural Balance LID is on my short list for sure.

Our vet recommended a non-salmon/fish food - while she's on salmon ProPlan SSS now, our vet said that a lot of dogs have a hard time keeping weight on with the fish foods. Sadie has always been lean and I want to keep her that way but I'm not at all opposed to trying a different protein. She doesn't love the salmon and I can barely stand the smell of it myself!

I can definitely try using kibble as treats, especially at home. Sadie's not *that* food motivated - she's extremely people-motivated, so when there are a lot people such as in a training class, I need pretty high-value treats.

And the poop-eating... oh my word. Thankfully she leaves dog poop alone but when we come across horse poop on hiking trails... probably my least favorite thing to do as a dog owner is take horse poop out of her mouth with my hands. :doh:
 
#6 ·
Trying a different protein, like venison, is a good idea. Natural Balance may have meat rolls that are the same as the kibble that you can use for training.

Is there a chance it is environmental, does her reaction change with the seasons, or stay the same year round?
 
#7 ·
Natural Balance does have some venison "Jumpin Stix" that look promising - hopefully they are soft and I can cut them into small pieces for training. I've ordered them along with the food - so we'll see!

It could be environmental but she's pretty much ALWAYS had a rashy belly and yeasty ears. Her reactions don't seem different season to season. Our vet suggested that it is probably food-related since she is young; they believe that environmental allergies usually take a couple years of exposure to manifest.
 
#9 ·
You may need to change your treats too, they could be causing a problem.

I'm feeding my boy PPP SSS, he doesn't do well on chicken, tried several other proteins too. I've also noticed if I give him treats that are chicken, duck, or turkey, he has some problems. I've been buying treats from Plato Pets-they are a US based co., treats are made in the US and they get all their sources from the US too. They also give back a percentage of their sales to Rescue/shelters. I try to buy products that pay it forward.

The Vets at my clinic do not recommend BB, they feel it's too rich for most dogs, that it also contains too many ingredients that may not agree with dogs.
 
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