Allergies-Food related...BARF diet? - Page 1

I have a 3year old slovakian dog that has allergies. This summer the vet put him on Prednisone and the symptoms went away. I live in the North country and no pollens are present. He has always been fed Solid Gold Wolf blend along with a little Merrick canned. I am considering swithcing him to the BARF diet to see if this improves his condition. I realize it could be dust mites or things in the house. We have 3 GSDs but no other pets. The other 2 have never had any symptoms. Any suggestions or advise? thanks

I personally would stay on the Solid Gold food...it is a VERY good food. I have a friend that use to give her dog benadryll. So maybe talk to you vet about the dosage for that. Just make sure you stay away from ANY food that has corn, wheat, and soy in it. As this is one of the main alergies to GSD's. I had a male that had VERY bad alergy problems.

I had a Chinese Crested that couldn't eat red meat. When he did he'd form a rash on his rear-end and be terribly annoyed. He could only eat white meat and fish. Maybe your dog has a reaction to certain proteins. I feed BARF 100%, it took me a couple times to realize what the problem was before the remedy... after I figured it.. all went well. I also had prednizone, but did not to use it. You need to watch with certain RX meds.. they do more long term damage than I care to know about.

Have him skin tested. There are pollens, molds and other allergens everywhere and if the steroids helped, it's a good bet he has inhalation allergies and desenstizing him should help. IMO food is rarely the cause of scrathing, less than 15% of atopic dogs are sensitivie to what they eat. Also steriods don't help food allergies. Proving a food allergy is a royal pain in that you must keep track of every single thing that goes into his mouth including chew toys and treats. Switching foods is worthless and a waste of time with 85% of all atopic dogs.

Question I am feeding Solid Gold but need to change it to Timberwolf Lamb,Barley and Apples he does not like the Solid G. he is vomiting and my vet told me to change. What is in Solid G. and not in Timberwolf I am trying to find it on line if anyone knows write back or e-mail me. Thanks M.

Blitzen,what is the price to have the dog skin tested? i was going to do a blood test on my dog for "allergies" until i was quoted about 300.00 dollars. my dog is allergic to something. she was driving me nuts, so i have her on tameril p. my vet also said skin allergy but now i think it is the enviroment mold dust etc... she has been just scratching ,no licking of feet or hot spots or dull coat. i switched her food to sweet potato & rabbit and she is still itching.

Take him off solid gold. You don't know how many dogs I hear have skin problems on this food. Some dogs just do not do well on it. The predisone is another problem. Yes, this will help initially but pred does not 'fix' the problem. Instead the problem goes deeper and will surface later as another problem. I would recommend BARF but you will likley see things get worse before better on it as the body needs to detox.

Harley, the price will probably vary from area to area. When I had a GSD skin tested, I took him to an excellent vet dermatologist in MD and I think the total was around $300, but that was almost 10 years ago. The blood test then was only around $90. Those tests are cheaper, but, in most cases, not nearly as reliable as skin testing. May I ask what state you live in? Maybe I can help you find a vet dermatolgist. You might also check your local vet college, sometimes their prices are very competitive. IMO many GP vets are not qualified to skin test. Not because it is a difficult procedure, you and I could do it, it's just that they need to be familar with area allergens and test appropriately. Some use a hit and miss method which is no good. This is one of those things best left to the experts. Good luck, once you find out what your dog is allergic to you can begin to desensitize her. It can take up to a year to work, but it's worth it I think.

Winnie, yep that is a problem with Baron not enough that he is on and of vomiting but on his stomach he has a rash and he is now taking 25mg.Benadryl twice a day and changing food. So does anyone know about Timberwolf Organic. Thanks M

Ryan,i hope you read this.I am NOW and have in the past had this problem.YES it can be he is food intolorant,food allergic is a little different as it is immune related.Some dogs may even react to an overabundance of grain in the diet.Before you jump to barf and anything else consider doing the most simple which is to prove that it IS a food problem.There is NO blood test for that since they are very UNRELIABLE so the simple most effective way is to put your dog on a food from Hills called Ultra ZD since this food has a molecular structure completely different than intact proteins.The kilodaltons of the food are i beleive less than 5000 .In other words you can feed this chicken product to a dog that is in fact allergic to chicken with no problems.The grain part of the diet is only the starch portion so that the only protein in the diet is coming from the chicken which is hydrolysed.I did not like the idea of this food cause it has artificial preservatives but i would rather that then have my dog ripping himself apart.Another important thing is to wait at least 12 weeks for any results,YES 12 weeks it could take or at least it did with my dog.Also do NOT give any treats or food scraps etc,NOTHING other than the diet.You must also feed a little more than the solid gold cause of the caloric difference.This will save you alot of grief and heartache and will make a world of difference to your dog.This is really the only way to diagnose food allergy or food intolorance.Please be carefull with the predisone as it is a steroid and can have bad effects.Hope this helps and NO I DO NOT work for this company hills