Hypoallergenic Dog Food

Bluefrog

Looking for people's experience with hypoallergenic dog foods - ones that use potato for carbohydrates rather than grain. Which ones have people fround helpful and where is the best place to buy.

Jules

not sure of carbo use but if its the wheat you are worried about ,

http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/PDF/hypoallergenic_dietary_sensitivity.PDF

is gluten free and any animal i have put on it seems to respond well.

Why are you putting your pet on hypoallergenic food, if you dont mind me asking?

Blueprint

Orijen and Acana is grain free, and if you prefer wet, you can get a Fish and Potato variety of Naturediet from Zooplus too.

I don't think my dog is actually allergic to anything, but when I had him on a dog food with grain before, I found his eyes used to be very gunky all the time, which went away completely on the Orijen. His poos are much less soft too.

kildara

Bluefrog wrote: »

Looking for people's experience with hypoallergenic dog foods - ones that use potato for carbohydrates rather than grain. Which ones have people fround helpful and where is the best place to buy.

Wafcol do a Potato and Salmon food we had our Shar Pei on it after a consultation with a dermatologist.
We have since put him onto Wainwrights Potato and Salmon. Wainwrights is the Pets at Home brand. Don't know if they are in the Republic but they are up in Belfast for sure. Maybe see if they do delivery. It is, apparently, the same maker as James Wellbeloved. Both dogs are now thriving on this brand - our rotty is on the puppy equivalent.

If you can't ge the Wainwrights, you should be able to buy the Wafcol from some large pet stores - alternatively contact Wafcol direct for a list of suppliers. It is more expensive than the Wainwrights, but you can get a discount card from Wafcol which entitles you to every 6th bag free (you save the barcodes) Better than nothing!

Hope this helps.

As a matter of interest, why are you looking to switch?

Sigma Force

I have my middle dog on Burns potatoe and pork and she loves it, the collie gets some as well it must taste great because they finish it in one go usually they leave their food and come back to it later.

She has a sensative tum and although red mills was fine she got a bit of a dicky tum again (too many treats) so put her on Burns again after she finished her royal canine sensativity control for her poops and she's got a bit fat now she was a little underweight but she's gotten a bit chubby now due to this stupid weather more than the food.

Very happy with it, it's pricey though. I could probably change to something a bit cheaper but just as good but so fed up with changing foods will stick to the one they're used too.

Eyes wise though never though of it haven't seen any change she sometimes has a bit of 'sleep' in her eyes that's about it.

The pup is on Royal Canin junior now and his eyes are a little runny on it, not sure if it's because some of his face is white that I notice it but he'll be going on Adult Burns when he's a bit bigger.

Vas_Guy

arden grange

Bluefrog

Hey Jules,

OK, here's the full story. Have a boxer pup, about 11 months now, got him when he was about 4 months, a rescue who was riddled with worms and ear mites when I got him. He's fully wormed etc but just can't put weight on him (I know boxers can be skinny but this guy has ALL his ribs showing) and stools are fine in morning but tend to dis-improve throughout the day and during exercise he frequently will produce very loose stools. Now he has grown like a horse over this period too which I'm sure isn't helping his weight - turning out to be a very tall boxer but I would imagine the main part of his vertical growth is over now and that he should have some more resources to be putting into his weight. He's very well muscled and doesn't lack for energy in any way that I can tell but is constantly hungry to the point of appearing half starved.

Been to the vet a few times with him and was told he was underweight but the vet seemed fairly noncommittal, saying that I should wait to see how he did after neutering before looking into it further and to try switching foods which I did - first Royal Canin and then Eukanuba (neither the hypoallergenic varieties) - he did seem to do a bit better stool-wise on the Eukanuba. Now a couple of months after neutering, he's still not gaining despite eating large amounts of food daily, I have him on abour 400g daily split between 2 meals - it seems to just pass through him.

Took him to another vet last Friday (much more engaged and interested) and he suggested the possibility of a grain intolerance and suggested that before we go down the road of blood and stool tests for enzyme problems etc, we should try a hypoallergenic diet and gave me a small back of Burns pork & potato.

So far the stools seem much improved and though he has still eliminated with some exercise it has been 'normal' looking. I guess it would be a few weeks before I saw any improvement on the weight front so want to source the food. I don't drive so my options about where to get it are a bit more limited than normal.

Basically, I want to stick to a potato based food until we see if the grains are the issue. Could be an enzyme problem too - the vet said its a process of elimination (excuse the pun!).

Jules wrote: »

not sure of carbo use but if its the wheat you are worried about ,

http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/PDF/hypoallergenic_dietary_sensitivity.PDF

is gluten free and any animal i have put on it seems to respond well.

Why are you putting your pet on hypoallergenic food, if you dont mind me asking?

Will look into the Orijen and Royal Canin sensitive - should be able to get those both on Zooplus which is handy for me with the delivery.

boomerang

I would give him a bit more time on the Burns before switching to a different brand - he's only been on it a week, right?

Switching from one brand to another can cause loose stools, unless you do it gradually over at least five days, increasing the proportion of the new brand in his daily ration day by day.

Bluefrog

Well he just had a runny stool this evening even on the Burns - want to try to find one that I can get relatively easily that is potato based - then will leave him on it for a month or two and see how he goes. Just got a small bag of Burns - all they sold at the vet. Don't see Burns on the Zooplus website but surely it's the fact that the replacement food shouldn't have grain thats the important thing.

Lemlin

Bluefrog wrote: »

Well he just had a runny stool this evening even on the Burns - want to try to find one that I can get relatively easily that is potato based - then will leave him on it for a month or two and see how he goes. Just got a small bag of Burns - all they sold at the vet. Don't see Burns on the Zooplus website but surely it's the fact that the replacement food shouldn't have grain thats the important thing.

A vet told me that James Wellbeloved is pretty much the same as Burns and they have a cereal free edition for sale on Zooplus.

I use Orijen myself and find it the best food I've tried with my dog yet. She's usually not a great eater but is cleaning the bowl now for once.

Sigma Force

I didn't see the Burns potatoe one on their website or in any shops. Wasn't until our vets said they could order it in and that there was a choice of duck and rice, chicken and rice or pork and potatoe.

Has the vet ensured there's no other reason for the loose poop like a slight infection there or something. If they are really runny and none are solid ensure he's plenty of water even a bit of diorylite or similar in it to make sure he doesn't get dehydrated.

The tins or dry food of Royal Canin sensitivity (it does contain rice though) can help solidify the poop and then once their solid again introducing him back onto the food you want to stick with. As said changing his food all the time will give him a dodgy tum.