Extremely allergic dog, please help!!

[Lynne]

Hi Everyone,
 My vet recommended this website. My 18 month American Bulldog has (finally) been diagnosed as having allergies and intolerances to just about everything. While we can deal with the environmental allergies through a bespoke vaccine, I am having real problems finding a suitable diet/dog food for him.
He is allergic to maize and potato and very intolerant to... wait for it...beef, pork, lamb, duck, chicken, turkey, rabbit, vennison, wheat, soya, barley, oats, rice, cows milk, white fish and salmon.
He is not allergic to eggs!
I have been advised to find hydrolysed meat and to avoid dry food as he is allergic to storage mites. From viewing the internet I can't seem to find a wet, hydrolysed dog food that doesnt contain cereals. Does anyone know of anything, please?

[Tinyplanets]

Hello and welcome Lynne,

Sorry you are having to deal with this. It sounds like a nightmare.  I am afraid I can't be of much help but hopefully somebody may be able to advise you.

[Dottie]

Hello Lynne - welcome to the forum.  It is telling that your vet advised you to try this website. I assume that it is because your dog's problems are complex and hard to manage.  What are you feeding him right now? 

The only wet food that I know of that contains just egg is Burns Penlan Farm but it also contains rice.

Regarding the hydrolyzed protein foods, the companies who make these are listed here.  They include Hills, Purina and Royal Canin.  Each of these companies will have nutrition advisers so contacting them might be a useful place to begin.  If you take notes during any conversations you could then compare and add to this thread.

You seem to have done your homework on this so I haven't gone into depth looking at the formulas. They appear to be dry foods and as you say, if a dog is allergic to storage mites this could be a problem.  The only thing that I can offer is that I once read a post by someone who also had a dog that was allergic to storage mites.  He or she claimed that pouring boiling water on the kibble was advantageous.  You will already surmise that this will not get rid of the storage mite residue and I have no idea why this would help but perhaps it may be something to think about if the formula of any of those foods suit your dog.  Of course you can minimize the incidence of these by buying the food in small quantities, asking for a new batch when purchasing and immediately transferring it into a clean, airtight container.  This should be thoroughly washed between uses.  Hill’s Prescription Diet z/d has a wet version but it contains potato so it might not be suitable for your dog.

You could perhaps consider home cooked food and this would  give you peace of mind because you would be sure that there was nothing in it likely to cause problems.  The exact percentages of protein/veg/carbs can be found on a quick Internet search.  Possibly some would say at least 50% of it should be protein but in your case this will be difficult - it would need to be egg or perhaps soya if your dog is not allergic to it.  The carbohydrate would perhaps need to be tapioca or sweet potato.  However, if you are worried about getting the quantities right then I suggest that you ask your vet to put you in touch with one of the veterinary colleges that have a specialist in nutrition.  I recall seeing one on the television - I think it may have been Liverpool.  You could then either talk to someone on the telephone or email to see what they suggest.  With that huge list of allergies/intolerances it would probably be helpful to get specialist advice anyway.

Please let us know how you get on and I am sorry that I cannot be of more help. 

[Eden Holistic Pet Foods]

Its important to realise that the allergy tests are only about 25% accurate, a point occasionally made by David Jackson who owns this site, and that you can get many false positives and false negatives too, and with that list I assume that must be the case here.

The only way to be sure of anything is to do elimination trials, and as Dottie says, this is probably best done with a raw or home cooked diet to start.

Begin by feeding just one protein, and hopefully everything will settle down after a week or two. Then add other things one by one, giving a good week or two between each addition, that way you will soon see which things are causing problems and can then avoid them.

Its a long slow process, but with the list you have been given, it looks like the only way you will find a way to feed a reasonably balanced diet.

Storage mites are related to grains, so try and keep grain free to avoid them

[Tinyplanets]

Having discussed this issue further, Dottie has remembered a TV programme discussing vegetarian/vegan feeding. IIRC I think this was on the channel 5 documentary ' The truth about dog food'  All I can remember is some quite tasty looking lentil based dishes. Dottie felt that it might be useful for you to try and contact some vegetarian feeders and see if they can give you some ideas.

There seems to be quite a few recipes and ideas on the web. If they contain one of the suspected ingredients they could be adapted.

[Eden Holistic Pet Foods]

I saw that programme, not one of the vegetarian fed dogs looked healthy, dogs are carnivores, not vegetarians and will not get all the nutrition they require on a vegetarian diet.

This really needs the help of a qualified nutritionist

[Dottie]

Tinyplanets and myself both agree with you David.  The only reason that it came to mind was that the OP has, in that list of intolerances discounted pretty much all of the usual sources of protein.  I hope that Lynne comes back to let us know what she is currently feeding.  Referral to a nutritionist would be useful in this case.

[Lynne]

Thank you all, for your time in responding to my query. I don't have the solutions to report back yet, but we are due to get his environmental allergies vaccine in the next couple of weeks and will then start to play about with his diet. I do agree that he shouldn't be a vegetarian dog, particularly given his muscular frame. That said, if after playing about, it is the only solution then we would have to consider it further, perhaps with dog dietary supplements, but we know that is not ideal.
I will try the boiling water idea, perhaps it kills them off?
We've had him on Butchers Tripe for a few days and noticed that his faeces was "normal" rather then runny or loose as it has been, so we are going to try this again and will try the elimination method, once his vaccine has kicked in.  that way we will have a better idea of what food is causing a problem, knowing that he is vaccinated against the environmental issues.
It looks like we have a long and expensive "journey" to go on! I will report back when we have done some experimenting, but this won't be for a few weeks yet.
I am grateful for all your ideas and will put them into practise.
Kind regards, Lynne.

[Dottie]

I am grateful for your feedback - thank you. It is a complex problem and I do hope that you can find something that suits your dog. Please let us know how you get on.

[crowhurst00]

we did allergy testing for enviromental allergies...with immune therapy drops worked out great ...huge improvement..the important part is to find a great vet..  there a group on face book called dog allergy international group.. hope that helps

[PipsMom]

I bought the book The Whole Pet Diet by Andi Brown off Amazon.
I learned a great deal from it cooking for my own allergic dog and recipes are included to build up immunity.
If you search on the internet you can read more about the author and the book. 

[Lynne]

Hi Everybody,
I posted the original request for help and am pleased to report back that my very allergic dog is on the road to recovery. We have tried all sorts, as he is either allergic or intolerant to sooooo many things!
He has been on a raw food diet for a months now and this appears to be great, put bluntly his poo is much better, so I can tell his digestion is better on raw meat and bones. I haven't yet found the right balance of bones as too much makes him constipated, currently he's on 1-2 a week. in respect of dog treats, he only has dried pigs ears or bits of fruit such as apples and he likes strawberries. Commercialised ones are full of sugar and rubbish. I also make him a wheat and dairy free liver cake. As a treat he can also have a "cup of tea", which is red bush (naturally caffeine free) and oatmilk. As I have food intolerances too, he came to the right house!

With respect to the gazillion environmental allergies he has, I'm still working on that. He is on a course of immunity injections but I have found that he still flares up very badly and he has also had to have several courses of steroids. I've just got the OK from the drug manufacturer to give him a more regular dose (which Im sure they will be rubbing their hands together about!). he now has a steroid spray which i apply directly to the sores, the vet tells me this won't have a detrimental affect on his organs as steroid tablets can.

I am also looking into the use of aloe vera, the "Forever" brand is organic and as pure as it can be. Some of the preservatives, although natural, he has an intolerance to so i have to weigh this up with what %tage of them are in it, against the %tage of aloe vera. I'm currently waiting for this information from the supplier.

I'm also hopeful that the forthcoming cold, wet weather might give him some respite from the pollens and grasses. Although the other intolerances will remain, he will hopefully have less to contend with.

I must thank you all for your comments and pointing me in a helpful direction. If this information is at all useful to anyone else, then that would be great (and save you many hours!)

[Dottie]

Thank you very much for updating your thread. What a trying time you have, and are having with your dog.  At least you have it under control to a certain extent and hopefully this will continue. 

[Pegasus]

Lynne? Which meats did you eventually manage to feed? Your initial list was very long! I ordered a food in for a customer with similar problems - meat source is Kangaroo! Grain free with pumpkin, carrots and beetroot

[Tinyplanets]

Thanks for the update Lynne. I didn't know dogs could have tea for a treat. I think that would go down well here.