Royal Canin Anallergenic

[Slave2Magic]

I'm hoping that some of you knowledgeable folks on here can help. My mum has a working cocker that has been put on the above food by the vets. He has on going allergy issues which has been covered by the insurance but the food isn't. This food is incredibly expensive for her and I am trying to find something suitable but cheaper. She isn't keen on feeding raw. Any suggestions welcome.

 

[druid]

What is she allergic to? We ended up with a vegetarian grain free food to solve our old ladies allergies as even novel proteins upset her.

 

[Slave2Magic]

Thank you. The vets don't seem to know really. He has had skin scrapes and been on medication but it still seems inconclusive. I would have thought that they would have gone down the food root first but apparently not.

 

[druid]

We feed VeggieDog (Green Pet Food) and Yarrah Veggie trays - ours had on going skin and ear problems which progressed to IBS type stuff and eventually hemorrhagic diarrhea when she ate a protein that upset her. At 16 she was really struggling and the vet suggested Anallergenic too, we opted to try grain free veggie have worked out she had animal protein issues. She's perfect and her liver and kidney levels on bloods are much better now and near normal (they were completely out of whack). She has no more itchy, scurffy skin or bowel problems.

 

[twiggy2]

The idea of an anallergenic food is that for approx ten weeks you are as sure as you can be that there is nothing in the dogs diet that is causing a reaction. So you allow the dogs system to calm do any allergic responses before introducing other food stuffs one at time in order to try and find out what the triggers are for each individual dog.
All the suggestions from other dog owners however well meaning are useless unless the foods are anallergenic.
My dog for example is known to be allergic to;
Beef, pork, chicken, lamb, Turkey, venison, duck, rabbit, white fish, salmon, all grains, potato, rice, I may have forgotten things but I ended up doing the York allergy test for food and environment, she tested as positive to all foods they test for except whole eggs, she was also allergic to environmental allergens.
The only foods she can eat for the rest of her life are;
Royal canine anallergenic and purina anallergenic.
The purina seems to suit her better and is better on my purse.
Good luck op

 

[Kylara]

anallergenic is generally a hopeful short term food that will remove all food allergens and allow you to see if that could be a cause (certain number of weeks fed to show results). Then you can do elimination testing by feeding one type of food at a time and seeing what happens.

There are other brands of anallergenic food about though, so might be worth a look.

 

[SusieT]

Ask the vet - they should be able to suggest other alternatives - I wouldn't base the dogs diet when it is on prescirption food on an internet forum.

 

[Umbongo]

Agree with the last couple of replies. Can the vet also take bloods for an allergy panel? It is an expensive test but may be worth it in the long run.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Both foods mentioned are very low quality and contain BHA and BHT. If your mum can't face the raw route and if it's a protein allergy, that's the worst thing to do, then a high quality grain free kibble is maybe the way forward. Orijen seems decent, or Zooplus do mail order grain free. Even easier, Pets at Home Fishmongers which is fish and potato, much higher percentage of fish than eg Fish4dogs. As mentioned, you need to give a new food a go for some weeks to see a real difference.

 

[druid]

The idea of an anallergenic food is that for approx ten weeks you are as sure as you can be that there is nothing in the dogs diet that is causing a reaction. So you allow the dogs system to calm do any allergic responses before introducing other food stuffs one at time in order to try and find out what the triggers are for each individual dog.
All the suggestions from other dog owners however well meaning are useless unless the foods are anallergenic.

The first ingredient is Cornstarch - one of the many things my old lady is allergic/intolerant to. They also contain some carcinogens.

 

[twiggy2]

The first ingredient is Cornstarch - one of the many things my old lady is allergic/intolerant to. They also contain some carcinogens.

Yes they also contain chicken which mine is highly allergic to but it is hydrolysed which is supposed to make the protein molecules small enough that the body does not react to them.
As it is the only food that my dog can eat I don't have a choice and for those following the food exclusion route it is the 'cleanest' start you can have.
I would have spent years trying to find out what at was going on with my current batch as she was allergic to so much.
Personally I recommend the allergy testing so you can start on a good quality 'safe' food, unfortunately there are not any for my dog.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

which is supposed to make the protein molecules small enough that the body does not react to them.

hmm. Not doubting that it works for your dog and that's great but am going to have to do some research on the above-I work on animal vaccines and immunity and would be interested to see the science on this.

The feeding of a substance that an animal is allergic to that has been treated to be non-allergenic seems a bit redundant but other than that, immune responses are poorly understood in most animals.

 

[Snuffles]

Just going down the food allergy test route with my itchy dog. Vet recommended using a different protein to what he normally has, i.e. now on nothing except fish and potato (house stinks at the moment !)for 2 weeks to get him onto a base from where to progress. I asked about so called hypoallergenic kibble, and he was very dismissive of them!

ETA said to vet I thought they should be on basic diet for 2 - 3 months but he said it wasn't thought necessary now ? Anyway he didnt try to sell me any food or pills !

 

[Slightlyconfused]

My dog was worse on burns anti allergic food.

We have since fond of she can't have meat so is on burns egg, brown rice and veg packets and her stomach issues seem to have gone.

She still isn't right, can't put my finger on it but at least her food is sorted.