Changing food for the second time

[Noyes27]

When I first brought Mack home, he was on Purina Dog Chow and had allergies so bad he had scratched his eyes until he had an infection and had to be put on antibiotics.

We immediately switched him to blue buffalo freedom. Since then we have been trying to determine whether his allergies are seasonal or food related. We have done different doses of benadryl, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, and he is still really itchy.

The vet told us we couldn't really rule out seasonal allergies until we have had a solid week of frost. Go figure, Chicago hasnt had more than a day or two of truly cold days at any time yet this winter!

So even though his allergies may be totally seasonal, I decided to switch him to a non-chicken based food that is still grain free, just incase it does happen to be a chicken allergy.

As of now we have no yeast issues so I am hesitant to switch to a food with sweet potato, as I dot want to create additional problems...

Anyways, I have heard of many bulldogs having allergies to chicken, and also some have reactions to salmon, though I don't recall hearing (well really reading, here lol) about too many duck allergies.

Wish us luck, because I just can't bear to think he might have to go like this for weeks beforewe find out it wasn't even seasonal allergies. His scratching has gotten worse and is actually starting to scab, but I also don't want to drug him up on benadryl constantly....

So tonight we began the transition to blue wilderness duck formula...

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Turns out blue wilderness duck formula has chicken meal as the second ingredient. Mack's wrinkles have been amazingly clean, his redness in his face and belly has significantly decreased, BUT he is still really itchy.

I saw that Blue Buffalo Basics had a grain free turkey formula and thought that might be a better choice for him since it doesnt have any chicken ingredients at all. Turns out my Petco doesnt carry it. Not sure if it is too new, or just something they will not get in. After an hour at searching tonight, we have decided the next food will be Merrick Grain Free Duck & Sweet Potato. No chicken products anywhere in the ingredients. I am really crossing my fingers that he doesnt turn out to have a salmon allergy bc Salmon Meal is the 3rd ingredient.

Luckily Mack's stomach doesn't upset easily and we can transition pretty quickly. He had 1/3 Merrick 2/3 Blue Wilderness tonight, if his poops are okay until morning, he will have 1/2 & 1/2 tomorrow, 1/3 Blue Wilderness with 2/3 Merrick on Thursday, and be transitioned completely by Friday. We have never had an issue with a transition before and since both are 6 star foods I think we will be okay...

I will let you guys know how it goes!

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[sweetpeasmom2008]

Good luck! Keep us updated!

 

[Lucy-licious]

Finding the right food is the most stressful stage of pawrenting.
Choose a brand of food that has a few flavours..as once he is established on the brand you can switch flavour without too much hassle.
then if the Duck doesnt agree with him maybe you can switch to say a lamg base instead. This is how we did it with Lucy.
She started on chicken, then duck, whitefish, lamb and then when they didnt work we tried Lamb and Veg WINNER!

 

[Lucy-licious]

When I first brought Mack home, he was on Purina Dog Chow and had allergies so bad he had scratched his eyes until he had an infection and had to be put on antibiotics.

We immediately switched him to blue buffalo freedom. Since then we have been trying to determine whether his allergies are seasonal or food related. We have done different doses of benadryl, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, and he is still really itchy.

The vet told us we couldn't really rule out seasonal allergies until we have had a solid week of frost. Go figure, Chicago hasnt had more than a day or two of truly cold days at any time yet this winter!

So even though his allergies may be totally seasonal, I decided to switch him to a non-chicken based food that is still grain free, just incase it does happen to be a chicken allergy.

As of now we have no yeast issues so I am hesitant to switch to a food with sweet potato, as I dot want to create additional problems...

Anyways, I have heard of many bulldogs having allergies to chicken, and also some have reactions to salmon, though I don't recall hearing (well really reading, here lol) about too many duck allergies.

Wish us luck, because I just can't bear to think he might have to go like this for weeks beforewe find out it wasn't even seasonal allergies. His scratching has gotten worse and is actually starting to scab, but I also don't want to drug him up on benadryl constantly....

So tonight we began the transition to blue wilderness duck formula...



Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Just going to move this thread into the nutrition section of the forum where you might get a few more answers xx

 

[kazzy220]

Finding the right food is one of the biggest battles. I wish you luck!!! Just remember that it will take a good 30 days for the old food to truly leave their system!!

 

[2BullyMama]

Paws and everything else crossed this works for you little guy.... good luck and keep us posted.

 

[BruceP]

I dont think Sweet potatoes are nearly as allergenic as regular potatoes and dont need to be avoided unless you can isolate them as affecting your bully. Going grain free in your food choice eliminates a LOT of allergens.

 

[TessaAndSamson]

Good luck! It can certainly be a long search for some for the right food and even when you find one it may not be the right food forever. Samson's had nutro (back when I didn't know better LOL), innova, natural balance, taste of the wild, nature's variety instinct, a couple varieties of Fromm, and I may be missing a couple more LOL He did well on Natural Balance LID salmon & sweet potato for years then the yeast issues came and we had to switch to NVI salmon. He is allergic to chicken and does best on salmon. Just remember it can take at least a month for a new food to start making a difference. Also, I've found salmon oil helps alot with those seasonal allergies! Hope you figure it out sooner rather than later because I sure know how frustrating this process can be!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Good Luck! I feel your pain. Jake can't have chicken and he even shows sensitivity to turkey so I stay away from all fowl. He can't have salmon either.. But luckily there are many choices..the key is finding the best one for Mack..