Protein allergies

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
I have a question. What are CLEAR indicators of food allergies? I'm trying to determine if I'm dealing with a food allergy. So I feed raw and notice that duchess' eye tear often after eating I feed a variety of beef, turkey, and I'm trying to determine if she is sensitive to chicken. I just switch her to whole ground salmon(includes trim & all). I noticed after she got done eating her eye didn really tear as much. Shes never broke into any rashes or anything and fur looks amazing. I get stopped all the time to ask how I get her coat sooo shiny. How can I figure this out short of gettin blood test? Also what causes the tear stains? I know when I fed kibble the dye in the kibble caused stains. But I feed raw so what actually cause the discoloration of tears? I am going to b switching to filtered water and see if that helps.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
Staff member
Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
48,581
3,673
Gilbertsville, PA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
Banks has chicken sensitivity and regardless of what form it is in her face get very red, acne on her chin, paw licking and tear stains.... she also has a sensitvity to salmon which she has the same reaction just not as severe.

I am going to tag some of the raw feeders and also more your post tot he 'raw feeding forum' so you will get more input.

good luck
 
OP
S

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Banks has chicken sensitivity and regardless of what form it is in her face get very red, acne on her chin, paw licking and tear stains.... she also has a sensitvity to salmon which she has the same reaction just not as severe.

I am going to tag some of the raw feeders and also more your post tot he 'raw feeding forum' so you will get more input.

good luck



Thanks! It's weird and I'm not 100% sure one is present as I said she doesn't have any skin issues and her stool is always good.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
Staff member
Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
48,581
3,673
Gilbertsville, PA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
Thanks! It's weird and I'm not 100% sure one is present as I said she doesn't have any skin issues and her stool is always good.

What all do you feed her, outside of the protein?
 
OP
S

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
What all do you feed her, outside of the protein?



A typical meal is whole ground turkey(bone & all), ground hearts, ground liver & kidney. A pro-biotic, salmon oil, acv, coconut oil. I don't give grains and fruits and veggies are very limited and usually used as a treat.
 

RiiSi

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 30, 2011
5,014
535
Sysmä
Country
Finland
Bulldog(s) Names
Taisto, Kylli, Salli, Angel-Usko and Angel-Voitto
Are you giving her kidney and liver daily??? That may be too rich.
 

RiiSi

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 30, 2011
5,014
535
Sysmä
Country
Finland
Bulldog(s) Names
Taisto, Kylli, Salli, Angel-Usko and Angel-Voitto
She gets liver and kidney daily but only a tablespoon which comes to about 1oz twice a day.

Some say that organs should be fed only 1-2 times a week...but then again some say that several times a week.
Some are more allergic and some are less and symptoms vary...If you don't have test done, you can try elimination diet....
 
OP
S

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
Some say that organs should be fed only 1-2 times a week...but then again some say that several times a week.
Some are more allergic and some are less and symptoms vary...If you don't have test done, you can try elimination diet....


So what would the difference be if I fed her organs only once a week, which would be a whole meal of all organs vs broken into daily feedings only 1oz per meal.
 

ame16

New member
Oct 18, 2012
125
5
Philadelphia, PA
Bulldog(s) Names
Eleanor ('Elly')
If your dog can handle an all organ or organ-heavy meal, there's really no issue. I'd shoot for organs being around 10% of his diet, though (5% liver and 5% any other organ).
 

izstigspunks

Moderator
Sep 16, 2010
5,939
336
Toronto, Ontario
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
The Stig Racecar Driver and (Sweet Angel) Punkin Brutus
I agree that an elimination diet is one of the only things you can do. Stiggy gets tear stains too, but since his stools are always minimal and firm, and lacks any other allergy symptoms, I simply maintain them by cleaning daily.
 
OP
S

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
I agree that an elimination diet is one of the only things you can do. Stiggy gets tear stains too, but since his stools are always minimal and firm, and lacks any other allergy symptoms, I simply maintain them by cleaning daily.


Duchess stool is also minimal, she only goes once every day to every other day and they are always firm. I did notice now that I have her on whole ground salmon that she has almost no tears. She has moderate tearing after meals when I feed her turkey, beef, and a raw mix that contains multiple proteins. What actually causes the stains though? I know water can be the culprit from all the minerals. But what in meat would cause the stains? Her coat is amazing and doesn't have any redness of the face, stool is always good. I'm going to try to switch water. Would a britia tap water filter be sufficient or should I go to bottled water?
 

ame16

New member
Oct 18, 2012
125
5
Philadelphia, PA
Bulldog(s) Names
Eleanor ('Elly')
An interesting theory I saw regarding tear stains on raw fed dogs attributed them to the ripping and tearing action they go through. In a nutshell, raw fed dogs use their face muscles a lot more than kibble-fed dogs, and this causes the tear ducts to expand and release more fluids.
 
OP
S

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #14
An interesting theory I saw regarding tear stains on raw fed dogs attributed them to the ripping and tearing action they go through. In a nutshell, raw fed dogs use their face muscles a lot more than kibble-fed dogs, and this causes the tear ducts to expand and release more fluids.

Interesting. That makes sense. I actually grind everything bone and all.
 

anatess

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2011
1,758
398
Country
US
Bulldog(s) Names
Bullie (RIP) & Angus (RIP)
Interesting. That makes sense. I actually grind everything bone and all.

This kinda takes out one of the advantages of feeding raw. Crunching and tearing food is beneficial as a mental stimulation as well as for healthy teeth and gums.

Tear stain is a yeast or bacterial infection. Basically, your dog is producing too much tears (the cause of which can vary) which becomes a breeding ground for yeast and bacteria which causes it to have that brownish or reddish color. For white or light haired dogs it's very obvious, for dark haired dogs it could be difficult to spot without looking at it closely. A lot of times, people with dark-haired dogs won't address the issue because it's not really an "eye sore". Unfortunately, the infection can get really bad and end up becoming a health issue and not just a cosmetic one especially in dogs like English Bulldogs and Bichon Frises that are susceptible to these types of health problems.

That said, allergies can cause excessive tears. Teething dogs can also cause excessive tears (the skull gets temporarily misaligned causing a pinching on the tear ducts). Some dogs have an eye structure issue or blocked tear ducts that causes fluid to excrete through the eyes instead of through the nose... that may require surgery. There are other causes... these are just some of them.

So... to address this problem first you have to figure out why he's producing excessive tears and try to solve that. Next, you have to get that infection (either yeast - brown or bacterial -red) controlled. The distilled water option is a good one because it changes the pH of your dog's body making it more difficult for yeast to thrive. But the simplest (but most inconvenient) way to solve this problem is to keep the dog's face dry at all times... wipe, wipe, wipe, and wipe some more... until you solve the problem that caused the extra tearing in the first place.
 

Most Reactions

📰 Latest posts

Members online

Top