Horrible chicken allergy..

[katie_]

I have a Bloodhound named Gus. He will be two years old in Feb.
Around his first birthday he developed a terrible allergy to chicken (and other poultry). Hes been placed on Hills D/D and its done wonders.

My question is, does anyone else have a dog with a bad food intolerance?
It took 3 vets to diagnose this since it was so severe...and they dont have a lot to say about it.
Gus' bag of dog food is about $100.00 a bag, and only lasts him 3 weeks. I have a few home receipes I could try...but to be honest I'm kind of nervous. At the time of the allergy, I worked at a vet clinic and didnt have to pay any bills when he was hospitalized...but now I dont...and wouldnt be able to afford that.

Has anyone else had any success with cooking for their dogs? I would need to buy a deep freeze, as I have no room in my fridges tiny freezer to house any of this food long term. This would be a huge investment, and wasteful if this food didnt work.

 

[30secondstobob]

Have you tried a different formula such as a lamb and rice? There are so many quality foods out there that don't contain chicken (or worse - ground yellow corn) I wouldn't consider anything made by Hills to be very good and worth what you are paying for it. I use Nature's Recipe Lamb and Rice for my Pitbull that's had skin issues in the past and a 35lb bag costs around $35.00. Check out this dog food review site and form your own opinions. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php/cat/1 Good luck. Bob

 

[animeavatar]

You can try raw diet. I have a cat that is on raw and canned( gave up dry). You can use google to help find something.

 

[katie_]

I have tried a few lamb based TREATS and even those caused a bad reaction (vomit, bloody/green booger diarrhea).

I know Hills has a very bad reputation in the food industry, which in my opinion is very silly. Ive actually been to one of their labs, and they are excellent. Labels can be confusing, and a lot of other sneaky brands have little tanctics to fool pet owners.

Also, I have a very close friend who feeds raw. I myself, have seen too many bad complications from feeding raw. I would rather keep him on the incredibly expensive food, just to avoid the risk.

The only formula that seems to work is fish based.

 

[animeavatar]

Have you tried beef? What complications?

 

[stager]

My dog once had his urinary tract blocked and infected and they put him on that food. (my vet said was probably ash they use as fillers in dog food). I would try purina one beef and rice seems to be good stuff for the price. I switched to it years ago and no problems since.