Dog food - allergies and sensitive stomach

[Critter]

Looking for suggestions…7 yo JRT. She has allergies (food and environmental)…we know it is to chicken, corn, and lamb…could be others, but those are for certain. She will do the belly rub on the carpet and lick her paws raw. Periodically we do get the apoquel shot at the vet, which generally keeps her under control.

She also has a sensitive GI…has had a few vet visits over the years where she was vomiting and punky. Nothing ever found. She does seem to have some reflux type issues (also talked to the vet on that and they had suggestions about smaller meals more often)…where she burps or will do the lip smacking when her tummy is a bit upset. Can’t give her any type of chew bone/bully stick…she will vomit it up or keep you awake all night with an upset tummy.

Currently on Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach salmon mix…and a bit of wellness or core wet food for encouraging her to eat. She is a good eater and will eat everything in sight…and a bit overweight too, despite not getting much volume. She does fairly well with this…but still burps/occasional lip smacking, still some allergy symptoms.

I don’t have the capacity to cook home meals for her…(not that I am opposed to it, just not feasible for my own situation). But I am happy to get other prepared foods, as I think we can still do better with finding food that doesn’t create the reflux type issues.

I just ordered two small bags of the beef Honest Kitchen (dry and dehydrated foods) to test with her. I had tried the Orijen once and that gave her bad diarrhea. When she was younger she was on Taste of the Wild, but at some point they must have changed some ingredients and she was getting super itchy on it.

[Simkie]

Have you ever tried pepcid? Either a course of a couple weeks, or just keeping her on it, if she’s really that sensitive?

[Critter]

Yes, I use it intermittently for her…but vet hasn’t suggested using it daily. Mostly she’s not that bad (although the burping is pretty consistent)…I am super strict about her only getting certain treats so we generally have the lip smacking issues under control (since really being strict with diet ingredients and adding smaller meals/snacks at different times it’s mostly gone away). It’s usually if she finds a snack outside (aka deer poo)…and I would sometimes give her a small bit of leftovers from meat dinner or piece of bacon in her dinner (no sauces or anything)…that seems to have been a trigger for the upset tummy. But break any of those diet restrictions and she’s a mess.

[luvmyhackney]

Pet Lab company probiotic has relieved my dog of all of her itchiness. She chewed her legs and feet raw with a red tummy.

I put her on Heiro dog supplement as well cause my beagle is on it for seasonal allergies.

Not sure why it worked but I’m a religious buyer now and if I miss a couple days, she starts getting itchy again.

[Simkie]

What does “intermittently” mean?

Ulcers could explain a lot here, and would require a course of treatment. But some animals just have really touchy bellies, and it may be best just to keep them on it. There are really very few risks with keeping them on pepcid.

Has it helped her, when you’ve used it?

[ThreeWishes]

I have a dog with a bad belly. Tried the Apoquel shot and it didn’t seem to work as well as the daily pill. What works for her is Earthborn holistics sensitive stomach (fish based) and absolutely no free rein yard time without supervision. Because she will eat the poop of any and every creature that passes through the farm. Notably raccoon, possum, or armadillo. And each and every episode of spray diarrhea has been after gobbling up said feces. Mostly she is taken out to go potty on a leash. It’s a pain for sure but it beats the crime scene she will leave behind if she gets free rein.

[tabula_rashah]

I have been having great luck with Evangers wet and Open Farm dry. They both have a lot of different limited ingredients products and Open Farm has a dry food that has no grain, no chicken and no legumes - it took me forever to find this trifecta

[Critter]

So when she starts with the lip smacking/chomping I will give her the pepcid. But we can go weeks without having that happen. Now that I give her 2 of her soft treats (buddy softies - limited ingredients she is not allergic to) right away in the morning, she seems to be much better. But she still has episodes, just less often since we did do some modifications with her food. It usually has helped her when I’ve used it. I suppose I could keep her on it…vet didn’t suggest that, but I can ask them, and maybe it would help with her burping (which is daily). I was just wondering if I could help her more effectively with some additional food modifications…if this is the best I get her and then I need to add meds, that’s fine…but if I can help her out further with diet and not need to add in more meds, that seems like a better option.

[Simkie]

I’d at least consider a course of several weeks to see if that will resolve these things you’re seeing. Good luck!

[Posting_Trot]

I’ve fed Honest Kitchen successfully to two dogs with sensitive stomachs. It’s made of high quality ingredients and my dogs ate it right up.

With one of the dogs I now rotate it with other food, and he seems to do fine with that.

Good luck. I know how hard it is to deal with a sensitive dog (when it comes to food)!

[Halternatively]

I, too, have a JRT with food and environmental allergies. He is allergic to chicken and all other fowl, most grains, and a host of other foods I’m not thinking of. He chews his paws raw and is constantly itching. We recently tried The Farmers Dog and his allergies got worse. The one food he seems to tolerate well is Zessentials - any of their fish based dry food formulas. Chewy carries them.

We do allergy shots in spring and summer and add apoquel oral when he’s flaring. I’m also going to try the probiotic mentioned upthread.

I hope your little one finds relief!

[Quincy]

Are you seeing your normal vet about these issues or is there an animal dermatologist nearby that can check out your dog? My two golden retrievers are on a daily oral allergy serum for environmental allergies, but last month we started a food trial with Royal Canin Ultamino to see if there’s any food allergies. Our dermatology vet suggested trying the Ultamino, or the Kangaroo or Rabbit elimination diet from Rayne Nutrition for 8-10 weeks. Rayne Nutrition also offers a maintenance food if the elimination diet works out. The two drawbacks: the kangaroo/rabbit food is very expensive (it may be more doable for smaller dogs) and can be out of stock at times from what I’ve read.

Also, my dogs get Cytopoint injections when hot spots get bad. Just an alternative to Apoquel.

Good luck, it’s a journey trying to figure out allergy issues.

[GraceLikeRain]

I’ve navigated a sensitive stomach and seasonal allergies with my guy for 12 years.

He would do okay ish on natural balance sweet potato and bison but had quarterly GI episodes that landed us in the emergency room. Like bloat but not bloat. Wild vomiting. Diarrhea. Etc. to the tune of well over $20k in emergency vet bills over the years.

We tried raw, homecooked, and probably 10-15 premium brands with novel protein. He lived on Pepcid twice a day for years with only moderate success.

As much as it pains me, Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein was a game changer. The premium foodie in me just doesn’t look at the back of the bag. That, Pepcid at night, probiotic in the morning, cytopoint injections may-October and he’s a boring normal dog. It’s incredible.

Hydrolyzed proton may be worth looking into if you’ve exhausted all avenues. My vet was also very supportive of daily Pepcid use and probiotics.

[Zigzag]

Our mixed breed dog has allergies to most proteins. We had switched him to a salmon based food but when he developed an ulcer that was too rich. We’re having good luck with Nulo’s cod based dry food. He also gets a daily Apoquel pill in the morning and 10mg generic Pepcid in the evening. So far he’s doing well with this regimen.

[MunchingonHay]

@Critter

chicken, corn, and lamb…

.

There are “hot foods”, “cold foods” and neutral foods. This is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Chicken, lamb, venison as well as salmon are all “hot foods” your dog needs “cold” or “neutral” foods to balance out.
Beef, pork, buffalo, white fish, most shellfish, turkey, rabbit are examples of ‘cold’ and 'neutral; foods.

Stinky feet, upset tummys, yeasty ear infections, hot spots, itchy skin all stem from a hot dog, eating a hot food diet. (as well as grass and tree allergies)

https://www.drwendyying.com/ helped me in my journey of feeding my dog this way over 10yrs ago. I was feeding chicken to my pup and he had the worst ear infections. Changed him to a beef - cold diet and I only had ear issues when he got rain/bath water in them.

Primal dog and cat foods list the proteins used are hot, cold or neutral on their bags as well. I think Steves real food may do this too.

It can take up to 6 weeks for their system to rebalance it is not going to be over night.

[ratherberiding1999]

I will second the hydrolyzed protein recommendation someone posted above. That is the first thing we usually recommend at our practice for food allergy dogs who are having continual issues. The proteins in the food are what cause the allergies in almost all food allergy cases, and hydrolyzed protein diets basically reduce the protein molecules so small that they cannot cause an allergic response anymore. Some people choose to keep their pet on it for life, some choose to do a 12-16 week course of the hydrolyzed protein then do trials to see what ingredients their pets have reactions to. The food allergies can cause the licking and scratching that you’re seeing as well as the upset stomach.