[Denise R]

if she is allergic to white potatoes can she have sweet potatoes?

[anonymously]

Allergies or food intolerances?
http://www.2ndchance.info/allergytesting.htm

excerpt below from http://www.2ndchance.info/Apoquel.htm
Food Allergies are probably over-diagnosed in dogs (they account for, perhaps 5-10%). Hypoallergenic diets are occasionally, but not frequently, helpful in canine atopy cases but you should always give them a try. Food intolerances are more common – but considerably more likely to result in digestive disturbances and diarrhea that in itching problems.

[Kimberly R]

Do not discount the possible link to Peas as a source to a dog’s allergies. Peas, pea flour, pea protein, pea fiber is now in almost all dry dog foods to get the protein numbers up. My dog started to develop allergies, or what appeared to be allergies, 6 months ago, while on a very good grain-free dog food. It started with an itchy tail head, then itchy back, then some hives on the face to full blown facial, neck and spine swelling, with difficulty swallowing. After 6 weeks of allergy testing and food “trials”, every food, including treats, that contained a form of “pea” created the same allergy symptoms within a half hour.

A recent finding by truthaboutpetfood.com shows that pea flour/pea fiber/pea protein is an ingredient from China. It is very likely that the allergy is actually a response to a toxin or poison. This scenario is all too familiar. The problem is that now that this cheap protein is available, it is difficult to find a dry dog food without it.

[Denise R]

Our dog had blood tests that determined that she was allergic to peanuts, potatoes, & soybeans as well as environmental allergies such as grass & pollen. For a while we took her for regular allergy shots but gave up when we felt we had just as good control through close monitoring of her diet & she really didn’t like to spend time outside anyway (& she’s a Brittany😧). Throughout the years we have found that the dog food companies will change their formulas and not inform the consumer even by stating “new formula” on the bag. You can read the ingredients list 50x’s & the 1st time you buy it without reading the label there are changes. With recent changes we found ourselves looking for again another dog food. We did notice that a lot have peas in them now too. Our dog DID NOT do well on anything with peas. Whenever she gets something she is allergic to she will lick patches of her skin raw or her mouth will turn bright red & her eyes water. So my words of advice are that you need to read the ingredients every time. With this new shift to add peas we are again searching for a new dog food. But fortunately we have found that one of the more reputable dog foods on the market (that our dog could never eat) has changed its formula and our dogs are doing well on it. Our Brittany’s skin is healing nicely & they all seem to be doing well again. PS for years the only food that suited our dog was one of the cheapest ones on the market. While it kept her allergy free we did notice an absence of the benefits of a good dog food, nice fur, reduced stool/waste, etc.

[Kimberly R]

Thanks for the advice about reading the label each time, Denise. It would never have occurred to me to do that. And a Brittany that can’t go outside…a cruel twist of fate for sure. On the dog food hunt- we also almost went back to a cheap grocery-store brand because of the difficulty of finding pea-free food. At least corn did not make her face blow up to the size of a basketball. I was dreading it but after spending every evening researching over the past two weeks I finally found a dog food from an excellent company. Excellent in that it has never had a recall and controls all of their manufacturing – they have their own facility and they have their own labs – all USA made and still a family business. I sent them an email 2 two days ago asking if they used pea products from China and they responded almost immediately. They do not use anything from China. Sourcing comes from the US, Canada and France (the duck). They are very serious about maintaining their quality record. They also produce some well known “people” food snacks as KLN Family brands (but not in the same facility), so they are no strangers to safety and USDA monitoring. The pet food side of the company is Tuffy’s Pet Food and their web site is http://www.nutrisourcepetfoods.com. Long story short-their NutriSource Chicken and Rice is what I am now feeding my allergy prone puppy. It did not get a 5-star from DogFoodAdvisor but it is a quality dog food. It contains no potatoes, no soy, no peanuts and NO PEAS. All ingredients are identifiable – nothing generic. And it is a reasonable price for the quality. Check out http://www.chewy.com to research and purchase – it will be delivered to your door in just a few days. Chewy’s sell a bunch of Tuffy’s products, although many with peas like all the top brands now. On the 5-star rating – we used to feed a Wellness brand that was 5-star rated by DogFoodAdvisor but it was much too rich and fatty. No allergy issues but the dogs never had solid stools while they were on it. Hugs to your gal!

[Denise R]

Thank you! I will check out those websites & brands. I also figured I’d print out the list of recommended foods & cross reference to see what we can get locally. Then from there I can check bags. Our dog is 14 1/2 &’we’ve been dealing with these allergies for years. It wouldn’t be so bad if the df companies would just write “new formula” or something on the bag but I think that the majority of the time they change the formula to increase their profit margin as opposed to doing it for the benefit of the dog. One after the other has added soy to their formulas. It’s funny too that you would think the more a brand cost, the better it would be for the dog. A couple of the “better” foods that I was looking at did not make the list of recommended dog foods at all. (I.e. I’m referring to two rating lists available in this forum. One is a list of recommended dog foods and the other rates the foods on a sliding scale.)

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