[leslie s]

I have a 5 year old Shepard that has food allergies to peas and barley/ Any ideas on what kind of dry dog food can i give to her? Thank you for your help.

[haleycookie]

I really thought this would be easy when I started looking for a pea free, barley free food but wow I could only find a small hand full. It seems some varieties of victor dog food are free of both, sportmix dog food, and some nutro max formulas are free of both as well. Also some canine caviar varieties don’t have either ingredient. And natures logic doesn’t include those ingredients. There’s probably more but you’ll just have to sniff around and do some research.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by haleycookie.

[leslie s]

Thank you for replying. I have tried searching. I will look into the ones you have listed. I have found a few but they are the trash dog foods. 🙁 I have thought about raw also.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by leslie s.

[haleycookie]

Raw is a good way to avoid those ingredients, most commercial raws will be good and if you do it yourself just make sure you’re researching and making it balanced. But I’ve heard of a lot of Germans doing excellent on a raw diet. Natures logic is probably the best quality kibble I mentioned. The rest are rated 3-4 stars here.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by haleycookie.

[Susan]

Hi Leslie,
are you 100% sure your dog can’t have these ingredients? have you done an elimination food diet to make sure…cause your ellimation alot of brands as most grain free foods have peas & most grain foods have barley….
My boy has IBD, environment allergies & food intolerances/sensitivities, he can not eat chicken, oats, wheat, barley, chickpeas & carrots & I’m pretty sure corn, corn gluten meal & tapioca as well but I never had any tapioca or corn meal to try in the food elimination trial cause when tapioca or corn/maize has been in the vet diets he has tried for his IBD his skin became very smelly of yeast & itchy, for 1-2 yrs I thought he couldn’t eat potatoes, turkey & peas, then finally vet said do an elimination diet & worked out the foods he can’t eat, we were going around & around in circle, I couldn’t feed any grain free formula’s cause they either have potatoes, peas & chickpeas, he does sloppy poos, diarrhea from barley & chickpeas are the worst for gas/farts, wind pain, carrot causes itchy ears & he shakes his head & ears after he eats any foods with carrots, when he eatas chicken he gets red hot paws 15-20mins after eating raw or cooked chicken, with barley, oats & wheat he gets his yeasty itchy smelly skin, sometimes if the ingredient is further down the ingredient list he’s OK….
Food allergies are very rare to have, they normaly have food intolerances/sensitivities they are more common….

“California Natural” has their Lamb Meal & Rice adult large bites only has 3 ingredients & Chicken Meal & Rice has 4 ingredinets http://www.californianaturalpets.com/

or there’s vet diets “Hills” D/D Potato & Venison grain free, gluten free, soy free, there’s no cross contamination, it’s a bit expensive but Patch loves it, he can’t eat that many kibbles so I rotate with his “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mountain, Roasted Lamb, & keep looking so we can find another new food to try… but if your dog can eat raw, raw diet is the best or home cooked meals, or raw or cooked for 1 meal & kible for the other meal or those Rolls in teh fridge section, we have really good limited ingredient rolls in Australia called “Prime SKD”rolls cooked Crocodile, Kangaroo, Lamb, you must have the same in America some type of cooked roll meat for dogs…. Good – Luck I’ll keep my eye out

[sho_me_skin_pets]

natural balance limited ingredients lamb contains neither also
honest kitchen also has several varieties w/o either fooods
would you be happy to pm you links; good luck

[leslie s]

I’m sorry it has taken so long to reply. Holly has been tested at the vets for her allergies. So we know what to eliminate I think each and everyone of you for your help and I really would appreciate Links. When I Google the brands your suggesting I am only seeing a couple without peas and barley.

[Susan]

Hi Leslie, you’ll have to look thru all the brands formula’s that people said have no peas & barley, these 2 ingredient are in alot of pet foods, when they took away the corn they replaced the corn either with peas or barley, my boy can’t digest barley he does real sloppy poos after eating a kibble that has barley, when you start reading ingredient list some brand formula’s won’t have peas & barley & other formula’s will have peas & barley the “California Natural” Lamb Meal & Rice large bites just has Lamb meal Rice & Sunflower oil just 3 ingredients then after when he’s doing really well start adding some healthy foods to his diet & just use the kibble as a base this way he’s getting other healthy ingredients & if you slowly add 1 new ingredient every 6 weeks you will know if he react to that food as well…he may have more food intolerances, my boy has a few…

[PATTI L]

GSD are not allergic dogs , start making your own food for him, my brother has 5 GSD

makes all their food raw & cooked , mixed with veges & they are very healthy.

[pugmomsandy]

NutriSource Grain Free High Plains Select and Woodlands Select.

[joanne l]

try dr. gary’s best breed. I am not sure if it has barley but they have a lot of reciepes and it is a great food. I feed the lamb and rice formula and there is no peas I don’t care for peas.

[pugmomsandy]

https://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/dog-food-formulas/venture

Pollock, Squid and Turkey recipes are pea free.

[Laurie J]

Patti L., please don’t make generalized statements like “GSD are not allergic dogs, please start making your own food for him……..”. I’ve raw fed my 18 month old GSD for over a year, with a huge variety of excellent human grade ingredients, and it’s extremely balanced, plus with added fish oil, digestive enzymes and probiotics. I’ve done every recommended thing from reputable forums for scratching/chewing/hot spot dogs. Guess what? He’s allergic to something! And it’s a very long, frustrating and expensive process to go through to find out exactly what the culprit is. In fact, the state university veterinary dermatology clinic we go to sees a whole lot of GSDs with skin/allergy issues. I truly believe that a balanced raw or home cooked diet is best for our dogs, but it certainly isn’t the cure all for GSDs or other breeds/dogs with skin and allergy issues.

[GSDsForever]

Laurie is absolutely correct:

Skin issues are one of the most common health issues for German Shepherds, so much so that vet books reference things like “German Shepherd Pyoderma” for example. Very, very commonplace. These bacterial and other infections typically have an underlying health disorder that is primary.

GSDs are *frequently* are mentioned in veterinary literature among the dogs most commonly suffering allergies. Allergies or autoimmune system dysfunction are known to underlie skin troubles in GSDs.

Laurie, I too believe that a fresh home prepared diet is ideal.

But in a food allergy dog, it’s all about removing the allergen in the diet — whether commercial kibble/wet, raw, or homecooked.

I’m so grateful to have my dog no longer suffering from allergies! She is doing beautifully, is so much more comfortable and happy, and looks gorgeous now. But we had to change diet (food allergies), address inhalant and environmental allergies in care, and she receives Cytopoint injections — multipronged approach.

[GSDsForever]

Hmmm. I think DFA is having a hiccup/glitch.

I posted to Leslie/OP last night and my post never appeared after a submit/edit-submit. Seeing this, when I tried to re-post (via copy & paste, using browser back button), I received an error message of the system recognizing a duplicate post being submitted.

As the post is still not showing, let’s see if inserting it here works:

Leslie,

Food allergies to barley and peas are not common allergens for dogs.

Aside from home prepared, where you select and control the ingredients, a few commercial diets that don’t include peas or barley are these:

Honest Kitchen — several, either with grain or without (e.g. Fish & Coconut)
California Natural LID — Lamb & Rice, Chicken & Rice
Pure Vita — Duck & Lentils, Venison & Lentils, Beef & Lentils
Canine Caviar — Special Needs, Chicken & Millet/Free Spirit, Lamb & Millet, Duck & Chickpea

But you should be aware that many OTC commercial diets lack adequate cross-contamination quality control, some brands of which have been documented in veterinary literature in testing (e.g. Natural Balance). Checking ingredient lists is not sufficient.

Before you rule out most diets based on these two ingredients, you might wish to have a look at a few links (scroll down to diagnosis) all from veterinary specialists:

What every pet owner should know about food allergies

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/diagnosing-food-allergies-dogs-and-cats-bring-your-case-trial
http://www.vin.com/apputil/project/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=17256&SAId=1&catid=93445&id=4951526

As Susan noted, it is critical to have an accurate diagnosis of food allergy. Most food allergy “tests” are known to be inaccurate and therefore do not meet the current standard of veterinary care.

It’s certainly possible to be allergic to any protein. But in dogs with food allergies (inhalant/environmental allergies being more common than food), the most common allergens are chicken, beef, dairy, egg, wheat, & soy — and now fish and lamb (which used to be alternatives), although less likely.

As a homemade diet can easily be formulated without either of these 2 ingredients, barley and peas, I would recommend you consider this.

[GSDsForever]

There — that worked. My apologies, Dr. Mike & all, if the original post appears at some point and then we have two/duplicate posts. I’m not sure what happened.

[Bobby dog]

Hi GSD:
Sometimes I have the same issues and have found the links I am trying to post are the problem. The filter on this side seems a little different. When I run into this I just end up spelling the link out, ex. “www dot whatever the site is dot com.” One site that comes to mind that I have trouble posting links for is DVM360. Don’t know if that is what happened with your post just an FYI in case it is. 😉

[pitlove]

Hi GSDsForever-
You mentioned California Natural as a suggestion to the OP. I wanted to let you know Mars has discontinued both Cal Nat and EVO lines of dog food. Once supplies run out the OP would no longer be able to purchase this product if she chose it.

[Tammy C]

What kind of protein/fat numbers are you looking for? Grain free or not? My apologies if you already posted this info, I don’t see it. A lot of GSD’s need lower fat, does yours?

[Gita W]

Only the Pollack is pea free for Venture – the other two have chickpeas.

[Author]

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