[NectarMom]

My Shih Tzu has been diagnosed with Poultry intolerance and we have been feeding Brother’s Complete Allergy formulas for well over a year and her symptoms have gotten so bad that she quit eating, Diarrhea and the vet bills are seriously out of control. She is in a lot of pain so is on Tramadol and a stomach coating and Pepcid AC. I had been rotating between all of the Brother’s kibble but since they all have chicken in every single one and Turkey we have to switch my shih Tzu off this brand so I cold turkey switched her to Nutrisca Salmon and chickpea and I am adding in some cooked whiting fish and some sardines ( very little less than 1/8 cup combined) I still worry about the egg in the Nutrisca so I am searching for a food that is Poultry free, grain free and potato and egg free. I know big elimination in ingredients but I have to be sure since egg is also one of the known allergy foods. I do not like seeing her hurting and it is like pulling teeth to get her to eat anything and we already tried THK Zeal and she will not touch it even with fresh fish added to it. We have run every test possible and next step is to do an endoscope of her intestines which cost an arm and a leg so if this is a food allergy I would like to solve this without the endoscope procedure if I can. I got her to eat some of the Nutrisca by adding the fresh sardines so after that she had a firmer but not solid firm stool and before on Brother’s it was runny and sorry for the yucky description but the stool was like pudding. Now it is almost solid but still has mucus in it from the intestinal upset.

[Shasta220]

Have you tried any other home made diets? I think there are a few other raw premixes out ther. See Spot Live Longer and Sojos are the two I can think of right off the top. A home made diet would probably be a lot easier to adjust the ingredients on to keep those ones out.
Edit: have you tried all the commercial raw foods? /best-dog-foods/raw-dog-food/ I haven’t looked at them all to see if there are any free of poultry, but there’s a chance…

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Shasta220.

[Shawna]

My Pomeranian Gizmo is also “poultry” intolerant. She gets bloody, liquid diarrhea (ulcerative colitis) from chicken. Duck, turkey, pheasant, quail and even ostrich cause eye goobers and coughing but doesn’t seem to affect her digestive tract (at least that is noticeable). At least not with short term feeding. She has absolutely no issue at all with any form of egg though. Not saying your baby will be the same just saying it is possible to be intolerant of poultry muscle proteins while being okay with egg, liver and other proteins from poultry.

After getting Gizmo off of chicken (she was about two at the time) it took about a year for her immune system to calm down. It took several months before I stopped seeing mucous in the stool if I remember correctly. Sometimes the stool was also a little partially mushy, or off and on, during the withdrawal (or detox) phase.

I used a fish based product called SeaCure to help repair her gut faster (again, it took about 2(ish) months for the gut but about a year for the immune system). Having your girl on medications could slow the healing process as the body also has to filter the drugs?? OHHH, NSAID’s of any sort (like Rimadyl) still to this day cause colitis in her after being on it for more than two to three days.

Pepcid AC makes protein digestion harder as it neutralizes the hydrochloric acid that is required in the process of breaking down proteins. For this reason some feel it can be counter productive. At the very least it is going to make the pancreas have to work harder to get the protein from the food. Glutamine is a supplement that is given to help with stomach damage. Glutamine is also an amino acid in protein. If the protein can’t be digested than the glutamine is not released for the body (and gut) to use. Many of us chose to use apple cider vinegar instead of an antacid. Here’s an article written by a Certified Nutrition Consultant if interested (she mentions the use of ACV for dogs in the article) http://www.naturalnutritionadvisor.com/blog/?p=73 (SeaCure helps in much the same way — it is simply fish protein that has been broken down to its simplest form allowing for the glutamine and other amino acids be easily utilized by the body.)

Hoping you are able to get it all figured out and get her healthy very quickly!! I can honestly say I know what you are going through!!!!

Edit — I agree with Shasta. If you can do raw (or a commercial cooked diet) it is SO much easier to control the ingredients!!!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Shawna.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Shawna.

[Shasta220]

Great input, Shawna. I always LOVE hearing personal stories of things that worked. I’ve been fortunate enough to never deal with severe allergies, just to the basic no-no’s of corn, wheat, and soy. But those are the easiest things to avoid.

Poultry, on the other hand, is a bummer. It’s one of the most palatable things to a dog! I think your doggie chose poultry allergies just to make your life much harder ;p Hope you find something that works for your dog’s stomach and taste buds…

[aquariangt]

sojos also has a beef blend if you want to try one that you dont have to add meat. It’s a little less pasty than THK.

Kibble wise-it’s a tough one to find one with none of those, but not impossible. Fromm’s Pork and Pea is the one i know of for sure. Look for something that specifically has Pea in it (to my knowledge, as most other grain free kibble needs pea or potatoes to bind it) but you really may be best off with a base as Shasta said. Orijen has one as well

I’d recommend Marie’s list over on the Canine Nutrition forum about grain free, potato free food options as a starting point

[Shawna]

LOL, Thanks Shasta!! 🙂

I actually have eight small and toy breed dogs ranging in size from 4 to 14 pounds. Five of the eight get raw with a little canned topper for variety. (I’ve been a raw feeder for about 10 years.) The other three get a quarter cup of kibble with a large teaspoon of canned and a large teaspoon of raw. All but one of mine are adopted–one from humane society, two rehomed to me at six months of age (both ill) and the other four came in as foster dogs and never left. 🙂 The one we got from the breeder has had kidney disease since birth and reacts to beef bone, beef tripe and barley (or gluten) which I was giving her for her kidneys (long story). I feed a lot of bison, venison, salmon, lamb, pork, rabbit, eggs, no bone-in beef etc.. Mimi, one that gets kibble regularly, seems to react to lamb so I only give her very small amounts of raw lamb infrequently.. The others may have issues with certain ingredients too(?) but I rotate so frequently that if they do they aren’t on the food long enough for symptoms to appear.

Luckily, none of my pups are finicky or the least bit picky. They all eat anything I put in their dishes. 🙂

PS — all my current babies are small breed but my heart dog is the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. My goal is to have another Staffie (grew up with one) at some point in my future.

[Shasta220]

Aquariangt…. Oh my goodness! Cuteness overload on your pic!!!!! Who is that? Border collie I’m guessing? 🙂

[Shasta220]

Shawna, I have an enormous soft spot for almost all bull breeds. American Staffies, APBTs, and Am Bullies are my favorite. I once owned a 90lb APBT mix. That dog was the love of my life, for sure. If I ever get room for another dog, I’m definitely going back to bully breeds, no question. (Although I’ve always wanted a tiny dog, too. I’ve never had one under 40lb)

[crazy4cats]

Hi Shawna-
Could you please help me with a few questions. My dogs’ had been suffering from loose stools for a long time. In my opinion, they most likely have leaky gut syndrome due to being treated several times with antibiotics and dewormers for parasites. I’m still frustrated about that as I believe I got very bad information from a vet, but that’s a different subject. They are doing much better, but not perfect now with me feeding Victor and various toppers. In addition I am giving them different supplements. The ones I give with l-glutamine are from Vetri Science and Thorne. In the above post are you implying that glutamine may not work? I was thinking of trying SeaCure now. If I do, should I discontinue the current supplements and digestive enzymes? I’ve also used phytomucil. Thanks for your help.

[aquariangt]

Shasta- that’s my 7 mo sheltie, Dani (short for daenerys,

[pugmomsandy]

Instinct Lamb, Instinct Lamb Raw Boost, LID lamb and LID rabbit, Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance, Zignature, Great Life Grain Free and Pioneer Naturals grain free (doctorsfinest dot com), and Smack Caribbean Salmon Fusion (hard to find, I bought from Long Leash on Life in New Mexico, they ship).

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[Shasta220]

Ah, Sheltie. Seeing it now, whoops! XD
Dani is adorable, that’s for sure! I’ve always adored Shelties!

[NectarMom]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I am aware of the side effects with pain meds, etc. I work for a Vet but I honestly had no option with how bad of pain she was in. She seems to be doing good on the Nutrisca as long as I soak it in water and add some white fish or halibut and sardines with some sardine juice from the can. Stools are firming up and she is acting a bit more active so it is for sure an intolerance to Poultry. We shall stay away from Poultry. The thing I don’t get is that Poultry is the #1 allergy protein yet Brother’s claims their diets are for Allergy canines. Am I missing something? Does anyone know what happened to the Brother’s Forum? I was going to ask on there without having to call them once again with more questions?

[theBCnut]

They’ve had so many trolls on there that they stopped their forum.

[NectarMom]

Oh well that is too bad. Wonder why they didn’t just ban them.

[mogavero1955]

Similar issues for years. Within the last month, I changed my beagle’s food 4 times. ugh!
He gets ear infections….
Finally, I started him on Earthborn Hollistic Lamb and he loves it.
He’s not turning his nose up at it and no vomiting.

He was on fish and potato, salmon and sweet potato, duck…
This is the only food that he is again running to!
Good luck.

[Bette W]

Acana has a new line called Acana Singles. This is a limited ingredient diet (one meat protein) that is grain free and does not contain any potato. You have a choice of Lamb and Okanagan Apple, Pork and Butternut Squash, or Duck and Bartlett Pear. It is a low glycemic, low carb diet with all natural ingredients (except for zinc).

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