[magnoliasouth]

Hello all! My daughter works for a vet and can get Royal Canin at an enormous discount. She has her dog on Satiety right now and I have to admit that she’s doing very well on it, despite the ingredients it lists. But that’s not my question. lol!

My dog has severe skin allergies. To be honest, food changes haven’t affected it in the least. I’m thinking she’s actually allergic to grass. Still, the vet wanted my dog to go on the RC Anallergenic food and until now, she had been eating Wellness Ocean Formula.

The problems are the ingredients listed in the Anallergenic food.

Corn starch, hydrolyzed poultry by-products aggregate, coconut oil, soybean oil, natural flavors, potassium phosphate, powdered cellulose, calcium carbonate, sodium silico aluminate, chicory, L-tyrosine, fructooligosaccharides, fish oil, L-lysine, choline chloride, taurine, L-tryptophan, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol (source of vitamin E), inositol, niacin, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), D-calcium pantothenate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A acetate, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], DL-methionine, marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), histidine, trace minerals (zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), rosemary extract, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols and citric acid.

How weird is it to have corn starch as the primary ingredient? What exactly is “hydrolyzed aggregate”? I thought corn and mystery “poultry” are allergens?

Now my daughter did ask about the hydrolyzation and was told that it has something to do with processing it to remove allergens. Not sure how true that is.

The thing is that I’m a human nurse. I know full well that just because a vet’s office sells a particular product, doesn’t mean it’s the best product. It’s all in what they get out of it. Sadly a lot of people don’t know this. I swear I think it should be illegal. It’s the same thing as lobbying, which I think also should be illegal. Decisions should be based on opinions, not money. Sorry, I accidentally launched into rant mode… and I digress.

I’ve asked my daughter to speak to the RC sales rep. In fact, this is specifically what I texted her:

Subject: Questions to as your RC sales rep. 1. Why do they use meat by-products? 2. Why aren’t meat products the primary ingredient in any of their foods? 3. Why is a corn product the primary ingredient in the Anallergenic food, when corn is a primary allergen? 4. What does “hydrolyzed poultry by-product aggregate” mean and define “poultry”? If “poultry” means chicken, why is that (also a primary allergen) in the Anallergenic food too? I have more, but we’ll stop there for now. Just tell her I’m not trying to grill, I’m trying to understand and give her a chance to explain it to me.

Perhaps someone here knows the answers already or can make suggestions or whatever.

[pugmomsandy]

Is that what they’re calling feather meal – hydrolyzed poultry by-product aggregate? Just wondering. Are you able to find any holistic vets in your area? Or have you tried an elimination diet?

[aimee]

I know a little bit about this diet and can share with you what I know.

Proteins are accepted as the trigger for food hypersensitivity reactions. As such starch would be considered to be reaction free as long as it doesn’t have residual protein. In talking to RC about the quality control in their diets they reported to use DNA fingerprinting on the ingredients before being used and PCR testing as well to ensure unwanted proteins are not present. As an aside in a comprehensive review of allergens corn was the culprit in only 3% of food reactions. Other studies have found higher results but overall it hasn’t been documented as one of the top allergens.

Hypersensitivity reactions from protein chains are correlated to chain length. Shorter length chains are less likely to trigger a reaction and amino acids are reaction free. In this diet the “protein” is hydrolyzed… separated to the AA level. The AA source is from the feather shafts of chickens. RC told me they purchase this AA powder from a source I think in the Netherlands?? RC said this AA powder is the same one that is used in Neocate, a formula for infants with extreme health problems. AAFCO didn’t have a specific ingredient descriptor for this unique ingredient and hydrolyzed poultry by product aggregate in what was used.

While the AA source is from chicken the diets would theoretically be reaction free.

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