Hi , I am looking for tips/ advice…
my 1.5 yr old unspayed rescue GSD has started developing hotspots on her back… Vet reckons allergy to fleas ( i’m not so sure) She is also sensitive to spot on treatments. She also has a whole host of other problems like Hip dyslpasia and knee problems. She is a fussy eater to boot…I try and keep her on as much natural remedies as possible. I home cook for both my rescue girls… they also have Naturo trays and Lupo cold pressed kibble. She recently developed a massive hotspot on her back. I am not sure, if it was fleas, the rice/potato in the food or the natural spot on treatment i used!
In any case, I have to start eliminating culprits… thought i would start with the food. I cannot find a food that doesn’t either have rice or potatoes… most grain free foods have potatoes. Does anyone know a food I can try?
Hello and welcome to the forum. If you are looking for a dry food then the filler is usually grain or potato but there are some that use sweet potato. Sometimes it is used alongside ordinary potato. Go to the link and click on ‘find foods containing sweet potatoes’. It returned five pages for me but you would need to go through each one to find a product that only contained that and no potato.
The only other thing that might help is to feed raw. You would need freezer space of course. The commercially prepared raw meals are very easy to feed and there are a number of good ones e.g. Lily’s Kitchen, Natural Instinct, Natures Menu and Nutriment. Again, these can be sourced from the Dog Food Directory here. Under Filters/type of food, just place a tick in the raw complete box and remove the other ticks. Of those, there are a few that might contain grain or sweet potato so check the recipe to be sure you have what you want (if you decide to try raw).
I have tried raw ( honeys, home prepared etc) She will only eat raw chicken wings, or raw chunks/mince but if I ‘add’ anything to the raw like pureed veg, she will not eat it!
At the moment, for breakfast she eats raw wings or meat, goat yoghurt. For dinner, i cook her fish or meat with veg or a can of Wolf of Wilderness, its grain and potato free… She also has a midnight snack, when i feed Lupo mixed with coconut oil ( she loves this, but its only around 150gm and fed as a snack) So i was really looking for kibble options that did not contain potato… nearly impossible to find!
It is not always possible to cook for the dogs which is why i try and give them a variety, keeps them interested…
Also trying to put weight on both my dogs which is why I feed 3 x day
Hello, I wondered if there is any particular reason you feel rice and potato might be the culprits? Also you seem to feed a wide variety of foods. I think this can be a good idea but it could make it more difficult to track down the source of the problem. Finding one food with simple ingredients might help. Alternatively could you freeze some of your home cooking for emergencies.
The hotspot has crusted over and smells ‘yeasty’… I thought I would try grain and potato free for a while as these ingredients can feed Candida…
I realise that I am feeding a wide variety as well… it is just going to take me that much longer to pinpoint the culprit
IMO DQ is right - keep it simple. By that I mean a single source of protein and one that is least likely to cause problems - fish might be a good one to begin with although some of them contain potato. Without checking the directory I am not sure whether there is one that has fish but no grain and/or potato.
I appreciate this thread is a few weeks old, however, developing on the last post… I believe Akela 80/20 Fish Feast to be a single source (fish) protein, grain & white potato free kibble. …Price currently £34.99 for 10kg. Hopefully they will keep the cost sensible once it has established itself more within the marketplace.
Another one to look at might be Naturea Atlantica with fish as main protein (but it does contain chicken fat , should that be an issue).
Orijen Six Fish is single source protein (fish) white potato free (allegedly extruded at lower temps than many other kibbles) it reads/reviews superbly but comes at a significant price.
Aatu is white potato free and truly single source protein - I presently know relatively little about this food though.
Finally Ziwi-Peak is a relatively new to U.K. air dried product and free of white potato as well as grains but wit a current AADF claimed price of £89.99 for just 5kg , cost savings would arguably have to be a very low consideration.
Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and accept the inconvenience of giving up convenience food. I have IBS and had arthritis, asthma etc that have gone, along with 3 stones of weight and my life is now more convenient. Shifting off ready meals wasn’t easy but I have now shifted my dogs much more to home prepared too. I feed a wide range of food to my dogs and your diet sounds OK but Dottie is right, if you suspect intolerance/allergy you need to put the patient on a “new” protein and possibly a new “carbohydrate” food or just the meat initially. Try this for two weeks and then introduce one ingredient at a time. If you have never fed your dog turkey or rabbit or a fish, then start with the one you can source fresh. Good time of year to look for turkey necks . If you can’t find a butcher then try the commercial minced products, you can cook as long as bone free. A just meat diet is not advisable and needs calcium or bone added, chicken wings/necks may provide this if your dog is not intolerant of chicken.
I appreciate that basic ingredient sourcing & feeding of RAW &/or home prepared have real benefits, (I have fed tripe, meaty bones, chicken wings ( as well as a 5 star rated RAW complete) before.
My post was in response to the OP who was seeking names of a retailed dog food & in abscence of a branded grain & white potato free fish based kibble being named.
I personally do not feel that all processed dog foods are the same & consider other factors can also impact health.
I am not suggesting feeding or discussing RAW &/or home cooked are bad things but wasn’t expecting such a high proportion of posts on these forums promoting home prepared feeding on a website I thought was "All About (Retail) Dog Food.
Canidae Pure Sea (one I didnt know about) on their own site lists potato as an ingedient albeit alongside sweet potato.
Barking Heads grain free I prior overlooked when looking for grain & white potato free fish kibble albeit there is competition out there that has allegedly has higher fish content, is allegedly more cost effective to feed & has a higher AADF review rating.
I am very aware that individual dog compatability & personal preference are huge factors & its not just about meat content, ratings & cost.
Some may laugh at this, but maybe try a bioresonance energy test?
That’s what I did when I was completely lost with my dog’s intolerances and I am convinced that it did tell us all the correct intolerances he has. I can say this because I got a detailed list of foods: if he receives even the smallest piece of the “intolerable” rated foods he gets immediate diarrhea. I can, however, give him any of the “tolerable” foods without any effects (unless they are contaminated like the kibble I had him on seems to be and obviously not a huge amount immediately).
It cost me 60Euros (lived in Germany then), which was nothing compared to all the vet costs and it saved me the hassle of going through an elimination diet.
Just do good research as there are a lot of people who don’t use it correctly and you’ll get bad results…
Hi,
My dog has lots of food intolerances and allergies. we ended up having blood tests done and it cost about £250ish. Having been through the process, i would suggest a raw food diet, your dogs don’t need cooked food. the cooking process alters the digestive enzymes in food and this can contribute to health issues as the body cannot properly metabolize the food. think of what they would eat if they were still in the wild, it may sound dramatic but thats what their digestive systena are set up for. the blood tests came back that my dog was intolerant to every meat going, however, the tests were done on cooked meat and fish that would be found in commercial food, not raw meat and fish.
find a butcher and start with chicken wings and nothing else for 2 weeks, see if there is any improvement. i would bet there will be and will save you hundreds of pounds and many frustrated hours! Then try 2 weeks on other raw food and keep repeating. dogs don’t need a massively varied diet, like we do, we are lead to believe they do by manufacturers. for training treat sjust get dried pigs ears or hooves.
it will help, i promise!
While I agree that raw does help in certain circumstances and some dogs, it often doesn’t for digestive issues. Mine, for example, did terrible on raw and I know others who were told not to feed raw if there are serious digestive issues (by a nutritionist who usually always recommends raw and who has helped really difficult to feed dogs along). Anyway, I do agree that it may be worth trying if it does work but not force it if it doesn’t. Cooking the raw options would be the next best thing but that is also not always feasible.
I would also not just give chicken wings as it is often not tolerated and it won’t help clean out the system, unless the dog has never had chicken before. Try a complete novel protein and carb first, then if that is tolerated add another one, then another. Eventually try a few things the dog has had before, but only if he is stable.
Like I said earlier, I went through the bioresonance route because it was recommended by friends who had lots of success with it and I can speak highly from finding out my dog’s intolerances this way. It saved me time, money and essentially a lot of nerves and stress as my dog at the time was soooo skinny no matter what I did and going through an elimination diet probably would have not been too good (given that I most likely wouldn’t have started out with duck or rabbit…but rather kangaroo or something which he is also intolerant too).
Long story short: Every dog is different and there are lots of approaches to finding out what to do with intolerances and learning about what your dog needs. Don’t be desperate, you’ll figure it out eventually (and then it’ll change as it did with the dry complete I was feeding and he is now not tolerating anymore…) but it gets easier with time.
