Hello I have a three year old male American Akita. He is allergic to quite about everything. Chicken, corn, soy, green beans, peas, wheat, and potato. Its been very difficult to find a food he can eat that doesn't have a single things hes allergic too. He is currently on Royal Canin Hyrdolyzed protein prescribed by the vet. However, it has chicken fat. He still itches like crazy if he doesn't have his apoquel and just figured if he was eating a food that he was good for him that wouldn't happen but, i could be wrong and he might still need to take the apoquel for life either way. I was curious about just starting to cook food for him instead of the vet food. Beef, salmon, add some vegetables etc. Would this be a good course of action? His coat currently looks awful. He does get a can of salmon a week and that helps but not nearly enough. Also not entirely sure about serving sizes or how much in general i would need to give him a day. He is 90lbs and fairly active. Any input would help. Thanks in advance
Hi Kyle What a shame for you & your boy I have never needed to deal with a dog with allergies ( thankfully) so, i can’t offer any advice I know a few dog owners on this site feed their dogs on a “ raw “ diet. I hear lots of positive things, maybe they will come along and advise you, but, in the meantime it maybe worth researching it on the internet Let’s hope you get help, sooner rather than later !
I have never known of a dog allergic to green beans and potatoes - pumpkin is also normally non-allergenic. If your Akita can cope with salmon, have you tried tuna? Both are good raw as well, as would be most fish. Turkey is supposedly less allergenic than chicken as well. I am afraid that I cannot help you as I am a raw feeder [raw, not cooked] and have been since ~mid 2011 - even my Vet eventually accepted it after first being horrified that I fed/feed raw turkey necks and raw chicken wings, as well as raw meat and vegetables [all human food, the same as I eat, although I cook mine]. I buy fresh and then freeze, and the bone meals are given straight from the freezer. The problem with vet recommended foods is that the various companies companies promote their food to vets, who have had barely any training in dog nutrition so tend to believe what the food companies recommend. Possibly the vets buy their foods and then sell on to their clients.
I would be inclined to prepare all his food myself - whether you choose cooked or raw. You have still got a reasonable choice of other protein sources to try - duck, white fish, lamb, herring, pork etc. There are some dogs that can't tolerate chicken, but can cope with turkey. If legumes and potato cause problems, you can still try sweet potato, butternut squash, hard white cabbage, broccoli, carrot, and a little swede - with kitchen herbs and turmeric, this is a stew that I add to my own dogs food. I can't help with quantities, mine are only Beagles, but you can gauge by appetite and waistline. I presume you have already tried feeding well-cooked rice, but have you tried doing a feeding test with porridge oats or oatmeal? This is often thought to be an hypoallergenic cereal. Introduce any new foods one at a time and, barring a severe reaction, give them a fair trial - about a month to six weeks - before trying the next one. It is tedious, but can be worth the effort.
From my understanding they just did a normal allergy test. Took some blood etc. His symptoms are just scratching like crazy before he started apoquel and this food. He has spots on his coat where the top coat is pretty much gone. This food and the combination of the apoquel have helped but for $75 for a 25lb bag of food and $60-$70 a month in meds i feel like its not even close to good enough
Thank you, everyone, for the replies. Ill continue to surf the internet for info, but, if anyone has anymore information that could help that would be fantastic. I neglected to mention that he is also allergic to sweat potato. i also have not tried any other food options since starting this food. For the most part im hesitant to give him anything else.
I am not sure what you mean by "a normal allergy test" - just taking some blood is not an allergy test, nor will not show all the food allergies you mention. Long-term Apoquel is not advised as it is processed through the liver.
Milk Thistle and SAMe. Denmarin contains them both but in small quantities. Pereg was on a daily high dose of Phenobarbitone, which is a barbiturate and I gave her Milk Thistle and SAMe every day, as Pb is also processed through the liver. But she had to have expensive blood tests every 3-6 months to check her liver enzymes - luckily they were always OK. Even though she only weighed plus/minus 20kg I gave her the full [human] dose of each. Without those two liver supports, her liver would have packed up.
If he has all those allergies then it can't hurt him to try home cooked even if it's a bit of trial and error at first. As Carole have mentioned, there are a lot of food sources you can try out with him. My girl is highly allergic to chicken so I can empathise to a degree. It is so difficult to get commercial foods that contain no chicken at all.
Personally I would have skin tests done by a dermatologist, just to make sure nothing else is going on, as Akitas can suffer lots of skin problems. You could also research limited ingredient single protein dog food. Should you decide to try raw or make your own, do lots of research as an unbalanced raw/ homemade diet could cause more problems. Akitas are also prone to thyroid problems and one symptom is (quote skin and coat disorders (e.g. pyoderma, allergic inhalant or ectoparasite dermatitis, alopecia, and intense itching). These may be early subtle signs of thyroid dysfunction, with no other typical signs of thyroid disease being manifested. http://www.vaakitarescue.org/assets/the-akita-and-hypothyroidism.pdf
Acana makes some single protein limited ingredient foods, per GsdSlave suggestion. Not cheap but sounds like you are spending a lot now. My brother fed his Akitas Barf diet (bones and raw food) and swore by it. His main protein was chicken but I’d imagine you could substitute another protein source. He fed those dogs better than his kids.. Good luck
Lawsuit filed against Champion Pet Food – Acana and Orijen http://truthaboutpetfood.com/lawsuit-filed-against-champion-pet-food-acana-and-orijen/ https://www.petful.com/food/orijen-lawsuit-2018/
We have been giving our male for 8.5 years Orijen and giving our new 7 month old pup Orijen. Does anyone think the high concentrate of metal in Orijen would be the cause for her ear not going up? Here’s a little history...We brought her home in December at 8 weeks of age. Her one ear was already up and the other came up after a week being with us. That’s when we began giving her Orijen puppy food. I’m wondering if the metal getting into her system caused the ear to drop back down and still at 7 months hasn’t come back up. Any thoughts? Thanks.
I doubt very much the food had anything to do with her ear, it could be genetic, some lines are known for throwing soft ears.
I think the Orijen food is very high in protein %, too high for what’s generally recommended for an Akita, if my memory serves me well. The Acana is lower in protein. I fed Acana single protein limited ingredient food for awhile but decided it was to expensive for me, especially now having 2 Akitas. But I guess both may have high levels of metals... it’s really hard to know who to trust about food. I’ve switched foods many times over 25 years as recalls happened.. I know this has. I know this has nothing to do with the ear not standing up..