Hi all! I have a 1 year old male, who obviously loves his food! However, he is intolerant to most kinds. Mainly dry food but also some wet and even plain, cooked chicken! He's been perfect on Chappie, however he's now getting very bored of it and even mixing another tin of dog food in with it, doesn't help as he eats around the chappie! I don't think he'd cope very well on a raw diet, but just wondering if there was any dry foods I could try him on that won't set his belly off! He's tried Arden grange, James wellbeloved, Betta sens, normal betta, Morrison's own... Pretty much everything from high to low prices. Just wondering if you've any suggestions?
Some dogs do not cope well with grains - especially wheat and maize. I feed Wainwright's Grain Free from Pets at Home, but there are lots of grain free foods available these days. You could try test feeding one or two brands, and see what suits his taste buds, and his tum.
when you tried james wellbeloved was it the grain free or the regular ones with rice? if it was a grain free one, which flavour? He could have an intolerance to all grains or it could just be wheat, alot of the other foods you mention contain cereal in one form or another. Skinners do a gluten free working food, it contains grains but is wheat gluten free, they will send samples if you email them. If he still itches then it maybe all grains and not just wheat, but pick a protein that your dog hasn't had before such as Duck if he's never had that before. Chappie also has alot of cereal in, it's usually the original tinned that vets recommend for upset tummies but this isn't much help if cereal is one of the things that he's intolerant to as it contains alot of them! also check the small print (ingredients list) some may for example have fish and potato flavour but it contains chicken stock or chicken fat listed in the ingredients, if chicken is a problem for your dog. The JWB grain free are good as they use single protein so the fish one only has fish stock.
I may try the James wellbeloved again then! He's perfect on the Chappie but im aware its not the best food to have them on! He's also getting very bored of it and started eating the other tinned meat that's mixed in with it and leaving the Chappie! I feel so bad when I change it and it upsets his stomach as its literally within a few hours and you can hear his belly gurgling he seems to be intolerant to chicken as I bought him some as part of his birthday present and it completely upset his belly! And that was just a plain, cooked chicken. I suppose its all trial and error but I may give the James wellbeloved another go. Ill also look at the Skinners you recommended! Many thanks!!
Chicken is a common allergen, yet for some reason I don't understand, turkey seems to be OK. Tinned meat can also a problem, because there are not many of them which don't contain, 'meat' by products, which is a euphemism for 'whatever we can get hold of', - unless you opt for one of the expensive brands, like Lily's Kitchen. When our vet started Eddie on test feeding, (for Colitis with bleeding from his lower bowel), she suggested that we start by avoiding all grains, and looking for a protein source that was new to him - duck, venison, pork etc. As we gradually introduced new ingredients, she said to allow six weeks on each brand. In practice foods containing maize clearly made him worse, so he only had about three weeks on the food which contained this. Though it may not suit all dogs, rice has never caused any problem for my boy, and I do use the Naturo tray foods, (from Tesco), as a garnish. They contain 20% brown rice, and always smell really appetising, especially the lamb and salmon varieties. I stick to grain free for their kibble ration though.
My boy has allergies I usually give sweet potato and white fish (cooked frozen fillet, just microwaved, not cooked in anything) if he's having an upset tummy. Some dogs can be allergic to white potato but its more rare, but sweet potato is often ok. Acana do a Pork and Butternut Squash that has no potato in if you want to test if its that (if Skinners or JWB doesn't work) but its an expensive food think its like £60-£70 for 12 kg bag or something. JWB grain free isn't quite as expensive as in most places you can get it for about £35 for 10kg, sometimes a bit less if you get 2 bags at once but still expensive considering can get Skinners GF duck and rice for about £21 for 15kg! so maybe worth checking if its just wheat or all grains if budget is an issue cos it will work out much cheaper for you if its only wheat (and chicken) you need to avoid. JWB grain free comes in Fish, Turkey or Lamb (with vegetables). If he's not allergic to Fish that would be the easiest protein for his stomach to break down
