Hydrolized Dog Food

[fhf1]

I have a 1.5 year old GSP that is allergic to chicken, and for some time now he has been eating a hydrolized protein diet which has really cleared his stool up. The issue is, the bag costs $120 for only 25 lbs and for a working dog, that does not bode well with my wallet. I had brought up to my vet in the past “what if I just switch over to a different protein (venison, lamb, salmon, etc.) to which she said that it wouldn’t matter if I switched to those cause in a factory setting, the kibble is constantly mixed with each other so even if a bag of dog food contains a majority of said protein (venison, lamb, salmon, etc.), it is inevitable that chicken kibble will get mixed in the bag.

I want to say I fully trust this as she’s been a pretty good vet, however I’m also skeptical cause the hydrolized diet is a prescription diet that runs through her practice, meaning she is getting a commission for it. I’m on the verge of making the transition to a raw diet, but it’s quite the effort to produce meals for my pup. What are your opinions on the comments my vet said about chicken kibble inevitably getting mixed in with other kibble in the factory setting? Has anyone else’s vet made this comment for their pup with a protein allergy? Thanks!

 

[stryker4]

@fhf1 Vets really only keep prescription food in their stores as a convenience for their clients. They are not making much of a profit (in some smaller practices they’re not making any profit because they’re keeping bags on hand that they never end up selling and they go bad.). Your vet is 100% correct that any non-prescription food will likely deal with cross contamination issues and there will be other proteins in there. You can simply google this and see there’s plenty of articles that come up about testing pet foods for proteins and findings that they nearly all have proteins not listed on the bag’s ingredient lists, even the ones claiming to be “limited ingredient.”

Purina probably has the most affordable hydolyzed food, ask your vet for the script and buy it through chewy for 5% off on auto ship if you can use the purina version

 

[fhf1]

@stryker4 Thanks for the advice!

 

[sevilodorf]

@fhf1 Your vet is 100% correct and the idea that she’s giving bad medical advice because she wants a tiny markup on a few bags of food is, frankly, pretty insulting. And it sure doesn’t reflect full trust.

These diets are manufactured on the same lines as other diets. In all cases — there are no retail (non rx) diets manufactured solely on their own equipment. This has been proven with peer reviewed studies:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35264164/

The effort and resources it takes to organize, maintain, and store that food for clients costs a lot and vets categorically aren’t getting anywhere near rich or even making meaningful profit on rx diets.

Raw diets are incredibly dangerous

https://www.reddit.com/r/DogFood/wiki/index/raw/

 

[jules61]

@fhf1 I agree with all the other commenters are saying. Switching to a non-hydrolyzed or non-prescription diet is not wise if your dog has severe food allergies as there isn’t any control what food is being contaminated with.

Your vet is not making a lot of money off of the prescription diet. If you’re worried about cost you could probably ask your vet for a prescription to a food delivery service by Chewy or from the manufacturer if you want to save money. You could also ask your vet if switching to a different, limited ingredient prescription diet could be worth it. But this usually comes as a part of an elimination diet process.

 

[fhf1]

@jules61 Gotcha, yeah I have consulted with my vet. We are going to attempt a home cooked diet that is tailored to my pup by a nutritionist!

 

[yodas_prodigy1]

@fhf1 Vets only stock Rx foods for the convenience of their clients. They make little to no profit on those food sales. My vet doesn't even stock the hydrolyzed diets that I have used for two of my dogs. He has me order them via Chewy, and he sends them an electronic prescription/authorization. My vet gets zero profit/commission from this, and has only recommended these diets because my dogs genuinely need them. We cannot use any OTC diets because of cross contamination issues. I have tried OTC limited ingredient/novel protein diets in the past, and unfortunately, my dogs could not tolerate them. I promise that your vet is not trying to make money by prescribing these diets, he/she is only doing this because it's genuinely in the best interest of your dog. It wouldn't hurt to contact the manufacturer of your diet, they will sometimes offer coupons or discounts. I know it's quite expensive (I have two dogs and 1 cat on Rx diets), but it's far cheaper than repeated appointments for the issue(s) at hand needing intervention.

 

[fhf1]

@yodas_prodigy1 Understood, thanks for the information!

 

[yodas_prodigy1]

@fhf1 You're welcome. I hope that you're able to find something that works for your dog, and also suits your budget.

 

[livingtheghost]

@fhf1 My dog is on and has been on the hydrolyzed diet for almost her entire life. Her gut goes crazy if she eats anything else. It’s just the price I have to pay.

 

[petermg49]

@fhf1 Mine said the same thing about cross contamination. We have been on various prescription foods because of this .

 

[jaylee]

@petermg49 Which is your fav?

 

[petermg49]

@jaylee My pup likes Royal canine rabbit. It comes in kibble and can . I mix wet with the dry .She was on the RC HP for about 6 months and wasn’t enthusiastic. She likes the rabbit much better.. we did use Rayne rabbit stew as a topper for RC rabbit kibble when it was difficult to find the RC rabbit canned food . That was also popular.

 

[jaylee]

@fhf1 My dog has the same issue. And I’m a grad student living off of loans and don’t even have an actual income, so I feel this. I would do anything to make sure she was ok though, even if it meant I cut back in other areas. Incorporating this into my budget was never an option, it was a requirement. One thing with allergies like this is that they can do fine on a novel protein for a month or two, and then start showing symptoms again and you are constantly switching protein every few months which isn’t even worth it in my opinion. Not to mention the GI pain that comes with experimenting.

My dog has an internal medicine team at a specialty hospital in my area. We did discuss hiring a VETERINARY nutritionist to formulate a home cooked meal plan. Not a dog food nutritionist, but a vet that specializes in nutrition to make sure it’s still balanced. I think in my area it was around $400 for a formulated meal plan with a few follow ups to alter the diet as needed. This would be more cost effective in the long run and for a small dog, it’s not too hard.

My vet also has an online store that’s sending me 40% off coupons all the time, so you may want to see what websites randomly send coupons and try to bulk order during those times.

Do you have insurance? My dogs insurance covered some of her hydrolyzed food cost for a bit since it was a condition

 

[drdkyc]

@fhf1 My dog has the same issue. If I don't feed her hydrolized food she has loose stools every time. It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[turnkeyforex]

@fhf1 You can always work with a vet nutritionist to develop a recipe for your dog and make your dog's food at home. It sounds like you would be a good candidate for this approach.

 

[givenallthings]

@fhf1 If they write you a script and you get it off chewy or whatever no one is getting a commission. Anything held in office will always have a slight markup. Cause of shelf space.

 

[honestscript]

@fhf1 While the hydrolyzed diet is the best, I can understand the wallet part. I have had to make the same decision. Whilst these foods are excellent, there are some people that cannot afford $5+/pound especially when feeding a large active dog.

What I did was looked at the ingredient label looking for the ingredients that I felt that my dogs were allergic to. In my case it was chicken. I was able to find several brands that didn't have chicken. Proplan does have a fish formula that my dogs do well on.

Of course there is a potential of cross contamination so if your dog breaks out at the sight of the allergens, then staying on the hydrolyzed diet would be best.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any programs for low income pet owners to buy this food. There are some for veterinary professionals. You can try price shopping on line like chewy.com to see if you can find a better price.

 

[fhf1]

@honestscript Gotcha, I’m gonna working with a vet nutritionist to formulate a diet plan for my dog. I have a large, very hard working dog that requires large quantities of food, but $120+ for a dog that eats 7+ cups of food a day during his off season for hunting just isn’t practical.

 

[kingdomwaygh]

@fhf1 Not a vet much less your vet, but my dog has a chicken allergy & is doing well on a non-rx non-chicken food. It depends on how severe the allergy is.

On chicken, he lost large patches of fur, although was never a big licker or scratcher, had lots of diarrhea and anxiety from his chicken food. That’s all massively improved. All his bald spots are growing back, stools are good, and he clearly feels much better.

Obviously he doesn’t have a violent allergic reaction like a human allergy, if that were the case I’d be stuck on hydrolyzed for sure.