Pea allergy? Cook your own dog food?

[oceania]

My dog has been allergic to chicken since he was a puppy, and gradually we realized he is also allergic to oats. He’s 11y this month and the allergies are mostly handled via cytopoint shots and avoiding food triggers. Still chronic ear infections, itchy skin, muzzle, paws but manageable. We hate to see him suffer at all though.

We’ve been through many allergen friendly dog foods, and many of them work for a while. What I’ve noticed is that when they have stopped working - peas/pea fiber have joined the first five ingredient list. Is my dog allergic to peas? I know it is a cheap and very plentiful protein source but how the hell do I avoid it because everybody has begun to add that to the dog food!?

Some of this is environmental (my dog is also allergic to most things on planet earth from pine to grass, it’s great! ) but when we start a new food we do see some relief. I am seriously considering cooking for him at this point bc it’s getting so hard to find a dog food w/o chicken, oats or peas. I don’t really have the freezer space to do it efficiently.

Advice/suggestions?

 

[jannacks]

@oceania Talk to your vet about brands like Royal Canin (and plenty other brands out there) that carry dog kibble without oats, peas and chicken. My pup is allergic to chicken and has been on Hydrolyzed kibble, from Royal Canin, and it has definitely helped, but I will admit that his stool isn't exactly bricks, but a noticeable improvement. Hydrolyzed is a prescribed diet, so hopefully you can go a different route and it shouldn't be as expensive.

 

[oceania]

@jannacks I think this is my next move. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll have to work with the vet supplement and cook food for him but I would much rather have the convenience of prepared dry food.

 

[dananglingson]

@oceania If you’re going to try home cooking talk to your vet- they need supplements. Balance it or something similar. It’s time consuming but doable if you’re organized, have freezer space.

Peas seem to be in everything! Biljac food doesn’t have peas… but it does have chicken and oats.

Also have you tried switching or stopped using dental treats? (Finally got the pea thing under control and then had issues with dentastix)

 

[oceania]

@dananglingson Ugh yes, we gave up dental treats ages ago. He even had a reaction to dried sweet potato treats which supposedly had no other ingredients but he isn’t bothered by sweet potato otherwise so either cross contamination or some other flavoring was involved.

He tolerates a kangaroo jerky we found but I usually stick to some kibbles from his dog food for treats.

I was aware of needing to supplement home cooked meals, which is another reason I am trying to find another food first. May need to go w/ the suggestion above to get on a prescribed diet food.

 

[seashells]

@oceania The royal canin ultamino is supposed to be one of the most hypoallergenic diets. I just checked and it does not contain oats or peas. you would need to ask your vet about it, it’s a prescription diet.

 

[myjesus777]

@oceania Try the Hydrolyzed prescription Royal Canin food. The other foods are garbage for pets with severe sensitivities and allergies. You should notice an improvement quite quickly once they have transitioned to the prescription food. Cooking their food is another set of headaches, if you are doing it right.

 

[sevilodorf]

@oceania How were these allergies diagnosed? The only way to really diagnose allergies is with a prescription elimination diet under the guidance of a vet.

Your dog might have an allergy to certain ingredients. But honestly if you’re seeing reactions it’s less likely to be a new ingredient and more likely to be because of cross contamination of ingredients in LID brands.

OR even more likely there’s no food allergy at all, and your dog is reacting to environmental things.

That being said, diets packed with peas and pulses are linked to a deadly and hard to diagnose heart disease so I wouldn’t be feeding a diet with a ton of them anyways.

I’d speak to your vet about the possibility of using apoquel and a prescription diet either to diagnose/rule out allergies or just for maintenance.

 

[oceania]

@sevilodorf We did environmental testing through some blood work and the food allergies were identified via elimination. Not the peas, obviously, which is why I was questioning them since they seem to be the common/most recent ingredient change.

Apoquel wasn’t as effective as the cytopoint but we did try that for a while.

There is definitely an environmental factor, as I mentioned before but the food allergy presents with an itchy muzzle after eating and an itchy bottom after bm. The other things will amp up as well.

Avoiding chicken and oats solved the problem until about 5-6 yrs ago. Since then, most brands have started adding peas and I can’t seem to find one without anymore.

I have seen a connection between health issues and the LID foods, which is why I am wondering if peas might not be a bigger problem that folks think.

The vet mostly wants to treat his symptoms but paying hundreds of dollars for shots/ear infections diagnosis/treatments repeatedly etc is frustrating. It’s the same problem every time. Managing symptoms seems to be keeping him suffering unnecessarily. Even if it’s not as acutely problematic.

My main concern is trying to find food without peas (and chicken or oats), or if anyone has had any luck working with a veterinarian for a diet comprised of food made it home.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[sevilodorf]

@oceania Your best bet is really a prescription diet which are the only ones that won’t have cross contamination?

Have you seen a vet dermatologist? My dogs vet derm has saved us zillions of dollars because she helped us come up with a workable plan rather than seeing a rotating cast of primary care vets who were helpful but not equipped to address the root cause of the issues.

If you choose to cook at home the only way to do that safely is to consult a board certified veterinary nutritionist with a DACVN credential

 

[oceania]

@sevilodorf I will look into a vet dermatologist, thanks for the suggestion! We’ve definitely been in the rotation long enough.

 

[billbennet]

@oceania Pro Plan Vet Diets. The HA formula. It’s literally designed for dogs who can eat almost nothing without experiencing allergic reactions. You’re dealing with so much, I can’t imagine not being stuck with a vet diet.

 

[gavri]

@oceania I would check out Forza10. The active intestinal line helped my guy with multiple allergies and IBD

 

[oceania]

@gavri Thanks for the suggestion. We’ve tried a few supplements before, but there always seems to be some thing in them that makes it worse. Unfortunately, looks like Forza10 has oat flour in it so that will not be for us. I am 100% sure that is an allergen. We can’t even wash him in the anti-itch, oat shampoos.

 

[gavri]

@oceania So sorry to hear that! The other brand which may work out is Natural Balance. They have a limited ingredient line with different recipes. Worth a look!

 

[gavri]

If you are looking at prescription diets - Royal Canin Ultamino was the very best for us.

 

[idomesmiler]

@oceania Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain has peas as the 7th ingredient and I don’t think it has oats.

My dog with a corn allergy (and anything that eats corn like chicken) did well on the Pacific Stream recipe.

I hope you find the help you need!