I've worked for several vets that prescribe z/d. Some dogs seem to do better on it, but IMO(and according to the food label) Hills is crap. I've seen some people that will go the extra mile to pinpoint the allergens and buy quality food that meets their needs. I know of some people that will cook specifically for their dogs needs. It can be expensive to do the allergy testing but well worth it, did your vet say what the allergy might be related to?

I had a Shepherd/Lab for the better part of 14 years who had a food allergy to corn. I now have another who is allergic to wheat.

Diarrhea is one of the many symptoms of a food allergy.

I feed IVD venison and potato. It's a high quality hypoallergenic food. The main thing when dealing with food allergies is to correct the diet with nothing the dog has never had before, plus give a food that in no way has corn, wheat or other grains that might make it's way into the food. For instance, deer don't eat corn or wheat. The same with duck which is also available.

I suggest if you are considering a hypoallergenic food, that you go for a really good one. It is a bit more costly, however, in my mind well worth it. Most of it is manufactured here in the U.S. or Canada. During the poisoning scare, I was relieved not to worry about my dog food and if I accidentally poisoned my three dogs. (My other two dogs are on Artemis, a high quality food with no fillers etc.

In addition to not feeding your dog crappy stuff with fillers and colors etc. you are giving a food that I think makes the dog look and feel healthier. It also helps if the dog gets sick. They seem to be more resilient with a better diet. (My old girl cheated death 3 times due to other issues).

Good luck!

SG

Hydrolyzed protein is used to enhance flavor and contains Monosodium glutamate. When added this way, the labels are not required to list MSG as an ingredient.

If your pet food lists hydrolyzed protein (i.e., hydrolyzed chicken, hydrolyzed beef) or protein "meal", it is not high-quality protein and has likely come from a rendering plant.

These big pet food companies market all kinds of things - low-allergen, etc. Low-allergen just means no food coloring and things like that. It doesn't mean the food is any good. It's still as crappy as their regular formulations.

Try a high-quality pet food from Oma's Pride, Flint River Ranch or Wysong, or feed her human food - ground chicken or turkey and cooked veggies. If you are unsure about nutrition, get a one a day supplement. I feed raw food, and some cooked food. But I know most people aren't comfortable feeding raw.

SG, you say For instance, deer don't eat corn or wheat. .

I have seen you write this before and it is not correct. First, deer most certainly do eat corn! Try living next to a corn field and you will find that they love corn.

Second, the allergens from the corn are not passed into the deer meat. They *could* be present in feces from the deer, but not the meat. The meat is made of deer proteins, synthesized in the deer, using components from what the deer has eaten, but the allergens are broken down and excreted.

If one was going to use your theory to eliminate corn from the dog's diet, you also could not feed lamb, which is one of the more common foods given to dogs with corn allergies (and on which my dog, very sensitive to corn, does very well). Nor could you feed chicken, again many corn allergic dogs are fed chicken with no adverse affects.

SG- deer love corn. We used to help feed the deer in the winter by putting out some corn for them, they loved it.

Back to OP- my rottie used to have chronic diarrhea and he was on the puppy large breed science diet- started learning more about foods and switched to large breed puppy from Blue Buffalo and he has not had diarrhea due to dog food since then. I'll tell you what big dogs with diarrhea are no fun :( He didn't have any yeasty or itchy skin, but i'm sure your furkid will feel much better when everything gets straightened out! Keep us posted

Since I am not an expert Prarie Love, I have no way of saying you are correct or incorrect. I am only going by my personal experience and the pure hell I went through trying to nail down a corn allergy. Granted, this mess was caused by two vets that didn't know what they were doing.

I was merely suggesting that if Tantadoodles is going to switch to a hypo allergic food, then a good switch should be considered.

Perhaps there is someone on this thread that knows specifics about what or does not get filtered through a deer's or ducks system that makes it o.k. to feed without negative issues.

SG

What are you currently feeding your dog???

Agree with Gina that you could probably solve the problem by simply switching to a high quality low carb kibble. Evo is one of the best if you're not willing to feed the dog raw.

The derm vet at school does not like ZD for allergic dogs. Some dogs manage to react to it, despite the manufacturer's claims that the protiens are too small for the body to recognize. I know other allergists and derm vets who feel the same way. They recommend single protein, single carb source food that the dog has never eaten before.

In my own personal experience, I don't like the ZD either. My now deceased Aleksander had some food allergies and other allergies that got a lot worse when we moved from MD to NC. In addition to all the other stuff I had to do for him, we tried to switch him to ZD. This was back when they first introduced the food, and Aleksander's allergist was trying it out on some patients. Well, Aleksander and ZD did not get along. First of all, he acted like a hyperthyroid cat. He'd eat and eat (I doubled then tripled his caloric intake) and run around the house like a stark-raving lunatic. He would also drink a lot of water, probably to try to alleviate his constant hunger. Despite my tripling his caloric intake and not increasing his exercise, he lost 5# in one month, and didn't need to. I was about to test him for hyperthyroidism (which is always caused by a very malignant thryoid tumor in dogs) because of the way he was acting. I was really worried about him and the sudden weight loss. Then my vet friend (not the allergist) asked if I had changed his diet and suddenly things began to make sense. I told the allergist about what was happening, and she said that several other of her patients reacted oddly too, some of them with massive weight loss, most with odd behavior. So the allergist said to switch to IVD venison and potato, and I did, and Aleksander was fine. He calmed down within a couple of days and his weight increased to normal. He stayed on IVD until he died.

SG- most dogs can eat anything. Wild canids certainly are not that picky about what they eat, and I sincerely doubt that they have allergy problems. The problem is not with the food, it's with the dogs due to years and years of breeding for looks and not health and ability. Just as a person with shellfish allergies avoids eating or touching shellfish, dogs with allergies to lamb or beef or corn or wheat need to avoid those food items. Normal dogs have no problems extracting the nutrients from plant and animal sources (unlike cats, which cannot digest plant materials at all because they are Carnivores) because dogs, like humans, are omnivores. Just as there is nothing inherently wrong with most people eating shellfish, there is nothing inherently wrong with most dogs eating corn or lamb or whatever. It's only those that are allergic that have to avoid their individual allergens. There's nothing magic about the digestion of the foods the duck or deer eat (farm raised deer often eat corn, at least they did until the price of corn increased), just that they are broken down by the animal and used for energy. Although some pet food manufacturers use "animal digest" (pre-pooped poop) as an ingredient, most of the quality ones don't, so it doesn't matter what the protein source animal ate recently because it isn't included in the diet. Of course, wild canids eat everything and are fine because they evolved naturally instead of being messed with by humans. We ruin everything, but that's another discussion.

Thank you Meghane for your eloquent response. By far better said than most of us could attempt.

Sadly, you are correct about humans screwing things up for our animal friends. Yes, that is another subject.

I have used IVD for well over 12 years. I also find it to be a superior quality food. I am bracing myself once again, my pup who has spaying incontinence and battled numerous urinary infections is now licking an area on her left wrist. It's a small area that won't heal. We are going to the vet soon. I remember well, this is what happened when my old girl Tara started to react to corn. She got sores that wouldn't heal, two vets screwed up the diagnosis (turns out they were trying to fix the sores, not the source of them). This went on for months, the sores getting worse from scratching, blood everywhere, what a mess.

I spent tons of time, frustration and money for nothing.

Thanks again,

SG

MY DOG HAS BEEN ON Z D FOR A WHILE ALSO BECAUSE OF ALLERGIES. RECENTLY I PURCHASED TWO CASES AND MY WIFE NOTICED THAT THE SMOOTHNESS OR CREAMY-NESS IN THE FOOD IS NO LONGER THERE. THE FOOD IS MIXED WITH DRY FOOD AND USED TO MIX SMOOTHLY INTO THE DRY FOOD AND LEAVE A FILM AROUND THE CONTAINER I MIXED IT IN. NOW IT NO LONGER DOES THAT AND IS LIKE CRUMBILY OR LIKE IT'S NOT SICKY ANYMORE. THE VET HAS CALLED THE CO. WHICH STATES THAT IT SOMETIMES HAPPENS IN THE WINTER. IT SEEMS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ANY FOOD WOULD DO THAT ONCE IT IS SEALED. WHAT'S YOUR OPINION??? VERY WORRIED

MY DOG HAS BEEN ON Z D FOR A WHILE ALSO BECAUSE OF ALLERGIES. RECENTLY I PURCHASED TWO CASES AND MY WIFE NOTICED THAT THE SMOOTHNESS OR CREAMY-NESS IN THE FOOD IS NO LONGER THERE. THE FOOD IS MIXED WITH DRY FOOD AND USED TO MIX SMOOTHLY INTO THE DRY FOOD AND LEAVE A FILM AROUND THE CONTAINER I MIXED IT IN. NOW IT NO LONGER DOES THAT AND IS LIKE CRUMBILY OR LIKE IT'S NOT SICKY ANYMORE. THE VET HAS CALLED THE CO. WHICH STATES THAT IT SOMETIMES HAPPENS IN THE WINTER. IT SEEMS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ANY FOOD WOULD DO THAT ONCE IT IS SEALED. WHAT'S YOUR OPINION??? VERY WORRIED

The veterinarian specialist put my yorkie on z/d for chronic pancreatitis which has not helped by the way. But I talked with the company about the changes in consistency in the food and was told it depends on the shelf life of the particular can you have purchased. In other words the older cans have dryer consistency and the newer cans are more moist. My dog likes the dryer consistency which is a shelf of 2yrs. But you have no control over what you receive when you buy it. This to answer THEWORLDILLEST@AOL.COM