Addiction anyone??

[doxiemommy3]

Recent tests has shown that Kenna has several allergies (beef, wheat and maybe chicken, to name the top) we already do not use wheat because of Girttys allergy. The vet suggested Addiction Kangaroo and Apple, venison, or fish variety....I do not like the smell of the dogs when they were on Flint River Ranch (trout)...Kenna of course is not at all happy to have two of her foods that she loves eliminated. She will be 11 this summer and in pretty good health outside of the constant rash and ulcers on her rear and tail which first thoughts were new dog shampoo, fabreeze or fabric softner . Has anyone ever used this brand?? Any other choices out there or suggestions??

[Lisa]

Make your dog food. It is not hard, you know what is in it and it is dramatically cheaper and fresher.

You can start with as little as 5 ingredients and go from there. I would do a ground turkey, oatmeal (cooked), pumpkin, puree frozen blueberries & puree frozen spinach recipe for a few weeks until the allergies get under control.

Make the oatmeal first, make it as dense as you can about 4 cups dry. Add just enough boiling water to cook it. The blueberries - 1 cup put through the blender - you might have to add some water, spinach - 1 pack in the blender, again, you might have to add some water to get it to mush and a small can of pure pumpkin are all going to add a lot of water to oatmeal, which is why you want to make it dense at the beginning. Fry up the ground turkey and add it in. Mix it all together, throw it in some tupperware and you are good.

The ONLY downside of making the food is you have to brush their teeth.

Please try it for a month. If it works, let me know and we can start to tweak the recipe to get some more ingredients into it (ie, oil, eggs, sardines, garlic, Acidophilus & Bifidus, DE etc). If her coat starts to dry out, you will need to give her some salmon oil every couple of days, but try without for a bit.

[RustysMom]

None of my dogs have allergy issues and Ive never heard of Addiction. We feed Taste of the wild duck only because of all the dog foods weve tried, this is the one they will actually eat without complaint.

Many for her and hope that food change will help her.

[dognurse]

Here's the thing - none of the over the counter "novel protein" diets are truly hypoallergenic. The ingredients are probably what they say that they are but they do not clean and sterilize the equipment the food is processed on before they make it. You know how on a Snickers wrapper it says "this food was processed in a plant where wheat and tree nuts are made" or some such thing like that? Well they have to say that because some people are so deathly allergic to those other things that the food they eat can't even be processed near the things they are allergic to or they will have a reaction. Well, those kinds of rules are not in place for pet foods - well, there are a whole LOT of rules that are not in place for pet pet foods but that's a whole other story. When you purchase a grain free, hypoallergenic diet from the Pet Store, no matter how fancy or expensive it is, it isn't truly hypoallergenic. If your veterinarian really wants you to do a food trial he (or she) should be recommending a veterinary prescription diet. There are many available from novel proteins to hydrolyzed proteins and you have to be diligent during those 6 to 8 weeks to make sure they don't receive any other inappropriate foods. This included any supplements or medications that may have flavorings (such as the Heartgard chewables, you will have to give an alternative Heartworm preventive for the trial period) or any fish oil supplements, just hold off. It's a pain but it's really the only way to do an actual food trial. Of course you can make your own food, you do know what goes into it so you have that advantage but a lot of people find it time consuming. A commercially prepared diet that you can trust is very appealing IMHO. Good luck!

~Andrea