Question:
What is the more common allergy for dogs - wheat or corn?
Answer:
I can't find the site that listed food allergens by percentage (IIRC,
beef was #1), but this is what I did find... [I should have googled on my
own posts, as I did find it] http://critterfixer.com/pages/petcare_food_hypersensitivity.asp
"Food Allergens
A few allergens are most often the cause of food allergies in dogs:
Beef 70%
Wheat 70%
Milk 70%
Corn 70%
Chicken 50%
Soy 20%
Eggs 10%
Hidden Allergens ?%
Lamb 4%
Rice 1%
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html
"Beware of wheat in a food. Wheat tends to be more of an
irritant/allergen with dogs than corn does. I personally, will not feed a
food that has wheat in it."
What's Really in Pet Food
http://216.190.132.195/79.htm
"In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the
shelf after consumers complained that their dogs were vomiting and losing
their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss amounted to $20 million. The problem
was a fungus that produced vomitoxin (an aflatoxin or "mycotoxin," a toxic
substance produced by mold) contaminating the wheat. In 1999, another fungal
toxin triggered the recall of dry dog food made by Doane Pet Care at one of
its plants, including Ol' Roy (Wal-Mart's brand) and 53 other brands. This
time, the toxin killed 25 dogs."
A vet can't diagnose an allergy - you have to go to an allergy specialist.
That's what I recently did, and it's expensive - spent about $700. Food is
the easist and cheapest way to try to fix the problem. I changed to Natural
Balance Potato & Duck and it's worked extremely well so far... Where did you purchase the food? Is it a brand that Petsmart carries or do
you order online or from a feed store? Symptoms:
itchy paws - she licks at them and I've noticed they are red.
Then there was a rash under her front arms that the vet gave us a spray for,
the rash keeps re-appearing and when I notice it, its raw and scabbed over,
but a couple days of the spray and it goes away.
Then there is this rash she gets that are like little pimples - or fire ant
bites, but they aren't fire ant bites
Most recently she has started itching at her right ear, then I noticed that
it too, has these bumps. The bumps appear to be more like hives that itch
her
Makes me think the hives are what is causing all the iching. We had to switch to Science Prescription CD last fall because of UTI
problems, and the problems w/ the itching, pimples, etc have been getting
progressively worse ever since.
Also, more recently she has a lack of appetite. Its not that she's not
hungry - as she's always asking for treats, but she could care less about
her food.
Calling the vet this week for her annual appointment anyway and will discuss
the alternatives. We need a diet that won't bother her UT and cause her to
have UTI problems (crystals).
