# Allergic to Nutro Nat Lamb & Rice - Now what to try?



## LauraEyes2 (Sep 16, 2005)

Well if you're convinced it's a food allergy--
A good food to try is the "Natural Balance" brand dog food (you can get it at Petco/Petsmart or other major pet supply stores). They make it in a bunch of different food flavors, and dogs usually love it. They come in a Venison and Rice, Sweet Potato and fish, and Duck and Potato-- and are made with no corn, soy, wheat, rice, eggs, or dairy which often cause the allergies. 

Those food usually work great with food allergy dogs. They're pretty simple on the ingredients so they don't have a bunch of added fillers that cause the problems. Check out Petco's website, they have it on there if you want to see what the bag looks like.

Another to try is a food made by Prescription diet called "Z/D" and is typically sold by veterinarians. This contains "hydrolyzed proteins" like they use in some baby formulas (essentially they somehow break the proteins down into tiny molecular pieces so they are too small for the body to sense them enough to make an allergic reaction--otherwise they have the same nutritional use as normally structured proteins).

If you want to totally nip the problem in the bud, I'd recommend you spring for allergy testing. Your vet should be able to send off some of your dog's blood to be tested to find out exactly what the allergy triggers are. From there you know what foods to avoid, and if there are other environmental allergens that are causing the problem.

Let us know how he does! Gooed luck!


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## Samwise (May 15, 2006)

Okay, so lamb and chicken are out. How about a food that has fish in it? Eagle Pack makes one called Anchovy, Sardine, and Salmon meal with Oatmeal Formula. I've not personally tried that formula but I use two of their other formulas and they're great. They also make a Duck and Oatmeal Formula, but that might be too similar to Chicken (?) and I just saw that it has chicken fat in it. Neither formulas have corn which is a plus for your pup.

Here are links to both of those formula's ingredients, respectively:

http://www.eaglepack.com/pages/ep_fish_oatmeal.html

http://www.eaglepack.com/pages/ep_hs_duck.html

Hope this helps.
Christi


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

Since most of the dog food is not the protein but the carbs, it's probably more likely that he has a problem with the carb source, which is rice in both the Nature's Variety and the Nutro. Natural Balance Potato/Duck and Sweet Potato/Fish don't have rice, and should be available at your local Petco.


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## sage63 (Jul 11, 2006)

Thanks you all! I ran right out and bought the Natural Balance Duck & Potato formula and gave him some for supper. He ate it all up so he likes it! I'll keep my eye on the itching and see if he gets better! Poor guy. I guess that means I will have to use kibble for training treats as well? 

Hope this works. We'll keep our fingers crossed! Thanks again!


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

Food allergies usually take time to show...Lucky wouldn't start itching till the 20lb bag was almost done. And even though his food SEEMS to correlate with the itch..there are so many other factors involved. One that the vet brought to my attention was chiggers and fleas and other biting things.

My vet told me to get Lucky on Frontline to see if that didn't help. He thinks many cases of "food allergies" are actually reactions to bug bites.

Lauraeyes2...How accurate are those allergy tests?? Are there cases of false positives? I was just curious.


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## sage63 (Jul 11, 2006)

Seriously?! I just took that 20 lb bag back to Petco! This has me frustrated for him! He IS on Frontline Plus (and is wearing an Adams flea collar) we just treated him the first of the month and I did see 2 fleas on his belly when I was grooming him this a.m. They have been really bad this year - and he only goes outside to do his "dootie" or when we go outside to walk the park or down to the lakehouse to play. I brushed him really well and even combed out his tail and hindquarters this a.m. and didn't see any other signs of fleas (no "dirt"). He is biting and chewing himself all over though. It is frustrating because I want to help him but don't know what to do. I hate it if I eliminated the Nutro and it could have been fine. If he does well with the duck and potato I coudl always reintroduce Nutro lamb and rice later on in a small amount and see how he does. So many seem to have good results with that food. 

The funny thing is, before I found these boards, I fed him Maximum Nutrition and I thought I was really upgrading him to a higher quality and that it would be better for his coat too (it always looked kind of dull to me). He was always kind of itchy on the Max Nut but not that it really made me stop and realize that he could be having issues with his food. Now it is like he is itching like mad. It could be other allergens though.

About the allergy tests....a good suggestion but I don't know for sure how I feel about them. I had a HUGE battery of them done when I was a child and I was allergic to EVERYTHING under the sun - I do think I had many false positives. I took shots for several years but then stopped and haven't had trouble since. (I used to get migranes.) Maybe I outgrew them but I always wondered how accurate those tests had been.

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I really want to get to the bottom of it so he'll be healthy and happy!!


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

I got this link from another board. I thought it helpful.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1587&articleid=137

Make sure you click on the "food allergy" within the artical...lots of good info.

I know its frustrating. Your experience does sound a lot like mine. Lucky would itch a little more then what is normal and then suddenly he'd explode in furious scratching and raw hotspots...too many for me to treat it seemed. And then hives...all over the length of his body. He doesn't get out much either and I hunt high and low for fleas with no sucess BUT.....

Before putting on the frontline, I opted to give him a bath in a flea shampoo as I understand detergents can dilute the frontline abilities. Wanted a good wash for him now as it was going to be only water later.

And I saw dead fleas. The pesky rascals. 

I think it is accurate that it takes a while for food allergies to show.

Good luck.


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## sage63 (Jul 11, 2006)

Wow - good article. Thanks Lucky's Mom. I'm going to try the 12 week duck & potato trial period and maybe go ahead and talk with the vet about these persistent fleas also!


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

I'm wondering if your not dealing with a flea allergy, and not a food allergy. If a dog has this flea allergy they will bite and scratch for a month straight all over if one single flea was able to bite them, it is that bad. Bianka has this so I know all about it and what it can do to them. Hot spots are common do too the intense itching and scratching associated with the allergy.

You could try to call your vet and see if they will ok some Benedryl, it may help some. How big is that hot spot? Watch that, those things move very quickly and can get huge and infected in no time at all.

The hot spot should be shaved back as well so as air can get too it and help heal it, the vet will most likely do this if it can be done there. Keep him off that hot spot till you can call your vet and move him in if need be.


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## sage63 (Jul 11, 2006)

Thanks Goldndust - I think you are right. I was brushing him today and found ANOTHER flea on him!! He just was treated with Frontline Plus the first of the month (this is his third month on it this season). Why is this not getting them?! I feel so bad for him! His elbows are all chewed up. I will call the vet tomororw and see if I can get him in asap. I need to know what will eliminate the flea prob. I have a neighbor that is like a godparent to Scout and she said that she really didn't notice his crazy scratching until he got the fleas this summer. I know now that that is what it has to be related to. That article and your post kind of confirmed it. What do you do to keep the fleas away?!


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## CajunMissy (May 23, 2005)

*Allergic to Nutro*

Sorry this is late.Try Science Diet Prescription ZD. My girl Missy had terrible allergies to food, and after 3 months it cleared up. We do have seasonal outbreaks, but nothing like before. It's expensive $45 for 18 pounds, but it last about 3 weeks. Missy is a small golden 61 pounds, and 6 yrs old, and a house puppy. Still trying to recover from hurricane Katrina and the devastation.


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## Jman515 (Oct 1, 2006)

Sage i'm sorry to hear all this happening to your golden! My golden (samson) spends a lot of time outside and knock on wood his never had a flea or tick once. We bathe him every 2 weeks and put on frontline 2 days after a bath and then every 3 to 4 days we use Adams Flea and Tick spray to keep gnats and other bugs including flea and ticks away. It works great!

Heres a link to read about it
http://www.futurepets.com/Adams_Flea_Spray.htm

You can find it at Petsmart, Petco and Wal-Mart started carrying it and as always its cheaper at Wal-Mart ($9)


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