Hypoallergenic Food - Any suggestions?

Hi,

My 9 month old has been scratching his paws and face for months. He's been back and forth to the vets god knows how many times , had all sorts of blood tests and skin scrapes all which came back negative. He's previously been prescribed steroids, medicated wash and ear drops. Even though the allergy tests all came back negative the vet suggested we try him on Royal Canin hypoallergenic food for 8 weeks to see if there was an improvement. We kept him on it with no treats at all in case it was his treats causing it and there was little or no improvement seen. We then put him on Wainwrights puppy/junior as I'd been told that wainwrights is also quite hypoallergenic. We are really clutching at straws now. The insurance are saying they don't want us changing vets in the middle of a diagnosis (it's been ongoing since june). I was just wondering if anyone can recommend a good food for me to try him on. It's also stressing him out. He's yawning all the time and grinding his teeth. Everytime we go to the vets I feel like they don't really know what to do and just want to make as much money as possible. He also has terrible wind which does point to the food. He's always had terrible wind throughout all of this.  

Well, you have a choice of two ways to go.

You can keep on the commercial dry food or you can try raw feeding.

Commercial food, you could try Eden or Millie's Wolfheart, or a fish based food such as fish4dogs or Fishmongers Finest (Pets at Home's own).

If you want to try raw, just let us know & we'll point you in the right direction.

I recently read in the dog press that giving an allergic dog filtered water instead of tap water can amke a huge difference!

I've just started feeding raw for no other reason than I think it is a much more appropriate food for our pets. I used Eden, which Caryll mentions, as it is hypoallergenic and holistic but I really think you should try raw. I resisted for quite some time because it seemed very complicated but then a friend recommended Natural Instinct. It comes in 1kg tubs, is a complete food, comes in several varieties, uses human grade meat and is so easy to feed. Bacchus loves it and scoffed it down right from the start.
Good luck with Jerry. We have a cat with an allergy problem and are trying to wean him onto raw but he's not keen as he has been on dried for 7 years but we will persevere.

I wouldn't recommend the complete raw - you have no control over the offal or bone content.

Caryll wrote:I wouldn't recommend the complete raw - you have no control over the offal or bone content.

I think for us beginners it's a step in the right direction though Caryll. Got to be better than dried?

There are some hypoallergenic dry foods to choose from, James Welbeloved and Barking Heads (grain free) - this is what Rocky has.

Try not to show that you are getting stressed as he will pick up on this, I know easier said than done. Is the vet sure it's not a digestive problem ? The grinding the teeth could be a dental problem, did the vet check his teeth ? or stress related, which sounds highly possible in this case.

Thanks everyone. I was considering trying the raw diet but you're right Reuben it seems very complicated to me. They've checked his teeth and they are fine,I think he grinds them through the stress of the itching. The vet hasn't even mentioned Digestive issues but his poo is generally soft to semi-soft! Would a digestive issue cause his itching. To look at him it does look like demodex but the vet won't treat him for it without a positive scrape. I've also read that demodex can be hard to find in scrape because they live deep under the skin. I just don't know what do do. Do you think if I took him to a different vet they'd insist on starting from scratch with all the tests. We have already spent a good £700 so far. I know its on the insurance but we have to pay upfront and it takes 2-3 months to finally get the money back.we have tried him on James wellbeloved, eukeneba, royal canin and wainwrights. He's had 8-10 weeks on each food to no avail.