My Allergies: Part II

A while ago I wrote all about my outdoor allergies in my blog post My Allergies: Part I. Unfortunately, last fall at my annual checkup, my vet also diagnosed me with food allergies.

To my mom, this was her worst nightmare. She had been using the immunotherapy on me all summer giving me shots and now this. Here is why the vet diagnosed me with food allergies. I constantly dug at my ears, while mom constantly gave me ear drops. Yet they were still red, and really icky inside. That is the best way for mom to describe how they looked. They didn't feel too great either. At my checkup my mom let the vet know how concerned she was with the ears and the scratching despite the fact that she was giving me the shots. She felt I should not be having these symtoms still. One thing to learn about the immunotherapy is that it can take a few years for it to work completely. But the doctor said that he was sure the ears were caused by food allergies. As a very experienced vet he sees this sort of thing all the time, and he was very confident in his diagnosis. Well, mom is very confident in my vet so she trusted him.

The first thing we learned is that you can't be given a test for food allergies like you can with environmental, or if you do it isn't as reliable. The only way you can test for food allergies is to start eliminating everything. 

Foods to Eliminate

• No grains, including rice and potatoes
• No beef
• No poultry (chicken, turkey, duck)

Then we were given suggestions on what to try.

Foods to Try

• Sweet potatoes
• Lamb
• Salmon/Fish
• Venison

Mom took off to the store and got totally overwhelmed by all the choices and had a hard time finding a food that would fit in with the suggestions. She gave up at the large pet retailer and went to my shelter Wright-Way Rescue because she knew they sold the high quality food by Fromm's. She came home with their Salmon Tunalini for me to try and I liked it really well. She started working on increasing my new food while cutting back on my old food. But, after several days I started to not feel well. Mom noticed me licking the floor and eating leaves and grass outside. Off to the vet I went and after a quick blood test I was diagnosed with mild pancreatitis. I was very lucky that it was caught so soon. The vet recommend that I try a food with less fat. One of the disadvantages of the grain-free foods is that they are higher in fat. My Fromm's food had a crude fat percentage of 16%. The vet recommend staying as close to 10% as possible.

Off mom went to the store AGAIN! This time she came home with Nature's Recipe Grain Free Salmon, Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Recipe. It had a crude fat percentage of 12%. Well, after eating it only a few times my allergies got worse. I had a severe reaction to something in the food. The only thing mom could figure out was that it contained poultry fat.

Natural Balance to the Rescue!

This time mom went to Petco where a very helpful person helped her pick out Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Bison Formula. The third time is the charm! I have been eating it ever since! I love it and have had no reactions to it at all! Thanks Natural Balance for making a high quality, natural food for us problem doggies!

On a side note mom had always fed me a little canned food with my kibble. We found Wellness Lamb and I love it! But Natural Balance also makes a canned sweet potato & bison but our local store doesn't carry it. Maybe Truman will have it at Blog Paws? I hope so!

Love Dolly the Doxie (mix)

xoxox

Springing Forward!

It's that time of year again when I am going to lose another hour of sleep! I am not looking forward to it at all! I am no longer a puppy, I turn 3 years old in June, therefore I am getting a bit more lazy and don't like getting up early at all!

The "stretch"

I know mom is already planning a strategy to keep me on schedule starting tomorrow, the day we have to get up an HOUR earlier. I do not get out of bed easy, especially if Dad is still there. 

Just ignore her she'll go away!

Like she'll know it will be dark out when we should to go to the park in the morning, IF she can get me out of bed, so she'll have to dig out my LED collar again. Getting me out of bed is hard enough but it's trying to reschedule my dinnertime that will be the hardest. I love my dinnertime. Dad usually gets home at 4 p.m., Mom feeds me at 4:30. Its not unusual for me to start "The Look" as soon as Dad is settled down with his beer. My dinnertime keeps getting earlier and earlier, it used to be I waited until mom and dad had eaten before I would eat. On the weekends I can start "The Look" combined with "The Whimper" as early as 3 p.m. 

One of my "Looks"

Well, Mom does not want to feed me at 3 p.m. on Sunday! I only get fed once a day, that's ever since the vet "suggested" I was eating too much and to cut back on my food. Mom is worried that I am really hungry which is why I want to eat before my dinnertime. Well, yes, wouldn't you be if you ate once a day? She wants to start feeding me twice a day again and thinks that Sunday, after we lose an hour, would be a good time to start. In the morning, when we get back from our walk, she'll give me one half of my dry, or half a cup of my Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Bison, and in the evening at the new 4 p.m., she'll give me the other half of my dry with the wet Wellness Lamb, which is all that really matters to me.

Hopefully I won't gain weight! Mom is confident that if she measures carefully I'll maintain my girlish figure. I truly believe it is the animals that have the hardest time of all with Daylight Savings Time! Nobody asked us!

Do you get fed once or twice a day?

Love, Dolly the Doxie (mix)

xoxox