hi, not logged into champdogs for sometime,
as well as Toby my lab, i also have a blue roan cocker spaniel now, she has been in & out of vets because she has a rash, which has cleared up at the moment but she also has a yeast infection in her ears & only after steroids it is now clearing, she has had a blood test for allergys, vet phoned me with the results today,
she has food allergys & the vet recommended Hills D/D duck & rice, she is allergic to chicken, pork, beef,
food being delivered tomorrow, so tonight i gave her rice & tuna,
is there any other food for her allergys & treats,
although i will proberbly stick to fruit & veg as treats, which she loves,
did wonder about making my own dog food for her,
has anyone else got this problem ?

cant remember full list of food allergys think eggs on the list but will get full list when i see the vet.

Hi sorry to hear about the food allergies.  A couple of things to think about:

Some dogs might show allergies when the food is present in kibble but you can sometimes get away with feeding it raw - I don't know how that works (?!?) but once settled you could reintroduce raw chicken, for instance, to see if there is a reaction. 

Vets will often recommend Hills but there are other options.  Many suppliers have lamb and rice, or salmon with rice or potato.  Arden Grange, CSJ and Fish4Dogs to name a few I'd recommend.  The latter also has a sardine food which my normally fish kibble haters adore!

When trying to eliminate food allergies please try and stick to one food for a minimum of 6 weeks before changing again.  Ideally choose something you think is likely to be safe and get your dog stable first before adding other protein sources.   If you find that fish is ok don't forget tinned sardines which are ideal to make kibble more interesting, and fish4dogs do a very good salmon mousse which is on offer at the moment.  This mousse is perfect for Kongs and served frozen makes a long lasting treat.

Good luck :)

my dog showed up on the tests as being chicken intollerant, I have recently changed all of mine over to a raw diet and he eats raw chicken 5 or 6 times a week and has no problems what so ever .... but give him chicken flavoured kibble and he can clear a room in seconds with his wind

Thankyou for your help,
i think what im going to do at the moment is keep her on the Hills D/D for 6/8 weeks, then try one of the brands you have recommended perhaps Arden Grange,
think i may give her tripe sticks as well as fruit & veg & the salmon for her kong sounds like a good idea,
the Hills is being delivered today so last night i gave her tuna & rice, this morning she had sardines.
will keep you updated.

I've got two dogs with food allergies. One is allergic to all animal protein, so he is on a vegan diet (at the moment Ami, which is a dry food).
My American cocker has various food allergies, like yours many of the meats as well as egg and milk. So I put him on raw food, which is turkey and venison. The meat I get is 10% bone, 10% offal and 80% meat minced and he is doing very well on that. I also add blended veg/fruit from time to time, he gets dried meat treats (venison, ostrich, duck etc) as well as Fish4Dogs treats and he gets Yumega as a supplement. He is doing very well on this.
Has your vet also checked for hypothyroidsm? Before Jesse was put on thyroid meds, he used to have skin infections all the time until they didn't clear up anymore at all. After being put on medication, that reduced greatly to the point that he now very rarely gets skin problems and if he does it either clears on its own or a course of antibiotics does the trick.

It's very rare it's actually meat they are allergic to no matter what tests say -far more likely to be preservatives and grains and similar in commercial foods (including in ones made for dogs with problems). I'd also go straight for raw feeding.

Yes thyroids have been checked & ok,
she was on antibiotics for 3 weeks & also some shampoo (sorry cant remember the name of the shampoo)
her skin is now ok,
the yeast infection in her ears would not clear so she was put on steroids, took her back for check up monday & the steroids are working so she is on them for another week, hopefully no longer, dont like her being on steroids.
Hopefully with the food change, she will be ok, poor baby

shampoo was douxo, now she has the spray, douxo sebx micro-emulsion spray.

took Holly for check up on monday, things are improving but not clear yet, vet said if the yeast infection does not clear he will have to put her under again & put cotton balls into her ears with the solution on & leave them there.

Hi all
Hollys yeast  infection still has not cleared,
so today the vet cleaned her ears out & put swabs with Canesten solution in her ears which are to be left in till next wednesday,
they was going to sedate her for this but ended up having to give her a general, the vet has also given her a steroid injection, & sent her home with more tabs & Canesten,
fingers & everything crossed for next wednesday.

yes yes yes
i went to the vets this morning (wednesday)
Holly is at last clear of the yeast infection yipeeeee

Wonderful news :-)

> Holly is at last clear of the yeast infection yipeeeee

:-)  :-)  :-)

So pleased for you, and I bet she is feeling great now it's gone!

she does seem a little happier with am extra skip in her step,
i am just changeing her over from the Hills D/D prescription diet, to Arden Grange, i have mixed it together, so hopefully she will be ok,
must admit the A/G looks just the same as the Hills D/D just a bit darker in colour.

You may find using a food that has potato instead of rice makes a difference if this new change doesnt suit if it contains rice. Good luck, hope this works.

i have got to get her weight down too, because of the steroid tabs she has put so much weight on, weighed her at vets yesterday, she is 19.10 kg ouch far to much for a cocker, mind you she is a big cocker not like a lot of them these day which are tiny.