Our dalmatian has had a series of ear infections & episodes of hair loss over the past few years. Numerous trips to vets and specialist have identifies the hair loss as alopecia but nothing conclusive abour the ear infections other than they could be allergy related. He has been on a prescription diet - Hills z/d ultra allergen free (Cereals: maize starch; hydrolized chicken liver; oils & fats; cellulose; minerals; DL methionine; 17.5% protein) - but his ear infection has come back, so it isn't the food he's allergic too. We are however keen to continue giving him a hypoallergenic food as he has also had reactions to wasp stings etc over the years so obviously is prone to allergic reactions. Before any of this we gave him a dry food from our pet shop - no wheat or red meat but judging by the difference in him on the other food, this food must have a lot of bulking agents and his system has been a lot better on the prescription food. So my question is - 'Can anyone give me some advice on a really good quality food, hypoallergenic, definately no red meat (possibly not white meat either)'?
Thank You Jackie

Hi Jackie,

Quite a few different companies offer complete foods with white fish or salmon as the protein source - so perhaps more what you're after as you want to avoid red and white meat?  Not all allergic reactions are due to the proteins of course - gluten, soya, grains, cereals can all be problems too.  Hills z/d ultra allergen for eg. contains maize - which is a common dog intolerant ingredient :(

You could try googling for Burns, Wafcol, CSJ  -  there are probably more but I know each of these provide foods with a fish protein base.  They all provide good quality food and have fairly good varieties re ingredients etc.  Of these the only specifically *hypoallergenic* one I've personally used is "Wafcol Salmon & Potato" - I think it's a very good food but all dogs are different.  Wafcol also do the Salmon diet mixed with corn (maize again :rolleyes: ) so personally I would not use the corn version.

Hopefully this helps a little, no doubt others will be able to give more info on other suitable quality diets.
Good luck,
Regards Teri :)