over the last 2 months i have been in and out of the vet alot, it all started when i noticed my dog was licking a lot more the usual and had made his front leg had go bald.first we were given advocate as the vet thought it might be mange, but we had to take him back again when we noticed the skin around his elbow was red and scaly they then thought it might be elbow displacia so they put him on steriods and refered him for exrays skin scrape and a biopsey, that showed up nothing (thank god)so we are now down to a food allergy and have be told to use science plan z/d for a 10 week trial i just hope that this is the end of it i dont think me,zeus (thats the dog) or my bank balance can cope any more( the food is £46 for only 10kilos and as the dogs is a gsd dont think it will last the whole 10 weeks).

it looks as if i will have to find a job just to pay for this food

i have a dog that is allergic to loads of things.z/d didn't help - all it is is the things they might be allergic to broken down in to milliscule pieces. not really sure how it works.
the food i found almost completely stopped the itch was burns. and she doesn't even need antihistamines any more.
give it ago but they also need a large quantaty or it to keep them the same weight - well thats what i found anyway.
hope he gets better
anna

Hi Bek
]ust read your, post my youngest GSD went through an itchy licky stage at about nine or ten months of age and made herself quite sore needing antibiotics at one stage.and my vet wanted to try her on hills capelyn cod and tapioca we discussed this and I rang wafcol helpline they were very good and suggested trying wafcol junior for six weeks, this is a salmon based food.
She cleared up within a week to ten days and has been fed wafcol ever since.
I know every dog is different and I wouldn,t dream of trying to tell your vet his job but it may well be worth discussing it with him.
I think wafcol junior is about twenty five or twenty six pounds for fifteen kilos both of mine are now on wafcol adult chicken which is eighteen pounds for fifteen kilos.
hope I,ve been of some help good luck.

Hi Bek,

z/d has it's place - as do other prescription diets for certain conditions.  However (there's always one ;) ) the fact that your vet thinks it may be a food related reaction, there are certainly more economical and equally (if not more) effective ways of maintaining an exclusion trial diet :)

As one of the other posters had suggested, Wafcol's salmon and Potato diet (comes in puppy through to adult now) is a less expensive option and IMO it is preferable to feed a food in which the ingredients are totally novel to the dog rather than some of the standard used ones in multiple diets and certainly rather than opting for hydrolyzed diets at this stage.

Alternatively you could ask for an allergy test to be done by York - this would give a wider picture of what is and isn't suitable should the problem be diet related.

If you do opt for an exclusion trial - whether with the Hills z/d or any other diet - please remember that absolutely nothing by way of treats, tit-bits, chews, pigs' ears, table scraps, dregs of your cuppa, crust of your toast or licking your cereal bowl can be added - it really HAS to be to the exclusion of everything but the chosen diet.

Good luck - I hope you are able to find a quick and affordable solution.

best wishes, Teri :)

ps: Wafcol is currently on special offer at PAH - the Salmon & Potato diet (avoid the corn version) is nomally around £37 for 15kg

thank for that every one i will talk to my vet about different foods. at the moment the vet is trying to claim the food on my pet insurance(pet plan) she does not think they will except it but said it is worth ago.

at the moment zeus eats autarky and butchers tripe i am worried about feeding him a complete dry diet as before when i have tried to do this he stopped eating and he really cant afford to lose any weight he only weighs 30kilos it is hard to keep any weight on him any advice would be great.

Naurediet is good but they have some problems distributing it at the moment but another one that is nearly the same is nutures best and its a wet food also but contains no artificial colours or flavours either so might be an idea to try that one.