[chowder]

Well, I've been experimenting on Chelsy. She has spent almost 12 years with what I had thought to be food allergies to any meat except venison. But recently I have tried several new brands of venison on her and she got really sick on them so I realized I may have been mistaken all these years. Maybe it was something else in the cheap dogfood that was bothering her besides the chicke or other meats.
I decided to take the advice of the people in the raw section and just give her some plain chicken (in my case it was cooked because she has almost no teeth). She had NO reaction at all to it and loved it. Then I gave her some turkey and she had no trouble at all with that. We followed with pork and still no problems. After that I wrote down all the brands of food that had caused her torment over the years and cross-referenced their ingredients to see what she was probably actually allergic too. The common ingredient in them turned out to be salmon or salmon oil ( I know for a fact that salmon sets her skin on fire and the oil messes up her intestines) , olive oil which tears up her intestines, and possibly oatmeal. It is odd how many foods are now adding olive oil. I don't remember them doing that before.
So, after all these years of depriving her, she is so happy to be getting meat! I have tried her on some California Natural canned food which she loved, and I am going to get her a bag of Innova Senior Plus to try. It is very hard to find any food without salmon oil or oatmeal in it so I will supplement her with chicken and whatever meat we are eating. She is not complaining after all these years! I have to make up for 11 years of feeding her Natures Recipe Venison and Rice.

 

[rannmiller]

Wow! That's awesome you were willing to try that on her! I'm sure she's pretty excited to be getting some variety after all these years.

 

[BoxerMommie]

If you need a food without oatmeal look at the grain frees, none will have oatmeal, I'm sure you can find some without salmon oil. I know the limited ingredient diets from Natural Balance are good, Duck and Potato and Fish and Sweet Potato (not sure if the fish has salmon oil though), Lamb Meal and Brown Rice, and they have canned versions (except for the Lamb), my dog is allergic to oatmeal so I have found some foods without it and then your grain free from Wellness (Core), Innova, Canidae, etc will not have oatmeal either.

Good luck!

 

[chowder]

You have to really read the Natural Balance labels carefully. The canned Duck has no salmon oil but the dry Duck kibble does. The canned venison has salmon oil but the dry venison kibble does not! I do buy the Natural Balance crunchy treats for her and she likes those although the bison and blueberry are not her favorite. Most of the grain free foods seem to have salmon in them but I did find that the Innova Senior Plus that just came out does not have salmon or oatmeal so I've ordered a small bag of that for her to try. It also contains the extra B vitamins that we have been giving her for her nerve damage in her back plus glucosamine and chrondritin so I think overall it will be a good choice for her. I know the glucosamine is controversial but at her age, I am willing to give her all the extra vitamins and stuff I can to help her out!

 

[BoxerMommie]

As I said I have not checked the labels for the salmon oil since that's one issue my dog does not have however I did know they do not have oatmeal. There is a reason why I said I did not know and you'd have to look.

 

[BoxerMommie]

You have to really read the Natural Balance labels carefully. The canned Duck has no salmon oil but the dry Duck kibble does. The canned venison has salmon oil but the dry venison kibble does not! I do buy the Natural Balance crunchy treats for her and she likes those although the bison and blueberry are not her favorite. Most of the grain free foods seem to have salmon in them but I did find that the Innova Senior Plus that just came out does not have salmon or oatmeal so I've ordered a small bag of that for her to try. It also contains the extra B vitamins that we have been giving her for her nerve damage in her back plus glucosamine and chrondritin so I think overall it will be a good choice for her. I know the glucosamine is controversial but at her age, I am willing to give her all the extra vitamins and stuff I can to help her out!

Honestly there's not enough of the Glucosamine in foods to make a difference, if it's something you want to use I'd recommend an actual supplement separately.

Also, Innova Evo, Canidae's Grain free, Natural Balance's Lamb Meal and Brown Rice, NB's Venison and Sweet Potato, and California Natural's Chicken and Rice, and California Natural's Lamb and Rice do not have oatmeal or salmon oil in them. These are the ones I could think of off the top of my head and double checked for you. Someone else may have a thought as well.

 

[claybuster]

So, after all these years of depriving her, she is so happy to be getting meat!

You are not alone I'm sure...how many times have you read 'my dog is allergic to chicken' on the Internet. How come ingredients like Cranberry dust, Yucca, Garlic, Kelp (seaweed) never catch any of the blame but it is always the beef, chicken or lamb?