Dealing with Food Allergies:
Our Adventure into Homemade Food via the Elimination Diet
(appeared in ASLA Times March/April 2018 Issue)
Our Adventure into Homemade Food via the Elimination Diet
(appeared in ASLA Times March/April 2018 Issue)
When Azilal and Aziz were young, they started showing signs of allergies: itchy skin, inflamed paws, recurring ear infections. My parents and I suspected this may be due to food allergies. With this in mind, we tried feeding them different kibbles (including specialty kibbles and those that are labeled grain or gluten free) in hopes that these symptoms would go away. The boys were better on some foods, but their symptoms never completely cleared up.
After having no luck with a wide range of commercial kibbles, we decided to look for other options. After doing a little research we discovered several freeze-dried base mixes. Their ingredients are clearly labeled and all you have to do is add your choice of protein. These are often designed for a raw diet, but they work with cooked meat diets as well (as long as the meat is prepared correctly: no seasoning, no oil, etc.). During our time using these mixes we tried blends from Honest Kitchen, Sojos, and Grandma Lucy’s. These were all good options, but we had some issues with each of them. We found some were inconsistent from batch-to-batch while others had pieces that were too large for our dogs to fully digest. For a while, we used a commercial-grade grinder to grind the dry mix into a fine powder, but this was very time consuming and messy. While these mixes helped more than any kibble option we tried, the boys still had lingering problems.
After we tried these base mixes for over a year, our primary vet suggested we seek out an experienced and board-certified veterinary dermatologist. At the first appointment, our veterinary dermatologist suggested trying an elimination diet in order to determine what foods, if any, the boys were allergic to. On the elimination diet the goal is to isolate individual ingredients in order to determine which ones cause reactions. This is accomplished by first feeding a protein and a carbohydrate that your dog has rarely or ideally never eaten. With all the options we had already tried when attempting to find the right food for the boys, determining these initial ingredients was difficult. Using the boys’ diet history and our memory of the severity of their reactions when on certain foods, our veterinary dermatologist was able to suggest an appropriate protein and carbohydrate. We were to feed this diet for a minimum of two months. If their symptoms weren’t gone by this time, we needed to continue it longer or try different ingredients. Unfortunately, this meant at one point when we needed to switch ingredients we had an entire freezer full of food that we could no longer use.
Once their baseline diet was determined and all of their symptoms were gone, we were able to “challenge” with other ingredients, including ones they had eaten in the past. Each reaction meant we had to get them back to having no symptoms for an extended period of time before trying another ingredient. Once we were committed to the elimination diet, we had to stick with it no matter how long it took to determine the correct diet.
Some dogs are able to go back on kibble after using the elimination diet to determine their specific food allergies. Aziz and Azilal are not candidates for this because they are so restricted in what they can eat. Therefore, they are now on an entirely homemade diet. Pork and potatoes are the main ingredients they can eat. We are able to add in some other foods, but Azilal in particular is very restricted in what he can eat, so we end up cooking quite a bit of both pork and potatoes for the boys. They eat between 7 and 10 cups of homemade food a day compared to about 4 cups of kibble.
Since the boys are required to have such a limited diet, they need a nutritional supplement. Our veterinary dermatologist provided an initial diet that included BalanceIT. This is a powder mix that you add to their food. Unfortunately, if they are fed BalanceIT with every single meal the boys react a little with minor GI issues. We don’t want this to escalate to reactions that are more serious, so we only use it several times a week.
For a long time, it seemed like life with the boys was never going to be “normal” and that we may always have to deal with some symptoms. Often the first signs of a reaction would be sores or welts on their paws. They sometimes had diarrhea or other GI issues which meant they had trouble properly digesting their food and keeping on weight. At the worst times, they had almost constant ear infections, bleeding ear tips, and scaly sores and red areas on their skin. Working with our veterinary dermatologist, we determined all of these symptoms either directly or indirectly stemmed from their food allergies.
We ran into other issues that we were not expecting. First and foremost, because the boys can only eat a very restricted diet their urine pH was too high, or basic. If not corrected, this could cause long-term problems including recurring urinary tract infections, bladder stones, and numerous other health issues. We were able to find a supplement to balance their urine pH, though we still need to monitor and check it on a regular basis. When their allergies were the worst, the boys were atopic and ready to react to any irritation. They even reacted to baths with the gentlest and vet-recommended shampoos. At this point our dermatology vet recommended we bathe them as infrequently as possible. Another hurdle we encountered was the difficulty in distinguishing food allergies from environmental allergies. In the case of Aziz and Azilal, they have both. Over time, we tried different antihistamines and once we found one that worked for them, the dermatology vet was able to give us an appropriate daily dosage for each dog. Even after determining their baseline diet, it took some time to balance the amounts of pork and potatoes. At one point we were feeding too much pork compared to potatoes and while they aren’t allergic to either food, this caused the boys to have softer stools. After adjusting the ratio of pork to potato, this issue cleared up. We also determined that some vegetables need to be finely ground in order for the boys to properly digest them.
The entire process of switching to homemade dog food meant we also had to make other adjustments. In addition to the commercial-grade meat grinder mentioned earlier, we now have a large upright freezer just for their food and a small chest freezer for long trips in the RV. If we cooked their meals from scratch daily, we would spend over an hour each day on it. Instead, we cook their food in large batches, grind it, and freeze the individual ingredients in meal-sized bags. We commit three or four days a month to this, sometimes cooking over 100 pounds a day. Our other dogs have also benefitted from the boys’ homemade diet. They get homemade food, but with additional ingredients including kibble.
We continue to work with both our veterinary dermatologist and primary vet to give Aziz and Azilal the best balance of foods that they can handle without reactions. While we have currently reached an equilibrium where we have their allergies in check and they have been symptom-free for a long time, we must constantly watch for any of the many signs of a reaction and make necessary adjustments in their diet. It was, and still is, a time-consuming process to determine what foods we can feed Aziz and Azilal. But it is entirely worth it to see them thriving, happy, and healthy.
Back to Health Page
Back to Health Page