# Allergies and fussy eater! Help!



## Kammy (Nov 3, 2014)

I am at my wits end try to figure what to feed Kammie. :smcry:

An year ago, as a pup, she was much easier, we would alternate between TOTW dry food flavours on weekdays and wet food on weekends. But since she's turned 1+ she has become so fussy about her food and I am at the end of my tether with worry on what to feed her.

I've tried:
- TOTW dry food (won't eat any flavours now)
- Royal Canin dry food ( she has this occasionally)
- Pedigree (all flavours she won't eat)
- Home cooked, rice and chicken (she seems to have an allergy to it)
- Home cooked, rice and beef/ mutton (she eats but 2 days in a row, she looses interest)

I am still trying to figure if she is allergic to chicken, she gnaws at her sides and pulls all the hair out on her legs near her back... so we are trying to figure out which foods cause her to break out and which don't.

Any suggestions on simple home cooked ideas?

On top of all this, we are moving from Dubai to India and taking her with us, so the more I try to create a routine for her that will make it less stressful for her on the date of travel, the more I fail. She would have to eat in the morning, then would be in the crate from 9:30 am till 7 pm. We will be having a crate liner in, incase she goes during the trip, but I am totally stressed out about her sitting in so long in the crate. The flight itself is just 3 hours long, but since she is with us, we have to be at the airport here 3 hours early and after landing, don't expect to get her out for another 2 hours atleast...


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## kd1212 (Nov 5, 2013)

I have the same fussy eating habits with Tyler. I've tried all of the top rated brands and he won't even eat home cooked. He was the same way with losing interest after a couple of days. I wish I could be more helpful, but because you're out of the U.S. I don't think you could get what I feed Tyler. At my wits end with him, I had contacted a Diplomat from the College of Veterinary Nutrition and Professor/Researcher at UC Davis-she had suggested Fresh Pet products--I tried them all and he will only would eat the Beef and Bison roll. Maybe they'll have something comparable to at least try?


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Has she been checked to see if anything is medically going on? It's not common for a fluff at that young age to have food allergies. They usually don't develop food sensitivities until closer to two years of age.


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## Kammy (Nov 3, 2014)

kd1212 said:


> I have the same fussy eating habits with Tyler. I've tried all of the top rated brands and he won't even eat home cooked. He was the same way with losing interest after a couple of days. I wish I could be more helpful, but because you're out of the U.S. I don't think you could get what I feed Tyler. At my wits end with him, I had contacted a Diplomat from the College of Veterinary Nutrition and Professor/Researcher at UC Davis-she had suggested Fresh Pet products--I tried them all and he will only would eat the Beef and Bison roll. Maybe they'll have something comparable to at least try?


Yes, its so frustrating! The only thing I am confident of giving her now is beef or mutton... as I am still trying to be sure if its chicken or something else. But I am running out of ideas on how to make varieties of meal out of beef and rice :OMG!:

Now that I am going to India, my choice of store bought dog food choices are going to be limited, so I am just going to have to experiment with beef and rice...


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## Kammy (Nov 3, 2014)

maddysmom said:


> Has she been checked to see if anything is medically going on? It's not common for a fluff at that young age to have food allergies. They usually don't develop food sensitivities until closer to two years of age.


We did take her to the vet and he said its an allergy. He did say that he was doubtful if it was chicken and would probably be something from outside... 

She is pretty much an indoor dog in a large apartment. 
Her allergies cropped up after she turned an adult... We had her shaved when we took her from the Kennels after we returned from vacation, and did notice 2 thinner patches on either side. At first I assumed, maybe the groomers had cropped it too short or something.

It was after her hair grew longer and we took her out one evening and two days later we noticed a patch on the side again. Then again, we did give her chicken around those days too... So again I'm not sure.

Unfortunately due to her fussy eating habits, we were desperate one day when she just wouldn't eat anything and ended up giving her a sausage as she kept catching the smell and asking for it. I think that did a whole lot of damage and flared the allergy again.


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## Ruffzig (Sep 15, 2015)

Have you tried home cooked chicken only. I see similar issue with mine . Sometimes they eat Origen really well but few days they don't even touch kibble. During those days I feed just chicken. I get chicken thighs sauté them in oil (try to use less oil) after that I place them on paper towel to absorb excess oil and see how they like it. Sometimes I feed them sardines as well they love it. But these items doesn't have all the necessary nutrients so you would still want them to eat kibble. These only temporary measures so they don't go hungry after they get bored of the same meal. But this should narrow down if they health issues or they just don't like kibble since the only ingredient is meat with home cooked chicken or sardines.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Kammy said:


> We did take her to the vet and he said its an allergy. He did say that he was doubtful if it was chicken and would probably be something from outside...
> 
> She is pretty much an indoor dog in a large apartment.
> Her allergies cropped up after she turned an adult... We had her shaved when we took her from the Kennels after we returned from vacation, and did notice 2 thinner patches on either side. At first I assumed, maybe the groomers had cropped it too short or something.
> ...


What is her exact age, is she just over one year?
I don't know what to advise ~I can only share my experience with my oldest pup who was very picky at times to eat. After seeing many top internist and holistic vets, she was diagnosed with IBD at the age of 2. I've yet to hear from a specialist that it's common to develop food sensitivities in a dog under two years of age unless there is something medically going on. Is it possible? Yes but not very common. Your vet is correct. It is most likely not food related if she is still young. 

If it's the environment that's causing the itching and she's an indoor dog, I would treat my home like we would do for people with allergies. Dust free, no toxic chemicals, close my windows when pollen is quite high, ect.
Again, in my personal experience, my fluffs itching and bald patches were not related to her food sensitivities or environmental allergies nor fleas. She had mites that I could not see and had small hair loss in some areas.
She itched like there was no tomorrow. 
I'm not saying that your fluff has this..lm just sharing what happened to my girl.
Geez...after all that blabbering...I was probably no help at all :blush:


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

Chicken sensitivities are fairly common in dogs, although vets don't like to acknowledge it because so much of the food they sell has chicken. My Tessa came to me at about 18 months of age (not sure because she is a rescue) and is allergic to chicken. She was a picky eater and had repeat bouts of colitis and vomiting until I eliminated all chicken from her diet and added holistic supplements for IBS. Our holistic vet says the allergy could have been part of triggering the IBS along with over-vaccination, or the IBS could have made the reactions to chicken worse - no way of knowing. Either way, the combination of no chicken plus holistic supplements have her doing well. 

If you are home cooking, please search for recipes and supplements to make sure your fluff is getting a balanced diet.


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## Barb J (Sep 17, 2015)

Sorry you are having food problems. Most of the time it is chicken based. Have you tried dark turkey meat? Add some broth to dry food? Mine love sardines and anything that is stinky.:huh:

My Gigi eats up a storm and cries for more. 

Have you had allergy testing done or any skin scraping near the area that she is pulling her fur?


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## LilSuz (Oct 18, 2015)

I had a Dobie years ago that had a thyroid problem...she had baldy patches on her sides, too. Might be worth looking into. 
But, if you feel it´s allergy, you really need to stop jumping around with her food. For instance, if you think it´s chicken that´s no good, then cut it out, and stick to whatever you choose to give her, i.e. beef. Keep her on it for a good while so you can tell if it was the chicken or not. If she´s the same after a week or so, then cut whatever meat that was and try something else. Mine do great on chicken. Less so on the beef. Steer clear of cereals. Often fish is a good one to try, either sardines as already mentioned, or other, seeing as fish isn´t so adulterated as other meats. It won´t hurt her if you do home cooking for a while to test this out. Don´t forget to give some veg, see how she goes. You can worry more about the supplements later on if you decide to stick with the home cooking. I give mine peas, broccoli and carrots as little treats, they love them. Important thing is to be scientific about it, giving it time to rule out one ingredient or another. 
I hope you soon find out what it is.


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## Kammy (Nov 3, 2014)

Sorry, was sick and with us preparing for our move, just couldn't find time to reply till now.



Ruffzig said:


> Have you tried home cooked chicken only…These only temporary measures so they don't go hungry after they get bored of the same meal. But this should narrow down if they health issues or they just don't like kibble since the only ingredient is meat with home cooked chicken or sardines.


I have, but due to me trying various foods at the same time, don’t know if it affected her or not. Right now, I am doing beef only, no grains. I’ll try that for a few days and if she does not have any reactions, then try mutton for a few days.



maddysmom said:


> What is her exact age, is she just over one year?… she was diagnosed with IBD at the age of 2. I've yet to hear from a specialist that it's common to develop food sensitivities in a dog under two years of age unless there is something medically going on…Dust free, no toxic chemicals, close my windows when pollen is quite high, ect.
> Again, in my personal experience, my fluffs itching and bald patches were not related to her food sensitivities or environmental allergies nor fleas. She had mites that I could not see…


She is exactly 1 year and 3 months old now. She started becoming picky around the time she had her first heat. It was after that all these other issues started showing up as well. We did have a flea issue before, but at that time she was not pulling her hair out like she was these last few days. I am thinking the sausage caused the flare, as the days following it were bad, she was constantly pulling out chunks of hair till as last I had to towel her neck to stop her from biting all her hair off. A few days of beef seems to have caused a change, she’s stopped biting herself bald and I have been able to take the towel off.



maggieh said:


> Chicken sensitivities are fairly common in dogs…She was a picky eater and had repeat bouts of colitis and vomiting until I eliminated all chicken from her diet and added holistic supplements for IBS. Our holistic vet says the allergy could have been part of triggering the IBS along with over-vaccination, or the IBS could have made the reactions to chicken worse…


I do hope its not something like IBS . She does vomit if she stay too long without eating anything. We asked the vet about that too and he said its cause she wasn't eating anything. Anyway, we are going to take her in for a detailed checkup after our move, which is just less than 2 weeks away. Right now, I’m trying to keep things at a routine for her in preparation of our travel. Also, we know vets back home who are more reliable that the one or two we have met here. So hopefully, by this time next month, we would have a better idea of whats going on with her.



Barb J said:


> Sorry you are having food problems. Most of the time it is chicken based. Have you tried dark turkey meat? Add some broth to dry food? Mine love sardines and anything that is stinky.:huh: My Gigi eats up a storm and cries for more. Have you had allergy testing done or any skin scraping near the area that she is pulling her fur?


No, no testing yet, but so far it points to reaction to the chicken sausage… Turkey is hard to get... Will be trying sardines in a bit. First beef, then mutton, then sardines. (plenty where we are going )



LilSuz said:


> I had a Dobie years ago that had a thyroid problem...she had baldy patches on her sides, too. Might be worth looking into. But, if you feel it´s allergy, you really need to stop jumping around with her food. …You can worry more about the supplements later on if you decide to stick with the home cooking. I give mine peas, broccoli and carrots as little treats, they love them. Important thing is to be scientific about it, giving it time to rule out one ingredient or another.
> I hope you soon find out what it is.


I think its allergy, as she’s stopped itching now. We will get her some supplements once we take her to a vet for a complete checkup and see what the vet says.


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

She will not starve herself so pick something and stick with it. Tucker does this-he will skip meals now and then and I'm fine with it. He gets bored, but what is on the menu, is on the menu.

If you want to home cook-I am 100% for that, but please make sure it's balanced or you can be doing more harm than good. Some books to help you get started on the right track:

What's For Dinner, Dexter?: Cooking For Your Dog Using Chinese Medicine Theory: Judy Morgan D.V.M., Tonya Wilhelm: 9781505890310: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: how to feed your best friend better: Books

Dr. Becker's Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats: Beth Taylor: 9780982533123: Amazon.com: Books

http://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Canine-Ancestral-Diet-Healthier-ebook/dp/B004I6DP0E/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447937282&sr=1-1&keywords=the+canine+ancestral+diet

I am a huge fan of Dr. Judy Morgan-she wrote the first book listed there. She is fairly active on her facebook page if you have questions. She also occasionally posts recipes for crock pot meals and puploafs  I really like her style, there is supplementing but it's not over the top or totally confusing.


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## LilSuz (Oct 18, 2015)

Kammy, just a thought on the chicken sausage. Is it really pure chicken, or does it have lots of gunk mixed in with it? I ask, because years ago I read the ingredients on a pack in England, and it was full of grains etc. I´ve not looked at one since, so I don´t know if they´re the same still. Just out of interest, did you read the ingredients on this pack? Curious.


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## Gabbee15 (Jan 8, 2015)

Just had lab work done on my Lily. She has a lot of food allergies including CHICKEN. She has to have a RX dog food. It is a hydrolyzed protein which means the protein is so broken down that it cannot cause allergic reaction. Might be a good idea at least to have blood work for food allergies checked before you move. If you do not have blood work you are just shooting in the dark. On another note. It takes about 6 weeks to see if a diet change is working. Good luck. Hope this helps


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