# Food snob



## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

Once again i am looking for opinions. I took Jake to the vet and they told me allergy testing is the last step. The first step is to increase his benadryl to three times a day (this is actually the second step I guess) and to put him on a hypoallergenic food. They want me to feed him this
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/hills-prescription-diet-zd-dry/

I do not feel good about this food. I don't like the ingredient. I know this is a vet and I am just a person but i also know in the States Hills contracts with all the vets. I also know I am a food snob and I did hours of research before picking Jake's food. 

What do i do?


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

If it was me personally I wouldn't go with Hills. I would push for the allergy test. In my opinion you will buy hills, feed him that, find that he may still scratch and then find that you have to do the allergy test anyway. Also if you feed the hills stuff and he does stop scratching, you still won't know what he's allergic to!? So when it comes to treats etc your still at a loss! 

I've read so much about Hills being not good.. I can't even understand half the ingredients on the package. That does not fill me with confidence.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

This is a good article...

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/hypoallergenic-dog-foods/


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Particularly the comments below the article.. Some talk about hills and it being unsafe for longterm use.


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## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

I agree. I feel very uncomfortable feeding him that and hubby was mad that I even considered it. I am willing to believe he is allergic to chicken but i just can't feed him something I can't even pronounce.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I would go with your gut instinct and do what you feel is right. With my previous dog I fed her the wellness simple dry and wet food. So the way I knew it was chicken for Maggie was because once I put her on the single protein single starch food, her skin cleared up. But them my sister fed her real pieces of chicken to help with a pill she needed to take and she started to itch and scratch just like before. But that was serendipitous. A test would have probably been so much better and definitive.


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## AliAlfie (Jul 29, 2013)

I agree with you Donna, and the other comments too. If the Benadryl is helping/working then you've already alleviated the problem, so why put him onto food you're not happy with? It won't alleviate the problem if you've already done that with Benadryl, and it won't be of any use in terms of discovering WHAT he is allergic to either, so, as Ruth said, it wouldn't help when it comes to treats etc. At the end of the day the vet can offer suggestions, but no-one knows what's best for your dog better than you. Can you still ask for the allergy tests despite her advice? You could explain why you want to do it, (NOT that you should HAVE to of course,) at the end of the day YOU are the one paying for whatever treatments you have! Let us know what you decide and how it goes.


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## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

AliAlfie said:


> I agree with you Donna, and the other comments too. If the Benadryl is helping/working then you've already alleviated the problem, so why put him onto food you're not happy with? It won't alleviate the problem if you've already done that with Benadryl, and it won't be of any use in terms of discovering WHAT he is allergic to either, so, as Ruth said, it wouldn't help when it comes to treats etc. At the end of the day the vet can offer suggestions, but no-one knows what's best for your dog better than you. Can you still ask for the allergy tests despite her advice? You could explain why you want to do it, (NOT that you should HAVE to of course,) at the end of the day YOU are the one paying for whatever treatments you have! Let us know what you decide and how it goes.


The benadryl is not working and we told her that do she said to up the amount. No thanks. Price does not matter to me at all. They just said we have to rule out good allergy first. That's fine but not with that"food" not even sure it is food. Right now I am moving him away from chicken. It is not easy as chicken is in a lot of stuff!! Today we put tuna on his food to entice him to eat. We are slowly switching from chicken to beef. We have never been ankle to do it in the past but we need to make it work. Like the vet said he won't starve himself. 

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## AliAlfie (Jul 29, 2013)

Sorry, my mistake, I thought maybe the Benadryl was working. Mmmm, that is a bummer. What was the stuff you got that was helping? I still think its a bum-steer not doing the allergy testing, after all you want to find and cure the CAUSE, not just treat/mask the symptoms. I know its not easy, but stick to your guns and don't cave, just because the vet is the so-called 'expert' I say you're the paying customer, and isn't the customer always right?!


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## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

I got this stuff called Skin-eze which seems to be giving him some relief but of course the vet did not want us to use it. She said herbal remedies are not regulated enough. I intend to insist on a blood test sat.


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## AliAlfie (Jul 29, 2013)

dmgalley said:


> I got this stuff called Skin-eze which seems to be giving him some relief but of course the vet did not want us to use it. She said herbal remedies are not regulated enough. I intend to insist on a blood test sat.


Good for you, I don't blame you!  'Some' relief from Skin-eze is better than 'no' relief from the Benadryl. Of course the vet didn't want you to use it, they aren't getting any commission from that like they are that 'food' she wanted you to try!


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## Yogi bear (Feb 25, 2013)

How did you/jake get on with the blood test? It's a shame vets are so keen to recommend Hills because they have the monopoly. I wonder what the vets themselves would honestly feed their own dogs if they were in Jakes situation? 
X


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## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

Yogi bear said:


> How did you/jake get on with the blood test? It's a shame vets are so keen to recommend Hills because they have the monopoly. I wonder what the vets themselves would honestly feed their own dogs if they were in Jakes situation?
> X


I have to wait til next sat and then demand that it be done. They wanted me to switch his food to hills over a week and then wait three weeks to see if he did better.


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## edenorchards (Sep 3, 2013)

This sucks that you're dealing with all this and I did literally laugh out loud when you called yourself a "food snob". I'm with you. I'm a terrible food snob. After learning how extruded kibble is made and what is really behind the dog food industry I couldn't imagine feeding that stuff to my dog unless it was from a good company with quality ingredients... and those are few and far between with prices to match.
I feed a homemade diet. Is there any way you can try this?

If this were my situation this is what I would try:
I'm a nurse. When people or babies have food allergies we put them on diets where we try to find out exactly what is causing this. I think you said you tried this a bit and when you took Jake off of chicken he did not respond well?
You could try a homemade diet where you only feed one food at a time and add a new food only after 10 days of no reaction from the last food. This is basically what we would do with a human infant. Exclusionary diets in babies or in breastfeeding moms are the only way we even have a hope and a prayer with colicky infants! I just went through this with my newborn daughter Grace.

Maybe you could start with chicken since you know he seems to do well on it.


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## lady amanda (Nov 26, 2010)

Donna, did jake have allergy issues in the winter?


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## dmgalley (Aug 19, 2012)

lady amanda said:


> Donna, did jake have allergy issues in the winter?
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


It started in June and sends to actually be tapering off now. 

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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Hi Donna, regarding your vet - do you like them and trust them and Do you have any loyalty to them?
Could you not go to another vetinery practice to get a second opinion, or to get the tests done that you want, as your current vets seem quite reluctant to do them (even though you are paying!!)


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