Sariss this is mostly for you, I've read a couple of your post saying a dog can take benadryl. My dog has allergies, supposedly they are food allergies and the food he is on worked for awhile but he is now itching again, so I'm thinking of picking up some benadryl, but I was wondering how long do recommend he be on them... Is it safe to give it to him everyday until his vet appointment?(He has a vet appointment in about a month for his shots, and I really don't want to pay the $70 vet bill twice if I don't need to)

Benadryl won't work for a food allergy -- Food allergies are from within, not environmental.

What type of food is your pup on?

Dogs can take children's Benadryl.

If your dog is suffering skin allergies from his food, you may want to try putting him on a homemade (raw) diet. You can find recipes online and the only equipment you'll need is a good grinder. Many animals are allergic to commercial foods, but a raw diet replicates a natural diet.

Medi-cal Hypoallergenic HP. He was on allergy medication from the vet and they worked, but she only prescribed enough for 20 days.

Is Medi-Cal the brand name?

30304 This is it here, it may be royal canine but the vet refers to it as medi cal

Lol its Royal Canin -- says so in the front :P

What are the ingredients? Does it have a lot of grain in it? I know Royal Canin isn't the worse, but its also not the best.

Funyn thing that's what a lot of the vets here in Canada recommend, that and science diet. I am also not a fan of the medi cal.

EMily have you thought about a hollistick diet? Most allergies are from wheat. And even on a Hollistick diet, they will still need to get their essential grasses. Which you can give to them in natural fruit and grass treats.

Emily if you don't mind me asking, where in Canada do you live? I might no of some places to get a more natural diet for your pup.

The ingredients are rice, soy protein isolate hydrolysate, chicken fat, natural flavor, dried beet pulp, calcium carbonate, monopotassium phosphate, soya bean oil, sodium silico aluminate(zeolate), fish oil, fructooligosacchardes, salt, potassium chloride, taurine, borage oil, choline chloride, and a bunch of vitamins.. (there is to many, I don't really want to type them :P)

I live in manitoba, if you want more specific I'll PM you.

Hey that's actually not too bad. May be the rice. Could be the preservatives that are making your pooch itch too. You could try adding a can of sardines or some omega oils to his diet.

I used to live in MB, are you living in one of the majors? I just happen to know of a great naturalist in the peg...

Those are not the best of ingredients... Soy is bad.. Chicken fat - Horrible... "natural" flavor.. red flag!

Even though it says for allergies, doesn't mean its going to work for your dog... And a lot of times, vets don't know a lot about foods and the pros and cons of it.

I used to live in Winnipeg.

Not the best, but not the worst by any means. I actually didn't think it was too bad for commercial brand.

What brand do you recommend? I cannot spend too much money but this one is $50 for 51 cups, so the most I could spend would be $70 for the same amount.

There is a place in the city called Earth bound, it's about $50 bucks for the largest bag (I forget how many Kg's) what is your dog weight?
Earthborn Holistic Pet Food - Pet food & Supply - Pet Supply, pet shops and pet stores at Petlifestyleonline.com (http://www.petlifestyleonline.com/earthborn-holistic-pet-food-113.html)

THis is what I am using right now.

Holistic Blend (http://www.holisticblend.com/register.php)

I really like it.

Here is another one:

PET VALU BETTER PET NUTRITION, WINNIPEG, MB, 27 Marion Street, Dominion Centre (http://www.cylex.ca/company/-pet-valu-better-pet-nutrition-11868615.html)

Haha wow, you're willing to spend $70? Nice!

I, of coarse, always recommend Innova. Your case, I'd recommend Evo. Evo is an alternative to the Raw or barf diets. I know of a lot of people who do use this food as an alternative.

Check out some of the ingredients...

Meat-Based Pet Food – Premium Dog Food, Cat Food, Ferret Food, Dog Treats – EVO Pet Products (http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1488)

Hope that page works..

Also.. Wellness just came out with an allergy line.

Wellness Dog Simple® Recipes (http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/categories.aspx?pet=dog&cat=3)

Van Patten's Natural Balance also has some allergy formula foods, however, Natural Balance has something in their ingredients that makes the dog gassy. Not sure what.

Van Patten's Natural Balance® Allergy Formulas for Dogs (http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/allergy.html)

My dog weighs about 8 kg, or 17.6 pounds.

Lucky mentioned some good brands too. Have you thought about a raw diet? It takes a lot of time and patience, and dedication to stick to it!

haha wow, you're willing to spend $70?? Nice!
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He is my baby and I hate seeing him like this! I'd pay millions of dollars, but my budget won't allow that.

Lucky mentioned some good brands too. Have you thought about a raw diet? It takes a lot of time and patience, and dedication to stick to it!
I don't have a lot of time, sports, school, an hour a day at the dog park, 30 minute walk, plus trying to juggle family and friends...

I have a pet valu down the street! :)
Do you know if I can get one of these brands there?

Yup I definitely understand. What I do is feed the holistic diet, but Lady gets lots of fruit and veggies as well. I limit any grain intake, but make sure she is getting what she needs, I also give her Omega oils I got from the vet (about $12 a bottle).

I bet you could get a holistic blend there, may not be the ones that we mentioned. But if you are going to change, do some out side research. Just don't rely on what the sales people have to say about their brands!

Well, if you decide to feed Evo, you wouldn't have to worry about making food, because, Evo claims to be the RAW alternative.

The page I posted should have a link to find a store in your area.. I checked, it has an option for Canada :P

Evo is about $65.. It's a small bag, but you won't be feeding as much. My 65lb and 95lb pitties only eat a cup and a half twice a day on this food. Other foods, they require a full two cups per feeding.

I doubt valu pet would carry it, but it wouldn't hurt to ask if they could order it for you! If they do that...

Oh, and to help you out with some pet food research, check out this site. The pet food on this page is not rated on opinion, but is actually analyzed by quality of ingredients and what not... Helped me decide! Innova got 5 stars and Evo got 6 (which is highest)

Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble (http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/)

There is a bag of dog food at pet valu that had wolves on it (Me and my mom went looking awhile back) and it is grain free, and the protein in it is salmon, it doesn't specifically say hypoallergenic, but I'm thinking of trying it. I'm just wondering if someone might know the name of it? All I remember is its blueish with a scenery of wolves on it.

I think that may be Call of the Wild... I've heard OK things about it. Not a real popular brand where I live.

If I were you, I'd still go with Evo. There is absolutely NOTHING in Evo that would cause your dog to react in an allergy type of way.. Unless of coarse the pup is allergic to a type of meat.. Or even the preserveatives in the food.

It does take up to 2 months before you will notice a change in the dog. Food just takes that long to make a long term effect. You may see results quickly, but you always want to go a 2 month trial period before sticking with a food.

Call of the Wild, as far as I know, isn't known for dogs with allergies... But give it a try.. there's a chance it may work for you.

For the evo is is gluten free? The vet is thinking that is what he is allergic to.

WOW! There is so many different ones to choose from ,red meat, salmon, blah blah blah, what one do you buy?

-And I also found a place here that sells it.

Pretty sure there is no gluten in it. The page that I gave you, you can actually look and see what all the ingredients are in it. Its on the right hand side of the page. It has drop down menus.

For your pup, probably the yellow bag. You can try the salmon. It's their new formula. I bought my dogs the red meat because I was told that it was good for muscle growth.

I think I'm going to try the Evo, I went to the pet store and it was $70.99 for a 28.6Ibs bag(2.48/Ibs) , and the food he is on now is $49.99 for 7.7Ibs ($6.49/Ibs). It is a lot cheaper, and from what I've read Evo is great for dogs with allergy's. I'm thinking of either going with the turkey & chicken formula, the red meat, or the herring & Salmon formula. The red meat one seems iffy since we don't really know what he is allergic to.

I'm doing a lot of research on the food I'm going to choose, I usually don't so I really do not know what to look for but.. when reading the ingredients in Evo is says potassium chloride, which is Potassium and Chlorine, I'm just thinking, is Chlorine not bad for a dog to eat day to day?

Potassium chloride is just salt... not chlorine

Oh okay, that's the only ingredient I couldn't understand. Which is one thing I like about it, I can understand all the ingredients.

Yep! That's the number one sign the dog food is quality... if it sounds like something you could eat, then its good for your dog!

As mentioned, the benadryl won't really work for food allergies, it's more for things like allergic reactions.

Potassium chloride is just salt... not chlorine
Isn't sodium chloride salt?

As mentioned, the benadryl wont really work for food allergies, it's more for things like allergic reactions.
Well he was put on Antihistamines (SP?) and they helped him stop itching, I don't know if that is what benadryl is or not...

Isn't sodium chloride salt?

Potassium chloride is a type of salt that the body needs for the heart. In moderation, its OK. Of coarse, if supplemented, you can over do it. In the food, ( we can all only hope) the measurements have already been exacted. You don't really need to worry about anything :)

All right thank you, all your posts are just making me worry a lot more about what my dog is eating:p

Hehe Well Lucky, looks like our job here is done! :D :D :p

Yay!!

Ha ha, since you guys seem to be so... informed/smart/everything else, what do you have to say about Caesars (For small dogs) that is what my sister is using and she seems to not want to change it but I'm trying to convince her to go to evo as well, so if one dog eats another dogs food its not such a big deal..

Ceasars is nasty! Worst food possible. Get him off it asap!

Is there a site that I can go on that will prove that? The dog food analyze one you gave me doesn't have cesars...

Ewwww Ceasers is wose than Spam!


Dog Food Safe List (http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog_Food_Safe_To_Feed_After_The_Dog_Food_Recall)

Dog Food (Canine Diet and Nutrition): Dog diet, skinless chicken breasts, boneless skinless chicken breasts (http://en.allexperts.com/q/Dog-Food-Canine-3799/2009/6/Dog-diet-1.htm)

I'd just like to give you a tiny update.
My mom and I discussed this, and we decided to give him some Benedryl and see if it helps. Well it did, I give him 1/2 a 25mg tab (He is 18 pounds so it's a little underdose but its better than overdose) first thing in the morning and he doesn't itch all day. My grandparents came over yesterday and asked why he wasn't itching anymore(I guess everyone notices how itchy he was:p), so I think it is working. Does this mean that it is not a food allergy?

No. benadryl would technically work for any allergy. I have an allergy to certain citric foods, I get itchy, my doc says take a benadryl.

How has the food change been going?