Food allergies and uti's

[Violet2011]

I have a 5 year old silver lab. She's allergic to a lot of food which we found out about through allergy testing. Her food allergies are: chicken, salmon, lamb, turkey, green peas, white potatoes, soybean, kelp, and alfalfa. Every food I've been able to feed her has eventually changed their formulas to include things she cannot have. Most recently she's had urinary tract problems including infection, struvite crystals, and high ph. My vet put her on Royal canin multi function urinary and hydrolyzed protein. Which I thought would be perfect for her issues of urinary problems and food allergies. Only problem is she hates the food. Doesn't want to eat. Help! I don't know what to feed her. Vet said it's probably due to her food we were feeding her that she is having the urinary issues.

[master2]

Hi

I not an expert but silver is not a recognised colour in labs. So I'm guessing either your dogs a mix or from a breeder who does not care. The only colours are yellow, chocolate and black.

Regarding your issue I would 100% advice feeding raw my GSD Sherlock had a LOT of allergies until I went raw. There are loads of info on the form and Google. With raw your in charge of what you feed him and you know what's in her food. There are endless opportunities with raw. I will try and find some links for you to read.

Edit- here are some links for you to read

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5321&hilit=Raw

http://www.wolftucker.co.uk/wolftucker- ... ing-guide/

[JudyN]

I not an expert but silver is not a recognised colour in labs.

Many kennel clubs round the world do recognise them, so this lab may well have been carefully bred, though there is some controversy: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/silver-labradors/ I hadn't heard of them before either - they are very pretty!

Raw won't necessarily solve your dog's problems - they sound quite specific and it might be dangerous to launch into a completely new diet of any type, without running it past your vet first. There are a few protein sources you don't mention in your list - beef and rabbit spring to mind, also venison. If she's OK with them, I'm wondering if you could make up a tasty meaty stock from them (no added salt) and use it to moisten her Royal Canin and make it more tempting?

[Violet2011]

Yes she can eat beef and pork etc. but I find the foods with these proteins have something else in the ingredients she cannot have. And I asked my vet about putting something on the food to make it more palatable and she said not to bc it might change the composition of it.

[JudyN]

What I had in mind was boiling up, say, some beef, maybe beef bones, and just using a very little of the liquid on the food. Not enough to change the composition in any way, but just enough to change the smell - which with a dog's sensitive nose really could be no more than a teaspoonful or two.

[Erica]

Beyond black, yellow, and chocolate, it is possible to find tan point and silver labs as well (and I'm assuming blue, because the gene that turns brown to silver turns black to blue). I've even heard of brindle labs, though nobody has shown me actual evidence of their existence. Just because a color doesn't appear in one registry doesn't mean it can't occur in the breed - the best example to my mind is in Great Danes, where breeding two completely accepted colors can result in offspring with unaccepted colors, discussed in more detail here. Many breeds were created before the understanding of canine color genetics (and there's still plenty we aren't sure of!), and without DNA testing all dogs there's a possibility of recessive genes popping up that aren't "accepted."

As far as the allergen stuff goes - it is definitely possible that the more allergens your pup is exposed to, the more other health problems she could experience.

A few options: as Judy mentioned, adding a little something like a bit of ground meat or meat juice to her normal food. Even a tablespoon could help make it more palatable.

Homemade or raw diet: these require a lot more research and effort, but are probably the only way to know for sure that your dog's food doesn't contain the offending proteins. I remember reading about how several supposedly single-protein foods contained DNA from other species not listed on the label, but I can't remember if Royal Canin was one of the brands tested. I looked for the original article but couldn't find it; I'll look around more when I'm on my computer later.

If your pup has the dry food now, see if your vet can let you try the wet food? I may be misremembering but I believe Royal Canin makes wet foods too, and dogs tend to like wet food a lot. If there's a canned version with the same protein sources, you could either switch fully to that or add a bit of canned to her meals.