Hi.

(Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to explain a little about why I am going down the home made food route).

My 12month cream Labradoodle suffers from allergies (this started in April) and it's been a massive challenge getting a food that reacts well with his digestive system and doesn't produce copious amounts of cow pats;... at the moment, after months of trial and error - he is producing (mostly) firm calling cards. The loose stools have been playing havoc with his anal glands, poor thing, and have resulted in him chewing his legs for some kind of psychological relief. He has been to the vets every month since April, bless him - and although he is vastly improved I find I need to pop on his Elizabethan collar when he's alone to prevent him from chewing.

(I have discovered Sweet Relief, a natural remedy cream which that wonders and soothes and heals him).

He's on Piriton antihistamines for is allergies, as recommended by my vet, and has in the past been on steroid cream which is not ideal but worked a treat.

I am seriously contemplating feeding him home made food, preferably food I can freeze, but I have absolutely no idea where to begin other than thinking of tripe, chicken or liver.

Has anyone any ideas of what I should be cooking or not cooking and what to mix it with for roughage - if that is needed. I have heard horror stories about canned and complete food and how it detrimental to a dog's health especially one that suffers from allergies.

At the moment he's on a very plain complete food mixed with canned food (Tesco's own is the only canned food he can tolerate) - but I worry about the harm in the long term, only because of his health troubles - allergies.

I would love to hear from owners who feed their dogs on home made food; and ideas will be gratefully received.

Oh, he's 29 kilos - so he's a big boy.

Thank you.

[quote=tim_smith;79074895]Hi.

(Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to explain a little about why I am going down the home made food route).

My 12month cream Labradoodle suffers from allergies (this started in April) and it's been a massive challenge getting a food that reacts well with his digestive system and doesn't produce copious amounts of cow pats;... at the moment, after months of trial and error - he is producing (mostly) firm calling cards. The loose stools have been playing havoc with his anal glands, poor thing, and have resulted in him chewing his legs for some kind of psychological relief. He has been to the vets every month since April, bless him - and although he is vastly improved I find I need to pop on his Elizabethan collar when he's alone to prevent him from chewing.

(I have discovered Sweet Relief, a natural remedy cream which that wonders and soothes and heals him).

He's on Piriton antihistamines for is allergies, as recommended by my vet, and has in the past been on steroid cream which is not ideal but worked a treat.

I am seriously contemplating feeding him home made food, preferably food I can freeze, but I have absolutely no idea where to begin other than thinking of tripe, chicken or liver.

Has anyone any ideas of what I should be cooking or not cooking and what to mix it with for roughage - if that is needed. I have heard horror stories about canned and complete food and how it detrimental to a dog's health especially one that suffers from allergies.

At the moment he's on a very plain complete food mixed with canned food (Tesco's own is the only canned food he can tolerate) - but I worry about the harm in the long term, only because of his health troubles - allergies.

I would love to hear from owners who feed their dogs on home made food; and ideas will be gratefully received - for example, what quantities (percentages) of different food groups are needed to create a balanced meal and whether or not supplements are necessary..

Oh, he's 29 kilos.

My Golden Retriever has always had a delicate tum when it comes to food allergies. I have never done the homemade food thing. However the only branded food that doesn't have any odd effects on him is the James Wellbeloved hypo allergenic stuff with veggies instead of rice, it's a bit more expensive and only comes in a 10kg bag instead of the usual 15kg.

My dog has poor kidney and liver health so she gets part prescription food and part home made. I can't give red meat or bones or liver. But tripe, chicken and veggies like green beans are ok. Plus sweet potatoes, rice and pasta.
According to the vets my girl should have been dead 2 years ago but I put her tail waggy self down to good home cooking!
There are plenty of resources on the net including info on any supplements.

I home cooked for my lurcher as he couldn't tolerate dried food. He mainly had chicken or fish with potatoes and veggies. He was wheat intolerant so pasta was out and I could never quite decide if he was ok with rice or not. He lived until he was 13 when arthritis and a back problem became too much but otherwise he was healthy.

I'm currently home cooking for my whippet x as he has kidney failure and can't have the commercial prescription food due to conflicting health problems. My vet gave me a basic guide to what they need. I also partially home cook for my greyhound as she has multiple food allergies and stomach problems and can only cope with one kibble meal a day. She has sweet potato, butternut squash and pumpkin for carbs and white fish or chicken, occasionally a little salmon and any veggies we have around.

You need to add a multi vit for insurance and check out calcium levels. I can send you a copy of the diet my vet gave me if you pm me your email address, it gives amounts per day for the weight of the dog and makes a good starting point.

I would say that it is a big commitment and far from cheap. Good luck!

Have you considered food allergy testing? It's not cheap but some insurers will cover it if you're insured. It's not an absolute science but helped enormously in giving me a starting point for Gracie. She has spells when she can tolerate kibble for her breakfast and enjoys it. It wasn't easy to find ones that fit her intolerances but I've found 3. She has home cooked for her tea and porridge made with water for her supper as without something in her stomach at bedtime she has acid reflux.

Hi.

(I seem to have a stutter).

Thanks for all the helpful advice it's very much appreciated.

Riversmum, yes, Molliepops suggested this a while back and I am considering getting him tested. That's a good idea about his insurance, I will check it out tomorrow. I'll also ring my vet in the morning to ask for a general cost. Would he have to stay overnight at the vets for allergy testing?

Mrsgrumpy49, I have Googled for recipes and ended up with a headache lol there's a lot to take in.

(I have had dogs all my life and Max is the first with an allergy and it's quiet scary and I am anxious to do the right thing for him whatever it takes).

But you are right, there's lots of helpful advice out there. I will talk to my vet regarding his diet, thankfully his current food seems to help with his cow pats.

Soomacdoo, thanks for the advice, I will Google James Wellbeloved hypo allergenic. I am glad your Retriever is doing well on it.

I am glad I kept his Edwardian collar from his snip op back in march.

Thanks once again...

We were advised by our vet that as long as we broadly feed a third protein, a third vegetable and a third carbohydrate we would be giving our late allergy sufferer the best diet we could. That just meant finding ones he was OK with, so ours were chicken, potatoes and bags of Tesco mixed vegetables. We would boil it all up together or bake the potatoes for a different texture and mix it all up we added a bit of oil - he was OK on vegetable oil or fish oil. It can be frozen but will keep in a air tight box in the fridge for 3-4 days too. So I cooked twice a week and kept it in the fridge.

I used to make gluten free biscuits too with cheese potato flour and garlic which he loved too.

Hi Molliepops, thanks for your proportions advice. Yes, the hardest thing is going to be finding out what suits Max and what doesn't, and I am fully committed to the cause.

Baked potatoes would be a great filler in the right quantities - I suppose it's going to be trial an error again and introducing different foods gradually. That's good advice about gluten free, thank you.

I am sure I'll be an expert in this in no time .

If I can help at al just yell Tim I know how hard it can be to get it right.

Thanks Molliepops, that's good to know, it is kind of scary

Have you thought of feeding raw? I feed my 3 dogs raw and they all are thriving.
Any pet store has raw food in their freezer, just need to let it defrost, weigh the amount and feed, but at least 3 times a day.

Have you considered organic food like Lilys Kitchen?

A friend of mine gives this to his sensitive dog. He tried other stuff but the dog didn't like it, but since he's been giving it this stuff it loves it, and doesn't get the dry skin or stomach upsets.

Hi Absolutely.

I have read that feeding raw food is good for dogs as it's more natural for them and better suited to their digestive systems. I will definitely look into this option, although I am a bit squeamish - I think that's what's been putting me off. I am glad yours are thriving on it, that's encouraging.

It certainly sounds like a good option - what do you feed yours' is it a mixture or one meat at a time? Thank you.

Thanks Armi, I will Google Lilys Kitchen.

Be careful with raw and lilys kitchen they can still have allergens which for instance if your dog is allergic to lamb in dogs food can be very much more serious if you feed them raw lamb.

Lilys is gluten free but has many mixtures of ingredients that can make a truly allergic dog itch.

No they get lots of different proteins, but their basic diet is the chicken mince which has the bone (which they need), and then i mix in some of the others. I personally also buy liver, kidney on occassion and mix that in. Plus they get frozen spratts of white fish. But if you want it easy I find http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/?gclid=...FSsKwwodD2kAfg are good, they have frozen blocks formed from all the dog needs, you could if you wanted just feed that. Just make sure you do get all the different varieties.

Thanks ever so much for this, great advice. Thanks for the link. Like us, they'll need balanced meals with variety - yours' certainly have a nice variety. Bones - especially chicken - are my only worry, but that's only because I've always been advised not to give them to my dogs, I realise however that's what they would eat naturally if they were still wild.

Whatever I decide will be in Max's best interests.

I have received some great advice from forum members, thank you.

I certainly have a lot of research to do and I'll run it past my vet as well.

Just to put your mind at rest, chicken bones are perfectly fine if raw, they are softer, they only get hard and splinter when cooked.

The bone in the mince is so small you cant see it.

The allergy tests are just blood tests, can't remember if they had to miss breakfast for it or not so no big deal. Gracies showed intolerance to all red meats, wheat, rice, maize, potatoes, soya, eggs....more stuff than not. The kibble that fits her intolerances is Lilys kitchen. Our other dog had various allergy tests and food tests as she was eating her feet but hers just came back showing store cupboard mite allergy (they are in all dried food and can be killed by freezing and thawing the food just before giving it to them) and maize which is a very common allergen, often causing itching.

The sheet the vet gave me has different proportions from mollipops, its 70g chicken to 140g rice and lists food swaps for them, the amount of swap depends on the food, fish for example is 140g to 140g rice. The 70/140 is the daily amount for a 10k dog. It also lists the amount of salt, oil and calcium you need to add to get a balanced diet, and a small amount of liver daily too. Feeding them a balanced home cooked diet isn't quite as simple as it seems but once you get the hang of it's not too bad and starting it with a young dogs means that it does need to be balanced if its for life.

Ours have a lot of boneless chicken thighs, they're better than breast. It's cheap in Aldi, I dry fry them in a good quality non stick pan then chop them up cooked as handling raw chicken isn't a good idea. I pour off most of the fat. You can get Wagg gravy mix to make it a bit tastier or make up human low salt gravy granules thinly but check it hasn't got onion or onion powder in it. I often use frozen mixed veg for ease but in order for dogs to digest veggies they need to be well cooked or liquidised. It won't harm them if they aren't cooked so much but they tend to come out as they went in! Undercooked potatoes are bad for them, likely to make them sick.

Gracies food tests were around £200 3 yrs ago. Obviously it can't test everything but it does the most common foods. A friend had been freeing her dog fish and potatoes in a desperate attempt to settle her tummy - she had tests and it showed an intolerance to fish! You can guess some things, I'd worked out that Gracie had problems with rice, wheat and lamb but not beef and venison or potatoes!

Hi Absolutely, thanks for that, it makes sense when you think about it (the bones being too soft once cooked).

If they're small, like you say, it should be fine. Ha, I had big chicken bones in my mind for some reason.

Thanks Riversmum, blood tests sound ok. Max is really laid back and doesn't mind being poked and prodded, thank goodness as he's been poked and prodded quite a bot over the past months..bless him.

It sounds like a minefield with all the things he could be allergic to, he definitely needs testing; especially as what suits one dog will aggravate another.

You're right, it's not as simple as it seems, I definitely couldn't embark on this without help from other forums members' experiences, the web and my vet.

I think the proportions of protein, carbohydrates etc can be altered as long as it's balanced over say a week or so.

I have an Aldi just down the road so that is handy. A little low salt gravy is a good tip, that will make it nice and tasty.

I will certainly get a liquidiser, that's a good idea, for myself as well. I suppose once I get into the swing of things after having found a suitable meal replacement for Max it will be much easier and I won't be so anxious.

He was absolutely fine in every aspect until April so I tend to think it's a seasonal thing or perhaps that just started his allergies. I am glad Gracie is ok now.. So it's going to be several hundred pounds, at least I know and can just manage, thankfully I have a little saved. (My vet is expensive as well but they are excellent).

Thanks for all your help, it's putting my mind at ease having everyone's support.