# Allergies?



## animalmom (Mar 25, 2009)

Hi everyone, I'm writing this with Eddie the Vizsla trying to lovingly "attack" me!  He's our son's dog, bunking with us for awhile after our son lost his job and couldn't afford to feed him. The thing is, Eddie apparently has a ton of allergies. He was making a disaster of his paws last summer, so corn was eliminated from his diet in favor of venison/sweet potato food, with great results. His ears and eyes are still obviously red and itchy, though. The vet is suspicious of chicken and beef, but outside of MilkBones, he doesn't get any of that. Does anybody else have any allergy experience? The vet has recommended that we see a dermatologist (yay $), and we will, but I'm willing to try some other diet eliminations if anybody has suggestions. Could a couple of MilkBones a day (for medium-sized dogs, snapped in half to cut calories) be causing itchy eyes/ears? Thank you


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## denparkin (Aug 29, 2011)

I'd cut them out of his diet and see what happens. They have a really long ingredient list and Eddie could be allergic to something in them.

_Ingredients: Wheat flour, beef meal and beef bone meal, milk, wheat bran, beef fat preserved with tocopherols, salt, dicalcium phosphate, wheat germ, natural flavor, calcium carbonate, brewers dried yeast, malted barley flour, vitamins (choline chloride, dl-alpha tocopheryl ecetate [vitamin e], vitamin a acetate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, vitamin b12 supplement, d-activated animal sterol [source of vitamin d3]), sodium metabisulfite (dough conditioner), minerals (zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, ethylenediamine dihydriodide [source of iodine]). _


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## animalmom (Mar 25, 2009)

Wow, thanks! Looking for the ingredients list was the next thing to do, and I'm grateful for your help. So now my related question: what *can* we give him for a treat? We need to start training all over again because our son didn't really keep up with it, and the training treats we used before are beef/chicken based. Do you know if carrots/celery or even venison jerky are "known" Vizsla allergens? Luckily, he *loves* celery!


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## denparkin (Aug 29, 2011)

I know a lot of us on here give our V's baby carrots and organic peanut butter (or pure pumpkin puree) frozen into a Kong with no apparent issues. I would definitely suggest introducing these new treats days apart so if there is a reaction you know what caused it.

You can buy dehydrated sweet potato treats that are all natural, and since you are feeding this in Eddies food already, it may be a good "safe" treat. (I'm actually thinking about picking up a used dehydrated to save money by making my own dehydrated dog treats including jerky) 

If you type clicker training into the search field there was a good post a couple days ago that may help you on your way. Good Luck! 

*Note: I often just use my pups regular food for clicker training.


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## pippa31 (Aug 2, 2011)

Poor guy! Our Vizsla Pippa seems to be allergic to chicken, so we cut it out of her diet for now (all chicken based treats, small pieces of cooked chicken etc. were causing itchy skin and loose stool ). For clicker training I use VERY small pieces of string cheese. She LOVES it and so far I have not seen any ill side effects. We also use Blue Buffalo Bits with a lot of success. I hope Eddie feels better soon!


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## animalmom (Mar 25, 2009)

Thank you soooo much--you both are the BEST! Here's to everybody's V-babies feeling better


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## deeco3307 (Jun 13, 2010)

Are you sure its a food allergy? My V has a definite seasonal grass type allergy. The Vet wanted us to get him tested for food allergies, etc...but we decided to wait and it has become more obvious over time. When the grass is growing- he's itching.


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

Sophie is allergic to any grains, corn, wheat, flour, sugars... Took a while to figure it out. We use dehydrated meat (chicken, duck) for her training. Good luck!


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## ironman_stittsville (Oct 12, 2011)

My V (Phoebe) gets dry, irritated skin (and small hives) from the flora in our nearby forest. I don't know the specific plant but she definately got it bad this past spring.

All I did was add some "Dr. Maggies" oil to her food once per day. It helps her coat and skin stay healthy. I think that it mainly contains fish oil.

I give baby carrots, celery, sweet peppers, cheese, turkey sausage, radishes... as treats to her, she loves crunchy and cool vegetables.

I hope that this helps.


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