Lab with Food Allergy

Hello and happy holidays!

I have a nine-month old lab that I suspect has a food allergy. He's had
diarrhea for a while and after changing foods a couple times hasn't
stopped. I took him to his vet and she said he might have a food
allergy and had me buy a bag of food from them. The new food has helped
but it's $39 per 16-pound bag. Are there any other options for
hypoallergenic foods from pet stores that are cheaper? At the rate he's
going he'll finish a bag every two weeks.

Paula...

It depends on what he is allergic to that is in the food. The stuff
the vet gave you is probably the stuff that has basically nothing to
be allergic to that works for just about any food allergy. But for
most allergic dogs, you don't have to go that drastic. You can start
with a new food and see how the dog takes it and try to figure out
what ingredient it is that your dog is reacting to. I have an
allergic dog who can't eat much of anything but what she can eat is
not very expensive. I just have to avoid one common ingredient by
reading the ingredient list. Many people have been successful with
California Natural since it has very few ingredients. Try that and
see if it avoids the ones that your dog is allergic to. If that
doesn't work, try foods that avoid the ingredients in CA Natural.

Thanks for your input!

Sandy in OK...

Could be giardia or coccidia. Has your vet treated for those?
Frequently they don't show up on a standard fecal exam (esp. giardia)
They are both protozoal infestations and can cause diarrhea. What food
does your vet have him on? I'm pretty sure there are cheaper (but not
cheap) limited ingredient diets out there. You want something with
protein sources which he's not previously been exposed to (like
duck/potato, potato/fish, venison) Wellness might work. I can get that
at my feed store. Look for as few ingredients as possible. Or you can
home make your own elimination diet with help from your vet. How this
works is explained here

Generally, though, food allergies in dogs show up as itchiness, ear
infections and other skin conditions. I'd be suspecting a parasite or
IBD. Or possibly just too frequent changes in diet?

Jerry...

This is the food:

It's Royal Canin Hypoallergenic HP19.

The vet did scan a stool sample and she didn't find anything. We've
only switch his food twice before this. Once early when he was a puppy
we switched him to a brand called iVet that we got from the vet, then
we switched to Nature's Recipe when he started getting the loose
stools. He's been on that for a few months now until recently changing
him over to the Royal Canin. His stools are solid again since we
switched.