UKC

Just found out the price of hypo allergenic dog food and a bit of a marketing extortion me thinks.

Anybody make their own or know of any recipes?

In reply to The Lemming: i happily pay through the nose for the best biscuits. his poo appreciates it! worth every penny...

In reply to The Lemming:
Its generally cheaper than making your own, and saves the hours spent preparing the diet. Not to mention the smell of whichever novel protein you have chosen wafting around the house. Shop around for better deals and don't even bother without veterinary advice.

In reply to The Lemming:

If you have a Pets at Home near you, get Wainwrights. Cheaper than most hypoallergenic stuff out there and bloody good stuff too.

In reply to The Lemming:

yes, as a kid.

well not 'made' it as such. more 'shot' it.

In reply to The Lemming:
Just to make clear:
A hypoallergenic diet is different than a novel protein diet.
A novel protein diet just has something in it that the animal hasn't been exposed to previously and thus doesn't have an allergic reaction to. Yet. An animal can develop an allergic reaction to any protein that is big enough. Easy enough to make at home. A commercially available example of this would be Hill's d/d venison and potato diet

A hypoallergenic diet is one in which the proteins have been chopped (enzymatically) into such tiny little bits that the proteins (doesn't matter where they come from at this point - they can be novel or not) cannot activate the receptors responsible for the allergic reaction. An example of this would be Hill's z/d.

In reply to The Lemming: Bit more info on what you actually need really! Is it an actual hypoallergenic diet or is it for exclusion testing of allergy? Many dogs are allergic/intolerant to grain and can easily be fed a raw meat/potato/rice diet, but obviously that would be after working out that it's actually the grain that's the problem

In reply to ice.solo:


Shot this in the garden this morning, not too sure how edible it is though...

http://bit.ly/15q0fmU ht...

As for proper DIY food, a bloke I work for on occasion feeds his retired greyhounds on a mix of rice, sweet potato, cabbage, white fish & grilled chicken breast. Costs him a fortune, but he swears by it.

In reply to TryfAndy:

I like how you've got a sachet of ketchup next to it just in case though

In reply to Steve John B:

For scale, not for taste!

In reply to Steve John B: I once knew a guy who ran a pack of hounds, he used to feed them on nothing but tripe.

In reply to Al Evans:

Isn't that the staple diet on this site?

As for the dog food, its just while my pooch is on chemotherapy, I hope.

In reply to TryfAndy:
jesus!

howd you set that shot up?

In reply to ice.solo:

Rifle first, then camera

As for tripe, mine loves it, and gets it whenever it's on the 'cheap' bit in Morrisons. She also gets a tin of sardines once a week to compliment her normal food.

In reply to The Lemming: If you are putting the dog through chemo, then pay up for the food to go with it. Otherwise, why bother?

In reply to The Lemming:

Bjartur Unpronounceablesurname put up this link last time the subject of dog food came up: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

It shows what's in all sorts of dog food - most brands are on there. might be a useful starting point.

Though I have to agree with Marsbar on this one - Mr Ben has gotta be worth more expensive food at this time, surely? Hope he's doing okay.

In reply to The Lemming:
Mrs. Num Num makes us dog food every evening.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Thanks for the link.

I'm trying my best to get him to eat anything, and he mostly loves eating what we're eating as well. However today he's had a tin of mackerel and a handful of hypo-allergenic dry stuff.

I'm not trying to save money, I'm trying to get him to eat, especially as a clinical diet is covered on his insurance.

In reply to The Lemming: years ago we used to buy frozen dog mince from our local butcher. Mixed with winalot and did the dog lots of good

In reply to The Lemming: My apologies.

In reply to Al Evans:


My granddad brought all his dogs up on tripe.

My dog only has raw meat and raw vegetables. He's very healthy for it and it means I don't have to cook for him!

In reply to The Lemming: Sorry to hear your dog is not well. Not really what your asking, but Nature Diet is/has been very good for my dog, who is now 11 and has never had any illness (touch wood). The chicken and rice variety actually smells very nice, almost like you could eat it yourself. Incidentally, a friend of mine who is in the food industry told me that all pet foods have to be fit for human consumption(?)

My dog used to get stomach upsets with tinned dog food all the, particularly pegigree chum. She now gets meat and pasta or meat and rice and loves it.

In reply to The Lemming:
Many sympathies on a difficult situation for you and I'm really sorry that your dog had been diagnosed with a tumour. I'm a bit surprised that your dog has been recommended a hypoallergenic diet while on chemo though; its not something (as a vet specialising in small animal medicine) that I'd routinely recommend. The most important features (generally speaking, rather than specifically regarding your dog) of a diet for dogs with tumours is a high quality, balanced diet that the dog in question likes to eat. Undernutrition is the greatest problem. There are a variety of diets (veterinary prescription diets) marketed for dogs with tumours, but the clinical evidence supporting their use is either slim or non existent. Personally I do not recommed them; they are expensive and it's generally better to spend yopur money on things that have a greater liklihood of doing something positive for your dog.

Commiserations again Mr L; hope it all turns out well for you and your dog.

rb

In reply to marsbar:

No need to apologise.

In reply to Removed Usermountain25:

Hello

My pooch is seeing a Top Dog oncologist and the only one in the North West, I think. The Liverpool University even treats the guests at Chester Zoo, so it can't be all that bad. Good job he's ensured because over two days he racked up two grand in treatment.

Quite impressive for a dog that cost me twenty quid from a farmer to begin with.