A note about veterinary  hypoallergenic foods

A major American dog food site said that the only ones they found were by Hills, Purina and royal canin.

The point you will find is that if a dog food has prescription written on it, expect a 30% margin on top of a very high cost of the brand anyway.

I am not saying that vet hypo-allergic dog foods are bad, just extremely overpriced and for many dogs, unnecessary.

Check the ingredients on the food you are using now and what a prescription bag might offer.

Alternatively why not do the best thing for your dog and go natural so you can really pin it down.

on a raw dog diet, the dog needs:

• 80% meat (chicken, beef, lamb your choice) + 10-15% OFFAL (kidney and liver best) + 5-10% bone
• Omega 6 and Omega 3 (put a few teaspoons of the right amounts in their food)
• a vitamin tablet for humans (this works for a 20Kg dog) use half for a 10 kg dog etc

YOU could use these as your own form of elimination diet. If you stick to one type of meat (and offal from the same animal) then you will know within 6-8 weeks if your dog is allergic to these simple lists of ingredients. Then you would realize that most dogs dont cost a lot to feed on a raw meat diet, considering its the most natural thing on earth for them, and will keep them healthy and reduce all future vet bills.

Too much oil can give a dog the runs, but note all dog food has Omega 6 and 3 in it, because the affco laws require it, and its actually important for your dog to have. So you must have it in their no matter what diet you feed your dog.

The only contentious point with this is the majority of dog food companies put flax seed for Omega 3 so it doesn’t spoil but it has a bad conversion ratio in the dog, and that’s why you should use Omega 3 fish oil supplements regardless of the dog food you use.

PS using fish oil might actually reduce your dogs allergies to a manageable level. They work on all cells of the body and are brilliant with dog allergies from contact, and sometimes from food issues.

CONCLUSION

Why feed a dog a hypo-allergic diet?

Do this if you have stuck to a strict elimination dog food diet and found the specific causes of your dogs food allergy.

Feed hypoallergenic food if it has anything substantially better than the same brand different products you can buy.

Use hypo allergenic dog food if you want to have something softer on your dogs stomach, and cant be bothered with buying, cutting and feeding real dog food (meat).