Coincidence? Dog Food?

[Boss Mare]

My almost three year old Miniature Dachahund has been on Natural Balance -Duck- most of her life. Natural Balance released a new line of "Alpha" food I wanted to try, the protein source is fish. I gradually introduce the new food. Each dog loved it and handle the transition well.

Jaycee has always done the very occasional "reverse sneezing" when extremely excited. However, the past two weeks it has increased to several daily episodes brought on by any excitement or just because.

I know most of the time food allergies are noticed in the skin and coat, but could these attacks be brought on by a food allergy almost like a human?

Eyes and nose clear, no licking or chewing. Acts fine.. Normal energy level (not much) LOL

Thanks!

 

[Sonya]

I also feed natural balance, salmon...haven't seen the alpha one though, whats the deal with that? Could she be having allergies with spring in full force? Wouldn't think dog food would cause sneezing but who knows.

 

[Boss Mare]

The Alpha line includes three different formulas as of now with more to be released (working for Petco I received all of the details) they consist of three protein sources instead of one.

 

[Miniv]

What you describe doesn't sound like a food allergy, but still an allergy. Your vet may either be able to run an allergy test or refer you to a specialist.

 

[Sonya]

Boss Mare.....is that the 'ultra premium'? I tried that and didn't like what it did to their pooh so I switched back to the limited ingredient salmon and potatoe.

 

[anoki]

Doesn't sound like the *typical* food allergy.....a couple of my corgis do the reverse sneezing thing too, but it is when they have been in a dustier than normal environment.

Having said that it doesn't sound like the 'typical' food allergy, I believe it still *could* be....

A few weeks ago, 3 of my corgis got into a bag of dog food that was for another corgi that was boarding here....it was not a feed that I would ever feed, but what happened made me confirm that I would never try it. One of the 3 that got into it, her face and head looked really odd that night...like it was starting to swell. The next morning, her inner eyelid was swelling a bit, very inflamed, and her whole head was noticeably swelling. Later that afternoon, her inner eyelid was swelling soo much she could hardly close her eyes. By the next morning, things were starting to subside, with her inner eyelid losing most of the swelling. It took about 3 days for all the swelling on her head and face to subside.....all from eating a different brand of dog food....

~kathryn

 

[Boss Mare]

Thanks for the info.!

So I stopped feeding the dog food and completely put her back on her original food.. Two MILD episodes yesterday and none so far today.

Coincidence or not I will stick with the original food and keep an eye for this to occur again or any other complications.

I am also a dog groomer of seven years and have never had a food allergy like this, but something made me think outside of the box especially since she lacked other symptoms.

 

[HGFarm]

Ok, I fed my dogs Natural Balance for about a year and a half. They seemed to do well on it but then my Border Collie was not feeling well and lost MOST of his hair- itching, etc... it was horrible.

I switched to Blue Buffalo dog food. It's not THAT much more expensive. I did nothing else but change foods- and my dog has quit itching and has the most luxuriant coat EVER. I also noticed that my other BC/Retriever has MUCH better coat than before. I will not go back to feeding Natural Balance and mine are doing AWESOME on the Blue Buffalo.

 

[Boss Mare]

Blue Bufalo is a really great food, however it cost me hundreds in vet bills for one of my dogs. Severe bloody diarrhea.. It definitely didn't agree with him.

 

[HGFarm]

Interesting... they didnt think there might be something else wrong with the dog? Why would it be bloody? They use top grade ingredients and no junk in there--- it's all natural and holistic. They dont use crappy by products or corn, wheat or soy glutens. They dont even use artificial colors or flavors, etc..

 

[Jill]

Michelle, I'm just now reading your post.

Our 3.5yo shih-tzu, Watson (my best friend / fur baby supreme) had episodes either last spring or the spring before. I've forgotten, but am thinking this is the 2nd Spring in a row where it wasn't an issue.

He'd only had them occasionally prior to it being a problem. He seemed under the weather for about 2 days (I think he had a bug) and then the reverse sneezes started to the point it was happening in several drawn out episodes per day. He went to the vet and was put on steriods and benydryl. He went back a few times because he didn't seem to fully get over the episodes and the vet had said it might be he would need his tonsils out if it continued (I never even knew dogs had them). Maybe Watson heard because after I spent a lot of time worrying that he'd need a surgery, he stopped having the reverse sneezes.

Now they all get them, but just once in a blue moon. Nothing like the situation Watson had going on awhile back. I think it was actually an alergy to something. I don't recall that we'd changed his diet around that time but it's possible. I had been focused on enviromental allergen sources and am not sure I considered a food source. We didn't ever find out what it was, but he did get over it.

Good luck!

 

[Boss Mare]

The vet suspected the Blue Buf to be the culprit. They did a fecal float, blood work and he had no dietary indiscretions..... A bland chicken and rice diet, meds to stop the diarrhea. As soon as he was off the Blue Buf he was recovering and back to normal in a couple days.

Thanks for the input Jill! It isn't uncommon for Jay to get them occasionally but this was happening crazy often and the only change was her food. I did think about environmental but those possibilities are endless. Our weather has been extremely weird here, what about your part of VA? I know you're not too far from me.. Crazy weather, definitely can't make up it's mind!

Since changing her food back to the original I can only recall three episodes of the reverse sneezing and that is when my GF gets home because Jay is always so excited to see her.

 

[Jill]

The weather has been NUTS here. It was like we went from winter to summer then jumped back to spring, and mixed around some more. Maybe it could have been a combination of things set off by the food? With Watson, I always felt like it started with him being sick and maybe had some inflamation in his sinuses and then he had problems with repeated reverse sneezing.

 

[Jill]

PS in case it helps (ha-ha), any time one of our dogs has the reverse sneezes, I say "Oh my Jesus, he's (she's) got the reverse sneezes!" In the dog's voice. It helps