Haven't posted on here in ages, although I do dip in and out for occasional advice!

Nelly Pug is 20 months old and is the most wonderful dog. For the last couple of months she has been undergoing various tests for fur loss (on her undercarriage and armpits) and allergies. To cut a long story short, following skin scrapes, bloods and skin biopsies (not pleasant!) we have discovered that she is allergic to wheat, milk and beef, but no indoor or outdoor allergies.

The vet is putting her on Hills DD dry and wet food (only one flavour to start with). I wasn't surprised to hear the word Hills!

Nelly was eating Royal Canin mini adult (1/4 cup) in the mornings and Nature Diet (1/4 pack) in the evenings, with Cesar food occasionally as my husband bought this in error and we were using it up. Additionally, we were smuggling her antihistamines and antibiotics into half a small party sausages. I understand that all of these apart from the Nature Diet contain wheat. For training treats (for recall mainly) I was giving her really small pieces of Schmackos (which the vets always give her as a treat when she visits!).

Additionally, the vets are always referring to her weight. She weighs 17lb and walks between 4 and 8 miles per day (which I thought was quite a lot for a little dog and a little mummy too) and her meal sizes are small. She is broad at the chest and narrower at the waist.

I would love to hear from anyone who has a dog with similar allergies/weight issues and what you feed them for main meals and treats. Ideally, I would like to eventually put Nelly back on Nature Diet food but I'm not sure whether the vets will agree.

Which flavour/variety of DD are you using? Many dogs are intolerant of grains and have symptons as you are describing, my girl included. I switcheed initially to a completely grain free kibble before taking the plunge to feed raw. Within 6 weeks of taking her off the 'rubbish' food she was back to normal

I might add, vets are not highly trained in nutrition (usually to a degree by a certain food manufacturer) and tend to recommend what they sell and

I would switch her to a grain free food see if that helps. The best elimination diet for dogs is raw or if you can't stomach that cooked. You know exactly what's going into your dog because you're only feeding one protein source at a time and no grains. Makes it easy to see what she's reacting to

Vets oddly enough are trained in nutrition by Hills and get a cut for selling you it. No wonder they advocate it so strongly when in fact it's a really bad food

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"A dog is not "almost human," and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such."
John Holmes

Owned by Buster cairn terrier mix and Leo netherland dwarf mix bunny

The vet has ordered her a months worth of Hills DD in duck flavour - kibble and tins. It will arrive in two days.

I wasn't overly surprised when the vet said she recommended Hills. I have a feeling that Nelly won't like it too. I would rather just give her the Nature Diet (which she really likes) and source a suitable kibble really. I will give the vet's recommendation a go first though.

Hi have to agree that the Vets are giben incentives to sell Hills. We have Hills on our website, but not in store as we have quite a few customers telling us that their cats and dogs are going of it, and in some cases refusing to eat it.

Could I suggest you look at Orijen or Acana dog food. It is completely grain free and all ingredients are of a very high quality, such as free range poultry and fresh not frozen fish.

Here are our links:
ACANA Dog Food UK

Orijen Dog Food UK

Hope this helps,
Cheers Fraz.

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http://www.mutleyandmog.co.uk

Thanks for that Fraz. I will have a look at those.

Have a look at the Burns duck/rice this is very much on a par with the hills and vets don't usually have a problem if you say you are putting your dog on this food.

Do you know if the manufacturers provide samples? Nelly is quite picky for a pug, but the main problem with kibble is that she can only manage the smaller pieces.

Yes Burns does provide samples they also have a good help line.