Acana Singles vs Hills Prescribed DD

[MomOfPippa]

Pippa has been on Hills Prescribed (DD) for Food/Skin sensitivities for about a month as part of her elimination diet for her horrible allergies. When not on this, hubby and I would literally need to rush her to the vet at least once a week for a flare up needing to be treated with steroids and treatment.

Our last big episode was on a Sunday evening with some of the spots having developed pustules and poor Pips totally not herself. After that, we moved her over onto the Hills and she does seem to be much better although not completely itch and breakout free.

We add boiled chicken twice a day as a means to hide her anti-histamine tablets however I am 99% sure this gives her horribly runny poos. The Hills actually causes constipation and she only goes once a day and struggles. We are doing our best to find what's best for her but I hate that the only testing options in South Africa are a 3 month elimination diet (if that one protein exclusion doesn't work, then another 3 months without a different protein, and another three months...), and to put the price into perspective - it costs more than an average person's monthly salary and may not be 100% conclusive. Her hair is currently on the way for testing in the UK and will keep everyone updated when she gets her results and provide the company's details should we recommend it, fingers crossed!!!

I really don't like the ingredients of the Hills DD (duck) - the main ingredient is cereal and there are a million very scientific (in my mind 'fake') sounding ingredients included. I feel like they merely spray the cereal pellets with duck flavour. She seems to tolerate it and eat what she needs to stay satisfied but before this she was on Acana Puppy & Junior and devoured it. I'd like to believe it's because of the taste and quality of ingredients.

I'd really like to get her back on the Acana, possibly the Duck & Pear or another Single depending on her results. Has anyone else here had a puppo with horrible allergic reactions that seemed to disappear on any Acana or Orijen ranges???

Any advice would be appreciated as I want the best for my girl.

Unfortunately raw isn't an option right now as she hasn't taken to this previously and its been a very rough ride to try another novel solution right now.

 

[2bullymama]

UGH... Hills is crap, you are 100% correct. if you can get pure canned pumpkin, ad some to her food to help with the constipation. I am all for getting off the Hills and on Acana... if you can get it, and definitely start with the duck and pear. Keep a log and make note of any changes so you can track what reactions, if any she has during the process. Elimination diet is the best way to find the issue however it is a long and expensive process.

If you need to 'hide' pills try a piece of watermelon or small amount of plain vanilla ice cream... since they are cold, the pup tends to just swallow and not chew

GOOD LUCK... and please keep us posted

 

[Cbrugs]

I agree with Christine. Get off the Hills and switch to the Acana. Food issues can be very time consuming and frustrating to figure out. Single protein, limited ingredient diets are the best as then if there is an issue, it is easier to pinpoint the cause.

 

[MomOfPippa]

Thank you for the advice! Glad to see I am not just being hard to please. Good trick about the watermelon because the chicken gas is getting a bit much!

We got her results back and ironically she is intolerant to duck, the main ingredient in DD. We will be slowly moving her onto one of the other Acana Singles, she does love fish so possibly the pilchard.

If anyone comes across this thread and is interested in the place we got her tested, this is the website and you can just navigate to your country : https://www.allergytests.co.za/

We did the essentials test which tested 300 items (150 food, 150 non food), but looking back I would recommend going for the advanced. With essentials it only picked up intolerances to 8 items so might redo the more extensive test at a later stage. I'm not 100% sold on the results that such an allergy prone dog is only reasonably intolerant of such a few items, but I can't argue with science. My husband is happy with the results and feels they are realistic.

On a funny note, her test came back 94% intolerant to dogs :ROFL:

 

[2bullymama]

Thank you for the advice! Glad to see I am not just being hard to please. Good trick about the watermelon because the chicken gas is getting a bit much!

We got her results back and ironically she is intolerant to duck, the main ingredient in DD. We will be slowly moving her onto one of the other Acana Singles, she does love fish so possibly the pilchard.

If anyone comes across this thread and is interested in the place we got her tested, this is the website and you can just navigate to your country : https://www.allergytests.co.za/

We did the essentials test which tested 300 items (150 food, 150 non food), but looking back I would recommend going for the advanced. With essentials it only picked up intolerances to 8 items so might redo the more extensive test at a later stage. I'm not 100% sold on the results that such an allergy prone dog is only reasonably intolerant of such a few items, but I can't argue with science. My husband is happy with the results and feels they are realistic.

On a funny note, her test came back 94% intolerant to dogs :ROFL:

DOGS!!! Lol. The things we learn ---- please keep us posted


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[Cbrugs]

Thank you for the advice! Glad to see I am not just being hard to please. Good trick about the watermelon because the chicken gas is getting a bit much!

We got her results back and ironically she is intolerant to duck, the main ingredient in DD. We will be slowly moving her onto one of the other Acana Singles, she does love fish so possibly the pilchard.

If anyone comes across this thread and is interested in the place we got her tested, this is the website and you can just navigate to your country : https://www.allergytests.co.za/

We did the essentials test which tested 300 items (150 food, 150 non food), but looking back I would recommend going for the advanced. With essentials it only picked up intolerances to 8 items so might redo the more extensive test at a later stage. I'm not 100% sold on the results that such an allergy prone dog is only reasonably intolerant of such a few items, but I can't argue with science. My husband is happy with the results and feels they are realistic.

On a funny note, her test came back 94% intolerant to dogs :ROFL:

Food allergy tests usually are not 100% accurate but can be good place to start. I did one years ago that was a saliva and hair sample and it said Jax could have turkey so I gave him turkey kibble and he had an allergic reaction to it.

 

[coolcat]

I also agree...Hills is not a good food and just because a vet says it is doesn't make it so....
I feed wellness Simple Salmon and Pea, grain free. She has had digestive issues and we now use a probiotic.
Also anal gland issues so we also give Glandex which has helped a lot.
We put pumpkin in food each day...

 

[Ever]

I tried Hill's for our frenchie girl when she had urinary issues (at ~3 years old), but she seemed ravenous all the time! This was before I knew anything about dog nutrition labels, but once I learned, I realized she WAS ravenous because there isn't enough protein or fat in Hill's. I transitioned her back to what we'd been feeding (Taste of the Wild if memory serves me correctly). She's older now (9 years old next month) and started having GI issues for the first time in her life this past summer. For at least the last 2 years, I'd fed Fromm Heartland Gold with no issues with any of our dogs. After many tests and dead ends, our vet again recommended Hill's (but for GI this time). I told them I wouldn't feed Hill's.

Instead, I transitioned all our dogs to Acana Freshwater Fish (3 types of fish protein that she hasn't had before). My frenchie girl seems to be doing much better! If this doesn't work, I'll try the Acana singles. I've told our vet that we won't do Hill's, and she said that what we're doing is basically the equivalent of a prescription diet by narrowing down what proteins cause issues and ruling them out. I totally think you're on the right track! Good luck to you!!

(Side note: I love our vet! I didn't want anyone to think she's incompetent. She caught cancer on my frenchie girl early enough for surgery, and she's been cancer-free ever since! She saved my love and my heart.)

 

[MomOfPippa]

Pips has happily been on Acana Singles Lamb & Apple for about a month. She looooves it which is a big change from needing to be handfed before, her fur is so much softer and poops much better. She has itchy ears which is a new thing and still gets the odd hive or two, so still on an antihistamine when she needs it (rather than twice a day like clockwork). For fresh protein we give ostrich to hide her tablet in, that's about as novel a protein I can find since she's intolerant to duck.

If the ears don't clear up (vet checked out and there's no other cause), then next step would be Orijen Six Fish. Quite confident now that a lot of the daily symptoms are environmentalray:

 

[Cbrugs]

What about trying a different protein but still Acana Singles? I recently tried lamb with my guy and he did not do well on it all. His ears were a mess but I got them cleared up with Zymox otic drops and stopped the lamb and now his ears are back to normal.


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