Ziggy has allergies...

If you don't know much about what is in the food you're feeding your dog, here is a great resource:  Dog Food Advisor. I had fun looking at the various brands of food that I am familiar with and seeing how many stars they received. I've developed a recent interest in dog food ingredients, thanks to Ziggy. He has been having ear infections, which can be a result of allergies, so we recently had him allergy tested for food. We got the results back last week. It turns out he is allergic to peanut butter. In fact, he's allergic to peanuts in general. He's also allergic to beets. And corn. Sweet potatoes. Barley. And rice. Oh, and did I mention beef, chicken, and fish? Yep, allergic to all of that too. At this point you may be asking yourself, well what ISN'T he allergic to?! That list is a bit shorter. He has no allergies to carrots, cow's milk, oats, potatoes, wheat, or venison. So here is Ziggy's new meal plan:

A potato?!?

Mom, are you serious?

Okay, I'll give it a try.

Although I do prefer to eat inside...

on the comfort of my futon.

Hey this potato is pretty good!

Fortunately Ziggy seems to enjoy raw potatoes. On days when I'm feeling especially generous, I may throw in a few carrots for variety. But he's out of luck on the venison - he's going to have to catch his own deer!


Alright, I'm not serious about feeding him only raw potatoes. I know dogs need protein. And in addition to venison, there were a few sources of protein such as lamb, pork and turkey that were borderline on the food sensitivity test. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of dry dog food products out there, other than a few very expensive brands, that don't contain either corn, rice, or barley. Really, go check your dog food. If it doesn't have any of the prohibited items, and it's not incredibly expensive, please let me know! Because we looked at EVERY brand at PetSmart except the prescription brands and they all had at least one prohibited ingredient. The rescue group where I volunteer went to a specialty pet store and found a food called Natural Balance Limited Ingredients that has basically two ingredients - duck and potatoes. Duck wasn't on the list of tested foods, so I am hoping he is not allergic to that. And since potatoes are safe, this appears to be a good, if expensive, option for Ziggy. And if it turns out he is allergic to duck also, we'll either have to try another more expensive brand, or I figure we can always resort to the old standby... raw potatoes and birdseed. (just kidding!)

By the way, I know there are some excellent raw diets or canned food options out there that would also work for Ziggy, but again, cost is always a factor. I am very fortunate to volunteer for a wonderful rescue group that pays for food for the fosters, but they need the limited donations they receive to pay for vet bills, and buying a very expensive food for Ziggy will take away from them being able to help as many other pets. And since I'm sort of out of funds to donate due to buying the new house, and since I don't cook, Ziggy has limited options. Although he did offer to help...

Hey mom, just open the gate, and I'll go get me a deer!

Hahahaha...just kidding!