Allergies causing to change food once again...

[FurryBaby]

I couldn't find an answer to my specific question. Before I got Aiden, he was fed Pedigree Puppy. I've fed him this up until now (4 mos.) while doing some research on other higher quality foods. My trainer suggested Nutro Ultra LPB so I started feeding him 25% Nutro along with 75% Pedigree. Well, the next morning, I noticed Aiden was sneezing & sounded as if he was blowing his nose. Now I'm not certain it's due to food allergies but considering this happened right after starting him on Nutro, I'm assuming that is the cause. He's also nibbling on his arms & legs & pawing at his head & face. So I decided to take the Nutro back for a refund. I found a place that sold Canidae in my neighborhood so decided to switch to that (from the rave reviews of this brand on this forum). I stopped feeding him the Nutro & only fed him Pedigree all day today.

Now with that said, my question is how long would I have to wait before starting him on 25% Canidae & 75% pedigree. (days? weeks?) Would it be ok to start this switch starting tomorrow? (Just 1 day of taking him off Nutro). Would it be wiser to wait until the Nutro is all out of his system & when the symptoms have cleared for a few days? Like I said, I don't know for certain if that's the cause of his reaction but it seems like too much of a coincidence for it to be anything else. (especially since he has never had a reation like this prior).<img border=0 src="http://www.topgoldenretrieversites.net/smiles/204.gif" />

I hope I'm making myself clear. I apologize ahead if I am not.<img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif" />

[CanadianGolden423]

Personally I have always switched cold turkey and never had any GI problems with my dogs. Since he seems to be doing so badly on Nutro and Pedigree is a pretty bad brand, I would just put him on all Canidae right away.

I don't think the sneezing is at all related to the Nutro, however; any allergy symptoms of a food (or benefits for that matter) generally take 6-8 weeks to fully appear. Ex. if you put an allergic dog on a hypoallergenic food, he may not stop itching etc. for 6-8 weeks because substances from the old food are still in his system.

I hope this helps you!

[monomer1]

Humans sneeze, have watery eyes, and runny noses when we have allergies... dogs for the most part just itch, especially the paws, legs, and base of the tail. Just from what you've written, I would highly suspect Aiden does NOT have a food allergy (at least not to the new food). Any creature, human or dog, must have a previous exposure to the allergen (the offending protein) in order to now have an allergic response to it. (And only having just one prior exposure before developing the allergic response is really kinda rare.) Being as you've never feed Aiden any other food before (and besides he is soooo young) it would be impossible for him to have an allergy to an ingredient in the new food that the old food does not also contain (the exception would be if you fed him a treat or supplement in the past that contained an ingredient in the new food but not found in the old.) I would not feed him the Canidae at this point... if Aiden is predisposed to food allergies, by introducing him to more kinds of proteins you are limiting your future choices for a hypo-allergenic diet if he does really develop multiple food allergies later in life. Each new food introduces new proteins Aiden could become allergic to in the future and finding a food that does not contain any of those proteins would be difficult if not impossible to do, without having to resort to home-cooking something exotic.