Brutus’s first foray into allergies came in the form of full blown hives when he was bit by a spider when he was about 8 weeks old.  He face blew up and his face and body were covered in large hives.  It was awful to say the least.  I wish I had taken a picture because I can’t begin describe it in words.  Despite my horror and panic, a trip to the vet easily solved the problem and he was better in a couple of days.

Between 3 and 4 months old Brutus began obsessive itching.  It was like his whole body was itchy pretty much 24-7.  This entered us into the world of food allergies.  A trip to the vet later led us to change his food from basic beef protein to buffalo protein.  This seems to do the trick for a while.  The change in his itching was almost instant and we thought we were golden.

As weeks passed, we began to see changes in his feet, legs and ears.  Red ears, red between the toes and his legs got bumpy and itchy.  Even his belly got red and he got bumps between his back thighs.  He was a mess again, but it was different than the first time. The vet had us try a series of allergy meds to see what worked for him. Zyrtec did next to nothing and only took a bit of the edge off.  Benadryl worked the best but it wasn’t completely cleared.

As summer was winding down and full relief for Brutus seemed nowhere in sight we tried homemade food, switching to venison and alas, nothing made it all go away.  Our vet is a keeper folks let me tell you.  We have taken our pets to him since we moved here over 20 years ago and he has been a lifesaver, but I was having my doubts that we would solve this one.  In the fall, he said that we had 2 final proteins we can try to switch to.  Kangaroo and rabbit.  This is what we have come to, even harder to get specialty foods not found in all pet stores.  But we were willing to try anything to make him better and happier.

A trip to the local small pet store yielded us some California Natural Kangaroo and Lentil food.  5 months later, we are food allergy free.  He still gets red ears on occasion and he is sensitive to environmental allergies, but Benadryl knocks that out in no time.  I even added in some rabbit can food.  Hallelujah, we have done it.  I will tell you this little fun fact – The kangaroo food is very strong smelling and you can even smell it though the bag, but despite the smell it is so worth it.  The pet store orders the food for us every 2 weeks and Brutus is a happy and itch free 100 pound mush bug.

We have spend a large portion of Brutus’s first year battling allergies of both the food and inhalant kind.  Various food trials and allergy medicines later, we finally found a diet that works and his allergies are at bay. With his food issues seemingly resolved for now, I am forced to wonder if his inhalant allergies are just simply in hibernation and if they will raise their ugly head as spring approaches.

I will cross my fingers, stock up on Benadryl and face the Spring and summer knowing we have his food under control and knowing our vet will do all he can to help Brutus should more problems arise.  

If your pet suffers from food allergies, give this food a try for 3 months and see how it goes.  I hope it works for your pet just as well as it has for Brutus.

Till next time.

Brutus and L