Food Allergies/Intolerances

This year, I haven't written as often as I used to in large part because I have been distracted with Kino's health issues.  It all started in the middle of March when Kino started throwing up every day.  He would wake me up before the sun even came up, wanting to go outside to eat grass . . . sometimes the barfing happened right away but other times he waited until we got back into bed and I fell back asleep before he needed to go outside again.

This went on for weeks and weeks . . .  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Then he began having bloody diarrhea every few days.  I tried every kind of holistic remedy I could find but still he wasn't getting better.  I switched him to boiled chicken and rice but he still didn't get better. In many ways, he seemed to get worse.

Long story short, I finally discovered that Kino had a bad case of colitis/IBS brought on by food intolerances . . . and a case of giardia on top of that.  I have spend countless hours researching food intolerances and how they are different from food allergies and it turns out Kino has both.

The culprit was my changing his dog food in the middle of March, from a turkey based food to a fish based food.  I had no idea Kino had such a severe intolerance to fish but that lesson kept hitting me over and over again.

When a dog has food issues like Kino, they recommend putting them on a limited ingredient dog food, which I did repeatedly, each time with no improvement in his condition.  I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to read the labels more closely and discover that the common ingredient in all these "limited ingredient dog foods" is fish oil.  Clearly my boy cannot handle fish in any form.

I learned a lot about the difference between food allergies and food intolerances - since unfortunately Kino has both. While the food allergy reaction is less dramatic (thick, white gluey/foamy saliva, chapped lips, itchy skin as opposed to vomiting), it was getting nearly impossible to avoid all the things he was allergic to (i.e. rice, potatoes, chicken, turkey, duck, pork, etc).

After much resistance on my part, I finally broke down and started making his food myself.  It was something I absolutely did not want to do but there wasn't a single food on the market that didn't have some ingredient he had a reaction to.

The process has come with a lot of trial and error.  When he started to lose weight no matter how big the portions, I learned that while WE tend to eat meat that is lower in fat, dogs actually need all that fat.  When he still wasn't putting on weight, even with the high fat meat, I learned that my lack of math skills continues to haunt me. After a little tutoring session with my father, I learned how to translate pounds into cups to make sure I had the right ratio of protein in his food.  Kino finally stopped losing weight.

It has also been challenging to clear up his colitis. Even with the elimination of major food triggers, we seemed to be stuck in a 3 day cycle of tummy trouble. Every three days, he would wake me up before the sun came up to go outside, eat grass and throw up.  I never did figure out why it occurred every 3 days but that was the cycle we were stuck in  (and anyone who knows me knows that getting up before the sun is the LAST thing I want to do) but we soldiered on, month after month.

Finally at the end of August, through some wonderful divinely orchestrated guidance, I connected with an old friend who sells CBD oil.  After learning it can help with gastrointestinal issues, I decided to give it a try.  Much to my delight, we finally broke the 3 day cycle!  In fact, we had gone almost 3 WEEKS and I was hopeful we had finally resolved the colitis . . . and then another morning of barfing.  I suspect that Kino is also allergic to cucumbers because that was the only thing he had eaten that was different. (I had been picking them out of my salads each night and sharing them with him). So, the trial and error still continues but we're finally getting a handle on it.

It's been a very educational 6 months for us.  I can't say I have loved the experience but I am grateful for what I have learned.  If any of you are struggling with food allergies and/or intolerances with your pets, I'm happy to share information with you so let me know if I can help!