Not a husky issue just a general dog question. Shadow has chewed his elbows bald. So i am going to switch him to rice and beef or pork for a few days then 1 by 1 add things in and see what it is thats bothering him. This is totally not optimal for any dog and its annoying but how much would i feed an inactive should be 80lb dog. I dont want to overfeed because we worked so hard to lose 20lbs but i dont want to starve him either. Ive heard with raw that 1.5% bodyweight for a not active dog but does the same apply to rice and whatever and from there should it be more rice or meat?

In the past when i've had to do bland I fed at 2% weight and split rice and meat 50/50. Not sure I've ever seen a suggested weight for a bland diet. Lot of people I think just feed the same amount in rice as they do in kibble, so if feeding 2 cups kibble then they would just substitute straight across.

Going to walmart tomorrow after covid vaccine, not sure what protein source. His food has boar pork lamb and goat. The boar and pig are close enough its unlikely one would cause a reaction and the other wouldn't. Lamb i can also get at Walmart. Goat i am really not sure where to get that. Seems like testing the protein first is the way to go. Its really not optimal but im not sure what other options i have.

Im looking at maybe one of those dna allergy tests. There is one several people locally have used but the response my uncle and my vet had was they work well for environmental allergies but not so well on food allergies.

Anyone ever used one?

It's probably going to take a good 2 weeks for the current allergic reaction, if it is an allergic reaction to settle down. You'll need to make the changes very very slowly. Since all those proteins are red meat, what about starting the rice with either a fish or poultry. Though, make sure there's no chicken meal somewhere in that formula if I remember correctly, chicken is the most common dog allergen. Our Walmart carries goat in the freezer section, I think. I've considered it for me since I can't eat a lot of fish and I'm allergic to beef. Not terribly find of pork and it's a wonder i don't cluck with all the chicken we eat.

The current allergies i am aware of all involved feathers (chicken, turkey, pheasant, duck, magpie). I had thought about trout because i can get 6 per day fishing and then i came across something about salmon and similar fish like trout can make a dog sick. The cheapest thing might be bison or grass fed beef. That is buying directly from the ranch instead of walmart. Ground bison is 5 a lb beef is 4 a lb. Has to be purchased in 10 or 25 lb increments. I can also get venison and elk at the grocery store.

There also is the issue that im not 100 % sure it is a food allergy. It could be environmental. Stuff is slowly blooming wr have some green in the yard already.

If you want meat that isnt beef or pork elkusa.com ships. For me they are local, just way too expensive for the dog.

I had kye do the blood test. It didn't pick up any food but picked up every environmental allergy known to man. Poor dog lives on prednisone. Kye is only allergic to chicken but it is a chew every ounce of hair off his back until he's bloody kind of allergic reaction. I've known people who have done the food test and they said it wasn't terribly accurate but it gave them a starting point.

Poultry will make shadow chew his feet bloody and chew his nails off. This is his elbows. I switched his treats awhile back because the normal ones were back ordered and thats when it started. Could be i need to give it a few more days to get out of his system because since i stopped giving it to him his chewing is less.

I am contemplating getting him the frozen version of what i use for treats, but i have to look at cost. As freeze dried it would cost me 17 dollars a day to feed him. I use the oc raw rabbit and produce meaty rox. Rabbit im 100% sure he is not allergic too.

I occasionally swap my dogs with Brown Pasta or brown rice and I always swap a cup of biscuits for a cup of rice or pasta. So they’ll have a cup of biscuits and a cup or pasta/rice