Fixing Mr. Allergy

Brinkley Miles has allergies.  His ears get yeasty inside and turn beet red.  They must drive him crazy because he scratches his ears, sometimes until he breaks skin.  His paws get itchy and he'll lick his paws until they are raw.  His skin will get red on his belly and around his nose.  His eyes get really watery and he'll sleep more than normal.  And what's most irritating is that I don't know exactly what he's allergic too.  Ever since Brink was nine months old or so he's had a constant fight with allergies.

I don't think he's had the same type of dog food twice in a row.  Each time he needs more food, I can't remember what kind he just had or we have to try something new because he reacted poorly to his previous kind.  There are some foods that make him incredibly lethargic.  Beneful was the worst!  If you feed your dog Beneful, Google it - it's deadly.

I often wonder just how much it would cost to feed him real, healthy food instead of highly processed dog food.  After all, he loves real food like rice, turkey, green beans, and yogurt.  Before humans came along to domesticate our furry friends, they didn't eat perfectly symmetrical kibble bits.  

I've spent a lot of time reading up on dog food.  Just like the food itself, it can be a dry subject.  When reading about the ingredients on dry dog food, I can't even identify 98% of what is on the list.  And the beef by-product and chicken by-product really isn't any beef or chicken I would want to eat.  It's from the dying, diseased, or dead animals that arrive at a processing plant that can't legally be sold to humans.  Sounds scrumptious, right?

My logic is Brink is allergic to some chemical or altered food source that is part of the processed dog food.  And the only way to determine what exactly it is, is to do an allergy test at the vet for a $200.  That would be testing him for over 300 different things.  In addition to the test, it would probably require a food change to some unique protein, like duck or pheasant.  At a whopping $50 or more for 20lbs of food, that would mean a $100 or more food bill just to feed Mr. Miles.  And he would still be getting over processed crud with his kibble.

Why am I rambling about kibble?  One of my other resolutions for 2011 is to fix Mr. Allergy.  I've always said Brinkley deserves better than he gets and this is one thing I have easy control over.  Before I go dropping $200 on an allergy test, I'm going to give the real food diet a try to see how Brinkley reacts.  In the end, I may actually spend less on feeding him because I won't have the added expense of vet visits for ear infections, ear wash, and medicine.  And I'm sure Brinkley would appreciate not getting hollered at to stop scratching his ears and to stop licking his feet.

So, first thing, I'm going to talk to Brink's vet and start to track down some beneficial dog food recipes.  I figure most meals can be concocted in the slow cooker and extra can be frozen.  The food will actually be richer than kibble so I may not have to feed him as much as he eats now.  I'll do my best to post what the vet says and any recipes that may follow.

He already gets homemade dog treats, which he LOVES.  I mixed up some Banana Sesame Bites yesterday.  For less than $2 I made about 5 dozen treats with ingredients I can identify and would eat myself.  Yum!