Food Friday: Alternative Protein Roundup, Venison Edition

Brisbane's Bark Blog is approaching its second birthday, and we're taking a look back at some of the unique and interesting goodies we've found for dogs with food allergies. Brisbane himself is allergic to poultry and eggs, and was recently diagnosed with corn, barley, and sweet potato allergies as well. Finding foods, treats, and chews for him is an ongoing project, and I'm always looking for new things to try.

Venison is a popular protein found in quite a few limited ingredient diets intended for dogs with food allergies. I assume it's also somewhat easy to get in places where people hunt. Here on the coast of southern California, nobody hunts. Well maybe a few people do, but nobody talks about it. Saying you go out and kill animals for sport sort of feels antisocial, unless those animals are fish. Guns aren't common either, and the people who do have them tend to keep them in lockers at shooting ranges. I have seen a number of raw feeders recommend asking friends that hunt for their freezerburned deer meat, which seems downright foreign when I know so many people that have never even tasted venison.

Photo by Erin Koski

Anyway, venison is a nice flavorful game meat that my dogs absolutely love. Like rabbit, it is a common alternative protein that does not seem to be a common allergen yet.

Venison Food

Stella & Chewy's makes both freeze-dried and frozen Simply Venison raw dog food. Primal also offer a frozen raw singe-protein venison food in their Primal Nuggets product line.  

In the non-raw food department, Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Sweet Potato and Venison food was a common sight around my house until I figured out that Brisbane was allergic to sweet potatoes. We also tried the canned version back when the place I worked still carried it. Wysong gave me a coupon for free shipping, so I bought a bag of Epigen Venison, but Ru didn't like it. I'm not sure I would buy it again because it contained powdered barley grass and Briz has a barley allergy. Likewise, we'll be skipping the Party Animal Heavenly Venison canned food from now on because it contains sweet potatoes. 

So far, I think our favorite venison-based single-protein dog food has been the Canine Caviar Wilderness dog food. The canned version also went over well here. It's awfully high in calories for Brisbane, though. At the moment, we're working our way through the big bag of Pure Vita Venison and Red Lentils that the company handed out when my employers started carrying their products. Free dog food is my favorite kind of dog food. Ziwi Peak makes an air-dried venison, but it costs way more than their beef dog food so I've not been able to bring myself to buy it yet. I bet it smells horrible yet wonderful.

Venison Treats

So far I think our absolute favorite treat has been the Superior Farms Venison Crepe. It was basically a soft, delicious rawhide chew, but made out of a deer instead. We've had numerous Etta Says Deer Chews show up in our monthly subscription boxes, and they never last long. Less exciting are Natural Balance's LID Sweet Potato and Venison cookies. One of our favorite training treats so far has been the Merrick Venison Holiday Stew sausages.

What other deer-based, elk-based, or moose-based products are out there that we haven't tried yet?

Food Friday: Alternative Protein Roundup, Rabbit Edition

Brisbane's Bark Blog has been around for close to two years now, and in that time we've reviewed a lot of food and treats that use allergy-friendly alternative proteins like rabbit. Since Brisbane is allergic to poultry, I don't normally consider turkey and duck to be alternative proteins. I also know that beef is a common allergen, and that buffalo and bison may not be different enough for dogs with beef allergies. Lamb was considered alternative a couple of decades ago but has become increasingly more common since then. For the purpose of this blog post, I'm going to stick with the more exotic choices.

Rabbit is a high-protein, lean meat that, frankly, should be cheaper and easier to find in the grocery store. Those little buggers are everywhere, on the trail one even leaped into Brisbane's mouth. I bet giant bunny feedlots in the middle of California would smell way better than the legions of cows currently occupying that space.

This picture has nothing to do with this post.
Photo by Erin Koski

Rabbit Food

I think our favorite rabbit-based food is Stella & Chewy's Absolutely Rabbit, freeze-dried is always a winner around here. Wysong Archetype was also a winner until Brisbane's allergy test revealed his barley allergy. Raw is also quite popular, and Brisbane and Sisci both loved the Primal Nuggets we tried. The place where I work used to carry Wild Calling Hoppy's canned dog food, and that was what we tempted picky dogs with until our vendor stopped offering it. Instinct also offers a rabbit-based canned food. Our least favorite was Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Potato and Rabbit, which is high in carbs while being low in protein and fat. Mostly it's just widely available and worth trying if you're not sure what your dog is allergic to and can't get something like Wysong Anergen 2 instead.

Rabbit Treats

In addition to rabbit-based diets, we've found a bunch of bunnymeat treats. Some are made almost entirely from rabbit meat, like Wysong's Dream Treats and Barkworthy's Rabbit BonBons. Others have some additional ingredients, like the Etta Says Crunchy Rabbit Chews that also contain rawhide. Zukes offers a couple of different rabbit-based versions of their semi-moist treats. Their Lil' Links Rabbit and Apple Recipe are still safe for Brisbane's ever-growing list of allergies, but their Mini Naturals are full of barley so those are now off the menu for us.

Have you found a rabbit-based product we haven't tried yet? Please share in the comments!

Food Friday: Wysong Epigen Venison

After sending me a packet of food samples a while back, Wysong followed up with an email asking how we liked them. They also sent some coupons, including one for free shipping. I took the opportunity to order a bag of Archetype Rabbit freeze-dried food, and some Epigen Venison. Epigen is touted as a starch-free kibble.

Starch-Free Kibble?
The process used to make kibble generally requires a starch ingredient, otherwise it would just be dried meat like Ziwi Peak. Traditional kibble uses corn, wheat, rice, oats, or grain byproducts like rice hulls and wheat middlings. Grain-free kibbles use alternative starches like potatoes, sweet potatoes, lentils, garbanzo beans, tapioca, and quinoa. So how does Wysong manage to make a non-jerky kibble with no starch?

The key is protein isolates. These are basically pure protein. Did you know that potatoes have protein? Apparently it is possible to extract just the protein, leaving behind the starch. Who knew? Wysong also uses "meat protein isolate" which is an industry-sanctioned term that means protein isolated from pork. This was a concerning ingredient for me originally. Tons of dog food companies use chicken fat in their otherwise poultry-free products and claim these are allergy-friendly because it is the protein that causes the reaction and there's no protein in fat. Knowing what I know about the dog food industry, I barely trust them to actually label things accurately. I definitely don't trust them to make sure there's not even a little bit of protein in that chicken fat. No thanks.

Meat Protein Isolate
But it's cool, because Wysong goes ahead and tells me on their website that their meat protein isolate is derived from pork. That means it's safe for Brisbane's chicken, turkey, duck, and egg allergies. They also claim that this protein is so pure and easily used by the body that it is unlikely to cause allergic reactions. This is kind of interesting, since I'm used to hearing that protein is totally what causes allergic reactions. I should probably research this further, but for now I'm pleased that this is something Briz can eat.


What Else Is In There?
While this is a starch-free food with powdered protein bits taking the place of the carbohydrates, there are a couple of pulpy plant ingredients in there. Beet pulp and tomato pomace are both on the list. These provide fiber for optimal stool quality, as well as supplying various vitamins and antioxidants, and improving the gut flora environment.

Taste Test
Predictably, Brisbane loves Epigen Venison the same way he loves all food. Sisci was also a fan. Ru won't eat it reliably. I can sometimes convince him to have a few bites, but if this were his only option he'd probably starve. I would have thought he'd enjoy it, as the kibbles are tiny and dense a look just right for chihuahuas. Go figure.

Bottom Line
This is a very high-quality food with an unusually high protein content. It merits five out of five stars on the Dog Food Advisor website, and is very allergy-friendly. I would feel comfortable feeding this to my dogs for an extended period of time, except Ru who would likely starve to death. I truly appreciate that Wysong's product information repeatedly states that feeding a single food continuously with no variation is not ideal. Variety is what we should really be striving for, even if allergies make that difficult. What I don't appreciate is this company's willingness to shout about how carbohydrates are literally killing our dogs while selling dog food made out of rice. Like they somehow didn't think I'd be smart enough to read all of their information and notice the glaring inconsistencies. I should probably email them about this one of these days.

Treat Tuesday: Wysong Dream Treats

Wysong Dream Treats are freeze-dried raw meat treats that come in disc-shapes. They produced with the same non-thermal technology as Wysong's Archetype foods, and are appropriate for dogs, cats, ferrets, and presumably other carnivores.

Good For: Dogs with food allergies, since these are almost entirely made from rabbit meat. High-value training treats. Getting a picky chihuahua to actually ingest some calories. Smooshing into the grooves on the Everlasting Groovy Ball.

Not Good For: Super-convenient training, since the hefty discs must be broken into pieces. Training while doing other things, since they must be handled like raw meat and therefore I need to wash my hands after touching them.

How Much We Like Them: About as much as we like Stella and Chewy's freeze-dried raw food. The dogs really love it, but the food handling safety aspect somewhat limits its use for training.

Food Friday: Wysong Anergen 2

Wysong Anergen 2 is a rabbit-based pet food with peas and potatoes. It is a 40% protein food and suitable for dogs, cats, and ferrets. Though it is essentially a dried kibble, Anergen 2 also contain shreds of freeze-dried rabbit.

Wysong sent me samples of three different foods. The original Anergen formula is a lamb and rice kibble. The Archetype Rabbit formula was a freeze-dried food made almost entirely out of rabbit meat. Anergen 2 feels like a combination of the two, as it contains both kibble and freeze-dried rabbit. This is my favorite of the three.

All Wysong foods contain a variety of probiotics, prebiotics, and other digestive aids to help pets get the most out of their food. I'm pleased with the idea of a food with enough meat that it's just "carnivore food". I mean, dogs are certainly omnivores, but they can certainly thrive on a meat-based diet. Cats and ferrets are both obligate carnivores, meaning they are not omnivores and their diets should contain little to no carbohydrates. Anergen 2 is suitable for cats and ferrets along with dogs, which tells me this is a high-protein, low-carb food.

I like the Wysong company a lot, although they do use the "appeal to nature" fallacy quite a bit. Though Dr. Wysong is a veterinarian, I'm a bit skeptical of his claims in part because he cites Pottenger's Cats as part of the reason raw diets are superior. A favorite of "natural" diet aficionados everywhere as proof that cooked food kills and raw food sustains life. This was a very interesting study spanning ten years, but it was poorly-designed as a nutrition experiment. The Pottenger cat study had low-quality control groups, or none at all. None of the diets used were complete, and the entire study predated the discovery of the importance of taurine in cat diets. I don't believe the results have been replicated by anyone else, either.

As highly as I think of Wysong's foods, I do feel that the company serves up the same "natural life-giving nutrition" sales pitch as every other food company, but with the trappings of science. My biggest criticism is the way they seem to be talking out both sides of their mouth when it comes to nutrition. The information provided for the Archetype raw foods includes lengthy explanations of how cooked foods literally kill pets, yet Wysong also sells inexpensive chicken-and-rice kibbles that are comparable with every other top-quality dog food on the market. If conventional kibble kills pets, why do they sell it? If dogs can thrive on high-quality conventional kibble, what's with all the fear-mongering when trying to sell the raw food?

It all comes down to marketing in the end. Every product Wysong makes is very high quality though, and if I had to choose a brand of food to stick with forever, this would be an excellent choice. Wysong foods aren't widely available in my area, otherwise Anergen 2 would definitely be part of our regular food rotation. This is absolutely a food I would be comfortable feeding my dogs long-term, and they both love it.

Food Friday: Wysong Anergen

Wysong Anergen is a hypoallergenic dog food designed by a veterinarian. This is a food with high enough protein for cats as well as dogs, which is unusual. It contains probiotics, prebiotics, and lamb as an alternative protein source to the usual beef and chicken. Anergen scores an impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Dog Food Advisor website.

The sample bag of food came with the collection of free goodies that Wysong sent me. I love free stuff, especially free stuff that is safe for Brisbane's chicken, turkey, duck, and egg issues.

Nearly twenty years ago, my cocker spaniel was severely itchy. Her slightly sketchy vet sold my mother a big bag of lamb and rice kibble and a flat of matching canned food. The idea was that the food we had been feeding her (Pedigree from the grocery store, this was before I had any sort of dog autonomy) was made out of chicken and corn and "animal by-products", and so the lamb and rice food introduced a novel protein as well as a novel carbohydrate. Allergies tend to develop after a person or dog has been exposed to a specific food, and more exposure often means a greater likelihood of developing allergies.

Twenty years later, lamb and rice are both common ingredients in dog foods. A quick trip down the aisle of the grocery store will show that even cheap economy foods often contain lamb and rice, or at least byproducts of these ingredients. Fortunately, Wysong has since developed a rabbit, pea, potato allergy food.

The "hypoallergenic" label on Wysong Anergen troubles me slightly, because this is for all appearances a lamb and rice dog food. While it would be a great place to start for a dog eating cheap chicken-and-corn byproduct dog food, there's nothing I can find that makes Anergen inherently hypoallergenic.

Some prescription hypoallergenic dog foods are made out of hydrolyzed proteins. These have been broken down into their component amino acids, making it more difficult for the body to recognize and freak out about them. I've known a few dogs that still had issues on hypoallergenic food made from hydrolyzed chicken, though, so I suppose the term "hypoallergenic" is subject to interpretation.

Wysong Anergen is definitely a limited ingredient diet, and I do like the company a whole lot. I'm not certain I'd choose this food as something to feed my dogs continuously for a long period of time unless we were trying an elimination diet. Happily, the Wysong company also does not recommend feeding dogs the same food every day for years. I signed up for their weekly email along with my sample pack, and this week's edition was all about rotational feeding, Included was a comic with a person first at a vet's office with their dog, happily accepting advice to feed their dog a single type of food every day for years, followed by the same person at a pediatrician's office, scoffing at the exact same advice when applied to their child.

Wysong specifically recommends rotating between different foods, and also different types of foods. I could actually feed Brisbane a variety of foods while sticking to Wysong products. They currently offer four different kibbles suitable for his allergies, along with three dehydrated foods, and three canned foods. This rotational diet could include lamb, rabbit, quail, pollock, salmon, beef, and venison. That's a lot of variety from one company!

Food Friday: Wysong Archetype Rabbit Formula

Wysong Archetype is a freeze-dried raw food that has not been heated above 118F. It is a genuinely starch-free food, made from over 95% meat. Archetype comes in four different formulas based on chicken, rabbit, quail, and pollock fish.

Wysong makes a wide variety of foods for dogs, cats, and ferrets. While well-known among the internet communities I frequent, Wysong foods are not widely available in my area.

A couple of weeks ago, a reader suggested I take a closer look at the foods available from this company, so I visited the Wysong website. As soon as the site loaded, a banner popped up offering me a free sample pack. I filled out the form and included Brisbane's allergens, and a week later I received samples of three different Briz-safe Wysong foods.

I was expecting this to be a packet of kibble, but it turned out to be freeze-dried food. The only other freeze-dried food we've tried so far is Stella & Chewy's Absolutely Rabbit. Our Wysong Archetype sample is also rabbit-based. I really like that there is also a quail formula, as I haven't found another quail-based food and just used frozen raw quail for Brisbane's elimination diet.

I love that Wysong's website includes a tool that explains each individual ingredient. When I was building my Dog Food Wizard, I read the ingredient "meat protein isolate" and wasn't sure what to make of it. Thanks to the Wysong website ingredient tool, I was able to determine that this is a pork ingredient and therefore safe for dogs with allergies to other proteins.

As a pet food company, Wysong seems to have a lot of integrity. The company was founded in 1979 by a veterinarian and at least claims they use a lot of solid science and concrete evidence in developing their products. The only Wysong recall I can find any information about was a voluntary one in 2009 initiated by the company when they discovered that certain bags of food contained too much moisture and therefore had the potential to grow mold. Unlike most pet food recalls, this one was not mandated by the FDA, Wysong did the responsible thing and recalled their products themselves when they realized there was a problem.

This is a very high protein diet, and with its limited ingredients it would be a good place to start with an elimination diet. It is not, however, a food I would be comfortable feeding exclusively for the long term. I am also uncertain of how the cost compares to other freeze-dried foods since the recommended feeding amounts are measured by volume and the bags of food are measured by weight. I also have not found any mention of the caloric content on either the product packaging or the website, so it is difficult to compare Wysong Archetype to other dog foods.