Corn is in Everything

Brisbane recently tested positive for a corn allergy, which didn't seem like a big deal at first. I already feed mostly grain-free foods, and high-quality dog treats tend to be corn-free and wheat-free anyway. I would just have to stop playing catch with popcorn, right?

Cornstarch.

Wrong. I already read ingredient labels for everything, and almost immediately I discovered that corn is in everything. It may not be in the form of "ground yellow corn" or "corn gluten meal" as found on the labels of low- and mid-quality dog foods, but corn has many forms. Some flavors of Starmark's Everlasting Treats contain cornstarch. PetSafe's Busy Buddy no-rawhide treat rings are also made from cornstarch.

Corn Has Many Names

I have heard people complain that nearly all processed human food contains corn, and that the word 'corn' is not always part of the name of a corn-derived ingredient. With this in mind, I googled "corn allergy" and immediately found www.CornAllergens.com. From there I learned that seemingly-innocuous ingredients like alcohol and citric acid can be derived from corn. Food manufacturers are not required to disclose the ingredients of their ingredients though, so nearly anything can contain corn. Zukes Genuine Jerky contains natural flavors, those might be corn-derived. Their Lil' Links contain glycerin, citric acid, and sorbic acid, any of those could be made from corn too! Zukes Z-Bones contain lecithin, which is also in a whole bunch of dog foods. Lecithin can also be derived from eggs, soybeans, sunflower seeds, and quite a lot of other things. 

When a dog food manufacturer says their products are soy-free or corn-free, does that include lecithin? I'm not sure. I do know that Brisbane isn't nearly as sensitive to corn as the person who made the Corn Allergens site, thankfully. I can't imagine going through life worrying about sneaky corn in my shampoo.

Things Brisbane can't eat anymore

Brisbane had a massive allergy bloodtest that gave us some interesting results. I already knew he reacted to chicken, turkey, duck, and eggs. The test also identified corn, barley, and sweet potatoes as potential allergens. This is pretty strange, and also makes our lives a little more interesting. It is very common for dog treats and food to be wheat-free and corn-free, but the ones with grains tend to have barley instead. Grain-free foods and treats often use a lot of sweet potatoes.

I've been going back through the foods and treats we've used in the past to see what is still Briz-safe. Here's what he won't be eating anymore:

Little Chewzzies moist training treats by Emerald Pet contain barley.
Zukes Mini Naturals and Skinny Bakes also have barley, but their Lil' Links and Genuine Jerky treats are still ok.
Wysong Dream Treats and their Epigen, and Archetype,  foods contain barley grass, and their Anergen food also contains sweet potatoes, but their Anergen 2 food is still Briz-safe.
Zoe Pill Pops, more barley. Glad I checked that while I was ordering more.
Alaska's Puppy Love Wild Salmon Jerky Treats, Wonder Nuggets, Wagatha's Maple Bacon Biscuits. Barley, barley, and more barley.
Fruitables Skinny Minis are made primarily out of sweet potatoes, while their Crispy Bacon Apple treats are full of barley.
Beastie Bars are made with sweet potatoes. All the cute little biscuits from Isle of Dogs are made from barley.
Cloud Star Tricky Trainers are full of barley, but their Buddy Biscuits are still good.

The one poultry-free flavor of LeanLix Lickable Dog Treat is the sweet potato flavor.
Healthy Dogma's Bacon Hearts contain sweet potatoes, and this year's Pumpkin Treats are made with
barley.
Natural Balance L.I.D. Sweet Potato and Venison Formula Treats and kibble and canned foods, for obvious reasons, but their Rabbit and Potato food is still ok.
PureVita's Salmon and Peas Entree is made with sweet potatoes. Happily their Venison and Red Lentils Entree is still Briz-safe.
Merrick Backcountry kibbles contain sweet potatoes, but their grain-free canned options are ok.
Solid Gold's one formerly Briz-safe food, canned Hund n' Flocken, is full of barley.
All but the lamb flavor of the Party Animal canned foods contain sweet potatoes.
Our old staple food, Acana Ranchlands has yams in the ingredients list, but Pacifica and Singles Pork and Squash are still good.
Missing Link Ultimate Skin and Coat Supplement contains barley grass, but Mirra-Coat's skin and coat supplement is ok.
The last Taste of the Wild variety that I still fed Brisbane, Pacific Stream, has sweet potatoes. So does I and Love and You's Simply Sea recipe.
I really love Honest Kitchen's dehydrated food, but their Love recipe was the only Briz-safe option and that has sweet potatoes. Fortunately they've just added fish-based limited ingredient Brave which is also sweet potato-free. I bet it smells like fish.
Evanger's Meat Lover's Medley is no longer an option for Brisbane due to sweet potatoes. Neither is Canidae Pure Land, but I wasn't planning on buying that one again, as they never did send me a replacement bag like they said they would.

There are still a few foods and treats that Brisbane can still have, but no wonder he was so itchy!

In Which Brisbane is Allergic to Even More Things

I've known for several years that Brisbane was allergic to poultry and eggs. We did an elimination diet when he was still raw fed, and determined that he reacted very reliably to chicken, turkey, duck, and eggs. Environmental allergies were also suspected, so he has been getting Benadryl and Zyrtec to help keep those under control. Still, he has ongoing skin issues that we just can't seem to beat.

A nice sunset picture just because.

I finally took the big (and expensive!) step of getting his allergies tested so he can begin allergy shots. This involved a really horrendous amount of blood being drawn from his neck. I guess for most tests they just need 3-4cc of blood, but for this one they needed 12cc of just plasma so they had to take way more than that. Poor Briz needed needed some time to recover after that. Then the vet had to send his plasma off to the allergy testing lab.

Several weeks later, we finally have the results. Some of them were expected, he tested positive for egg and flea allergies. Some of them were sensible, he is allergic to a variety of trees, weeds, and grasses. 

And some of the results were just plain annoying. Brisbane is apparently allergic to corn, barley, and sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes. They're in most grain-free foods. I feed him baked sweet potatoes on a regular basis. Also popcorn. He can no longer share a bowl of popcorn with me.

It's annoying, but between the new food restrictions and the allergy shots, hopefully he will eventually be much less itchy. This is exactly the reason I made the Dog Food Wizard.

My Dog is Allergic to Fromm.

I've recently been reading a lot about the Fromm Family company. They sound pretty awesome. It's a multi-generation business that has been making dog food since the earliest days of dog food, and was involved in the development of the distemper vaccine. However, I will have to admire Fromm from afar because Brisbane is allergic to all of their food.

Photo by Erin Koski

In addition to being basically the oldest single-owner dog food company out there, Fromm is pretty amazing at quality control. They test every batch of food for harmful bacteria before they send it out, and they've never had a recall. They also test stuff during production to make sure it actually matches the guaranteed analysis on the label. Their Four Star Nutritionals line is even made for rotational feeding! With a variety that includes Greek cuisine and Polynesian fruits, it's pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, Fromm puts egg into every single food they make. Brisbane is allergic to eggs. He's also allergic to chicken, turkey, and duck, but those aren't in every single Fromm product. They make a whole lot of foods, too. The Four Star line alone includes eleven different kibbles. The Gold line includes another dozen foods, and the two Classics foods bring the grand total to 25 different dry dog foods. All made with eggs.

I like the Fromm company enough that I went as far as to contact them via their website to ask if they were planning to add any limited-ingredient diets. Their nutritionist actually called me the next day, which I thought was pretty cool. What he had to say was less cool.

"Fromm only makes foods for normal dogs." That is, in fact, a direct quote. He told me they discuss making limited-ingredient diets every few years, but the concept never gets any further than the discussion stage. I got the distinct impression that he was entirely uninterested in the whole conversation, and was perplexed that I had even bothered to communicate with the company. I'm guessing that such a deeply-entrenched company makes changes very slowly, so I'm not expecting anything new from them in the next few years.

So there you have it. Fromm sounds like a really cool company. I'd be a lot less interested in them if I wasn't awash in samples of their products at work. I can tell people that I've heard that Fromm is good, but can't make a personal recommendation because my dog is allergic to Fromm. I have to say the same thing every time I am offered yet another free sample. Fromm doesn't want me as a customer, my dog isn't normal.

The July BarkBox, a Celebration of Chicken

Yesterday I canceled Brisbane's BarkBox subscription after opening our July box. Two of the four items inside were treats containing chicken, and after last month's disappointment I decided I was done. Our first two boxes were wonderful assortments of goodies that were all Brisbane-safe. After that, things started to go downhill.

I think the problem lies in the number of items contained in the box. The two most recent boxes contained only four items each. The March BarkBox contained five. My rating system for items in simple, they are either good, ok, or unusable. Good items are tasty, fun treats and irresistible or stuffable toys. Ok items are kind of blah, the dogs might be mildly interested or may just leave them. Unusable items contain Brisbane's allergens, chicken, turkey, duck, and eggs. To illustrate the decrease in BarkBox satisfaction, I am awarding each month's box one point per good item, zero points for ok items, and subtracting a point for each unusable item.

The March BarkBox contained three kind of tasty treats, one stuffable toy, and one stuffy. The treats and stuffable toy each earn one point, with no points awarded for the Stuffy, giving the March box an overall score of four.

The June BarkBox contained one small bag of tasty treats, one bag of unusable chicken treats, and two toys from the same company that I ended up giving away because my dogs ignored them even after repeated attempts to get them to play. No points for the toys, one point for the small bag of treats, and negative one point for the chicken treats gave the June box an overall score of zero.

This month's box contained a large bag of Bixbi Daily Essentials Chicken Breast Jerky Treats that are sourced and produced in the USA. They look awesome, but get a -1. Bixbi also makes Briz-safe beef and pork jerky. The PetSafe Indigo Triple Chews also look like fun and are also made from chicken and get a -1. Those don't come in any other flavors. We also got a cup of Healthy Dogma Blissful Banana Crisps, which Brisbane does not find very exciting, zero points. The last item is a P.L.A.Y. Under the Sea Crab stuffy, which Brisbane thought interesting enough to squeak once. They totally make a squid stuffy, and if it had been a squid I would have given it a point, but neither I nor the dogs are a huge fan of the crab so it also gets zero points. This brings the July BarkBox score to -2, hence my disappointment.

I canceled Brisbane's BarkBox subscription and sent the company an email explaining exactly why, and how they had failed to meet my expectations for the last two months. They responded by informing me that they started an allergy-friendly BarkBox last month, and would be happy to switch my subscription to one of those. Our August BarkBox will not contain anything with chicken, turkey, beef, corn, soy, wheat, or gluten. We could still get something with egg or duck in it, but I am hoping our odds of getting something awesome are a little higher.

Allergy Alert! Taste of the Wild Has Changed!

I was discussing dog food with a friend, and mentioned that foster dog Uly was eating Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain kibble because it was egg-free as well as poultry-free. She asked if it contained flaxseed, so I looked up the ingredients on the Taste of the Wild website. I read ingredient labels constantly because poultry and eggs are in pretty much everything, so I was very surprised to find egg listed in the ingredients. All of the Taste of the Wild canned foods have egg in them, so I checked and double-checked that I was looking at the kibble ingredients and not the canned Sierra Mountain label. Finally I went and checked the bag I have here, and there was no mention of egg in the ingredients.

I emailed Taste of the Wild asking if the food had changed. They apparently added egg recently, so I will no longer be able to consider Taste of the Wild in the purple bag to be Briz-safe. Such a disappointment, but I'm glad I caught it now. I have updated my list of Brisbane-safe foods to reflect the change. The Pacific Stream and Pacific Stream Puppy foods are still safe. I do wish that dog food companies would make it a standard practice to inform the public about changes like this.