How do i put weight on my dog with severe food allergies?

I have a 4 yr old mastiff mix that is alergic to EVERYTHING! I have found Wellness kibble and that helps but he is very, very skinny. He weighs about 75lbs and should weigh about 90-100 lbs. I have tried increasing his meal amount and frequency and adding cooked rice to his diet, but this tends to lead to stomach upset and then he wants to eat grass, which he is allgergic to. He also takes Benedryl and Prednizone for the more severe itching and skin problems associated with the itching. HELP!!!! Have gone to the vet and has had allergy testing done. The only grain he's not allergic to is rice and fish is the only protein he is allergic to. Is there a hypo-allergenic weight gain product out there or a homemade high calorie something i can feed him? Everything i have found has corn or soy or wheat that he can't eat.

How do i put weight on my dog with severe food allergies?
Maybe this food http://www.naturapet.com/brands/californ...





PLEASE be warned about the benedryl and prednizone use..these medications used regularly over time can have serious consequences on the immune system and liver. Could medicated baths help?
Reply:ask your vet, there are rx diets, that can be high in fats and good for putting on weight. The clinic I work at carries Royal Canin like potato and venison, potato and rabbit, potato and whitefish, duck and green pea. Foods that dogs have never had before that way they generally don't react to them...but yet it helps with weight.
Reply:try givving him puppy food. It's not the healthiest thing for an adult dog, but it will make him gain weight for puppies need more fat and protien than an adult dog. Also if that doesn't work, mix some soft food into the hard food.





Some other non-grain dog foods are: Solid Gold, Nature's Variety, and Call of the Wild (a really good food). You can try those also.





If that doesn't work, try to find a food with LOTS of fat it...the more fat the more pounds your dog *should* gain





Also, the person above recommended Royal Canin. I wouldn't reccomend that, only because it's not too health for the dogs.
Reply:I don't know what the ingredients are, but Sciene Diet makes lots of different formulas of food, like for dogs with sensitive skin, or delicate stomachs, etc. If you can't find a store-bought food, ask your vet what people food you can give to replace it. My friend's mother cooks for her three dogs twice a day, she says there's nothing to it if you know what you're doing.
Reply:Did you mean fish is the only protein he's NOT allergic to? If he's not allergic to any other proteins, there are specialty dogfoods out there that don't contain any sort of grain fillers.





My dog is currently on Natural Balance Potato %26amp; Duck formula. It has no grains whatsoever, and she's doing fantastic on it. These are the ingredients:





Potatoes, Duck Meal, Duck, Canola Oil, Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Flaxseed





If he's NOT allergic to fish, Natural Balance has a Sweet Potato and Fish dogfood that has no grains. These are the ingredients:





Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Salmon, Salmon Meal, Canola Oil, Potato Fiber, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed





The rest of the ingredients are just vitamins. You can find this dry dog food at specialty pet food stores. It's a little more expensive, but as the owner of a dog with allergies to many grains, I can assure you, it's worth it!





Is the dog allergic to eggs? When I brought home an emaciated dog from the shelter where I volunteer, I started giving her a poached egg each night before bed, and I fed her puppy food. She gained 20lbs in 3 weeks!


Good luck!
Reply:Same issue with my girl. She is on home made BARF which had resolved her problem completely.


Best of luck!!!
Reply:Is he fixed? That can help put on weight.





So he can eat rice plus any chicken, beef, etc. except fish and he can eat vegetables? Why does he throw up the rice?





With a large, skinny dog experiencing digestive problems, I would be concerned about bloat. I wouldn't feed him overly large meals but distribute them throughout the day.





The easiest way to put on weight (for humans and dogs) is to pair simple carbohydrates (sugars) with excess calories. Fat is the most calorie-dense food.





You can pair white rice with beef or chicken and some vegetables (steamed broccoli, beans, peas, etc.) and cook it together with either vegetable oil or butter. You might try potatoes including sweet potatoes if he isn't allergic to those. I would add a doggy vitamin just to be on the safe side.





That gives you protein, fat and carbohydrates and you don't have to worry about his being allergic to anything (including preservatives) since you know exactly what you have put in there. Also, for allergies, I would get stainless steel bowls as some dogs are allergic to plastics.
Reply:If you're willing to go homemade you might consider a raw diet (BARF). Are you saying fish is the only protein he is allergic to or is that a typo? If it isn't there's a lot of possibilities for protein other than chicken, beef, lamb: turkey, rabbit, ostrich, quail, game hen see www.omaspride.com. Other companies do exotics like Hare Today of goat, bison. I sympathize with you, it's hard to have this going on, one of my dogs has airborne allergies. Good luck.