In an article published by the Daily Mirror, there was an "informative" piece written about how to fix itchy skin. The advice had been given by a vet who works for the insurance company ManyPets.
The article correctly states that one of the biggest causes of skin conditions is diet. They then say it is necessary to place the dog on a veterinary approved hydrolysed protein diet.
Hydrolysed protein diets are chemically altered to change the structure of the proteins of the food, breaking the protein down so it is easier to digest. However, these foods AT BEST contain chicken (one of the most common protein allergies).
Two of the biggest names in these so called veterinary hydrolysed diets are Purina and Royal Canin. (See stories for ingredients)
Purina: The only protein in this food is soya which has been proven to be difficult for dogs to digest even without stomach issues.
The main ingredient is maize starch. The rest of the ingredients are made up of various oils and sugar...
In the buying guide for this food, it specifically states that this food is to be fed for 3-8 weeks only, but then also states that if the dogs' symptoms ease, this food can be continued with for life. So... which one is it?
Royal Canin: This food contains soya protein again, with rice being the main ingredient. It then contains hydrolysed poultry liver (which bird) and animal fats (which animal?)
Just because the poultry liver is hydrolysed does not make your dog any less allergic to it, it just means that it passes through the system faster and offers little to no nutritional value. The whole idea of a special elimination diet is to work out which proteins your dog cannot tolerate, yet they cannot even specify in the ingredients on the back of the packet which animals are in their food.
Will your dog improve on this food? No.
Will this food alongside medication such as steroids mask the symptoms of my dog's allergies? Yes.
Will this food lead to lifelong health of my dog? Absolutely not.
We could stock these foods and tell you they are great, making more money. But we won't, because we actually care about your pet.
We would never feed anything like this to our pets, nobody should.
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