I’ve done an allergy food trials. First, talk to your vet. See if there is any labwork they want to run, or any concerns they have.
Second, I used Balance It. You can get buy the regular or plus formula without a prescription. Plus has less taste, as far as I can tell. It blends easier with food. My GSD liked it better.
Your vet can give you a prescription for Rx formulas If s/he has specific concerns, but it isn’t necessary for most dogs.
They have diets you can use as a guide. Take a look. You’ll want to enlarge your diet once you get your core ingredients down.
With an allergy trial, you start with one protein that you think is safe and one carb. If that works, you can stop. Or add another similar protein (like turkey with chicken) and a similar carb (sweet potato with potato).
Here’s the thing. Many people want to build up diets that are varied. It’s a bad idea for our dogs who are prone to allergies.
My GSD ate lamb and rice for years. He had severe poultry and legumes allergies, but he did great on lamb and rice. Then Later in life, he didn’t.
I was able to substitute in low fat beef and potatoes/sweet potatoes because he had not been exposed to beef at all and potatoes very rarely. They were novel foods.
He ate those and occasional pork (once he was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma and I knew he didn’t have years left) until the end.
With my current pup, he doesn’t do great on chicken. I put him on fish kibble with fish (cod, salmon, capelin and sprat) treats. That’s it.
I’m a huge fan of Balance It. I fed my prior GSD homemade meals for the majority of his life. His labs were good. His coat was plush, shiny, and healthy. His vets were pleased with his muscle mass and overall health.
(I started him on raw but once he couldn’t eat poultry, it just became too hard to ensure his calcium intake was appropriate).
I don’t like winging it. Nutrition is difficult, but it’s too important; there really aren’t other supplements that are designed by veterinary schools to balance homemade diets.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a note. ?
Www.balanceit.com