Temperance is a 4 year old Labrador retriever mix who had been suffering from excessive itching since her owners got her at 8 weeks old. Thinking it was seasonal allergies, they talked to their previous vet who had prescribed Benadryl which she was on for about 2 years. Unfortunately, she still continued to itch: It was not as excessive but still enough to know that it was not a normal behavior she should be exhibiting. Her owners rechecked with her vet to talk about possible food allergies. Their vet decided to do some food trials and that’s when they came across Whole Earth Farms who produce poultry free grain free food. They noticed an immediate improvement with this new diet. This was a huge milestone for Temperance and her owners, as they had finally found the solution to her problem. After establishing care at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital, her owners were informed about an FDA statement on studies being done that found a link between grain free diets and a disease called dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM. DCM is a condition characterized by weakness of the heart muscle that eventually leads to enlargement of the heart chambers and complications of congestive heart failure, irregular heart rhythms, and/or sudden death in affected individuals.
Although the link between the two is still being studied, her owners did not want to give any possibility for that risk. That’s when they decided to talk to her current vet at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital and research all of Temperance’s previous and current diet ingredients to find what she does well on and what she does not do well on. They found that ingredients containing chicken were likely to be the source of her problem. With a lot of research, they finally found GO! , a poultry free and grain inclusive dog food. Temperance has been on this diet for a few months now and has been doing great! Her itching has stopped and her owners can finally feed her without the worry of major repercussions.