# Sperry's Nutriscan and Food Options



## letsgoskiing (Aug 5, 2015)

So, I haven't posted much here lately, but we have been trying to figure out if Sperry has a food intolerance ever since the day we brought him home. He has never had true allergy symptoms, but has always had waxy, yeasty ears with a few pretty bad infections around the time he was 3-6 months old. They have gotten a little better but still producing brown gunk and the ear skin is pink and warm, just looks a little irritated. He turned 1 in December. His eyes have always been goopy and runny with redness (not related to a problem with his third eyelids, that's a whole different story!). He has also never really had what I would consider a great stool quality. They were always soft and intermittently runny on Fromm Gold and Fromm Salmon a la Veg, and then we switched him to Pure Vita Venison and Lentil. Stool is firmer, but he poops voluminous stools 4-5 times a day. This doesn't seem right to me. Stools have always been clear of any parasites. 

So, in talking with our vet, we decided to go ahead and do the Nutriscan test. Our vet isn't super familiar with it, but basically said we don't have anything to lose by trying it. My goal with the Nutriscan was to get a little more concrete idea of where to start with a new food to see if we could get his problems sorted out. I have also been reading on PF about a few people who are finding good info from the Nutriscan. That helped me make my decision to just go ahead and do it.

We got his results yesterday and this is what we found:

He has only two foods with borderline (avoid) reactions. They are white potato (found in both Fromm foods) and venison (the main ingredient he's eating now!). So, I need to switch his food. It should be very easy to find one that he can tolerate (I guess I just chose the wrong ones for him), but I found a few interesting things.

He has completely negative reactions to most proteins. Yay! 
Duck and Salmon were negative for IgA but weak for IgM.
Turkey and Whitefish had weak reactions for both IgA and IgM.
Venison is the one meat he can't have. I never would have predicted that!

Starches are not quite as easy as proteins.
His only completely negative reactions are sweet potato and wheat.
Foods with negative IgA and weak IgM reactions are corn, soy, lentil, millet, oatmeal, and rice. Lentil and oatmeal, although still "weak", have higher values than the others.
Foods with weak reactions for both IgA and IgM are barley and quinoa (although quinoa's IgM value is 11.455).
White potato is his worst reaction of all foods.

He can have egg and dairy, no problem. If he could speak English, he would be disappointed that peanuts showed a weak reaction. I won't tell him, and he will still get it occasionally. Peanut butter is his favorite food.

So, this leaves me with some good information and a few questions. I am thrilled he can eat chicken. It is in Fromm Gold and a few other foods he ate short-term, and we thought it could be the culprit. I'm glad it isn't. I'm also glad he can eat some grains, because I really prefer to feed dry food at this time. It looks like he can eat peas/lentils, but I don't know if I want that to be a huge part of his diet all the time. What I am hoping to find (and I know it's probably not easy) is a food that has sweet potato but no white potato. Like maybe a chicken/sweet potato food. Bonus if I can find a brand that uses sweet potatoes but no white potatoes and has several protein choices, since he can eat most meats. 

Before I got these results, I was thinking to myself that if I couldn't easily find a kibble for him, that I would entertain the idea of doing a raw diet. We have a few obstacles though. We are in an apartment now and only have a small freezer. We do have nearby relatives who have a large one that they don't use much. Sperry goes to daycare most weekdays and I have been sending him with a kibble snack to eat midday. I would need to find a way for him to get an easy snack. I know people sometimes do a meal of raw and a meal of kibble, and we might look into something like that too. Our other main concern is that we are frequently on a road trip, camping, backpacking, or at a relative's house for a day or two, so we need to be able to travel with food. I was even thinking I could do a daily diet of a pre-made base mix with meat that I could vary as much as I want (such as Honest Kitchen) and then travel with a dehydrated version of their food. A lot of them have potatoes but not all do. The potato-less ones are made with turkey or fish which I think he should be able to have once in a while. 

So, any suggestions are welcome, as I would like to get him off the venison food soon. These dogs are interesting creatures, aren't they???


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We have done NutriScan for our three dogs and we have a complicated pattern of what each of them tolerates and what they collectively can eat. I ended up deciding to home cook and while complicated we are settling into a routine with it.

You should be able to find a kibble that Sperry can eat without too much trouble, since it is just him that you have to think about. I wanted to be able to keep 3 dogs eating the same thing.

I can tell you that what started my food journey was excessive ear wax issues for Javelin. His ears looked better in less than a week and I would say it has been worth getting the testing done, researching how to feed them better and making the switch even just based on the improvement in his ears.

If you want to read some of what I've had going on look at this thread.

http://www.poodleforum.com/29-poodle-health/220722-nutriscan-summary-interpretation.html


----------



## letsgoskiing (Aug 5, 2015)

Thank you Lily! Your post was one of the ones that encouraged me to go ahead and get it done. I am so glad that Javelin's ears are better. How weird is it that all of our dogs combined can eat chicken and wheat? Based on my prior reading, those are some of the first ingredients I avoided. Yes, I'm glad Sperry's options are pretty open, but now I'm interested in trying to feed him sweet potato since it should agree with him and he hasn't had much of it. Thank you for all your wisdom!


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I think you will be able to find a food with chicken or other proteins and sweet potatoes that will work well for Sperry. I have to say having more than one dog has been complicating to figuring out what to do, but one of my colleagues just did a NutriScan on her dog and basically Tess is sensitive to almost everything that has its results reported on the 2nd page so even though it is a single dog household she is still between a bit of a rock and a hard place.

I am using whole wheat pasta for my carb source for my crew as an alternative for you in the grain department.


----------



## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

With only venison and potato to avoid, I don't think you'll have any trouble finding a food for him!


----------



## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Asta is eating Nature's Recipes Pure Essentials limited ingredient recipe kibble - chicken, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, flaxseed & cranberries. He loves it!


----------



## letsgoskiing (Aug 5, 2015)

Thanks everyone! Yes, we have lots of options. That is exciting, and I'm glad I will be able to vary his diet quite a bit. Asta's mom, I looked at that one and unfortunately potatoes are the third ingredient and he can't have white potato. Thank you for the suggestion though!


----------



## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Ummm, this thread needs an updated Sperry picture...


----------



## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

I just looked at my bag - no white potatoes, just the ingredients I mentioned - this is the Pure Essentials line, Chicken and Sweet Potato recipe.


----------



## letsgoskiing (Aug 5, 2015)

Hmm, weird. Maybe they changed it or maybe the website is out of date? https://www.naturesrecipe.com/pure-essentials/dry-dog-food/grain-free-adult-chicken-and-sweet-potato-recipe
If it indeed does not have potatoes, I would definitely try it.

Here is my latest picture of Sperry boy!


----------



## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Love that handsome boy!!! Hope his issues resolve soon!


----------

