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What food for my dog with severe grain and multiple food allergies?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Beagle | Male | neutered | 4 years old | 27 lbs

My 4 year old beagle is allergic to many grains and other foods, wheat, barley, rice, corn, soy, white and sweet potatoes, corn, flax, green beans, carrots. Would he be okay on a food with millet? what food do you suggest for him?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Lauren Jones VMD

Veterinarian

Published on August 3rd, 2020

Wow - Ryder certainly has many food allergies! It is surprising that he's allergic to many of the grain sources because as Dr. Leigh mentioned, the vast majority of dogs are allergic to proteins rather than grains. The prescription diets that Dr. Leigh mentioned, including Hill's z/d, Royal Canin HP, Royal Canin Ultamino and Purina HA, are all hydrolyzed diets. This means that the ingredients supply necessary nutrition, but are broken down to the point where the immune system cannot react to them. An immune system response is what occurs with an allergy. I strongly recommend discussing one of these diets with your veterinarian, as it has the greatest chance of helping Ryder. As far as your question about millet goes, it's certainly worth a shot. There is no way of knowing if he's allergic to it without exposing him to it. I don't know of any commercially available diets that does not contain one or more of the ingredients you'd mentioned. If you're really against using a prescription diet, cooking your own food (as long as you're using the proper vitamin/mineral supplement!) is an option. The website www.balanceit.com has recipes formulated by boarded-veterinary nutritionists. I hope this helps and that all goes well!

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Dr. Leigh, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Most dogs are actually allergic to the protein in the diet and not the grains. If your dog has a food allergy then you should try him on a prescription hypoallergenic diet like Hill's z/d, Royal Canin HP, or Purina HA. You should be able to get these diets through your vet.

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