# Acana Pacifica and Chicken Allergies



## Hercsmom (Mar 5, 2016)

My Great Dane Herc has been having hair loss and dandruff issues for the last couple years. He is really not itchy and doesn't lick or scratch. We initially thought is was a reaction to his neutering at a year, but it continued on. I was feeding him Acana Wild Prairie at the time and wondered if it was a food allergy. I switched him to the Pacifica for over 6 months and nothing really changed. After the feeding trial I switched him back to a chicken formula (Boka brand) and spoke to my vet who recommended an anti-dandruff shampoo. We diligently treated him with the shampoo and he improved a bit but was never really better. I recently had a full thyroid panel done on him to rule out hypothyroidism. The tests came back that he has euthyroid sick syndrome which can be caused by allergies. My vet believes he has some seasonal allergies but also probably a food allergy. We have currently switched him to Satori Lamb (which my severely chicken allergic JRT is on) and are treating him with an allergy specific shampoo and spray. Thinking back on this whole ordeal, I remember putting my JRT on the pacifica with Herc and I had to take her off of it because she was reacting so poorly to it. I even contacted the company to see if there was something that could cause her to react (they said no). So now I'm assuming he probably has a chicken allergy just like my other dog. Has anyone with a chicken sensitive dog every had issues with Acana Pacifica? My JRT has eaten many fish based diets before and after with no issues.


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## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

Have you tried a potato free kibble? My allergy dog, Maddie, is severely allergic to potatoes - white and sweet, along with fowl of any kind, and all grains. You may want to try one of the Acana Singles kibbles, or another brand that is chicken and potato free. Maddie does well on Nutrisca Salmon and Chickpea. It rates 5 stars, and my grocery store, Publix, actually sells it much cheaper than I can find it at a pet store or on Chewy.


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## shellbeme (Dec 8, 2010)

I had major poo problems on Acana and I had one dog that lost hair on it. We rotated formulas while using it. My vet suspected allergies to something in the food.

I hear people say all the time that if you feed too much of it you get loose stool but even when we fed significantly less we still had issues. It's too bad, I like the look of the ingredient panel.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

Acana was a great food for us- for about 2 weeks and then... itching. itching itching itching. hairloss itching itching. 

There are herbs in there. From my natural dog diet days, herbs are to be used a maximum of 2 weeks or until the dog starts to itch. then the "dosage" of the herb (for its intended use) is done and you should stop feeding herbs. 

I haven't looked at Acana's ingredient panels for years now, but every time I tried a different flavor, same issue. 

I generally recommend Fromm to people, as it works super well for clearing up skin issues (but causes poo issues in my dogs).


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## AlDavis (May 12, 2014)

My border collie davis is very food sensitive. Orijen (puppy) and Acana (Wild Prarie) did not work for him. We cycled through both over the course of his first year. He had the shits pretty much the whole time. Then we started using Great Life (not grain free) and he did much better, but occasional poop issues still but much much better. When we brought our second BC home we switched to Fromm Chicken Al a Veg and everything has been great. I know people that us orijen and acana and love it. It did not work for us. Sometimes you needs to try different brands until you hit the one that works.


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## EmmaRoo (Apr 3, 2016)

Hi! My little terrier mix is HUGELY allergic to chicken AND beef... and gluten. I've always heard mutts had fewer issues than purebreds but not in this case. ANYway, I'm a HUGE fan VeRUS Advanced Opticoat. I had been feeding my dogs something from the feed store that was supposed to be a good food but I got a bag that was moldy. THEN I started making my own food but my dogs got itchy - due to the fact that I was feeding chicken and beef. I did some research and found a list of foods that had never had a recall & that's where I found VeRUS. There is a contact form on their website you can fill out & they will ACTUALLY respond with a human who asks questions about the issues your dog may be having. After a brief email discussion, they sent me samples of the Advanced Opticoat which I mixed in with their homemade food. Based on the suggestions from Krystle at VeRUS in our emails, the next time I made food, I made adjustments. Long story short... I stopped making food and just buy VeRUS opticoat now. My dogs don't itch anymore.


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