To Those With Dogs

[dhiltonlittle]

I've very new to all of this and i'm trying to degluten my house! i'm trying to be really careful and one of the few things in my place that has gluten involved still is my pet. how careful do i need to be getting the food out, feeding treats etc. what are some of the things other pet owners are doing? i think eventually the best thing to do is to get the dog on a gluten free diet also right?

thanks for any tips!

[i-geek]

I've very new to all of this and i'm trying to degluten my house! i'm trying to be really careful and one of the few things in my place that has gluten involved still is my pet. how careful do i need to be getting the food out, feeding treats etc. what are some of the things other pet owners are doing? i think eventually the best thing to do is to get the dog on a gluten free diet also right?

thanks for any tips!

I think it depends on how dusty the food is. If a cloud of food dust comes out when you open the bag, you're going to inhale that and some of it's going to end up in your gut. If it's not dusty or if you're feeding wet food, then you probably don't need to worry beyond washing your hands well afterward.

An interesting aside: we have two cats who are on prescription kibble for one cat's urinary tract issues (the kibble is fine for the other cat, and there's no practical way to separate their foods since they always take turns out of the same dish, even when two dishes are available). We noticed that the cats' coats and skin seemed to be healthier- less dandruff, less shedding, glossier fur- after putting them on this food. Digestive upsets seem to be fewer as well. After going gluten-free I read the bag and noticed that there aren't any wheat or barley ingredients in it. Hmm...

[sa1937]

My dog is on Nutro Lite Lamb & Rice (dry dog food) with rice being the only grain. So no problems there. My vet had me switch to that following her chronic ear infections, which he attributed to beef.

For treats she gets MilkBone so I'm going to have to be careful about washing my hands after giving those to her (after I go gluten free on April 9)

[kareng]

Apparently, my dog was gluten-free before I was. I saw the ads for gluten-free dog food & thought "How silly." Unless you have a little one that plays with the food. Finally looked at the ad & found that's the food my dog eats! We should probably all eat it: whole grain rice, carrots, blueberries, chicken, etc. The gas he had at the rescue house is gone. He still has some dog biscuits, but I never give him those. He "loves" Crunchmaster gluten-free crackers.

[tarnalberry]

gluten free (and grain free, really) dog foods are better for your dog anyway. The good ones without gluten are more expensive, but you'll often feed less of them.

And you can get WAY better treats than those with gluten in them. Freeze dried chicken/beef/lung, dried chicken (my dog *loves* these), and other ones that are more traditional "cookie" shaped, but without grains.

[chocolatequeen]

I have a dog as well and her food and treats contain gluten. I have her food and treats stored in containers, both nowhere near my food and just practice good handwashing following giving her a treat or feeding her. I do not think it's necessary to put your dog on a gluten free diet as well. We cannot get contaminated from anything in the air so as long as you wash your hands well after touching the treats/food you should be just fine!

That's just my opinion of course, so whatever puts you at ease is what you should do!

[Link]

If you are worried about handling the dog food, you can use disposable gloves or dishwashing gloves. Or, as suggested, switch to a dog kibble with a rice base. Much healthier, but a little more expensive. I personally make all of my dog food and their biscuits (it's a lot more work, but my dogs are extremely healthy). I have one who I though was sensitive to poultry, so I cut that out of his diet with some improvement. But, then when I went gluten-free, the dogs went gluten-free as well (substituted brown rice for bulgar wheat. He hasn't had any loose stools since...and they were really bad. Wish I could say the same for me!!! Good luck.

[bigbird16]

Hi! In the process of deglutening my house, I realized that my bird's seed had wheat in it. I switched her out to a blend without wheat or oats and made some sudden improvements healthwise. (Funny enough, her feathers became shinier and her moods improved after the switch.) When I got a puppy in October, I made sure his diet had no gluten, dairy, or soy in it. He loves his grain-free food and has a beautiful shiny coat. I don't have to worry about his puppy slobber on my hands, face, blankets, furniture, dog toys, or anything else. For me it's a comfort thing of never having to worry that I might be glutened. I tend to be pretty sensitive. However when I sit my friend's dogs, I sometimes get nailed. Their food is wheat-filled. Whether it's from breathing in dust from their food, an unexpected face-washing, or forgetting to wash my hands after petting them then eating something, I don't know, but it happens.

What kind of dog do you have? Mine's a crazy Boston terrorist (terrier).

Cheers!

Katherine

[Takala]

I have two adopted dogs, both part bred of the same breed, who both turned out to be sensitive to wheat, so this was a no - brainer for me. They're the type of dog that drools so the last thing I want is gluten being drooled all over the kitchen floor, aside from them either scratching themselves raw, puking, or peeing all over. No wheat, no problem. We also have 2 closely related horses, with multiple food allergy sensitivities (vet diagnosed the one, the other obviously has the same problem and reacts the same way) who we took off of all grain to get those allergies under control.

While most people don't have this admittedly whacky sounding scenario, it's still much easier for me to not try to keep various animals from eating the wrong thing by just not having the wrong thing around in the first place, and then there's the peace of mind that I can handle it without having the risk of a incident on myself.

Since the dogs are adept at swiping the barn cat's food, we changed that serving area over to wheat free cat food. Since the indoor cat sleeps on the bed, on me, or even worse, licks me, I changed her food over, also. I don't want cats eating wheat to drink out of the dog's water bowl, or the horses's water bucket, and cross contaminate it.

For treats for the dogs I just read the labels extremely carefully and use either a plain rawhide munchy or something I would eat, such as a plain corn tortilla or better yet, a plain rice cake. Also, any sort of gluten free bread that doesn't have something else in it that they can't tolerate. Almost all commercially made dog treats have gluten and wheat, even the ones labeled "gluten free," which is infuriating, but there isn't much I can do about it other than complain to the manufacturers. I used to feed this one type of biscuit from Science Diet, but of course, they changed their formula, supposedly tailoring it to different types of dogs, but in reality just using a cheaper kind of grain mix, so good bye biscuits.

Dog food manufacturers do not have to follow human food labeling practices and can change formulas while still using the old labeling ! They can and do constantly tinker with their ingredients ! You must read your labels even if it is a brand that you have used before. I learned this the hard way when the (derogatory phrase redacted) idiots at Bil -Jack decided to "improve" their formerly safe food, labeled gluten free, with added OATS and I ended up with a big vet bill and a dog who was licking himself raw, because my spouse didn't think to check closely and just grabbed a new sack of food off the store shelf that had the old packaging - and oats now in the ingredient list, when this food had always been known for being just chicken and corn. While oats are technically not gluten, these must have been cross contaminated with wheat big time. Plus now I had exposed myself to dog saliva without thinking I should wash my hands immediately.

For researching pet foods I would go to each manufacturer's website and search it for ingredients very carefully before going to the store, (sadly, many of them lie about it, putting "gluten free" on the labels when the food has barley in it, for example ) then at the store, study the bag labels. Most pet food clerks at the big chains don't have a clue about this, either. (We are shopping at the one horse and farm feed store about 25 miles away, that does have a clue, and has a large selection of specialty animal foods. The other store, also a horse feed/farm supply, will also pull down bags for me and let me read the labels. kudos for good customer service )

Some people will think this is too cautious and a bit of overkill, but again, it depends on the individual. I'm sitting here eating breakfast as I type and I don't want the dog who just nudged me to get me cross contaminated, neither do I want the cat walking across the desk later when I'm not looking to do the same thing.

We did a temporary homemade dog diet while trying to get the one dog's problems pinned down. The funny part was when we started cooking the big pot of rice he got all excited and then he got all excited again when the container of cottage cheese was opened. I said, oh, really, so you know what the routine is on this, huh ?

[sunnybabi1986]

We just put our dog on a Grain free food, and strangely, it was actually cheaper than the food we were giving her. Weird. She loves it like crazy, though, and it the first 5 ingredients are meat, which is pretty impressive.

But we do have treats that have wheat in them, and I just make sure to wash my hands well after giving her a treat.

[oceangirl]

Just a note here regarding one of the posters assertion that "we cannot be glutened by anything in the air", I would respectfully beg to differ. If you inhale flour dust and it gets into your belly which can and will happen at times if enough is in the air- bingo! Glutened. I am highly sensitive and i think you'll find others who agree with me on here.

5 years in with 8 cats, 3 dogs and a bodacious dining room dwelling rabbit, we have a gluten free house except for the dang rabbit pellets.

Just my two cents...

lisa

[ravenwoodglass]

Just a note here regarding one of the posters assertion that "we cannot be glutened by anything in the air", I would respectfully beg to differ. If you inhale flour dust and it gets into your belly which can and will happen at times if enough is in the air- bingo! Glutened. I am highly sensitive and i think you'll find others who agree with me on here.

5 years in with 8 cats, 3 dogs and a bodacious dining room dwelling rabbit, we have a gluten free house except for the dang rabbit pellets.

Just my two cents...

lisa

I was about to post the same thing.

I also use gluten free pet food for the most part. Occasionally I will give the dog a can that has some gluten but the cats eat strictly gluten free and do much better for it. No where near the amount of puke piles as on gluten food and the litter box is much nicer to clean also.