This is a specific conversation about Dog food allergies — identifying and fixing them — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
So the prescription gastrointestinal food hasn't moved the needle — that's genuinely frustrating, especially when you've done everything by the book. Worth knowing upfront: true food allergies in dogs are less common than intolerances, and prescription GI diets are formulated to soothe the gut rather than eliminate a dietary trigger, so they won't always crack it. The most reliable approach for pinpointing a trigger is a strict elimination diet using a novel or hydrolysed protein your dog hasn't encountered before. To point you in the right direction — what symptoms is your Dobermann showing, and do you know which proteins have already been in his diet, including whatever was in the prescription food?
He's 2 years old, been getting loose stools and occasional vomiting for about four months. The prescription food was chicken-based. He's also had beef and lamb before that. Vet said try the GI diet for eight weeks but there's been no real change.
inparticular.ai
That's a clear picture — chicken, beef, and lamb are all off the table as meaningful elimination candidates now. Eight weeks with no improvement on a single-protein GI diet strongly suggests the issue isn't just gut inflammation but a specific protein sensitivity, and chicken is a very common culprit. For a proper elimination trial you want something genuinely novel: turkey or fish are usually good starting points for dogs that haven't had them. Has he had any fish-based food at any point, or is that territory you haven't explored yet?
No fish that I can remember. He's only really had the mainstream stuff before the prescription diet, all chicken or red meat based.
inparticular.ai
Fish is your best move then. For a 2-year-old Dobermann doing a proper elimination trial, I'd go with Forthglade Complete Meal Adult Dog — the salmon with brown rice and vegetables variety. It's a single named fish protein, no chicken, no beef, no lamb, made with whole ingredients, and it's widely available on Amazon UK. Forthglade is straightforward to read on the label — no hidden meat meals where undeclared proteins can sneak in — which matters a lot during an elimination trial. Feed it exclusively for a minimum of eight weeks, nothing else: no treats, no table scraps, no flavoured dental chews. If symptoms improve, you've found your answer. If not, a hydrolysed protein food is the next logical step and worth another vet conversation at that point.
That sounds sensible. Is there anything about Dobermanns specifically I should watch for? And would wet food be better than dry for him right now given the loose stools?
inparticular.ai
Good questions. Dobermanns can be prone to dilated cardiomyopathy, so long-term you want a food with good taurine levels — Forthglade's salmon recipe is fine on that front, but it's worth keeping an eye on. On wet versus dry: wet food is generally easier on an irritated gut, produces less fermentation in the colon, and helps with hydration, so yes, sticking with wet for the elimination period makes sense. Forthglade comes in wet trays which is ideal. Once his stools firm up and things settle, you can reassess whether to transition to a dry or mixed feeding approach — but don't change anything during the trial itself.
Perfect, thank you. I'll order some and start this week.
inparticular.ai
Good luck — keep a simple daily log of stool consistency and any vomiting episodes so you have something concrete to show your vet. Eight weeks feels long but you need that runway to see a real signal through the noise. If things are clearly worse at any point, stop and call the vet rather than waiting it out. Hope it's the turning point he needs.
