# flaxseed and flaxseed meal



## midnight804 (Jun 13, 2008)

good afternoon all,
Earlier this afternoon i went to a local whole and natural food place to look for appropriate substitutes to put in my boys homemade treats. my boy has was recently diagnosed with suspected food allergies. Nothing real bad but I'm trying to nail the culprit and make the appropriate changes to his diet. Right now we're pretty sure the main offender is corn, wheat or sorghum as these were the three commonalities in all of his diet before onset of the itchies. 

I was looking primarily for a corn meal sub. this has mostly to do with texture.

I bought small amount of a few differnt things. 

I found that flax seed meal had a very similar hardness, moisture and "puff" when soaked. 

I was wondering if anyone here had any information re: flaxseed/ flaxseed meal and canine health? Being ideal in texture and workability I would like to start using it but don't know enough about it to do so. 

Is flaxseed ok for mildly food allergic dog?


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## Sherush (Jan 12, 2008)

Many dogs are allergic to flaxseed therefore I made sure our food we buy doesn't have any filler, corn or flaxseed which is Orijen


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## midnight804 (Jun 13, 2008)

thanks. I'm in the middle of swithching his foods now. His new foods (as im still letting him deicde which one he'll eat) are all free of flaxseed.

I guess flaxseed is out so does anyone got any ideas???

what about rye?? I get rye berries whole to throw in stuffing and/or wild rice mixes a lot and know where to get em...and my food processor is a beast so I know I can grind it up to whatever consistency I choose.

maybe some kind of nut?


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

My dog is also VERY allergic to flaxseed. This is a common dog allergy trigger, despite it ironicly being included in "healthy coat" forumulas. Flax makes many dogs extremely itchy-- mine included.

Another irony-- lots of "snobby" brands of better kibble contain barley, another itch-trigger for my dog.

I am feeding him raw now. I don't have any grains in his diet, just fresh foods that I choose. I can avoid any itch-triggers.


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## Sherush (Jan 12, 2008)

Oh yeah barley too is a no no


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## midnight804 (Jun 13, 2008)

yeah I heard bout the barley a few days ago. I'm having a heck of time finding a texture to approximate the cornmeal.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Do you know what your dog is actually allergic to?


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: mspiker03Do you know what your dog is actually allergic to?


Aren't you in the process of switching foods to try and figure out what your dog is allergic to? If so, honestly, I would just hold off on all home-made snacks for a while.

I noticed on another thread that you're going with a food that has venison and rice in it. Why don't you pick up some Natural Balance Venison/rice treats? Canz sells some phenomenal venison treats as well. You can buy Canz and other other brands of venison treats at Sit,Stay.com ,which IMO is a reputable online retailer. Of course, many holistic pet stores sell these as well. 

It's almost impossible to know what your dog is allergic to if you add in new foods while you're eliminating other foods. I'm sure that your dogs LOVE your homemade treats. If you can make homemade treats with the same ingredients as those in the kibble you're feeding, great. Otherwise, if I were you, I would just hold off on the home cooked stuff until I had a clearer idea what I was dealing with. Long term, it's going to be what gives you the best data to deal with your dog's allergies. Short term, commercial treats aren't as wonderful as home-cooked. But long term, you may likely get the best results. 

JMO


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Ditto what Lori says!!! I was going to get there eventually!


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## midnight804 (Jun 13, 2008)

thanks for the good advice. it makes alot of sense that i should just use the same ingredients as his food...I'm just used to spoiling the crap out of him, and he realy loves the treats. Honestly it'll bother me more than him, but I should buy the treats with the closet ingredients to the food. Even though thee not in the neat little perforated bars so I can break em to size. once i have figured exactly what he can eat and not get itchy ill work up some new recipes. 

I guess in this situation K.I.S.S. is the way to go. 
thanks,
c


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

*For Dogs Not Allergic To Flax*.....

It's a great thing to have in any diet. It has good fatty acids, and the lignans are cancer fighters. There is a long list of benefits.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Since, according to your other thread, you are going to try the venison and rice food...you can always buy venison at the store and cook it for treats. What about finding venison jerky (or making it yourself)? You can still spoil your dog (heck, don't we all spoil our dogs in some way)...you may just have to use different treats to do so (at least while you are figuring this stuff out).

The simpler the better when trying to determine food allerlgies!


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## Cooper&me (Dec 18, 2007)

I boil chicken breasts for treats. Also string cheese is great. SOME dogs are allergic to dairy though. Also freeze dried liver or beef.

I stay away from over processed treats or food.


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## tracyc (Feb 23, 2005)

If the other ingredients in your homemade treats are all known to be okay (are they?) and you're just looking for an alternative to corn meal---would rice flour work in your recipe? Rice is the carb in the kibble you're feeding, so that wouldn't introduce anything new. 

I've never made dog biscuits myself, but they don't seem to be much more than some kind of flour mixed with fat/flavor and baked to briquettes. Perhaps you can experiment with your recipe using only ingredients that are also in the kibble. Which also begs the question--could you just grind some of the kibble to make coarse flour to use in the biscuit recipe?


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## midnight804 (Jun 13, 2008)

you guys read my mind. 

I just got off the phone with a friend who's land I hunt on and hunt with. He has kindly offered to give me all the venison I can transport to eat myself and make treats with. We all hunt on this guys land and hes got a walk in freezer bout 12x15 full of game.A tribute of game meat is part of the permission to hunt his land, hence the restaurant sized freezer and glorious game processing room/kitchen. 

I usually only take a bit of my deer home as I don't have an extra freezer and don't cook it often. I got the idea to try midnight on the venison food because he loves the cooked Venison. 

I have also found three different grinds of both white and brown rice flour. The only issue i was having using it before in place of cornmeal was that i could only get a "normal flour" type grind so it was too fine to approximate the texture of the corn meal. I went to a store that carries a brand called bobs red mill and they offered rougher milled versions of some of their line. 

Luca they ground kibble is a great idea! wow...ill just stick in food processor and pulse to texture. I'm gonna try it after we pick up the venison, which is probably tommorrow. 

on the positive side he has no eaten three full meals (he eats 2x a day) on the 50/50 new food old food blend. 
thanks,
c


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