<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> My original post was giving my experience with an aging dog going GF with food and treats and what a huge difference it made in her health in several ways. Most replies were questions about which food I used. However, a common theme was that ANY pet food or treats with gluten should not be handled by Celiacs, whether it makes a difference in your pet's health or not. So we should all find and use GF pet food. THAT also makes a lot of sense to me. Many wanted to be able to stop giving their pets steroids, benadryl, and other meds. so felt this change was worth a try. I received MANY requests for the brand of food that I am using. I did not state the brand the first time so as not to "advertise" any one brand but many said that we talk about human food brands so why not pets'? There are many other brands, prescription and not, that have GF foods. This one was easy to obtain. I am using Science Diet Advanced Protection for Seniors (with the regular food, not the prescription food). It is a fairly new formula. I also made sure the treats I give her have no wheat or barley by reading the labels. The ones I have now are: Milk Bone Chewy Treats--Filet Mignon Flavor Authority (Pet Smart) Hip & Joint Treats Purina Chew eez Carvers--Chicken Pet Smart's store brand is Authority. They also had a senior formula that has no wheat or barley...I started to try that one....it looked like it would be a good one. I went to Petsmart and Petco websites and you can do a search where it asks you different questions about what kind of food you need (type, allergies, age, etc.)...it then gives you your choices. I then read the ingredients of the choices it gave me (I checked wheat free) and then looked for Barley and eliminated those options. Some other comments and food recommendations.... 1.Our boy eats Nature's Variety Prairie brand. I highly recommend it. You can buy it at specialty pet stores but not the regular, big-box pet stores. _http://www.naturesvariety.com/where.lasso?r=0852357_ (http://www.naturesvariety.com/where.lasso?r=0852357) . We also feed our boy fresh vegetables and fruits, which he loves. His favorites are broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, pumpkin, blueberries, apples, green beans, carrots, plain yogurt. And he gets fish oil on his food (helps with joints, either salmon or sardine) _http://www.grizzlypetproducts.com/_ (http://www.grizzlypetproducts.com/) or _http://www.natureslogic.com/products/dp.html_ (http://www.natureslogic.com/products/dp.html) . I also subscribe to Whole Dog Journal which promotes these types of diets. You might be interested in it. _http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/_ (http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/) 2. Frankly, I don't think any pets or people benefit from gluten--whether they have an intolerance or not and certainly dogs in the wild don't eat gluten. It makes so much sense to me. 3. My youngest dog a border terrier is actually of a breed that has a diagnosed disease called CECS that is thought to have a base cause in gluten intolerance. If you look up Border Terriers and CECS you might find something on it. It's horrible for the borders, and has been found through DNA testing to be genetic and causes muscle spasms. Many many owners of Borders keep their dogs off of wheat all together. When all the recalls went through, and knowing that around the age of 2 is when this disease shows up, I gave up and took both my dogs off of grain all together. I started them on Evo by Innova. 4. I have a cat with a diagnosis of feline lupus???? He gets these sores on his mouth and we have to give him a steroid shot about once a month or once every other month. Of course, the steroids will shorten his life due to the damage it does to his kidneys. One of the symptoms we notice prior to an "attack" is scratching and pulling his hair out. I'm thinking I might try gluten-free cat food. It sure can't hurt. And, I shouldn't be handling the cat food with gluten anyway. Bottom line summary: Gluten free pet food might or might not help alleviate symptoms and help to avoid medicating as with my dog, but if you have any reason to be gluten free yourself, it can only help you, and can't hurt your pet. Gina ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com *Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List* ******* To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[log in to unmask] *******