If your pet has allergies and you find him/her scratching and licking and having "hot spots" remove one item at a time from their diet for at least 3 weeks. If that doesn't work, remove another and another until you find it. It took me almost a year to learn my Bichon was allergic to rice. Now we eat holistic food and we're happy campers. Can you tell how much Marley loves to play now?
By Lynne from Sharon, Wisconsin
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have a 2 year old Shih-Tzu with what I believe is food allergies. She's been on a commercial 'allergy' diet of fish and sweet potato. After two years,.. I'm seeing a relapse of scratching and itching. Wondering if anyone has suggestions as to an alternative allergy food trial? She's been exposed to so many protein and carbohydrate sources due to the many ingredients in commercial foods that she was on as a puppy, prior to the fish and sweet potato.
I was adding fresh fish to her dry food along with coconut oil for the inflammation. She's been exposed to; chicken, lamb, turkey, beef, venison, fish, bison, rice, eggs,potato, etc. I need a new 'novel' protein and carbohydrate source. Any suggestions?Try soy! Soy beans, soy milk, tofu. It's VERY high in protein, but because there's no animal bi-products, it's very easy to digest. It also takes on the flavor of anything it's with. It pretty much tastes like air.
There is a rabbit based dog food available.
I would consider the Raw Diet. You can get all the informatation on line. Good luck! We have one dog that we put on the Wellness brand of dog food a few years ago and so far, knock on wood, no problem!
We had a cat like that, and she ate special duck and peas canned food....
Also check out a fantastic product from Gardens Alive called: Pets Alive. A supplement that reduces itchiness and skin issues.
Good luck with this, and great that you are committed to finding a solution. A gold star to you for Critter Care! : - )
I suggest you try a food called Blue Buffalo. It is sold commerically at Petsmart . The difference with this food from any other food I have found is it is all holistic whole foods. No soy , wheat or corn and whole meat product. Soy, wheat and corn are notorious for causing allergies. This has helped siginificantly with my dogs allergies. The dog needs to be on it a while. And make sure you switch foods slowly. Seventy-five percent old food twenty -five percent new and so on and so on.
Try giving the dog Acidolphylus once a day in two
raw, or slightly cooked eggs, with a dash of garlic powder, to see if the skin improves. It may not be
an allergy to foods, either, but perhaps to a number of things, ranging from floor wax/cleaning chemicals in its nails, dust mites embedded in the bedding or fur/skin, or to the dye in some cloth. If it gets into
Shih Tzu Allergy & Yeast inf
I have a 9 yr old that has been on allergy injections for about a yr. She was on steriods for 5 yrs and we had to stop. She has a terrible yeast inf of the skin and is allergic to everything we have tried to cure it with. ( Shampoos and any drug in the family ending with zole...she is allergic to ) Maleseb shampoo has been the worse reaction. I used it 2 mos not knowing why her hair was falling out and severe itching.
try nutro ultra.Nothing else- absolutely no snacks,no people treats, seasoned foods or, dog biscuits- nothing! Just nutro Ultra.You could see a difference in just three days- I did.
Hi,
I have a six year old Shitzu who is having severe allergic symptoms. He has been scratching constantly and losing clumps of fur. his coat is dull too. we recently moved to Japan and our house is very old and nestled among several oak trees. there is definately a mold issue going on. I am so overwhelmed with concern for my dog and I don't know where to begin. I have switched his diet but he still is scratching and losing fur. Any advice would be a huge help.
I know this is a old post but I came across this and had to respond. One word "corn". My vet and I tried everything for my baby and nothing seemed to work. She was literally pulling her fur out and in so much pain. I went into a pet store in a new town and started to talk to this lady and she said not many people think about it but dogs have issues with corn.
She showed me some food without corn and I have been using only dog food without corn since! Doesn't matter name brand, just no corn. It took about a week and a half for her to calm down with the itching but in the end she is fabulous now!
My dog gets yeast infections from potatoes and dry potatoes in many dog foods.
My previous had surgery two times on ears...then I realized it wassweet potatoes in Tsste of the Wild.
Try Ego pinetarsol wash . Great for humans and dogs. I used it on my poodle when he had allergic reaction and he was scratching himself to the point where he was losing his wool. His diet changed to kangaroo fish sweet potato and broccoli. It took a couple of months to really work.
I'd recommend it.
My pit mix Malcolm started to chew his feet last month. We went to the vet and the vet said he has allergies. He has been on 6-7 (25 mg) Benadryl a day for a month. The Benadryl has been making him really sleepy so we think it would be best to stop the pills.
My vet said that he doesn't know what Malcolm is allergic to and he said to put him on an allergy free diet. We have started him on sweet potato and venison dog food today. Is there something that is not going to make my dog sleepy if changing his food doesn't help?
By jennifer from Springfield, IL
I had a Cairn terrier with food allergies. He chewed himself wherever he could reach. I kept changing his diet and every time 6 months later he would begin to chew again. I was considering heading to a local meat market that had exotic meats to try again when I tried brown rice and canned salmon. Charlie ate that until he died at 17 years old. He never chewed again. dont give up. I always cooked for him once a week. I never used commercial food.
The one thing I always suggest in cases such as this, is don't give a dog commercial food, either canned or kibble. Google something like 'Canned dog food problems' and you will get some idea of what I mean. Good luck.
To be honest, having a dog on that much Benadryl for a month seems like a long time; we had a dog with similar problems and our vet did a blood workup and a variety of skin scrapings for allergy tests.
In our case, it ended up being that the dog was allergic to fertilizer in our flower beds; he didn't eat it--it was "contact dermatitis". He got it just from walking on it. She gave us medicated shampoo that helped immensely, and we stopped using that garden product.
If your vet hasn't done a workup similar to this to try to get to the bottom of things with your pup, I think I'd get an opinion from another vet.
Our vet suggested loratidine (Claritin) for our dogs' allergies. I give them one pill a day and it does seem to help a bit without making them sleepy. I get the Walgreen's brand on sale and it's not too expensive. One of our beagles seems to have seasonal allergies (he gets much more itchy in the late summer) and he needs to go on steroids for a few weeks during that time, which help tremendously. Our dogs did get blood tests that showed they were allergic to many plants. They also used to get allergy shots, but they became too expensive for us.
Raw diet only. Athletes foot spray on feet. No grocery store dog food. No vaccines. That is what brought it on.
Our lab/chow mix has had skin allergies all his life. We give him a prescription antihistamine called hydroxyzine. It works well and doesn't make him sleepy. When his allergy season is bad, in August & September, he takes another prescription drug that is a steroid and antihistamine mix, Temaril-P. It is made especially for dogs and the mixture allows it work very well with a smaller amount of steroids, that have side effects and cannot be given for a long period of time. We had Toby tested for food and plant allergies and went through a couple of years of giving him shots, but it never helped him at all. So now we just try to maintain him through the worst of the year. Good luck!
Make sure the dog food does not have any byproducts, hormones, antibiotics, salt, BHA/BHT, artificial flavors, fillers, wheat, flour, corn, soy or sugar. My dogs stopped biting their feet after I started feeding them good quality food. I give my dogs blue berries, pealed apples, bananas, cooked carrots, raw broccoli (the stalk only). Also wash your dog's feet after walks because they will pick up poisons and weed killers people put on their grass. Your dog will then come home and lick their feet.
Is it possible that my dog has become allergic to her hypoallergenic biscuit she has been on for 6 yrs?
Allergies can develop at any time. Take away the buscuit and see if the symptoms stop. Re-introduce the biscuit. If the symptoms show up, you will have your answer.
A dog suffering from dog food intolerance will experience symptoms like dog diarrhea and dog vomiting. A dog with a dog food allergy will experience symptoms like skin rashes/itchy skin and skin breakouts, skin and/or ear infections, hair loss, excessive scratching, hot spots, or frequent bowel movements. If you have ruled out possible health problems, you will probably want to begin to eliminate food from your dogs diet and slowly introduce them back until you find the food (probably a protein) that is causing his allergy. Any dog can develop an allergy at any time.
I have a year old Pit Bull. She has been chewing on her tail until she has no hair. She shakes her head because her ears run. She gets a bath once or twice a month. What can I do?
Make sure your dog does not have fleas. If she does get flea treatment for her. You will need to see a Vet to find out what is going on in her ears. Then you will need to treat it long term. If she has fleas, that may be causing her to chew her skin. If flea treatment does not clear up the chewing, try changing her diet to see if she is allergic to something in her food. You may need to change her diet several times to find the right one. Look up allergy diets on this website for more information. Do see a Vet for the ears... they are painful to her and infections can cause permanent damage.
I have a 12 pound Chihuahua and my Vet has me give her 1/2 25mg Benadryl 2 times a day. You can try that.
My dog has been itching and scratching ever since she was given some chicken liver and hearts. She has had these before, but never itched liked this. Could this be the cause?
By Kerry from Owosso, MI
Yes! I have been doing research on this same type of thing and I found a lovely woman to help me at place called Paws something or other. She is here in Venice FL She has a little store and what she does is talk to you and find out what is going on with the dog and she advises you in what to do.
She reiterated some of the things I had found out already like. Many dogs are allergic to the dry food we feed them as they are loaded with grains and fillers. Even the expensive kinds. So we are going to switch our dog to "Taste of the Wild" Venison and Bison meat product.
We are also adding a tablespoon of pumpkin and plain yogurt to his food to see if this helps to stabilize his allergies. He has such red skin the poor guy and we have to give him benedryl so he can get some comfort. It is crazy.
We are dealing with food and air born allergens. For the air born we are giving him a teaspoon of local harvested wild honey. Once a day. We actually just did that for the first time today. I will be happy to give you her name and number she is in on Tuesday through Sat from 10 am to 6 pm.
Cheryl at Pawprint Essentials
Venice FL 941 497 6161
She maybe able to hook you up with someone in your area. Good luck and here is to a happy dog!
