[OhBichonPlease]

I would also suggest [when your dog has settled a bit] taking her to a smaller pet store [Petco and Petsmart might be a bit overstimulating, especially during the holiday season] and showing her several different toys. She may enjoying browsing the aisles with you and may even pick out her own toy that appeals to her. We pull things off the rack for our girl to inspect; when she tries to take it from us or looks excited, we tend to get it because we want her to play.
There is also a toy that may bring your dog some comfort – I think it was designed for weaning puppies, dogs with separation anxiety or mourning pets, but it is a plush toy with a warming pack and a “beating heart” powered by a battery. There is a popular brand available at online retailers and Amazon called SnugglePuppy from Snuggle Pet Products. It is kind of expensive [you may be able to find another brand/model for less] for an experiment, but it may comfort her and help her transition her to her new environment and to liking toys/playing.
I would also recommend wrapping a plush toy in an old tshirt or stuffing it inside a sock that has your scent on it – you’re her pack/people now and she wants to smell like you so she won’t have to be alone again. [Our girl likes to jump in our dirty laundry and thrash under our bedcovers after her bath, probably thinking we won’t recognize her. She also takes off her Doggles whenever my fiance reenters the car]. Making the toy smell like you by putting it in the dirty clothes hamper will help reinforce that this toy belongs in the household, toys are fun and playing with you is a nice thing to do. Some non-plush toys can also have food smeared on them or treats stuffed inside to help get entice her to interact with them.
Playing is a great way to bond with your dog and give her a chance to exercise and feel comfortable inside in her new surroundings. Keep trying to teach her to play – no dog is too old to learn to have fun.
The most important thing to remember is to go slow and have a really positive attitude when dealing with toys – even if your dog’s behavior is upsetting – don’t get upset! Dogs read our emotions and getting worried and stressed over her reactions might be causing more of an issue. If you feel like crying over her reactions, take a break, take her for a walk and then just try to cuddle with her and her toy quietly. Rub her and pet her with the toy if she doesn’t act scared. If she wants it in her crate, let her have it there. Maybe she wants a toy to cuddle and protect and you could get her another toy for tossing, pulling and playing with you in the living room.

[voxleo]

Sadly, Natural Balance going over to the Dark Side of the Force with Del Monte has completely buggered my trust in the brand after my boys were doing so well on their Ultra and/or Synergy formulas. Ever since I learned of the merger, I have been hypervigilant about any signs of food sensitive issues with both dogs (some kind of shepherd with long hair mix-mutt and our runt-y most likely pitbull/staffordshire we think).

As of the last bag of food, the Natural Balance Ultra, I noticed that our Pit has had more than one issue of vomiting and notable signs of apparent nausea (lots of lip licking, less than energetic), and the Shepherd mutt has had some issues with stool that starts okay and then becomes runny, but not quite full blown diarrhea. If it had been just once, I would have just assumed it was them eating something out of the trash or garden that they oughtn’t have, but twice or more, and it starts to become a THING. Add that to the fact that they seem notably less interested in the food (they are free feeding dry kibble, and they don’t eat with enthusiasm but more like obligation) and that the mutt has been acting like HE has a tummy ache when its usually the Pit with the sensitive stomach, and now I have enough reason to switch from the NB line, because I don’t trust Del Monte to maintain the standards with it.

What dry kibble can I get that will approximate the ingredients that were in the Synergy? I think that was best since it really seemed to cut down on the number and size of the poops, which were always firm and never gooey like the second half of them are now. and the Pit didn’t spend all day itching and licking paws and shaking his head the way he does whenever he eats cheap food. He has had an increase in ear itchiness lately, and lots of butt licking and even the mutt seems to be chewing on himself more nowadays, but the last two bags have been Ultra, not Synergy, so that may have something to do with it.

Still I would prefer to stay away from anything that is mass produced by a corp that spent millions to oppose GMO labeling along with Monsanto, and now the Natural Balance is on that list, so Synergy is out too. Looking for a replacement kibble from a brand that is at least popular enough to be carried in Petco or a feed supply chain that isn’t going to have boutique hours only, and one that is sold in LARGE bags of at least more than 25 pounds, preferably more. I figure similar makeup will have similar results with the boys and I’d like to have similar effects as the Synergy, which did nice things for their coat and their apparent digestive tract tolerance, resulting in smaller neater and fewer stools, and gave them lots of energy and they didn’t have to eat a ton of it. I don’t mind if it has rice, as that seems to suit them well enough without issue.

Anyone got a good replacement suggestion that doesn’t cost 85 bucks a bag? I am exhausted from the researching and have no idea where to begin now. It doesn’t need to be ultra premium, but should be at least a 3 star choice. It would be easier to pick something to replace it with if I understood what was good about the Synergy in the first place beyond the effects, but I just have no idea why it worked, it just did.

Curse them for selling out!

(After reading more articles on that acquisition, I am even more nervous about the direction that the NB brand may be headed. There was one article that had some scary wording in it concerning the awareness that people would pay more for foods that APPEARED TO BE better for their animals. It almost seemed to be a deliberate avoidance of what it actually WAS as opposed to how it LOOKED to be. The emphasis was all on how they wanted to capture a bigger share of the market and were interested in the premium lines because of what consumers would be willing to spend, with no focus at all on providing quality that would sustain that. I think it was a money grab, and that means that they will maximise it by cutting costs wherever possible too. And I’ve noticed in the reviews on their foods over the last two months, there are a lot of dogs with similar vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy that had been feeding NB for years without that happening. I can’t risk it.)

[somebodysme]

Interesting about the GI inflammation causing her to be allergic. I had not read, or most likely don’t remember reading that before but that makes a lot of sense.

I’d never dreamed it would be such a monumental task to feed a dog? And with her, the more highly regarded food that I buy for her, the worse she does on it. She is a rescue and according to the rescue group, she was fed dog chow at her foster home. Honestly, when he got her she was beautiful and had absolutely no rashes at all. They brought her here with a bag of Pro Plan and it’s been down hill ever since. I’ve tried Blue Buffalo, Simply Nourish grain free, Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch, Avoderm Trout, Avoderm Duck the rotating menu on both those, Nature’s Variety LID Turkey (digestion was an issue with this one) then I bought Natural Balance which she did the best on until the last bag which smelled totally different than the rest of the bags of NB and now she began to scratch like mad! So here we are, on to the next “high quality” dog food. Though NB isn’t that great, it was so limited in ingredients that it was working and her feet were just about healed up. I suppose now that Del Monte took over, they have changed something. I’m going to write then and ask if the ingredients have changed, the label is exactly the same as all the rest. She isn’t allowed to have anything else but her food now. She cannot even gnaw a bone. This is just insane!

I have my suspicions about certain ingredients but I can’t really know until I find something that doesn’t have them.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by somebodysme.

[Sully’sMom]

To Weber Hunde: Hello, I wish I could be more helpful but we’re struggling now to find a solution! I will tell you that I once rotated to BB Freedom and in the short time Sully was on it, his stools were better than they had been, but he broke out in a terrible rash. It certainly could have been coincidence with the timing of the new food, but we got off it immediately…didn’t even finish the bag.

Now he’s eating Merrick Grain Free Beef and again, stools are the best they’ve ever been and he’s itching worse than ever. Although he’s been itching since the day we got him, he seemed the best on Fromm (both Large Breed Gold puppy and Grain Free Surf and Turf), but we’ve tried to get off of Fromm as it is really too expensive.

Earthborn Holistic Great Plains is next on our list. I’ll let you know!

[somebodysme]

But what are the autoimmune diseases? I keep hearing autoimmune but really I don’t know what that is telling me? I mean does she have AIDS? HAHAHA!

She doesn’t have any diarrhea and she was treated for giardia back in January and was then tested with a negative result so she shouldn’t have that anymore. She doesn’t get any grains or glutens. Her allergies manifest themselves as rashes and hives and raw itching feet. Just when things appear to be getting better, they will suddenly get bad again for no apparent reason.

OH and digestive enzymes…sheeesh, those gave her diarrhea. I gave it for a few days and she had diarrhea so to test if it was actually that, I stopped it and it went away and started giving it and it came back. They were the Swanson’s digestive enzymes. So now I’m taking them myself…HA!

Yeah the vet, they just know how to give drugs, same with doctors. It’s like they don’t have time to be bothered with actually figuring anything out or getting to the bottom of an issue.

It’s just so darn frustrating!

[ninpiggy]

I have a 2.5 year old blue American pit bull terrier. She’s a rescue dog that spent most of her life being used as a breeder. My girl is spayed and happy now. We adopted her on valentines day (coincidence I swear) earlier this year. I think she finally knows she’s home and has flourished to be one happy dog.

We’ve had problems with her health from the start. Scabs, scratching, rashes, fur falling out when adopted. Problem continued. I had her on nutrish (because it went to a pit bull charity) but that made her worse. Several rounds of prednisone, antibiotics, some crazy immune suppressant drug and nothing helped (except the prednisone but it would only work until about 4 days after the meds stopped). I spent over $1000 in vet care in 1.5 months and as a community mental health therapist that makes less than $30K year, I sat in my vets office crying because I was afraid I’d have to return her to the shelter. I guess the vet took some pity on me and prescribed Luna a medicated shampoo. That, along with avoderm salmon and sweet potatoes was a miracle. Two weeks and she had occasional rashes that would clear up with hydrocortisone cream.

She still has problems with yeast despite the shampoo and I was wondering if the avocados and sweet potatoes were contributing to this. Does anyone know of any dog food that is poultry free, grain free, soy free, white and sweet potato free? She does best with fish but is good with beef. I don’t think she’s allergic to peas and I’ve never given her tapioca so that’s unknown.

I’m not rich by any means either so I can’t afford anything that is over $65/15 lb bag. Avoderm seems to be an okay price for us but if there’s anything cheaper that’d be awesome. Cooking Luna’s food isn’t really an option for me due to time constraints and financial. It would be most convenient to find a pre-mixed bag. I suppose I could supplement it if I had to.

Any help is appreciated.

[somebodysme]

OH I’ve been going insane trying to get a handle on my dog’s allergies. I have heard a lot of people really like the Nutrisca. I had a lady overheard me talking to the manager at the pet shop telling him about my dog’s issues and she came up to me with a bag of Nutrisca in her arms and was saying how this food saved her dog and that she’d gotten friends to change too and their dogs are improved. I can’t use it because of the peas though. I’m pretty sure the pea allergy is pretty rare though but is it what it is. Rare or not, it’s her issue I have to work around. It is extremely limiting on the high end 5 star foods as most of them include peas as a main carb source.

I’m pretty sure that if she seems better, they suggest to give a food 6 weeks. It’s hard to do though when you don’t see that the food has healed them yet! I keep hearing that flare ups are normal. I keep telling myself this, my dog has only been 3 weeks on the food that she is on. I want to give it a fair shake but I want her WELL!!!!!!!! It was drastic the immediate improvement from Nature’s Variety LID Turkey to the NB rabbit formula. Within 2 days I could see the rashes just fading away. Then the improvement slowed down. ACK!

I have also heard a lot of good things about Zymox, it’s supposed to be very gentle and natural and good for yeast. I’m using a RX shampoo right now that’s working. Sebozole is what I’m using now. There’s a hot spot shampoo at walmart they sell that’s very gentle too, brand name is Pro-Sense. Don’t use an oatmeal shampoo if you are dealing with yeast, it helps feed the yeast.

[somebodysme]

How long has she been on Nutrisca? It will take a while on a new food for the crud to get out of their system. I’ve been dealing with an allergy dog too. Your story sounds a lot like mine and my dog started off in a low end type food Pro Plan and I wanted a better food so bought Blue Buffalo and then all he(( broke loose. I kept trying new food changing the proteins and she just got worse and worse with rashes and red ears and raw paws etc. We are on NB potato and rabbit for three weeks now and things are improving but not perfect yet. She also will break out suddenly out of the blue. I’m telling myself it is what they call a “healing crisis”. Supposedly that’s all normal. I will tell you that she looks better now than she has since I switched her off Pro Plan. I’m assuming you took her off the Rachel Ray stuff because you wanted healthier? Or was she having problems on that? On Pro Plan, my dog was scratching a little but had a watering eye and that was pretty much all. Then we finally realized that all the foods she was allergic to had only one common ingredient and it is PEAS. I know she is allergic to other things too though like rawhide and cow bones.

I would suggest that you give her only one food until you find that it is OK. I would also suggest to not give any of those supplements you mentioned because right now you have no idea what she’s allergic to. My dog reacted badly to spirulina! If she has yeast then keep the probiotic. Then once you know the food is OK, add ONE new supplement at a time until you know it’s OK and no reaction. Any of these things can cause problems for a sensitive dog. She could easily be allergic to salmon oil or coconut oil or that glucosamine. Honestly the only thing that I can give my dog without it causing a problem, that I have tried, is her human grade probiotic.

If your dog was NOT allergic to the Rachel Ray food then look at the ingredients and try and find a better quality food with the same basic ingredients. Like if it has chicken then you know that chicken was not the issue. What I have learned from having a dog with allergies is that you can’t just say “oh that food has 5 stars it great for my dog”. It just doesn’t work like that. These dogs have a whole new set of rules when it comes to what to feed.

[somebodysme]

blackandblue, the NV LID has PEAS right after the tapioca so don’t dismiss it’s the peas. The symptoms of pea allergy with my dog are: red ears, watering eyes (mostly just one eye), hairless dime to quarter sized rash with pustules on her back and one large one on her tail, red/raw underside of her neck, red rash all over her chest, irritated genitals, completely raw paws with bloody pustules, scratching of her sides and thinning of the hair on the sides from scratching, pimples on her chin, irritated elbows, gnawing on knees. That’s about it, I think…UGH!

Natural Balance potato and rabbit is the only food, so far, that has worked for her…and it’s basically a bag of potatoes but I don’t know what else to do…she has to eat and she loves the food and it seems to very much agree with her. Not only are her allergy symptoms going away, she also has a very regular digestion and no anal gland problems like she had on the others.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by somebodysme.

[somebodysme]

She is still going great on the NB rabbit formula. No yeast problems and her feet are just about all healed up, they had gotten really bad. I am seeing still some pustules pop up then go away quickly which I am hoping is healing crisis. It’s only been just over 2 weeks. She really loves the food. Her ears were always more pink than they should be on all those other foods we’d tried but now they are just normal looking. I’m very happy she can eat without getting a terrible rash.

I’d love to see a list of PEA FREE foods! I’ve got my fingers crossed they don’t go do something stupid like add peas to this formula like they’ve done with some of their others. Why would they add peas to a LID recipe? Isn’t the purpose of a LID to have few ingredients to help dogs with allergies? I just wish they’d quit trying to appeal to the human diet and worry about feeding dogs!

[SadieGirlsMom]

Thanks so much to everyone! Switched Sadie over to a Grain Free Limited Ingredient food. She seems to like it & her rash is slowly starting to clear up! Sometimes it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when there are so many choices out there. Especially when you treat your pet like one of your children! 🙂

[somebodysme]

Marie, my dog didn’t almost die, the person asking questions here had a dog that almost died. Had a reaction and swelled up and had to be rushed to the vet. Dogs die from that! Heck humans can die from that. Your throat swells up and you suffocate! This is not something you dilly dally around with and ask questions at the forum…you have to do what you have to do!

Marie, my dog had a terrible rash all over her back and tail for months until I finally fed what the vet suggested in the first place. What I said was that I could have saved my dog a lot of misery if I would have listened to what my vet told me instead I tried to research and self diagnose.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by somebodysme.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by somebodysme.

[somebodysme]

I could have sworn that in this conversation she mentioned that her dog was tested and basically allergic to everything. Without going back and reading it all…

I was lucky enough to discover that my dog is allergic to peas. Once I started feeding her a “healthy” grain free diet is when it all went to heck. I finally listened to my vet and fed the food that he suggested (he did NOT sell it to me) and that is when the rash went away. Once I had a food that I knew she could eat, I then went through every ingredient and found the only same ingredient of all the grain free foods she had eaten and that gave her a rash, was the peas. The new food has potatoes and no peas. I kept trying new meats to find a cause of a terrible rash she had.

Had I LISTENED to my vet, I could have saved my dog a few months of misery. But NOOOO, I thought I knew more than my vet! We are not giving our vets enough credit for all the experience they have with working with thousands of animals for many years. So maybe they aren’t trained a lot in nutrition in college…so what, can’t a vet do reading and research on their own just like we can. And to generalize and say “vets know nothing about dog nutrition” is just wrong to say! There are way too many self proclaimed experts on the Internet these days! I’m not saying to just not do your own research but when a dog is so sick they have almost died, it is time to listen to our vet’s advice! Time to stop self diagnosing!

[DalLover]

We have a soon to be 5 year old Dalmatian who is currently eating ProPlan Salmon. We rescued her in March and her coat was fine. Since the summer she has been itchy and looks like a rash under her coat. She is also chewing at her paws. We thought we’d switch to another food to help/investigate if it was the food (Proplan worked for our other Dals) or see if maybe she had allergies to the grass (which another Dal had). I also wanted to give her a food that was more nutritional and not a lot of fillers, hence the Blue Buffalo. People rave about this, but I don’t like the newest posts that I’m seeing! Any other suggestions?

[somebodysme]

Every food that my dog has had issue with has peas and of all the ingredients I can only find that one common ingredient. Out of desperation, I bought a bag of Natural Balance LID potato and rabbit. It has succeeded in clearing up this rash she has had on her back ever since we began trying to feed her a “healthy” dog food. When we got her, she was on Pro Plan Savor Chicken with NO rash on her back. I actually thought it was from Frontline but then it never cleared up for months after and many baths later. Just now that I switched to this basically lousy food, is the rash vanishing before my eyes!

I’d love a food that had similar but better ingredients…try as I may, I cannot find anything. I fear mostly that it will aggravate her yeast condition though.

Have any of you had a dog break out in a rash from peas? Seems odd but I can find no other ingredient in all the foods. Maybe flaxseed except that it’s in the NB rabbit that is working so it’s not flaxseed.

[somebodysme]

I’m in the same boat so maybe someone will pipe in. A light bulb finally came on with my dog. What I thought was all caused by food allergies are partly allergies and partly yeast. When I get her on a food that she’s not allergic to, the rash on her back clears right up but her feet flare up. The feet are yeast and the back rash is food allergies. Or at least this seems to be what we are figuring out. On a low carb food such as Nature’s Variety, the feet heal but her back flares. On an brand new meat such as lamb and/or rabbit, the back heals right up but the feet flare because the only food I tried was too high in carbs. SO now I will try lamb Nature’s Variety but the problem is that it’s not readily available and she has some stool issues with NV.

So if yeast is your only issue, I’d suggest giving Nature’s Variety LID a try. Of course, most people will suggest you need a raw or cooked diet. I haven’t crossed that bridge just yet…HA!

[BlackandBlue]

My dog has a lot of food intolerances and I sometimes forget what they are. Here’s the list: Poultry, eggs, sardines, rice, oatmeal, and slightly white potatoes. Here’s the reactions: Paw licking, face scratching, belly rash, ear infection, gooey eyes, butt scooting, diarrhea, rust colored stained fur around her mouth and anus, and flakey skin on her ears. Here’s the dry dog food that she can eat with good results: Merrick Grain Free Texas Beef + Sweet Potatoes Recipe. (I haven’t found any others after trying TONS of different food. I’m still working on finding other brands to rotate.) The canned food: Born Free Salmon Recipe.
List your dogs’ results here too!

[Saireah]

HDM: a few months ago, we talked about converting my 8th month old mastiff/lab mix to Dr. Tim’s GF Kinesis. One of my main purposes for this transition was to also put my 2 year old lab/vizsla on the same food as him.

He’s doing fine. In fact, they both love the taste. However, Quinn (2 year old) has been chewing her feet like crazy since she transition 100% over to Dr. Tim’s (3 weeks ago). She developed a rash on her stomach and I actually took her to the vet to get her on steroids as over-the-counter wasn’t working. Additionally, they gave me a pill to help with the itching prior to the steroids, but that also did nothing.

At first, I thought it was her allergies flaring up. She had to be put on steroids last summer. However, she had lasted all of the summer (June and July) without any itching while on Fromm’s Adult Gold. The reason I believe it may be the food is that she’s also thrown up twice since I started feeding it to her.

The basis for the background question is this:

In your opinion, can I feed Riggs (now 10 months — will be one year in mid-October) the Fromm’s Adult Gold? Note that I said Adult Gold, not Large Breed Adult Gold.

Quinn just hasn’t done well on any grain-free food that I’ve fed her. Acana, Taste of the Wild, etc. May be too rich for her. She did fine on Adult Gold — it’s just that I wanted her stools to be a bit firmer. That’s why I decided to try and make a household swap.

Would really love your feedback as I find it valuable. Thank you very much!

[BijouMama05]

I’ve had the same problem with my dog eating these treats. I gave him one very tiny piece of freeze dried chicken (less than 1/2″) and within 12 hours he was vomiting bright yellow bile. I didn’t make the connection with ROSEMARY EXTRACT, though until later after I gave him a small bite of boiled organic ground turkey & he had the same reaction about 12 hours later (vomiting bright yellow bile). I dug the package out of the trash & it contained two ingredients (organic turkey & ROSEMARY EXTRACT). These treats also contain two ingredients (chicken & ROSEMARY EXTRACT). My dog doesn’t eat any other food that contains ROSEMARY EXTRACT with the exception of these two items. He used to be fed Nutro Puppy Food & was switched to their Toy Breed Adult Formula when he turned one year old and had no problems with it, either until they changed the formula and added ROSEMARY EXTRACT to it (This brand now has almost 1500 complaints for the same symptoms on consumer affairs). He immediately started vomiting and having diarrhea which became bloody. When he started having Grand Mal seizures & his liver enzymes became elevated we switched his food to an organic limited ingredient diet & his symptoms disappeared. We didn’t realize that the ROSEMARY EXTRACT was the problem until recently with the feeding of the Full Moon Freeze Dried Chicken Treats & the Organic Ground Turkey Meat (both of which had only two ingredients, one of which ROSEMARY EXTRACT). This ingredient is a neurotoxin/neurostimulant, a blood thinner, and also stimulated bile production (which might explain the vomiting & diarrhea). I have done some research on the Internet & there are hundreds of thousands of complaints about dog foods, cat foods & treats that contain ROSEMARY EXTRACT & all of the symptoms are the same (vomiting of bile, diarrhea [often bloody], seizures, itching, elevated liver enzymes, refusal to eat, & weight loss). I believe that this is one ‘natural’ additive that has no place in pet food or treats & probably hasn’t even been properly tested to see if it is even safe or not. Just because it is safe for the majority of healthy humans (not diabetic, pregnant, taking blood thinners/aspirin/NSAIDs, epileptic, etc.) doesn’t mean it is safe for dogs and cats.

[somebodysme]

bullterriermom, I haven’t had allergy testing done yet, we are just trying elimination and I’m hoping to find a good food. I put her back on NV LID the Turkey one and she is actually doing good on it and the feet are slowly but surely healing all up. Her rash on her back has magically healed up out of the blue. I really can’t help but think it was demodex and just getting healthy and taking supplements and vitamins have healed up up. I really do not know what caused her feet to flare up.

As far as diagnosis, it was just the vet that told me all her rashes and hair loss and scratching was most likely food allergies and he made some suggestions. It was just up to me to research a good food to start with. He wanted to put her on Iams.

I understand is quite pricey to have accurate allergy testing done though.

[somebodysme]

Yeah that makes sense, she had to wear a cone all the time so she didn’t lick but I think it also caused some irritation so I didn’t keep doing it because it didn’t help. Maybe rinsing would have stopped the irritation.

So anyway, do y’all think that yeast would cause the feet and vaginal area to be irritated but not the rest of her? Also I had stopped her probiotic to see if that caused the back rash and that also did cause her to stink like yeast…I started her back on probiotic and a few days later is when the feet broke out…thought maybe a delayed reaction to the lack of probiotic? I realize there are a lot of factors but mostly I wondered if yeast would cause the feet/vaginal stuff? At least It would make some sense and I can make decisions for her food choices. Right now I’m baffled!

[somebodysme]

I’m hoping that someone more familiar with dealing with allergies and yeast issues could make some sense of these symptoms after two different foods given. I’m just so confused!

She’s been on two different foods post vet visit where I was told that all her issues were most likely dog food allergies. Her worst problem was that her paws were full of pustules and raw and infected. She had runny/watery eyes and her ears were gunky. She was scratching her sides and gnawing her knees…etc. She had been on Pro Plan chicken. She was given antibiotics and prednisone.

1) I purchased some NV LID Turkey and things improved a lot and she was on that for 6 weeks. She still had a slight amount of eye watering and still some general scratching but much better than before. Her paws were healing up and she was not scratching them at all. No pustules on them at all but skin was still kind of pink. She was kind of having constipation and her poo was the most horrible smelling you can imagine.

2) I decided that I would try a different LID food and purchase Zignature Lamb. Similar list of ingredients but no tapioca and this time LAMB instead of TURKEY. Her constipation issues went away and her remaining scratching and eye watering totally cleared up after about a week and a half and I thought we’d found the best food for her.

HERE’S WHAT THEN HAPPENED: Almost over night, her paws erupted into a mass of pustules and she began chewing them like crazy. She was also smelling sour. BUT and this is where it gets confusing…all her other symptoms are going away. Her eye doesn’t water, her ear is clean, she’s not scratching her body and even that rash I keep talking about on her back is suddenly healing up. But her paws are HORRIBLE and FULL of blood filled blisters and pustules!

I rushed out to the store and bought a small bag of NV again and after two days her paws are already healing up and she is not gnawing them. Now of course her eye is watering…

What the heck? This is what I’m thinking has happened. Perhaps the Zignature is too high in carbs and it’s yeast on her paws? But yet Lamb is working better for the allergy aspect of it? Does this sound logical? One food is good for some symptoms and the other food is good for other symptoms just doesn’t make sense to me! GAH!

I would sure appreciate some expert input from you guys! Thanks!

[pacer1978]

P.S- Are you learning all of this in veterinarian school in regards to the supplements and what supplement/herbs help what issues? I’m wondering why veterinarians don’t suggest these types of supplements for our dogs..especially the cheaper alternative with the human supplements. It seems like all they want to do is give them shots to “clear” things up, only for the allergy/rash to return. Do you think it is because of the money?

[pacer1978]

Thank you for your responses. I wasn’t sure if the human supplements would still be beneficial for dogs. So…this is what I plan on doing. Can you let me know if this is recommended? I switch dog food every now and then (all 4-5 star brands). Currently, I have them on Solid Gold MMellenium. I give Mia (4-yr old Weim) and Lucy (guessing age to be around 10, not sure of breed, she is a mix) 2 Nordic Naturals fish capsules for dogs per day. I give Mattie (12-yr old Weim) and Lucy 1 Dasuquin per day. I will most likely start Mia on this soon as well. I plan on starting them on Coconut oil (heard there was a good brand through Costco or Cocotherapy was also good). Also considering probiotic..or prebiotic? Which is better? Any brands you would recommend for the pro/prebiotic?
They issues they experience:
For the most part, they are healthy with the occasional allergy bouts (chewing/licking paws). Lucy gets watery eyes..which has gotten a little better after getting her teeth cleaned (they pulled 4 teeth). Weims tend to get bad hips as they age, hence the Dasuquin. Mia sheds a lot for a Weim and Lucy does as well, Mattie not too bad. Mia also tends to have what appears to be flaky skin and usually a rash or irritation on her chest (most likely from the mat in her cage since I crate her during the day. She gets in trouble and tears papers up around the house when I don’t). I keep the mat clean, so I’m not really sure why this keeps happening. I’ve tried different types of mats thinking maybe she is allergic to the material, but that doesn’t help. I’m mainly just looking to improve their overall health and wasn’t sure if doing all this would be wasting money or actually helping. Thanks again!!

[somebodysme]

UPDATE: I did stop giving this for four days(Aug. 1,2,3 & 4) and what happened was, she started getting yeasty and stinking so I started her back on it and the stink went away immediately, like the next day! OH and not only did the rash not improve but it actually got much worse. She’s been back on the probiotic for 3 days(Aug 5, 6 and 7) now and the rash is calming down and the pustules are gone. GAH! When I was looking up yeast information, I saw dog photos of skin infections from yeast and it looks just like what she has. So I’m guessing it’s yeast because she’s been on Anti-biotics and cortisone (also Ivermectin) so much since she was a puppy that it’s just killed all her gut flora. UGH!

[somebodysme]

I’m still trying to figure out this little rash my dog has on her back that the vet said was allergies. He did a scraping and it was negative for mites. So anyway, I’ve changed everything except for the pro-biotic that I give her which is called PB8, available at any health food store for humans. Does anyone think it’s worth a try to stop giving it to see if that could possibly be causing that rash? I was reading up on allergic reactions to acidophilus and one side effect is a rash. Other than that, she’s acting like she feels really good and the rash doesn’t seem to itch.

[somebodysme]

I just really would rather not put Frontline or Advantix etc on my dog. What do you use that is helpful and most importantly is safe and healthy for a dog to keep them free of fleas (and other pest too would be great). I just found ONE flea on her and that’s the first one since I got her but she was on Frontline and has not had an application since May 1st. The last time I put it on her, she got this rash on her shoulders but I only think the frontline may have aggravated her skin and allowed her demodex to come back (does that sound reasonable?) because it is still there, two and a half months post frontline and many baths later.

Please if you could give me specifics as to how much and what brand etc etc. She is a mix that is probably lab/cur hound and weights a tiny bit over fifty pounds and is 17 months old. She has had lots and lots of skin issues and was covered with demodex when she was rescued at 8 months of age. When I got her in Dec, she was clear of mange but after a treatment of Frontline, she broke out in that rash. The vet said he got a negative scraping though but from what I understand that doesn’t really mean anything.

I’ve heard some of you use garlic, if so then you do mean fresh right? And how much for her size and how many times a week etc?

I would certainly appreciate any helpful tips! 🙂

[somebodysme]

I’d like to know if this sounds familiar to anyone…I’m pulling my hair out trying to figure out dog allergies. Back history story. My dog had all the classic allergy symptoms of watering eyes, gunky ears, scratching her ribs, gnawing the knees, inflamed elbows and of course infected paws, and this odd rash on her back at the approximate spot of the Frontline application . We had our vet visit and was given an antibiotic shot and cortisone shot and then pills to follow up with and the infected feet healed up and the scratching went away etc…but the odd rash on her back pretty much stayed the same. In the mean time, we were told to change her diet so I researched and ended up with Nature’s Variety LID Turkey and all seemed well…the rash started going away and all of her allergy symptoms are now gone except for that back rash. All of a sudden, the rash has begun to come back. Let me describe it…It is in anywhere from dime to quarter sized bald spots with red skin..the red skin will then go away and the skin will turn gray with no apparent irritation…the hair doesn’t seem to want to grow back in those gray rash spots. When she was at the vet, the vet had just lumped the rash in with allergies. He even did a scraping for demodex which none was found. At first I thought it was from an application of Frontline as that is when it all started…but it has been over two months since she’s had frontline(MANY baths later) and the rash is still there and now is popping back up, yesterday she had two new rash spot pop up! She has been on NV food for about three weeks and rash just started back a few days ago. She is on nothing but NV and a probiotic. I have taken her off of everything trying to make sure it’s not a supplement or vitamin. What I can’t figure out is all the other allergy symptoms have vanished but this back rash is now coming back with a vengeance! Does this sound familiar to anyone? Maybe ringworm or some other non-food allergy related rash? HELP!!!! Would it make sense that all the other symptoms went away but this other symptom of food allergies came back? To me it doesn’t!

[somebodysme]

Would one 4 or 5 mg pill be enough for a 50 lb dog? I think I saw the pills they have on Puritan’s Pride (where we order from ALL THE TIME!) they were either 5 or 6 mg. I definitely want to get on raw feeding and she absolutely loves raw food and has no stomach issues with it but I have to get this skin rash sorted out and all healed up before I can think about anything else. It appears as if the NV instinct LID Turkey is going to work out…she’s already stopped scratching. I had noticed every day on the Earthborn that her itching was coming back more. I’ll have to return the unused portion of that.

[mah4angel]

SO. Thanks to HDM, it has come to my attention that making my own raw food for my Louie (10-pound Silky terrier) is actually more cost-effective than buying a high-quality kibble and is obviously much more healthy for my baby.
There are a lot of threads here, obviously, devoted to raw food recipes and diets. Currently my boy is on Earthborn Hollistic Primitive Natural. He’s not doing well on it. I had been feeding him a combination of that and the Earthborn Hollistic tubs (the lamb-based ones), but took those out to see if they were the cause of his upset. I think not. The tubs are expensive and I just have come to the conclusion that I’d rather he be on a raw diet. But, just like everything else, this task of changing his diet (yet again) is so daunting and I am so terrified and essentially stupid and ignorant and I really need you DFA Gods’ help!
I have heard varying opinions in the forums about adding probiotics and enzymes. Someone said there are natural probiotics and enzymes without having to add and pay for supplements. How/when do I do this with a raw diet? How do I do this on his current diet while I’m transitioning to a raw diet? How do I transition to a raw diet? Are there specific recipes for smaller breeds versus larger breeds, older versus younger dogs, etc.? Is it okay to feed him nothing but raw? Can I freeze/store what I’ve made if I’ll be on vacation?
My boy is essentially inactive. We go on walks every day and he gets very excited and runs around the house whether we’re coming home for work or from taking the trash out, but then he calms down and takes a nap. I heard 2% of his body weight for an inactive dog is what I should be feeding him. Is this correct? Does he fit the description of an inactive dog? What is the definition of an inactive dog?
There is so much misinformation out there! So many threads to read through, so much confusion! He’s my first dog and I want to do right by him, he deserves the best.
I always do these posts and I’m always very anxious about finding out how best to serve my canine baby because I know how important diet is, and I want him to have those perfect, firm stools and not feel lousy.
I guess I’m just being somewhat lazy to ask for a guide as to how to do this perfectly. I know it’s going to take some time and a lot of effort!

[Moose’sMom]

Hello. We have a 3 year old Boston Terrier; he has terrible gas, frequent diarrhea and allergies to just about everything. His allergies ranges from skin rashes to ear infections to swollen eyes and mouth and closing of his airways. Some days, he has so much gas his stomach feels extremely tight. It has been an on going issue and we have run out of ideas. We have spent too much time at the vet and emergency visits; we just want to find him a nutritionous food that doesn’t result in complications.

Over the past 3 years, we have tried the Orijen Regional Red, Orijen Puppy, Acana Pacifica, Acana Puppy and Junior and most recently, switched him to Acana Light and Fit as per the vet’s recommendation. We recently switched vets and he suggested Hill’s Prescription Gastrointestinal Health. Based on the ingredient list and the review on this website, I don’t feel comfortable feeling him this ‘food’. I would like to stay with the Acana/Orijen brand if possible but if there is anything else that anyone can recommend, I am all ears. Help!

[lewalk]

Okay, here’s my situation that I’m hoping to get some help with. There are no shelters or rescues in the parishes where I live and work so the animal problem is out of control. I have become the crazy dog lady around these parts. It’s to the point where people stop me on my mail route and offer me dogs. Ten years ago we bought our daughter a lab. I didn’t know better than to not shop, adopt. I do now. Actually I pick up starving and abandoned dogs rather than adopt. This has led to my having the lab who is ten and seven other dogs age three and under. I have realized recently that I need to change their food as they have an array of health problems. My lab is fairly healthy with the exception of dry skin and icky runny eyes. The three year old rat terrier has an itchy behind and has developed a darker pinkish tint bordering on a rash on his belly and inside his arms. The three year old pit mix is surprisingly healthy especially since she was starving when I picked her up. The one year old husky/German shepherd mix is healthy as well. I picked up four pit mix litter mates several months ago running down the highway in the rain. We have since learned they have an immune disorder which has led to them having red mange. The two black pups have dry skin and runny eyes like my lab. One brown pup has diabetes and one has recurring yeast infections on her belly. They are all on a mix of Red Flannel Adult and Purina Puppy Chow with Red Flannel Puppy recently mixed in. I feed them all the same food because it’s easier for me because they always want what the others are eating. I just realized their health problems could be from food allergies. Of course I feed the diabetic dog differently. She eats Science Diet w/d dry and canned food. I don’t have the money to spend a fortune on food as I have a lot of vet bills but I want them to be healthy and happy. Added to this is a puppy less than a year old who has IVDD. I had the sheriff go to the people’s house that had her and talk to them as she was barely able to walk and they weren’t caring for her. Cut to, me having another baby to care for. My saint of a mother is keeping her at her house while we give her the time she needs to rest and hopefully heal. I was also wondering if there was something I could feed her to boost her immune system as well. I was never really an animal person so I don’t know much. I’m trying to learn but am a bit overwhelmed. I will gladly accept all advice and be very thankful for it. I’m sure I haven’t included the correct info. I tend to ramble on and on when it comes to my fur babies.

[bully4me]

Hi everyone, I’m new on here! I have a question for all of you: You’ve heard of the Beasty Boys? I have a yeasty boy. My male bulldog, a rescue and I’m almost 100% certain a puppy mill dog, is over-run with yeast issues. Smelly ears full of gunk, crusty eyes, rashes on belly. Any suggestions for a good dry food for him? Thank you in advance!

[Toxed2loss]

Hi Jack,
Its a good thing tapioca is used minimally in high end kibbles then, – just as a binder. Not like the corn based kibbles, which are mostly high glycemic starches. Though it is interesting that there is research showing animal fat & protein mediates glucose spikes & that endocrine disrupting hormones have a greater impact than modest carbohydrate consumption.

I ran a quick search and diabetics are allowed to eat some tapioca… It just has to be balanced.
Here’s a quote from a diabetes support site. Granted its from a human type I site, but the research said that because there wasn’t much on dogs, it was acceptable to correlate human diabetes Type I information to dogs.

“- Vegetables that should be consumed in limited quantities by diabetics are: High sugar vegetables and root vegetables like carrot, potato, beetroot, colocasia, sweet potato, yam, tapioca and other vegetables like artichoke, green plantain, tender jackfruit, broad beans, double beans, cluster beans.”

So limited quantities, not none. I certainly wouldn’t feed any of my dogs any predominantly starch based diet, tapioca or not. They weren’t designed to eat starch, as a staple. I prefer to feed a balanced raw, according to Steve Brown’s book, and Dr. Becker & Beth Taylor’s book. I feed raw & kibble because I can’t count on my health being stable. Like today, I started out great, but had a bad crash at 2:00, recovered and had a major crash at 6:00. Luckily I got on top of that one and am recovering fairly well at the moment. So I picked the absolute best kibble I could, for my girls, because I know my husband. He’s not going to feed raw if I croak over. I want them to all go on with as minimum disruption as possible. I feel the percentages of carbs, including the tapioca, and their combined glycemic indexes as compared to the meat, fat, bone, ratios & the ratios of other ingredients of Brother’s Complete Fish formula is the best. I also like how it doesn’t have the toxins that I see in a number of other “high end” kibbles. And according to some research papers, those dietary toxins are being recognized as having a much greater influence on promoting diabetes Type I (the kind that dogs typically get), than previously thought. My2¢

[Shawna]

Nice post Patty!!!
Here’s my personal (me not my dog) experience with detoxing. I have issues with the caseine protein in dairy foods. The harder the product the more caseine it has in it — so hard cheeses are REALLY a problem for me. We have opiate receptors in our brains and foods that we are intolerant of can bind to those opiate receptors — which, of course, causes us to crave the food that is an issue (this is true with dairy and gluten at least). And I do crave dairy.. I have found it harder to give up all dairy then quitting smoking (which I did 7 years ago after smoking for some 20 years).

Because of this craving and good feeling from dairy I quit for 2 or 3 weeks but then right back on – sometimes by accident (there’s dairy in SO many foods). The detox, for the first few days especially, can be worse than the symptoms while I’m consuming dairy. Symptoms that have been attributed to my dairy intolerance — weight gain, rash on my scalp with severe itching (to point of bleeding) and thickened skin in small patches, inflammation in upper back and sinus areas, inflammation in joints, brain fog, after long term use of dairy I developed malnutrition along with all the symptoms and issues of that (despite eating a good diet) like hypothyroid due to iodine deficiency and pica due to iron deficiency etc.. I’ve never had digestive symptoms, until about a year ago and then only infrequently — indigestion.

While consuming dairy my sinuses (ears and nose mainly) get inflammed but not mucousy. About the last year or so I’ve been having inflammation in my upper back sometimes with pain that wakes me up at night — I stretch and pop bones in/out even. For about the last two years I’ve been experiencing issues with my lungs. I attributed this to the years of smoking and iron anemia. However, when I quit dairy my back quits hurting, my lungs get better, more energy etc etc. However, the detox is a NIGHTMARE.. The first few days after quitting I get SEVERE sinus inflammation (including headaches and inflammation in my jawline that is so bad my teeth actually become loose). My back gets worse, joints hurt etc. This usually clears up in 4 to 7 days.. After that I start feeling MUCH better but once in a while I’ll still have a “bad” day and the ithy scalp may come back with a vengence or I’ll have a sinus headache with jaw pain for hours. The detoxing is often more intense than dealing with the symptoms while consuming dairy. But, they are always short in duration and after the detox episode I feel MUCH better overall again. Energy continues to increase, lungs continue to feel better (better able to breath and more stamina etc).

I’ve quit and then started back up again enough to KNOW beyond any doubt what symptoms are attributed to the intolerance and what symptoms to expect when I detox..

Our pets must experience very similar symptoms to us. Only they have no control over what foods they are given so craving the food shouldn’t be an issue with them..

[Anonymous]

Butch seems to feel much better, no more bleeding into the skin, eating his raw B.A.R.F. from California well, always hungry, probably from the one half pill 10 mg every other day of Prednisone. But one thing has appeared suddenly, little bumps all over, like when he had the hives at the vet, upon closer inspection, they look like the mast cell tumors. One on his chest has grown to nickel sized in a week! I title this note ringworm because at the same time, the cat we rescued three years ago had ringworm by his eye from the injury (we rescued off the highway after he was hit by a car). That was the mess of the year three years ago when ringworm spread throughout our home, now this is complicated, we thought the cat brought the ringworm with him but due to the injury and being compromised, thin, wormy etc. when rescued. This was not the first incidence we had with ringworm, 15 years earlier we rescued a kitten from a broken down barn area and she was compromised and emaciated, we bring back to health and she gets ringworm. We muddled through that got everyone well, we always have multiple animals from rescuing, you know what I mean. Anyway, fast forward to now, the cat who was rescued from three years ago, has been swatted by buddy cat (we have five cat members in family, ranging ages 9 to 2 years, neutered and cared for, not overvaccinated!!) and had a scratch by eye, treated with Veterycin eye wash I keep on hand. Seemed fine, then now Butch is sick and cat’s eye appears to have ringworm again! I know it can stay around, no matter how you try to clean. So here we are back with ringworm, and Butch with his compromised immune system and at first I thought his bumps were the ringworm again, that is how he showed signs of it three years ago, like raised thick scabs! Horrible, but now the spots are all these skin tag looking warts which when looking on line really look like the mast cell tumors. The last I want to mention here is how it turns out I was the ringworm carrier all along!!! I had worked for Fort Wayne Animal Control 1985 to 1992 and immediately got a strange rash on my body, no dermotologist could figure it out at the time, so I lived with it all these years. This last ringworm incidence three years ago, I put the ringworm medicine all over me too, and lo and behold it cured that rash!!! It had been ringworm all along and NO dermo could figure that out even with cutting biopsies out of my flesh! Can you believe that, vets told me to put down those cats because ringworm was so hard to conquer and it is but could you imagine if I had killed those cats and here I was the cause!!

[Anonymous]

NEED HELPFUL ADVICE: I have a full blooded blue pitbul champion Gotti line, he is four months old, and off course he is one of my kids, I am trying to find the best food to feed him that can also help with his skin, right now I feed him “Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream” which is suppose to be TOP LINE and is ridiculous expansible but worth it for my baby, pitbuls are very known to have sensitive
skin. And my baby has really really sensitive skin specially since he is blue, so he gets a lot of rashes, the vet told me to shower him more often with a special shampoo and I do, to use ointment/lotion and i do, to also give him benedryl and I have but nothing helps, benedryl only helps for a few hours. I really think if I find the right food for him it can help. Last night by baby woke up at 230am itching at his rashes (yes he sleeps in my bed) and crying in fustration. be bites at it to the point it bleeds so to help him and sooth him I bath him in warm water which helps, and rub ointment on it until he falls asleep. yes he is very spoiled but the rubbing helps so he doesnt itch at it so I was up all night with him. SOOOOOO my point, does anyone of the pitbul lovers out there has experience the same and what did you do to help it go away, what food do you feed your little guy/girl? Searching the internet has been useless because there is just so much information out there you just cant tell what really works. HELP