[Korrin J]

I was feeding my 5 year old lab Purina Beneful salmon formula. I switched him to Nutro after hearing that Beneful wasn’t that great of a food. The Nutro didn’t agree with his stomach so I switched him to American Journey salmon formula.

This is when the skin issues began. He started getting terrible dandruff, white flakes all over his fur mainly concentrated on his back towards his rear. He doesn’t seem overly itchy, but does itch. I since switched him to the Purina Pro Plan sensitive skin and stomach formula, which he has been on for about 2-3 weeks with no improvement. I’ve tried bathing him with the veterinary formula hot spot and itch relief shampoo, spray antifungal and antiseptic spray on him, leave on soothing lotion, and lots of grooming and brushing. I bathed him last night and he is already covered in dandruff again. He had zero skin issues for years until I switched up his food.

I’m not sure what else to try. The vet said the food I have him on is fine, so I don’t really want to switch foods again. I compared ingredients to beneful (he never had any skin issues on beneful) and the only thing that stood out to me in pro plan is “brewers dried yeast”, which beneful doesn’t have. Could this possibly be the culprit? Beneful does contain grain so I don’t think it’s a grain allergy.

I’ve thought of supplementing with more Omega 3’s in his diet, but I’ve also heard too much can be bad as well, and the beneful he was on didn’t even have any omega 3 or 6? Is it possible he’s already getting too much now if he was fine without it before?

I’m lost. I’ve read 1000 articles online and can’t find any real help. The vet wants to wait 4-6 weeks for him to adjust to the new food but I’d like to help him sooner. I don’t even like taking him places right now because the dandruff is that bad.

[anonymous]

Make an appointment with a veterinary dermatologist for an accurate diagnosis and treatment options.

[aimee]

Hi Korrin,

I’ve had Labs for the past 33 years. I’ve found I’ve gotten the best coats with Purina Pro Plan. I’ve tried other brands in past and after about 8 weeks my dog would develop “dandruff” and had increased shedding. It would take about 6-8 weeks after changing back to Pro Plan before the coat would recover.

It sounds like you’ve already asked your vet and the advice was to give it more time on the new diet. In my experience two weeks is too short of time frame to see any appreciable change if the coat problems are nutritional.
If you haven’t had the vet actually examine your dog you might want to do that to make sure what you are seeing is compatible with a nutritional cause.

[Author]

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