Itchy dog

RE: Itchy dog

Sarah Southworth RVN CertVNECC — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 18:28:29 GMT

Thanks for all the replies. My other girl had the same allergy to same thing so done all the usual things. Will try RCW hypoallergenic trial and see how it goes.

RE: Itchy dog

nickyc — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 15:34:44 GMT

If she is allergic to house dust mites and food storage mites have you done anything to eliminate these?? My dog is allergic to both also so I hoover reguarly, wash bedding etc and have occasionally used a household spray to reduce the dust mites.. next food stoage mites they live in the dry food... so would take off vet essentials.. and ideally move to a grain free dry food as the mites don't like to live in this as much, also buy the food in small quanties ideally 7 days worth only and store in the bag in an air tight container once open.. I also freeze my dogs portion of dry food before feeding to kill any remaining mites or if you buy larger bags of food once open freeze most of it and just take out a portion or two to defrost at a time.. You could also consider moving to a tinned food or raw diet if you did not want the hassle of keeping your dry food as above.. Probably a food trial would be a really good idea, but you would also need to be strict with your treats etc for training, but it would only be short term until you have worked out which foods work best for her then you would be able to have a selection which would be ok to use.. I would personnelly opt for this rather then continue having to live with an itchy dog.. My lad was less then 12 months when he developed allergies, and was still in training.. but he coped really well at training working for either a toy or his kibble, and was more comfortable when it started to work, and much less itchy and able to concentrate!!

RE: Itchy dog

emma sime — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 14:15:07 GMT

My two year old springer is atopic also. He is yet to be allergy tested. His symptoms settled right down in the winter so I am sure it was pollen etc over the summer that made him itch. In late summer I did his food trial I chose a novel protein source (duck) and all he got was his duck and rice food, no treats for 6 weeks. I managed to work out he was allergic to chicken when 'challenging' him after this period. Am looking forward to having his allergy tests done to find out what else he is allergic to! It's hard work being the owner of an atopic dog. good luck!

RE: Itchy dog

Julie-Anne Wilson — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:17:59 GMT

I think if you're going to go down the route of prescription diet then you need to cut out all treats. As Kobo said, the treats could be the cause and you'd never know is you didn't do the food trial properly.

RE: Itchy dog

Kobo-pug — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 22:32:39 GMT

but something in the treats could be the cause?! You could do a food panel screen or 6 weeks strict food trial.

RE: Itchy dog

Sarah Southworth RVN CertVNECC — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 12:33:26 GMT

I use different treats for different things, some have to be high value treats. so very difficult.

RE: Itchy dog

Steph Worsley — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 12:49:52 GMT

can't you use a portion of her prescription food as treats, this is what I suggest to our clients who are doing a food trial with their animals, there's really very little point in paying out for a specific diet if you are still giving other things as treats.