Dog food?

[ang79]

Our dog has been on Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomache/Skin Salmon and Rice Kibble since this summer. She itches a lot, so I thought maybe this would help decrease the itching. It seemed to help a little bit for awhile. Then she stopped wanting to eat the dry kibble. So I bought the other flavor available (Lamb) and did the slow mix . She also did not seem eager to eat that. So then I bought the canned version (they only have it in Salmon) and started mixing a bit of wet with the dry to tempt her. She eats it sometimes, but other times just sniffs it and ignores it. I went to PetSmart the other day to see what other options there were for possibly sensitive skin diets and most options have some form of chicken in it, which I've read can be the biggest food allergen in dogs. I found a limited diet Duck and Salmon options from Blue Buffalo. Nothing else in Purina Pro Plan that does not include chicken (I was looking for wet food, as I accidentally got an autoship I wasn't expecting of the dry kibble that I would like to use up). Any other recommendations to try that might help her itchiness? The vet said she could just have allergies to something environmental and she can get shots or other meds to help with that, but I'd like to see if food can help before going that route. Her treats do not have chicken in them. DH feeds her people food sometimes but we try to stick to plain cheerios, baby carrots, cooked peas, plain greek yogurt, or blueberries and that's it. She also recently has been more gassy at times.

[twowhat?]

Do you know for sure that she's allergic to chicken? If you don't know, I'd try it because getting a chicken-based food will be easier and cheaper and there's no need to avoid chicken unless you know for sure that she's allergic. We buy the Science Diet Sensitive Skin & Stomach food (which is chicken-based but no corn). Our rescue dog came to use on a bunch of meds...pain meds for arthritis, some other arthritis med, pepcid, and benadryl. We have been able to discontinue ALL those meds.

We do have to add fresh meat on top of kibble to get him to eat. I cook a batch of chicken and carrots or chicken and green beans in the Instant Pot, shred it up and portion it into a week's worth per container (freeze extra) and we put a rounded tablespoon-sized scoop of that (along with the broth, that tasty liquid is very important!!) on his kibble and mix it in (he's 65 pounds). He would not eat the kibble otherwise, ha! I buy whatever chicken I can get on sale, including frozen. Another easier option would be to buy canned broth and pour just a little in each meal - enough to add the flavor. Of all the dogs we've had, canned food has never been tasty enough to be worthwhile (LOL). And some dogs are just plain picky.

Environmental is definitely possible. Small dogs are so close to the ground too and pick up lots of stuff just from walking through grass. Some dogs benefit from frequent baths if it's environmental. You could try that to start. The recent gas could be from the food change.

[zukeypur]

Our dog has environmental allergies as well as stomach sensitivity. He has done well on Wellness Core for over 10 years, so we have kept him on that, and have recently moved him to the senior formula. He also gets regular allergy shots that have made a HUGE difference in all of our lives.....his because he is no longer breaking out in hives and miserable, and ours because we don't have to listen to him licking himself 24/7. The shot is only once a month, and if we are consistent, sometimes we can get closer to 6 weeks before we need another. It's worse in the spring when bermuda grass is blooming, but I haven't been able to pinpoint what else he is allergic to the rest of the year. We don't have bermuda in our yard, but apparently someone in our neighborhood does. We had it in our old house and it was horrible.

[doberbrat]

4/5 of my cockers have been sensitive to wheat in varying amounts. My current dogs can have 1-2 biscuit/ pizza crust a day before their ears get red and gunky. Jake - one crust and he was scratching for days. I stopped feeding my dogs grains many years ago because of this.

Fish oils can also be a big problem. Really, could be anything. For a while, I had 4 dogs and everyone was allergic to something food related but none were allergic to the same thing. Chicken was the only thing in common that they could all eat.

[ang79]

Do you know for sure that she's allergic to chicken? If you don't know, I'd try it because getting a chicken-based food will be easier and cheaper and there's no need to avoid chicken unless you know for sure that she's allergic. We buy the Science Diet Sensitive Skin & Stomach food (which is chicken-based but no corn). Our rescue dog came to use on a bunch of meds...pain meds for arthritis, some other arthritis med, pepcid, and benadryl. We have been able to discontinue ALL those meds.

We do have to add fresh meat on top of kibble to get him to eat. I cook a batch of chicken and carrots or chicken and green beans in the Instant Pot, shred it up and portion it into a week's worth per container (freeze extra) and we put a rounded tablespoon-sized scoop of that (along with the broth, that tasty liquid is very important!!) on his kibble and mix it in (he's 65 pounds). He would not eat the kibble otherwise, ha! I buy whatever chicken I can get on sale, including frozen. Another easier option would be to buy canned broth and pour just a little in each meal - enough to add the flavor. Of all the dogs we've had, canned food has never been tasty enough to be worthwhile (LOL). And some dogs are just plain picky.

Environmental is definitely possible. Small dogs are so close to the ground too and pick up lots of stuff just from walking through grass. Some dogs benefit from frequent baths if it's environmental. You could try that to start. The recent gas could be from the food change.

No, we are not sure what she is allergic to. She came to us on Wellness Core Turkey kibble, but the foster mom said she didn't always like it, they often had to put some chicken or chicken broth mixed in with the kibble to get her to eat it. I kept her on that maybe a month after we got her and noticed she itches a lot and licks her paws a lot. So I decided to change over to the Purina Pro Plan sensitive (she was also having tummy issues - runny poo and some vomiting, we later found out she had two types of worms, which probably was the cause of that). She used to get very excited to eat and would dance when she saw us go to the pantry for her food (this was after we started the Purina). But now there are times that she only eats a few bites, or doesn't eat one of her two meals at all. Which is why I started adding in the wet food to tempt her, but I don't think she is a big fan of this wet food. It seemed like her itching lessened a bit after the switch to Purina, but lately she has been in full force again, to the point that she scratched her chest and had a big scab there and some scabs in her ears.

[AnnieW625]

We have not had our dog (Dachshund/Terrier/Chihuahua mix) tested for allergies but since a vet tech recommended cutting out chicken of our dogs diet his skin sensitivity has gotten so much better. We are currently feeding him Taste of the Wild Appalachian Valley. The protein make up is venison, lamb, and salmon. He still gets an occasional piece of chicken if something falls on the floor or someone feeds him, but I can totally tell the difference as he scratches way less than he did before since he hasn’t been eating the chicken based food for the last year. So far we know he doesn’t care for Science Diet, and prior to the ToTW we fed him Lotus Lamb and Turkey but he stopped eating that one after a few months as well. When he ate the chicken food we feed him Lotus’ sister brand Welcome Home, but all of their small breed foods contained chicken, but he had no problem eating those.

We used Kirkland Signature Nature’s Domain dog food for years with our Labrador and she did just just fine with the food. I just noticed they have a small breed salmon formula now as well, but I don’t want to go switching dog foods again.


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[MSWR0319]

We had to switch ours to American Journey (Chewy Brand) Salmon and Rice. She also has a chicken allergy and this was the only food I could find that was easily accessible, didn't cost an arm and a leg, and had NO chicken in it. A few years ago the Pro Plan sensitive had chicken by-product which is how we found this one. We've had a lost less issues since. Fewer itching and less ear infections.