Allergies & grain free food

[lolli94]

Lolli has several scabby spots on her back, and thin patches in her hair. We found them when she got her haircut. Her groomer thought allergies, and she has a vet appointment tomorrow. I don't think it's her food, because she has never had a problem before, so I am guessing it is seasonal. However, I am thinking about switching to a grain-free food anyway, just to see if it makes a difference. Any suggestions for something good but somewhat affordable?

[Karen]

Lolli has several scabby spots on her back, and thin patches in her hair. We found them when she got her haircut. Her groomer thought allergies, and she has a vet appointment tomorrow. I don't think it's her food, because she has never had a problem before, so I am guessing it is seasonal. However, I am thinking about switching to a grain-free food anyway, just to see if it makes a difference. Any suggestions for something good but somewhat affordable?

Look around what is available near you, and remember when transitioning food, do so gradually to avoid tummy trouble. And do run a damp cloth over her whenever she comes inside - she will enjoys the "rubdown, and you will be wiping away the pollen and dust and dirt that could be irritating her skin!

[pomtzu]

Wolfy eats nothing but the Verus brand - both kibble and canned. You can check them out at www.veruspetfoods.com. They have many different formulas, it's affordable and he wolfs (no pun intended) it down. It's not available everywhere, but they have a distributor locator on their website. A pet supply store close by to me here carries it, so I don't have a problem getting it. When I stayed in NC for a few months, no one close to where I lived carried it, and I bought it on line at www.Chewy.com. This brand has never had a recall, and they use no outsourced ingredients that would probably be coming from China, and use only human grade ingredients - no artificial this or that, no byproducts or chemical preservatives, and no antibiotic fed animal meat. So far I have no complaints about this brand, and Wolfy sure doesn't, either. :D

[Freedom]

What you describe sounds like an allergy, and it could be a yeast infection. Willy gets this, a skin yeast infection, if he has any grains at all, so I must feed a grain free food. Without seeing a photo, what you describe may also be hot spots, but the groomer would have known the difference, so I'd go with allergy.

Earthborn Holistics offers some grain free formulas, all their ingredients are human grade, the food is made in a facility which prepares human food, and they have never had a recall. That is what I feed my dogs and cats.

Food allergies are often an allergy to the protein source, the most common being chicken and beef. So use a food with an alternate protein source: bichon, elk, duck, rabbit. As with humans, a dog can develop an allergy at any time, so it 'could' be the food.

Here is their link: http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/ Hold your cursor over DOG and you will see a pop up menu, they offer 4 grain free formulas. Great Plains is bison based.

Be sure to use grain free treats as well. These include: sliced raw sweet potato (cleans teeth too!), sliced apple, raw carrots, green beans. You can also buy Plato Farmer's Market Salmon and Vegetable, but NOT the strips as those are not grain free.
http://www.platopettreats.com/products-grain-free-farmers.php

The most common treatment from a vet is going to be a steroid, like prednisone. This is very hard on the dog's liver and should be used sparingly so it is best to figure out what the cause is. Prednisone may increase appetite and thirst, and increased thirst can lead to increased drinking and hence . . . increased peeing.

[lolli94]

Vet visit went well...he said he doesn't think she has allergies...maybe there was a burr or something under all that hair. He said to keep an eye on it and if it gets worse or doesn't get better to let him know. And best of all, he didn't charge me!!! :)
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[Freedom]

Isn't THAT a great report! Hooray!

[Karen]

Oh, yay! And that was nice of him!