Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Al Dogs Puppy food

My boykin pup is almost 9wks old now and I think she has a food allergy with her current food. She was eating/still is eating Purina Pro Plan puppy Focus Chicken and Rice but she bites at her feet, legs, tail and scratches a lot. She does not have fleas and has not had fleas so that isnt the issue. Like and idiot I bought a $45/bag of food that matched what the breeder had them started on but I am to the point that I want to try something else(small bag this time). What are yalls suggestions?

Food allergy would be at the bottom of my list right now. Not to say it isn't possible. Right now there are a lot of potential allergens in bloom. Tell me more about her environment. Inside/outside, etc.

She stays inside day and night in a kennel but after work I take her outside a good bit. When we stay at home she is in Bermuda grass and when we go to the farm she is in just your regular grass in the country(bahai and what not). She is also getting a little brown scrunge looking stuff on her clean puppy belly. Not sure if this helps you or not.

Yea, every little bit of info helps. Usually, food allergy is a diagnosis of exclusion. Essentially, after you have ruled out everything else that could cause pruritus, you start them on a trail diet which will consist of a novel protein (duck, camel, lamb, etc) or a hydrolyzed protein(protein is superheated in order to reduce the size of the proteins). It typically takes about 6 weeks for the food to take effect, and you must ABSOLUTELY feed nothing but the trial diet. Slip up and give her a treat that doesn't comply, wasted your time because you have to restart. She gets into the trash and gets something, restart. Even giving her a heartworm treatment that has beef flavoring, trial needs to be restarted. Typically this is a last ditch effort. I'd be willing to be half of the dogs with "food allergy" really don't have food allergy.

That being said, right now I'd lean towards her having an environmental allergy. It may go away in the fall and winter, and come back every spring or summer. Your wife doesn't use carpet freshener does she?

No carpet fresheners. I at first expected it to maybe be the Bermuda grass but not real sure. I have never had a dog with this kind of deal so its something new to me. Thanks for the advice though.

I would try a food without grains. I have one dog that gets itchy and starts losing hair and getting eye irritation if I feed her any food with grain. I switched her to taste of the wild and she was fine for a year or so and then started getting bad again and I switched to diamond grain free and she got better right away. All my other dogs are fine on just about any food.

I feed Taste Of The Wild and Blue Buffalo grain free. We have a Boykin and 3 labs and don't have a problem with allergies. One of the labs has them when I was feeding Pro Plan.

My Boykin is about 4 months old now and does a lot of scratching and chewing early in the morning and late at night. Mine is kept similarly to yours. I feed regular puppy chow though.

I even took mine to the vet to rule out sarcoptic mange. He believes it is environmental and will go away.

Just out of curiosity, What is the deal with carpet fresheners?

Something about the sprinkle powder carpet stuff causes a contact dermatitis. I've seen several dogs would chew at their feet and belly and after ruling most everything out, they all had the common scenarios of carpet powder. Quit using the powder and the symptoms went away.

Sarcoptic is highly unlikely unless she came from a nasty kennel, and most folks I know breeding Boykins take extremely good care of them. You would likely be itching with sarcoptes as well as it is zoonotic. You can try a Benedryl (1mg/lb) to attempt to alleviate the symptoms. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Another thing to consider is puppy pyoderma. Young puppies immune system isn't up to snuff and they can commonly get bacterial infections on their ventrum. However, you would like notice the red pustules, and as you didn't mention that, is unlikely.

My Boykin has been on this stuff for his whole life. It says it's made from venison and turkey, not sure if true or not, but he has had no stomach or skin issues. And he loves it. We get it from Winn Dixie by the house
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I might check that out.

Purina is a great food that is reasonably priced.

I would suggest looking for some Victor dog food. According to the website below, the Purina Pro Plan focus is an average/below avg. food.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/brand

Not shot at you in any way, but I would take caution in gleaning information from a private source that has no real training in nutrition. He has a degree in chemistry, a minor in biology, and a dental degree. His only claim is that he has training in human nutrition and loves dogs. The pet food industry is essentially a wild west of misinformation, marketing tactics, and terminology that would make a lawyer scratch his head. Many veterinarians are not experts at nutrition, but they can provide good resources. I have noticed there is a bias when it comes to premium foods which I base upon the notion of "if I paid more for it, it has to be better, I feel better, my dog must be better". If you look at the ingredients of premium foods, and know what you're looking at, you'd be surprised to learn that a lot of the foods are really similar.

I understand your perspective, and respect your training and background. I also realize that a website like that may not be the BEST resource to compare dog foods, but I do find it useful in that it does seem to compare many brands on an apples-to-apples basis. A website like that makes it easier for me to sort through the misinformation and marketing that companies put on the front of a bag to keep you from looking at the back of it.

I feed my dog Victor, because I am comfortable with the ingredients and the company.

And I commend you for doing research, most people don't look at all. I wasn't essentially digging on him either, his may be great information. I just cannot tell you how many people I have seen claiming themselves as "experts". I immediately research these peoples credentials and usually see liberal arts degrees, etc.

When people ask me what food I recommend, I have the response of feed a quality food that has an AAFCO statement certifying it as meeting the needs of the stage of life your animal is in, your animal eats it, and fits the budget you are willing to spend on a food. As long as the animal seems healthy when I see it, I don't recommend changes.

Feed a kibble that is grain free. Pufina us junk. If any if the first three ingredients gas corn of other grain listed you run the risk of allergies. Grain is for hebivores not carnivores. See that extra arge molar your dog has midway on the side if his teeth. Thats for crushingvand grondng bones etc. We nake dogs into omnivores by feeding them junk. Corn and wheat is cheaper than actual meat or bone meal. Check out "dogfoodadvisor.com" to see uf your dog is,eating garbage or decent foods. Cheap food is no bargain wih problems dogs getvand its all associated to what theyvare ed. A vet has about 2 days if class on pet nutrition and are taught bythe big pet food companies like Science Diet and Purina, so thats what the vet pushes when asked what to feed. Simply put. If it can be bought in a store like Walmart or Kmart i any grocery store , your feeding garbage. Read the dog food labels and check out the website I listed. Corn can cause al kinds of allergies and gastrointestional problems. Yhe bes bang gor the buck is Diamond naturals and Taste of he Wild. 4Health sold at Tractor Supply is also great food. Its not high priced either and its all 4 and 5 star rated

Easy way to tell if its an,sllergy or yeast infection when dogs chew on there feet us to smell between ther toes. If it smells like Fritos Corn Chips, its a yeast infection which can mimick an allergy. unrefined coconut oil does wonders for all dogs. You can rub it between there toes or better yet make it part if there meal. startveith one teaspoon and work up to 1/2 traspoon per 10 pound of weight. And you can buy a single dose of the stuff women buy for yeast infections and apply and rub in between there toes. Youcan also applybto dores and cuts znd hot spots on a dg and eating it hlps with plaque buildup..vinegar also helps kill yeast allergies. Any food with corn and also beef can be the caue if a food induced allergy. Corn has an antifloxin mold that causes it. All corn has it and no way to get rid of it. It can be deadly as folks found out with Purina Beneful dog food. If buying coconut oil get Virgin, cold expelled. All coconut oil is organic weather its labeled or not.And there is,no such thing as Extra Virgin, so do not pay more for it. Ad do not buy if its listed as refined, as there is a difference in cold expelled and refined.Coconut oil will beca,semi solid below about 72 degrees and a,liquid above 72 deg. You can melt it in a,container snd dribble it on the dogs food if theyvare finicky eaters but most readily take it right off thecspoon or in there kibble in solid form. Give it about 2 weeks or so and you should notice a difference

AAFCO us sort if a joke. Ol Roy and Alpo all meet AAFCO requirements and you may as well let the dog eatvout if axtrash can, as they will most likely get as much nuttition tomeet the minimumrequirenents AAFCO recomends. There is many way manufacturer get around AAFCO legally. Such as protein should be XXX. Manufacturers eill addground up hooves and feathers which are protein. It boosts the protein levels but les nothing for the dog in anyvway. The chinese added melamine, a type if plastic as a supplement to increase protein levels. Same as vitamins and minerals. If theyvare not chelated, they go in nd come out the same way. Little known secret. ALL dg food manufacturers buy the supplemental vitamins, minerals and proteins iverseas. The chnese supply the majority of manufacturers. The rest comes from Germany, and makes the feed cost a bit more but its,all chelated, and the dog can utilize it. AAFCO only look at it as amount of added supplements the food has. Not as useable by the dog.

dogfoodadvisor.com is an unbiased group that does analyze the foods and breaks down the actual ingredients to show what it contains and what if any good it does for the dog. pretty much all the folks O know at the dog shows use it as do the breeders. We have bred and shown Dachshunds and German Shepherd Dogs gor over 35 years. And quality dog food is the key to a dogs health. Not saing a dog will not get cancer etc as thats in the dogs genes, but good proper food can add more years to a dog and better health. We hav had GSDs live to be 15 and 16 years of age and doxies in there 20s. Average life for a GSD is about 14 and doxies 16 to 20.