May 03, 2011

My dog is experiencing what seems to be allergies with eye discharge and hair loss. What do you suggest I do with his diet with the Honest Kitchen food?

Full Question:
Thank you for spending the vast amount of time I am sure it took to build your site. It is the most complete and non bias site I have found in a year and a half of surfing.

I would be great full for your help on this issue. I have a one and a half year old Boxer named Copper who is experiencing hair loss, itchy and flaky skin on his ears head and neck. I am sure you can guess, the vet wants to give him steroids which I adamantly refused. But I am still left with a miserable itchy dog. For the past month I have been feeding him Honest Kitchen Embark and adding a pound of ground turkey or beef to it. I have noticed some improvement in eye discharge but the itching continues. I read some advice you gave another person but was left with a question. You advised they should feed just hamburger and nothing else (no supplements). If a improvement is noticed slowly add other foods until an allergy is discovered.

I have just stopped giving Copper anything other then his Honest Kitchen but would like to end his suffering as quickly as possible. My question is, do you feel this approach should be applied to the Honest Kitchen? Feed Embark for a couple of months or longer? If a improvement is noted then add chicken, beef, venison ect. (my concern is Honest Kitchen has several ingredients in it)

Or

Should I stop feeding the Honest Kitchen and simply start with hamburger and work from there?

Thank you in advance for any recommendations.

PS I have watched your training videos several times and still find new information out.

Chris
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
I would recommend that you see a holistic or homeopathic vet. Here is a list of vets we have compiled to date, with the help of our customers. If you do not find a vet close by on our list, I would suggest doing a Google search on holistic or homeopathic vets in your area.

it may be an environmental allergy, and not linked to food but it’s always easier to control food than the environment. Have you had your dog vaccinated in the last few months? One of the symptoms of Vaccinosis is allergies or allergy like symptoms. If that is the case a homeopathic vet can help you work through the treatment. Did your vet do a skin scraping?

I would do a single protein diet, but I would get another opinion from a vet first. There are many reasons that your dog could be itching, and I would make sure to rule out all the medical reasons before I worked on his diet. HK does have a lot of ingredients and some dogs are sensitive to the veggies in there.

We also have a book called Allergy Solution for Dogs you may find it helpful.

Cindy

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