May 24, 2011
My 3 year old male GSD has had skin irritation for a year. Do you think changing his diet will help?
Full Question:
My three y/o male shepherd has had skin irritation for over a span of a year. Since we had the dog, he has had this skin infection. We have fed the dog Diamond dog food since we have had the male shepherd. When I last took my boy to the vet, the doc put him on Keflex and Pretizone. For the time he was on the meds, the dog was fine. Now, we feed both my male and female dogs this potato and venison(deer) diet. The female has a little bit of a skin rash around her belly and our male now is scratching and his belly has not cleared up what so ever. Can you give me some advice possibly on his eating diet? The breeder we have gotten our dogs from has said it might a certain grass or weed in our yard causing his skin irritation. I really don't know what to believe. We gave up on garlic supplements, dog treats, and table scraps. It has been about a month since our dogs were on this potato and venison diet. The doc said it should take up to two months.Should I see any improvement on my dog's condition? I am very tired of seeing my male dog like this. Can you help me out? Thanks for your consideration in this matter.
Brian
Cindy's Answer:
I would make the switch to a grain free diet, with the best choice being raw. SOOOO many dogs are sensitive to ingredients in kibble, and vets merely suppress the symptoms with pills but never address the real problem.
Many times the meds you give cause more problems down the road and you end up with a very sick dog. We don't achieve health by eating a highly processed diet, yet we expect our dogs to be healthy on a substandard unnatural diet.
We don’t feed any kibble here, and haven't for years. My own dogs have been raw fed exclusively since 1994, and I would never go back.
I would start by reading the article on feeding a raw diet. It's not complete but it will give you a place to start.
We also carry a dehydrated diet by Honest Kitchen, but to feed it exclusively to a couple of big dogs can get pretty pricey. We feed it mixed with raw meat and our dogs do wonderfully on it.
Be aware that most vets have very little nutritional training, and what they do have is funded by dog food companies. They don't mean to harm our dogs, but they just don't have the education they need on this issue (in most cases).
Many times the meds you give cause more problems down the road and you end up with a very sick dog. We don't achieve health by eating a highly processed diet, yet we expect our dogs to be healthy on a substandard unnatural diet.
We don’t feed any kibble here, and haven't for years. My own dogs have been raw fed exclusively since 1994, and I would never go back.
I would start by reading the article on feeding a raw diet. It's not complete but it will give you a place to start.
We also carry a dehydrated diet by Honest Kitchen, but to feed it exclusively to a couple of big dogs can get pretty pricey. We feed it mixed with raw meat and our dogs do wonderfully on it.
Be aware that most vets have very little nutritional training, and what they do have is funded by dog food companies. They don't mean to harm our dogs, but they just don't have the education they need on this issue (in most cases).
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