Our 14 month male GSD has been on the BARF diet for most of his life. He is fed beef,organ meats,turkey,chicken,green tripe and fish. He eats whole raw bones and loves them. We mix the raw meats with cooked vegetables like yams, potatos, zuccini, carrots. We usually give him 1 tab vitamin E and fish oil and vegetable oil. He has a persistent problem w/his skin/coat since he was about 8 months old in May in southern California. He has a habit of chewing and nipping at his skin, returning to the same body areas over and over again. Sometimes he has developed hot spots and thinned coat in these areas. His coat hasn't looked good since. Allergy testing shows he is allergic to some common weeds. My dog neighbor thinks it may have to do with his BARF diet, or that he is alone most of the day while we are at work. An anxiety thing maybe. Any suggestions???

my dobe had a problem losing his hair when he was puppy and I had to play Army for a month. It grew back though. Believe it or not some dogs can be allergic to meat or just some types of meat. Thats the reason you see all the different types of meat in dog food. Like lamb. Where I work now we actually carry a whitefish and sweet potatoe dog food. Not saying thats the problem but it may be something to ask your vet about. But he or she may still look at you like your speaking greek. theres a lot of vets that still recomend science diet. What are you washing him with?

My pup, also on the raw diet had the itchies and on advice I cut out the starchy vegetables and cut down on the alfalfa powder. It seems whenever I add some potatoe or carrot to her food, she will scratch again. When in doubt, eliminate foods one at a time for a few weeks and watch for results.

I prefer to put my veggies in a blender and pulp them as opposed to cooking. I would also eliminate the vegetable oil, fish oil is great.

This is common in So Ca because the weather is mild so the flea population never decreases significantly. Where I come from it was called "The Santa Barbara itch"

Make sure your dog has no fleas and have your house treated regularly. I remember something about saliva (dog?,flea?) being an irritant along with salt water and we applied a cortizone based lotion.
Sorry,can't remember I'm a Ca native but have lived on the east coast for 8 yrs now.
Erin

This sounds more like a food allergy. Do what Maggie says - eliinate things from the dogs diet - I would go to an all meat diet for 10 days to two weeks - then add things one at at time. Eliminat the kelp and Alfalfa -

Your last resort should be the steroid cremes - on a scale of 1 to 10 - the steroid is a 1. I resort to steroids when it's the last option before having to put the dog down.

It does sound like a food allergy. I would try 6 - 8 weeks on just one meat protein, elimination diet, I myself would choose chicken, but you can choose whatever you prefer. And see if it lets up, and then as Ed said, try another one - and see if you can determine what the dog is allergic to. Anxiety can play a role, once they have a hotspot they will keep at it when bored, alone etc. I would put something on the spot that tastes like hell like Variton (you can get this from your vet)- and hope it does not lick it, altho most determined dogs will lick thru Variton etc - but many will not - it is worth a shot.

I had a dog that was the same way. I put her on chicken and rice and it stopped. Good luck with you dog.

For everyone familiar with the sad tales of "Diva", I want to share the latest. Like these other dogs, she had become a constant mutilator of her own body. Because of the 2 surgeries, she has been on a sedative for most of her life, and she is only 9 months old now. She had developed a bad hotspot right where one of her incisions had been. The hair had grown back and everything had healed nicely, but I thought maybe she was having some pain at that spot from the surgery which was 2 months ago. The surgeon said everything appeared okay, but took her off the sedative, thinking that she may have developed an allergy to it. Well, 2 weeks later and she is still chewing on herself. (Another tidbit: When they ae itching this bad, they will chew right past "bitter apple".)The hotspot and her legs and underneath her body was in terrible shape. I took her to the vet. yesterday and it appears that she has Demodex mites. We thought at first it was a food allergy also. Maybe all of you knew this, but I had no idea, that all dogs have Demodex mites.These mites are not contagious to you or your other pets, because they live in the skin follicles, literaly eating away at your dog. These mites look like little alligators. The dogs that are most vunerable are the ones that have a suppressed immune system. Another news flash for me was, that a suppressed immune system is inherited from the mother. I have had Diva on a diet specifically for the immune system factor, since she has undergone so many surgeries, which can deplete the immune system really bad. STILL, she came down with this, because she inherited it. According to what I understand, breeders are not suppose to breed their dogs when this shows up in their system. They should be spayed, because it is not something that can be eradicated completely. She is a full AKC registered, full German bred shepherd, purchased from what was suppose to be a "professional" breeder. For what it is worth, have a skin scraping done on your dogs, and make sure this is not the problem. These poor dogs are in alot more misery than we can imagine. Diva is now on an antibiotic, Prednisone and Ivercide. She will be on the Ivercide maybe for 6 months, and it is EXPENSIVE. Because of the strength of the Ivercide and the length of time she is suppose to be on it, I am really frightened at how it may harm her in other ways. But it is the only thing that will kill these internal pest. Get your dogs checked for these mites!!! I can't emphasize it enough!!