Hello, I'm new here and I have a 5 Month old Black male gsd that we have been feeding raw prepared (Raw Health chicken)since he was 10-12 weeks old. The problem is he itches and scratches not constantly but more than he should I believe this food has good stuff in it-chicken,chicken backs,organ meats-85% sweet potatoes,squash,parsley-15% kelp & alfalfa this food comes in 5 lb. frozen logs. He does not scratch to the point of getting hot-spots, maybe I'm just a worry wart but I just don't think he should scratch this much. Any suggestions?? Thanks Jack Fitch Oh yes one other thing we live in central Florida and the pollen (allergy) is also bad now very dry even though our property is irrigated. Sorry for the long winded post just want to help my boy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Jack - the first thing I would say is NO MORE VACCINATIONS for this dog.

Then look at the diet and try to determine whats causing this. Cut the alfalfa and kelp out of the diet for a few weeks, or switch the dog to hamberger and no chicken.

Thanks, I think I'll go the hamburger route, do I need to supplement it or just plain raw hamburger for the time being til we see if it helps?? Thanks again, Jack

My personal experiences, in brief: My last GSD was on a daily dose of prednisone and Atarax (or other anti-histamine) for several years before I switched him to a raw diet. After the switch, 95% of the scratching, itching and biting was gone. For the rare flareups, I gave him a very small dose of prednisone.

I start my current GSD on raw as soon as I got her from rescue. Her diet balance is probably pretty similar to yours. She had some occasion bouts of slight scratching. I've added fish oil caps (2x1200mg) and 400 mg E daily, which seemed to help. And I stay away from any grains. As her diet is fairly consistent, I think any allergy problems now are from environmental/inhalant sources, which may be your problem as well. You can get some allegry tests done, but they're not cheap. A number of others here on the board have a better grasp on the supplementation and elimination diet aspects.

I assume this is a different Raw Health? http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/09/rawhealth.htm

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My personal experiences, in brief: My last GSD was on a daily dose of prednisone and Atarax (or other anti-histamine) for several years before I switched him to a raw diet. After the switch, 95% of the scratching, itching and biting was gone. For the rare flareups, I gave him a very small dose of prednisone.

I start my current GSD on raw as soon as I got her from rescue. Her diet balance is probably pretty similar to yours. She had some occasion bouts of slight scratching. I've added fish oil caps (2x1200mg) and 400 mg E daily, which seemed to help. And I stay away from any grains. As her diet is fairly consistent, I think any allergy problems now are from environmental/inhalant sources, which may be your problem as well. You can get some allegry tests done, but they're not cheap. A number of others here on the board have a better grasp on the supplementation and elimination diet aspects.

I assume this is a different Raw Health? http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/09/rawhealth.htm

Yes to everything so far, IMO.

If it's a food allergy, then what Ed Frawley says is it: elimination diet.

Allergies to foods develop over repeated exposure, so an elimination diet is limited ingredients, each of which the dog has never eaten before.

Once the allergens have left the system and the symptoms have stopped (again, assuming it is a food allergy and no environmental allergies thrown in), you can challenge the system slowly and carefully with one ingredient at a time until you have it isolated. (This is a several-week process, as mentioned above.) And I'd definitely cut the alfalfa and kelp too.

Food allegies are most often to a protein (and in my own experience, most often to a protein GRAIN, like wheat, corn, etc., or to soy). But of course, it can be any protein, and can also be (less often) any additive, like flax added for the short-chain omega 3 EFAs.

But I have yet to hear of or know a dog who's allergic to salmon oil, and I believe that salmon oil (for long-chain omega 3 EFAs) is a good anti-inflammation agent. Oil supplements for the dog use vitamin E for processing, so you add extra E at the same time.

If you do go the testing route, the skin tests are (IMO) far more accurate than the blood panel.

Like Mike, I've had the experience of seeing an excellent raw diet help with both food allergies *and* environmental allergies (IMO, bu supporting the immune system with good food).

Remember that the most common canine allergy is to fleas, and that the dog doesn't have to "have" fleas to react all over to one exposure.

All the allergic dogs I have adopted have had both food and inhalant allergies. The food allergies were the easiest to deal with (elimination diet).

Good site for reading about skin pruritis:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/itch.html

He has been on hamburger 24 hrs. and we can allready see an improvement in his scratching---thank goodness----It is just plain ground chuck is that ok for the time being or do we need to supplement with something if not how long can we feed just the ground chuck or is hamburger better. Thanks sooo much for your advice and help. Jack Fitch

My dog has the same problem. He doesn't scratch to the point of irritation or loss of fur, but it still seems like he does it too much.

I've been feeding him Natural Balance organic kibble for a while now. I tried adding omega3 capsules for about a month a while back but it didn't seem to change anything. That said, I only gave him one capsule a day. I've recently read that you should give 1 capsule for every 10 lbs of the dogs weight.

I'd like to make the transition to raw. It seems a little overwhelming but maybe I'll order a coulple of the books available on this site to help me get started.

If I start with this hamburger elimination diet, how much should I feed? My dog is a 45 lb hound mix and I run him for about an hour everyday.

Thanks!

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.....I'd like to make the transition to raw. It seems a little overwhelming but maybe I'll order a coulple of the books available on this site to help me get started. ...... If I start with this hamburger elimination diet, how much should I feed? My dog is a 45 lb hound mix and I run him for about an hour everyday.....Thanks!

An elimination diet doesn't equal a hamburger diet. Ed said hamburger to the original poster because hamburger was "novel" to that dog -- that is, a new food. (That dog was on a chicken diet.) Again, allergies to food develop over repeated exposure.

If your dog has been eating beef, then beef isn't an elimination diet. Is there beef in his kibble?

Here are some "search" terms for this site that will yield a ton of info for you: "elimination diet" would be number one, and then it would give you a good overall picture (and lots of authoritative links, too), if you search "raw" and "barf" and "b.a.r.f.". Use the quotation marks to keep the search narrow.

The subject has been so thoroughly covered, with URLs, that I'd be doing you a disservice by just answering with one reply. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

JMO! It's well worth spending an hour on.

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He has been on hamburger 24 hrs. and we can allready see an improvement in his scratching---thank goodness----It is just plain ground chuck is that ok for the time being or do we need to supplement with something if not how long can we feed just the ground chuck or is hamburger better. Thanks sooo much for your advice and help. Jack Fitch

I would use the salmon oil, too, with vitamin E, because I have never met, read of, or heard of a dog with a fish oil allergy, and it's a good anti-inflammation agent. (E is used in processing oil supplements.) I'm not saying there can't be an allergy to it, but most canine food allergies are to a protein, and very often it's a protein *grain.* JMO.

The raw beef is OK, IMO, for a while, but not long-term unless you are using RMBs too. (Muscle meat without bones = not good.) The way you are using it, as an elimination diet, the simpler the better.

When (if) he stops scratching, you'll know that one or more ingredients in his old food were the allergens, and you can add back in one ingredient at a time, "challenging the system," slowly, to isolate the ingredient(s).

Search "elimination diet" here for a great overview. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

All JMO after a lot of canine allergy experience.

Thanks Connie, I can get beef bones from my butcher but I wouldn't think he could eat them as they are so large. What do you reccomend. Also how much salmon oil and vitamin E.
I cannot tell you how happy we are that the scratching is sooooo much better. Also what should I use for training treats? Thanks, Jack