The seemingly never-ending saga of my dog and food continues...and now it looks like allergies. Hope some of the experts can offer advice.

To make this short: Recently switched from Bravo diet to Nature's Variety and bought the NV chicken formula to start out. True is finally eating normally (yea!)and whether that's due to the different brand or the fact that it's chicken, I don't know.

He's been on it about 3 weeks and now he's itching like mad and itching all the time. He's also biting his forelegs and it looks like the hair is being thinned out.

While this certainly could be the NV formula I'm leaning more toward he's getting more chicken then he's used to and more than his system can tolerate.

I didn't plan on buying the chicken formula again because I want him to have variety but now I don't know if I should even give him his usual chicken RMBs at night. It's a staple and I've got many pounds of it in the freezer.

Should I give his system a rest from chicken RMBs for a week or two? Is turkey ok to offer or should I stay away from all poultry for a few weeks?

Thanks in advance!

Why did you switch, and did he itch on the Bravo?

Do his paws itch too?

Did he have ANY itching before, or is this new? Or is it just increased?

He never itched on Bravo and never itched at all, until now. This is new. His paws are OK but his sides, close to the armpit, are the itchiest places. The skin is not red or broken.

I switched diets because he wouldn't eat Bravo and would go days without eating.

This is the first time he's ever had a pre-made chicken formula. Usually he only gets chicken (in the form of backs, necks or other parts)in the evening and it was never a problem.

No chance he has fleas?

OK, he didn't itch. You switched foods and he's an itchy mess.

I think I would stop the food immediately. Just makes sense, even though a food allergy does NOT start suddenly; it develops after repeated exposure.


Was the Bravo also chicken? I'm confused because of this:
" True is finally eating normally (yea!)and whether that's due to the different brand or the fact that it's chicken, I don't know. "

No fleas...I checked that out first.

He never ate Bravo chicken formula. With Bravo I gave him everything BUT chicken so he had some variety in his diet.

When I switched to NV I bought the chicken formula to give it a trial run...chicken being his all-time favorite food. So for the last few weeks his diet has been primarily chicken...NV in the morning and RMBs in the evening. He's had a double-than-normal dose of chicken, which makes me wonder if that has put him over the edge.

He started the NV rabbit formula yesterday and I'm hoping to see the itching ease up. If it doesn't, then I know it's the formulation of the diet.

Connie,
I just PM'd you, before seeing this thread, with a similiar problem I'm having with my dogs.

The symptoms are the same in that they do not have a single flea on them and they are not itching at their paws. It is mostly right where the fore leg meets the trunk and a little on the thighs.

I am not using any NV food.

Feel free to post my PM to you if you feel it is germane to this discussion.

 Quote: Sarah_Morris

He started the NV rabbit formula yesterday and I'm hoping to see the itching ease up. If it doesn't, then I know it's the formulation of the diet.

Please post back.

Remember that allergies are to proteins. (Sensitivities are not the same thing as allergies.)

 Quote: Eric Eschmann

Connie,
I just PM'd you, before seeing this thread, with a similiar problem I'm having with my dogs.

But you are having itching in two dogs.... not even related (although that wouldn't matter much)..... Two dogs don't develop allergies together. They get fleas together; they might react to a bad food together; they might have gotten into something together.

But food allergies, which we know follow flea hypersensitivity and then environmental-inhalant allergies (way behind)..... suddenly developing in two diferent dogs at the same moment?

Connie,

I'm giving him an extra pump or two of salmon oil/day and have also increased the probiotics (active culture yogurt) to help with the itching. He's also getting 1 4mg chlorpheniramine tablet/day. Is this OK?

Is the antihistamine working? If not, after a couple or three weeks, I would try another. Hydroxyzine, maybe. If it IS helping, please post. That would be interesting.


This was all sudden, right? Just when the food changed? The yogurt was not new?

(I would give a gram of fish oil per 10 pounds of dog. Plus E, of course.)