Just an update (and a few questions too):

As of two days ago, Hershey is back on the chicken leg quarters. When I went to the grocery store and bought a 10 pound bag. I looked all over the bag for any indication of additives, but didn't see anything.
So, he is now back on the exact same thing that I started him on. The quarters, Vitamin E and Fish Oil with Omegas. I am not going to add anything else as of right now... Unfortunately, I have not seen improvement as of yet. But it has only been 2 days and I'm still hopeful. I'm thinking that it may take some time to get everything out of his system.

I just hope and pray that this works out for him, I feel so sorry for him right now. He just spends all his time itching, scratching, biting and licking. I actually gave him a Benedryl last night just to try to alleviate some of his suffering. In addition to his butt, he has also been itching his side and stomach area using his back paw and biting at his paws front paws. He is just an itchy mess right now !!!!!!

Over the weekend, I went to an Amish market looking for rabbit and WOW could not believe the price. They wanted $5.00 PER POUND the average rabbit was 2 pounds each. That would be $10.00 per rabbit. I don't even spend $5.00 per pound on meat for my family LET ALONE MY DOG !!!!! That was just ridiculous but I'm going to keep looking.

There is a deer processor/butcher in my area. When my grandfather was alive, he used to process the deer he shot when he hunted. The way it works is, you kill a deer and take it to them and them will cut it up and package it for you. I want to stop by and see about getting deer parts for the dog.
What do I ask for ? Scraps ? what exactly are the scraps ? Is there any part(s) that I shouldn't feed ? should I ask them to grind it or cut up certain things ? I don't want to get home with a deer leg and be like "OK what do I do with this"..... I apologize if these sound like stupid questions, but I am clueless about this...

Per your question Stacy ~ I know a lot of owners on this site feed deer, I'm sure someone else will have the answer for you.

So he is itchy all over? That's much different from butt only.

I'd be looking inside his ears regularly.

Does the Benadryl help? How much does it help? Is he able to sleep?

Hi Connie ~
Yeah, the itching seems to be getting worse. I sware ~ If I didn' know better I'd think he had a terrible case of fleas

Since he has long floppy ears, I do check ears quite ofter. I use a apple cider vinegar solution to clean his ears.
Right now ears are beautiful, no smell, no black gunk... I do notice a "tiny" (tiny tiny) bit of thick whiteish sometimes on the outside area and he does seem to scratch them alot....

I gave him 1 Benedryl (left over from the vaccine reation a month or so ago) right before bed.

Yes, he does sleep

The deer scraps will be bloody meat areas of the deer (from being shot), fatty and/or sinew meat trimmings, the ribs, spine and legs. You want to leave the lower leg bones with the hooves with the processor, there's no meat and the bones are too hard to chew for most dogs. The ribs and spine (especially the neck) usually have a lot of meat left on them. If you can get the processor to cut the ribs in 4-5" sections that would make storage and feeding easier. I use a very large meat cleaver to chop them into smaller pieces. The smaller spines can be broken into sections if you cut around the vertebra in the disk area and fold the spine over so it breaks.
The heads have some meat and the tongue, if you cut the skin from neck to chin the dog can get the meat pretty easily. My Beagles can reduce a head to skin and brain case overnight.
The liver will have encysted tapeworms, so if they have any livers and if you choose to feed it you will need to periodically deworm with praziquantel/droncit.
The stomachs and intestines, including the contents, are favorites for my dogs.
You might ask the Amish rabbit farmers if they would sell the whole (skin and guts) rabbits cheaper, and if they have old breeder rabbits they would sell cheap. If you feed guts and all you would have an ideal meal for the dog. You don't want to feed exclusively rabbit because it is lacking an amino acid and also fat that dogs need.

If you don't see improvement soon why don't you try feeding hamburger and bone meal to give his poor little itchy body a break.

I would think that probiotics would help him out.

Stacy
If the deer heads have ticks I freeze them for at least a day to kill the ticks.

Jenni Williams used Prozyme and Primal Defense with her dog Mia and it greatly improved her allergies.

Thanks Debbie ~ I'll look into both for allergy's.


Re: deer ~ Do you do all that chopping & cutting yourself ??? I just can't imagine giving my dog a deer head to eat (lol)

 Quote: Shannon Ebron

Hi Connie ~
Yeah, the itching seems to be getting worse. I sware ~ If I didn' know better I'd think he had a terrible case of fleas

Flea hypersensitivity is by far the number one cause of allergy-type itching symptoms, and a dog who is hypersensitive does not need a full-blown infestation by any means to be miserable.

Are you positive that there is no flea problem at all? If there is, it could be adding to a food sensitivity's symptoms. (Of course, so can inhalant/environmental; the itchy butt was the main reason for looking at food problems.)

POSITIVE ~ My dog is a 99.5 % inside dog and has never even had fleas.

I'm just gonna give it like 5 more days on the chicken, I think that I might stop the vet E & fish oil too.

I'm also going to try the 2 supplements that were suggested. If he doesn't show any sign of improvement, I'll go to organic chicken. IF that STILL doesn't improve the situation, I'll stop the chicken and find something else, another meat to feed...

Hopefully It won't get to that though. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Connie ~ How long do you think it takes for a food to works it way completely out of his system.

I've also begun a log to try to keep track of all the suggestions and changes...
Whew ~ It's a lot. But I am very dedicated to his health. Perhaps I should just get his tested ???

shannon- my dog cody went through the same thing, no fleas or mange. the vet gave us some soothing shampoo and that really helped. also i washed his bedding and rinsed it twice. i would not let your pup go outside alone if you can help it, maybe he is eating something out there. i understand your frustration, we have also eliminated all wheat products. my heart goes out to you,
love