Dog Food Suggestion/Help

cockyweim · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:48 am Post subject: Dog Food Suggestion/Help

About 5 months ago I switched Blitz from Nutro to Canidae. Everything seemed fine but over the last couple of months I have noticed him scratching at one of his ear enough to make the top of it raw and he seems to be biting at his legs and pawing at his face alot. I took him to the vet and his ears are clean (we clean them about every week) so no ear infection and the vet said he could have allergies so give him benedryl twice a day. I have given him the benedryl and still notice the same symptoms. I am wondering if he could be having a reaction to the food. When he was eating nutro he was eating lamb and rice but he eats the canidaie with lamb, chicken and fish. Should I switch him to a lamb and rice food, a food for sensitive skin or what? Any suggestions on foods or things to try would be appreciated.

Banshee13 · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:50 am Post subject:

It could be the new Canidae formula. Do you know if your bags are the old or new formula? When I originally researched Canidae, the Original formula was rated a lot higher than either the lamb and rice or chicken and rice.

cockyweim · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:10 am Post subject:

I really dont know. But he is not eating as well as he used to. I will put the food down and he really wont touch it. Should I try to switch to a different food>

weimdogmom · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:12 am Post subject:

What type of allergies does your vet think Blitz has? If it's food related, you may want to try a novel protein/limited ingredient food. If it may be environmental, a change of food may help -- but washing his feet, a general rinse all over would probably help, too.

Benadryl helps a lot of dogs, but it seems that are some that it just doesn't work as well for. You might check with your vet about the dose or changing to a different antihistamine.

cockyweim · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:17 am Post subject:

I am not sure what type of allergies he has. Benedryl has helped in the past but he will not just take them I have to put them in something (most of the time cheese). Do you think cheese could be a problem for him? I have thought of just doing no medicine or anything and just the food but I dont know what to do.

All I know is that as I am sitting here is has sneezed, been shaking his head and biting at himself all over. A few minutes ago he threw up and come to find out all he had eaten was the cheese with the pills in it and not touched his food. Used to be I would put the food down and he would eat it. Now I will fix the food and he may eat or he may not eat it. Usually he get 4 cups a day and he is maybe eating 2 1/2. The vet said that dogs are like people they eat when they are hungry but I know he is not getting the nutrition he needs eating that little bit of food.

weimdogmom · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:37 am Post subject:

According to the Canidae website, an adult dog weighing 70 pounds on the ALS type would get 2-3 cups a day. (This is for a weight range of 50-75 pounds). 2 1/2 cups per day may be OK... is he losing weight?

I don't think sneezing would be related to a food allergy. If the Benadryl is helping, I would continue to give it to him. Cheese/dairy could be an issue. Putting the pill in some type of food is not a problem -- maybe peanut butter?

cockyweim · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:41 am Post subject:

He was losing weight so I bumped him to 4 cups. He was getting 3. I will try the pills in PB instead and see what happens. So you dont think it has anything to do with the food? Of course if I ask the vet about food they suggest national brands (which I dont have a problem with) and they even suggested going with a brand that was for dogs with sensitive skin. Would you try switching foods?

nskyba · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:57 am Post subject:

I would try to slowly switch over to a lamb and rice or chicken and rice. I have never had a prob with weim's and allergies, but I also breed poodles and they can be really allergic to food and they react the same as your weim is.

cockyweim · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:04 am Post subject:

So I talked to the vet and he said go back to a lamb and rice base food. He suggested Purina Pro Plan lamb and rice. A friend of mine feeds her dogs Eukanuba Large breed lamb and rice. I am leaning towards the Eukanuba because of the joint health. Anyone have an opinion either way?

weimdogmom · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:50 am Post subject:

Is your vet suggesting going back to a lamb and rice because Blitz did OK on it before? Or because of possible allergies?

Some dogs do well on lamb and rice, for others it can be too rich. There are other brands of lamb and rice -- Canidae makes one, I think Flint River does. We tried Eukanuba fish for Jazz (on our vets recommenation) -- her coat and skin got oily and she had a fish smell, which she does not have with other fish based foods. (And I think Eukanuba is overpriced) Mayu was on ProPlan for a while and it just did not agree with her system.

It could be the food Blitz in on... if he did well on the lamb and rice before, he may do fine on it again -- but switching to another brand of the same food may not give you the same results. If you go back to a lamb based food and it does not work -- if there still is itching, ear problems, etc., you may want to try a food with a novel protein (duck, buffalo, rabbit, venison, etc) and no grain to see if that works.

You might also want to talk to your vet about adding some EFAs to his diet. These help with skin and coat health -- which will also help reduce itching.

cockyweim · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:54 am Post subject:

He suggested going back to lamb and rice because that is what he did well on before. He also suggested putting fish oil capsules in his food. We did this before and once started on Canidae I stopped because it had fish in it.

Should I worry about large breed formulas for joint health or is that just something they do to sell dog food?

anne · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:59 am Post subject:

You often have to experiement to see if your dog is having a reaction to the food. I would suspect it if the problems began with the food switch. Also most food allergies tend to show up in the ears and feet.

Be sure you feed yogurt or a probiotic supplement to help his ears.

Benedryl gives him relief but only ceases the symptoms, not the cause.

anne · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:

weimdogmom · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:04 am Post subject:

Should I worry about large breed formulas for joint health or is that just something they do to sell dog food?

I don't know how much joint supplement there is in the food -- if there is enough to help or not? The price may be higher, too. As an alternative, you could get the regular food and the supplement separately. With that, you may be able to just toss it in with the food.

The fish oil caps or salmon oil may still help with skin and coat.