Scratch, scratch, scratch. Changed to raw feeding, when will detox end?

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Poor Ddog has allergies, we are just trying to identify what to.
Changed her from tails.com to raw, pure minced lamb Saturday just gone.

Scratching/licking is worse, if possible. She smells worse than before/passing wind - never do tha before.

Is this detox?

I don't feed raw, but I have an itchy dog (not horrific, not scratching herself raw, but has patches where her fur is thin from scratching). Non-stinky stuff has worked miracles - we've tried lots of other supplements, but this is the only one that has worked. Hope you find a solution!

Um, why did you choose pure minced lamb as the first raw protein for your dog? It’s an odd choice for a few reasons. Do you have any reason to assume the scratching is diet related?
A raw diet can help with skin problems but it is not a simple quick fix. The changeover needs to be managed carefully as suddenly changing a dogs diet can cause more problems than it solves.

Switching foods suddenly isn't a great idea and pretty much always causes stomach upset.

And lamb is an odd choice - many dogs are intolerant to it.

I’ve looked at non stinky stuff but didn’t want to introduce another new level etc

You need to try a raw complete not just a mince. And start with rabbit- least likely to be allergic to this.
Carnilove is also a good brand of biscuit with no potato or grains added if you wanted to try that route. I would start with the salmon flavour.
You could also add a supplement of fenugreek and garlic from dorwest herbs to help with skin conditions.
These helped massively with my dog. Hope yours is feeling less itchy soon

I followed the advice of a recommended raw feed supplier, she did say I could return unused if needed.
Poor DDog is itching herself non stop, no sores or hair loss yet so I’m keen to solve it.

What else could it be?

What else are you doing to investigate the itching. Has your vet given you anything to relieve it?

She could be reacting to absolutely anything in her diet or environment and very likely multiple things. An abrupt change to raw lamb in unlikely to solve the problem.

I'd consult your vet and if necessary seek a referral to a veterinary dermatologist.

Ddog has very sensitive skin and is prone to itching. We use Malaseb shampoo (as advised by the vet) which helps a lot. He's also raw fed but mainly chicken which ge gets on well with. Assume you've ruled out fleas/harvest mites? Might be worth a trip to the vets!

Are you in the U.K.? Chicken is a more usual first food. You don't want anything basted or enhanced for succulence, though. Just ordinary chicken.

OP, is it definitely food allergies?

Scratching can be caused by so many different things (mites, fleas, skin ailments, allergies to grass or household chemicals) that it would be worth making sure it is food allergies before trying to fix the problem.

Otherwise you risk an expensive and frustrating few weeks and the issue getting worse and more confused in the meantime.

If you haven't already then take her to the vet and start the process of determining exactly what this is in a logical and well thought out way.

Are you just feeding mince? Not a raw complete? If the former, that is not going to be a good diet for your dog, itching or not

How do you know it’s a food allergy without knowing already what it’s to?

I thought you have to do a food elimination type diet to determine a food allergy so you cut out all but one protein type for several weeks and then if ok introduce others slowly?

Bitey that’s the plan that the recommended raw feed supplier said. Start with just lamb for 2 weeks, build up from there.

Thing is Ddog is getting worse just fed on the lamb mince, I’m going to go back tomorrow and return next weeks for chicken and have a vets appointments next week as well.

If you were to do a food elimination diet what would you actually feed?

I had an itchy rescue dog , the vet put him on low dose steroids while we sorted his (crap) diet out.

Plain chicken (raw) mostly wings & thighs, add in a handful of whatever fruit or veg you have around (lightly steam the veg if fibrous) now & then . I gradually added other meats just plain ones to eliminate any reacted to.

I also showered him fortnightly ( luckily a local groomer offers this) with an organic anti-itch shampoo.

Also Boots do a Omega 3,6,9 capsule (fish, primrose & olive oils) & one of those a day helped too.

Loubilou09 if I remember correctly you pick one protein based food so let's say in this case chicken based and feed them on that for several weeks. Once you have a baseline you can introduce other proteins and observe symptoms etc. It was suggested as a possibility for one of my dogs conditions but I never did it as was told you would need to make sure that you eliminated all other foods whilst you did this which would have been problematic for me.

Thank you.

My new pup is constantly scratching and vet thinks it is allergies. I have taken her twice now and we have eliminated other possibilities so now looking at elimination diet.

I have heard that dogs can be allergic to chicken and she is currently on a raw cube of chicken, salmon, veg and rice plus her breeder was adding the puppy royal canin to this which I have kept her on. I have now taken her off the royal canin and am feeding just the chicken, salmon cubes as they are a complete meal but because of the potential chicken allergy was thinking of feeding raw cubes of fish, turkey, veg and sweet potato as a start as she can't actually have much else in the the manufacturers range until she is 16 weeks old and she is only 14 weeks.

Some dogs can be allergic to chicken but you won;t know which it is if you stick to a combined. (Although they are useful later when you've cracked the source of the allergen)

May be a pain but can you do your own food ,one protein & a few veg for a few weeks? Each time you change she needs at least 2 weeks on the new diet to allow her body to adjust, & sometimes they get worse before they get better.

Has our vet given her any steroids? Just a small dose can calm the itch so stops the itch-scratch-itch that leads to the skin breaking down.My poor boy was so miserable & the steroids really helped short term while we were sorting out his diet. Oh and I added in a spoonful of organic coconut oil daily on another owners recommendation & that really helped too.

Changing to a raw diet won't miraculously solve it. Do you know what the dog is actually reacting to?

We have an itchy dog. We changed her to a grain and rice free kibble. Our vet said to avoid everything but turkey or fish - lots of dogs are intolerent of certain meats, especially chicken. Our vet said itchy ears are often a sign of food intolerances. Our dog reacts to grass too, so has to be mostly kept off grass on walks. I use Udder cream, which was designed for cow's teats but is used in the horse world a lot and can be found at equestrian feed shops. It soothes the itch (wipe pollen off with a sensitive baby wipe before applying) and also provides a barrier. Seems to work well for my dog. We also give her a piriton daily.

Stinky stuff is pretty much need oil, but expensive. Test it first, it could cause issues on some skin...

You need to get the dog allergy tested and use a proper elimination diet to identify allergies, this sort of change is likley to make things worse.

My friends dog is allergic to ALL meat...if she hasn’t bitten the bullet and tested the poor dog would have suffered for years.

I am not changing to a raw diet Honeyroar - she is ALREADY on a raw diet - natures menu but she was also on Royal Canin kibble from the breeder. I have dropped the Royal Canin kibble and kept her on her existing diet of raw food. However the manufacturer of raw food that I am using only does 2 different types for a puppy her age - 1) cube of chicken, salmon, rice and vegetables or 2) cube of turkey, salmon, sweet potato and vegetables.

She has been on the 1) cube up until now as that is what the breeder gave me for her and I could also get it from my local dog food stockists.

Sigh....And no we don't know what the dog is reacting to, hence me trying to find out. Vet suggested chicken could be an issue as could grain so I thought I would switch her over to cube 2) gradually and see if the scratching lessened or not. Interestingly I have given her half and half cubes 1) and 2) over the last three meals and she has not had any of the royal canin for 3 days now and she is definitely scratching less.

Greyhorses, I ordered an allergy test on Friday and hopefully it will come this week.

Honeyroar - interestingly I tried half a piriton for about 4 days but that didn't make much of a difference and vet told me not to give it when I asked.

Sorryi I got confused by the "changed to raw" part of the title, thought you'd just changed. When we changed to the grain and rice free feed on the vet's suggestion he told us it could take 6 weeks or more to see a difference.

Loubilou, it was our vet that put her on Piriton (1 a day for large terrier).

Interestingly our vet said not to bother allergy testing because it will bring up so many things and you won't know which are the main ones. He suggested eliminating/avoiding the more common ones first and seeing what effect it had.