Need to change dog's food (3yo Maltese)

[jytdtysrht]

My dog currently eats a mixture of wet and dry food (Royal Canin mini adult wet food and Royal Canin Maltese dry food).

Since he has an ear infection which kind of went with ABs but then came back and the fact that he licks his feet a lot, the vet thinks that he may be mildly allergic to his food.

I want to change his food to something higher quality but have no idea where to start. The Royal Canin food that I am feeding him is what the breeder recommended and feeds to her own dogs.

Can anyone recommend what you would feed a 4kg maltese who is 3yo?

Thanks for any help.

I had this with one of my dogs. I changed to Burns which is hypoallergenic, they have a large range to choose from. The mites in the dry food, not just the ingredients, can also set off allergies. I was advised to freeze a few servings at a time in a Tupperware box then defrost servings in fridge to kill off the mites before dishing up her meals. It’s worth getting an allergy test sorted out to see what types of things your dog may be allergic to, mine reacted to various types of grass as well as mites, so meant had to cut down on park walks OR bathe immediately afterwards as the allergens collected on her fur and paws. I avoided any long grass, overgrown fields altogether. I also kept her coat quite short so less likely to gather dust and store it. She didn’t develop symptoms until she was around two and a half, so not uncommon to start reacting to things that didn’t seem an issue before.

If that doesn’t clear it which it didn’t for mine, it just got worse - painful hot spots, as well as the ear infections - then my vet recommended a daily anti-histamine, I used Piriton, the ones for humans are safe one pill per dose, can do twice daily, so max two pills a day – but don’t think any of the other brand-named ones, like Clarityn or Piriteze, are safe for dogs as they have different ingredients. Also, weekly baths to remove allergens from her skin, taking care not to get water in her ears, and to dry her carefully to avoid sparking ear infections or hot spots really helped. I was told it was important to keep the house as low dust as possible, cut down on soft furnishings and vacuum regularly, as well as change and dry her bedding frequently. A bit of a faff but made a huge difference.

Good luck, sure you'll sort things out, but worth keeping on top of, as can lead to so many other problems.

And, just in case, but hopefully this will turn out to be a mild allergy, I used anti-dust pillowcases on her bed cushions then put the proper cushion cover on over it, as regular household dust mites were an issue too. But let's hope your dog's allergy isn't as severe as mine's turned out to be!

Thanks - have booked allergy test for Monday

I use towels over his bed so that I can regularly wash them as well.

Will look up that food, thanks

Hypoallergenic is not a protected term for dog foods so in truth they can be contaminated with anything.
If you would like to try an exclusion diet hydrolysed diets are the way to do this these are produced in factories that are sterilised prior to production. Hills z/d, Purina HA and royal canin analeergenic all satisfy this criteria. You need to feed them exclusively for 12 weeks to decide if they work or not.

Interesting perspective, Lonecat, these were precisely the kinds of commercial brands my vet and the allergy specialist recommended I avoid, in fact Hills brought my dog out in several, large, extremely painful, weeping hot spots.

Burns is not just hypoallergenic but also has fairly low-key ingredients - so any dog food that's not packed with chemicals and additives, usually the ones labelled organic worth exploring, as are the less common proteins like duck.