Dog food recommendation for flaky skin

[pinkorchid1]

My dog is 1 and half years old and in the last 4 months or so has developed very flaky skin. It covers the house! She's not particularly itchy so not bothering her much - but you see it fly off her in a white cloud whenever she shakes.
We started off on raw as she was on that with the breeder. No issues with it but it worries me that we have young children and the dog would like to lick my DD on the face after eating and I'm worried about salmonella, e-coli, etc. (not to mention the cost of the food). We changed to Butternut box which is not much cheaper. All was fine for a while but now this skin condition.
The vet prescribed some special shampoo which doesn't do a lot.
We have added probiotics and salmon oil to her food but no improvement (been adding for about 3 months).

So any recommendations? We avoid grain and also chicken (as apparently her mother was allergic to chicken). Happy to try a dry food - dog is not fussy and eats everything!

TIA

Pic of the flaky beast!

I was going to say avoid chicken but see you’re already doing that! Have you tried fish based?

Dry skin could be:

1. food allergy/intolerance
2. environmental allergy
3. something else (), such as a medical problem

Presumably the vet doesn't suspect 3. Which leaves 1. or 2. If it's a food intolerance, the chances are it is an intolerance to meat proteins. Maybe not all, maybe just one and maybe more than one.

You could drive yourself mad trying to guess which meat might be 'safe' and all this without ever truly knowing if it is food-based at all.

For that reason, I'd bite the bullet early and eliminate all meat based proteins from her diet as a test.

You can get balanced vegan foods (e.g. Solo Vegetal do a great one) that you can use.

You can get truly hypoallerghenic foods that have hydrolised proteins in them - these proteins have been brooken down in such a way that the dog's body will not react to them.

If you don't fancy either of those you might get lucky with an insect based dog food. I think Canagan do one now and certianly they are much more available than they used to be.

Try that, without any meat-based treats at all, for 2 months. See if that brings about an improvement. If it does, then you know it's caused by food. If it doesn't then the chances are, the dry skin is caused by something else and changing foods won't help.

You can then try a food with just one meat protein in and see if the skin problem returns.

Instead of trying loads of different foods, I would get her allergy tested and save yourself a lot of stress and expense.

Sadly, allergy testing for food allergies is very unreliable. You could, however, test for environmental.

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2020/03/food-allergy-testing/#:~:text=Take%20Home%3A%20Saliva%20and%20blood,of%20common%20foods%20as%20allergens.

Try adding salmon oil to dogs food it helped my cat with awful flaky skin, not had it with my dog

@SirSniffsAlot Thank you for taking the time with your reply. I didn't know about hydrolysed protein dog food so I will definitely look into that to try first. A vegan diet feels so extreme for a dog to me, so will be a last resort but will keep it in mind!

She pretty much eats only pork or salmon from butternut box. But haven't tried exclusively fish.

Thanks, we are already adding salmon oil to her dinner everyday. Not making a difference to her skin unfortunately.

A vegan diet feels so extreme for a dog to me, so will be a last resort but will keep it in mind!

I know what you mean but there are some crazy healthy vegan dogs out there. Some of the longest living have been vegan collies

However, it is most important that you are comfortable with what you feed your dog and so must choose a food you are happy to feed.

Hydrolised is also a good option as a test food. PRO PLAN Veterinary Diets Canine HA Hypoallergenic Dry Dog Food is one. There are kibble and wet food versions. Royal Canin also do a similar product, I think - but I know that one less.

@SirSniffsAlot Yes I've just seen that Royal Canin do one. My neighbours swear by that brand and think it's the best, but I've seen others on Mumsnet say that it's rubbish! Such a minefield!
That's very interesting about the vegan collies!

Try Burgess Sensitive. My dog has lots of skin problems, and loads of foods make him itchy. Burgess is the cheapest one I have found that doesn't make him itch.

Royal Canin (and Hills) are generally pretty good for specific diets - so if you have a dog with allergies or kidney issues (for example) it's fine, but it's generally not recommended if your dog is otherwise healthy, if that makes sense.

Thank you I'll take a look at that.

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts Yes that makes sense. Perhaps one to try a later date if others don't work then!

What tick and flea meds are you giving him.. some of them are awful for skin conditions!

Millie's Wolfheart sorted out our dog's flaky itchy skin. People stop and comment on her coat now 😊 The company have a good helpline if you want to talk to them before buying.

She's on Simparica Trio which covers pretty much all parasites. I was thinking of changing it as we put her on that when she was a puppy and liked to eat soil! She doesn't really eat it anymore so probably no need for something so strong. Plus it's super expensive!

I've seen other mumsnetters mention that one and seems to have good reviews. Thanks I will take a look.

Google simparica and skin conditions. Awful stuff! Much simpler ways of worming and flea tick meds that really don't need monthly doses.

Panacur for worming every 3 months or even 6

And fleas I just use a spot advantage

My dog nearly died from nexguard, simparica and milbemax

We massage coconut oil into our dog's skin before brushing him and it seems to help the flakiness but he is short coated...no idea if it'd be possible with yours!

You might want to try herbal treatments for fleas and worms.
Mine was on Billy No Mates only with no problems but then we moved to tick paradise and I found three ticks on her in the space of a couple of weeks so I started using Biospotix as well. Not found a tick since and no fleas ever.

She gets hairy treats for worms and a herbal wormer once a month and I have her stools tested a couple of times a year. No problems whatsoever.

No idea if it will help your dog but worth thinking about maybe.

I was originally prescribed Nexguard by the vet - she had flaky, itchy skin when she arrived - but I wanted to get her off that asap.

She gets salmon oil too. Not sure which one you buy but the claim is that cold pressed salmon oil hasn't suffered a loss of nutrients in the manufacturing process.

Our DDog was quite flaky when we got her. We fed her this from Pooch & Mutt and she's fine now.

I do suspect she was quite stressed in her last home so reviving the stress has helped too

I don't want to alarm you OP but have you considered Ichthyosis? My dog has this. It can be quite mild and manifest only as severe dandruff, as with my dog. No amount of diet changes will stop that. Regular combing however keeps on top of it.

I didn't know DDogs could get that!

Does it get better in the summer like it does with humans?