At the end of my tether with two itchy dogs, which dry food?

[AllGrownUpMolly]

I have 2 itchy dogs.

I'm just at the end of my tether with years of it. Raw, wet, freeze dried. Non of it stops it completely.

Have had Ddog2 allergy tested for environmental triggers as she spent 8 weeks on hydrolysed food and is still licking her paws constantly.

The sound drives me insane.

Starting to think its environmental or behavioural.

So I am just going to pick a dry food and that is what they are staying on because I've spent hundreds on trying to figure it out, not to mention time and research and I'm just done with it all.

Its not a terrible reaction they have, they aren'tlosing fur or scabby or anything. They just have dry skin, some skin irritation, scratching and licking. Its the licking sound that gets me 😭

Should say thousands actually with her recent skin prick test!

To be honest, there’s no way to know as every dog is different. You need to try the food for a while to see how they react.

My dog as skin issues, over the years I have switched foods if I notice she is now reacting to the new food (it normally happens with mine within 2 years). At this time we have gone from grain free, chicken and other birds free, fish based and is now on insect based one that worked well in the past but now her skin stinks. She vomits if fed a raw diet so that is a no go for us but something that always works beautifully, is Butternut, even the chicken pouches work well and she acts like a younger dog within weeks and most her skin problems disappear, unfortunately for us is prohibitively expensive so I put her on it as a month “detox” once or twice a year.

My mini schnauzer is the same.. it seems to be seasonal. I’ve cut chicken and grain out of his diet and when it’s really bad I use prescription Apoquel or anti histamines

My dog was fed hypoallergenic food, but he had to be on a low dose of steroids to stop the itching caused by his allergies.

Having been in a similar situation with one of my dogs (ear infections), have you tried a different vet? My old vet kind of managed the situation, so treatment than it went, or just got better. The discharged, only for the infection to come back worse a few weeks to months later.

With New Vet (specilises in dogs), the management is soo much better. They have an in house lab, so ear swaps for bacteria/ yeast are done quickly, vital for quick treatment. They are independent and 1/3 of the price of old vet. Sadly a good hour drive away... but worth the time spent driving!

One of the management things I do is stick to one type of dog food for everything! I use Harringtons just 6, that's food & treats. Nothing else gets past DDogs lips (at least out of my hand!)
No training treats, no chewing stuff and no toothpaste/ dental sticks.

The key for my dog is to have as little ingredients as possible. If he has a flair up its straight to the vets for his antibiotics.

Have you checked for yeast infection? It's very common and a bugger to get rid of. My dog has it as a secondary issue to his ear infections. But with that, we were in a vicious cycle with normal vet.

Ziwipeak. Bloody brilliant for my itchy dog. And if you have hard floors have you looked at what you wash them with?

In all honesty I've run out of money to push it with vets anymore.

If she has environmental triggers her insurance have approved 12 months of tailored injections but after that it would be out of pocket and I cannot afford them.

My plan is to just find a food for all 3 (one doesn't itch) and then just give them an OTC antihistamine because I have honestly tried dozens of foods over the last 5 years and I'm tired of it.

Its not the floors, ashamed to say they don't get washed all that often 🤣😅

Definitely does not coincide with the itch fits

Have you tried Tails dry food? You can tailor it. Its worked wonders for my old girl.

With my dog it turned out to be a flea allergy.

We were regularly treating her for them with a spot on and hoovering regularly etc so she didn’t have fleas.
But she spends a lot of time outside in woodland and fields and if one jumped on and had a nip before it jumped off it created this allergy and lots of paw licking.

We basically got a much more powerful flea treatment from the vet that she ate and her paws have cleared right up.

Yes, tried this.

But because I have 3 its becomes very expensive to tailor 3 different foods and I don't actually know what it is that causes it to exclude it!

I give my two Fish4Dogs salmon kibble and it’s brilliant! I lost count of how many different kibbles/wet food I tried.
You can ask for free samples ( pay the postage) to try. It’s worked miracles for my highly allergic Boston xFrenchie, she’s a different dog, shiny coat and no scratching.

I think you owe your dog a second opinion.

Mine has no insurance for his ear infections as claimed ages ago before I knew it was chronic - he's 6. I get it, vet fees for chronic conditions/ allergies/ intolerance can run into 1000's over a few years.

My independent vet charges us £120.- for consultation, ear checks (swap visual , quick clean) and medication (steroids & antibiotics) Subsequent visits for a quick check & medication (just antibiotics) haven't been more than £40.-. That's money, I can ill afford but its also well spent. My boy is happy and full of life and that has no price.

Any sign of trouble, he'll stand in front of me, shakes his head to one side and looks very sad. I ask him ear? And he'll rub his poorly side on my legs.
He had a some seeds stuck between his paw pads the other day, and did the same exept he lifted his paw to tell me what hurts. Dogs are so clever, they rely on us to make things better.

A 2nd opinion? This is the 3rd vets, a specialist referral that cost me nearly £2k

I've been doing this for years with multiple vets, multiple shampoos, creams, foods etc...

Nothing works. Nothing makes a difference.

Im waiting for the allergen results but can't really remove those.

Please don't act like I am some negligent owner who leaves her dog suffering. Its mild skin issues that I've spent thousands on. Most wouldnt bother.

My vet literally said to me 'some dogs just lick and itch, you might have to accept that'

Have you tried adding fish oil in their food? Given what you have said, my guess is yes.

Grain free, fish oil and brewers yeast or natural yoghurt worked for our itchy labs.

What breed are they?

And edited to ask: when you say mild, what do you mean by this? Sore skin, dandruff or just scratching?,

It might be as simple as putting some moisture into their skin. Maybe use a combo of moisturisers and Sudocrem. I've used PetNat Dermacton Cream with good results before. Pop a plastic bag and baby sock over their feet and secure with an elastic band or you can tape the sock to keep it falling off. Maybe put some natural flea drops oil on the sock so their paws smell bad. I wouldn't leave the like that, only when I'm around.

I'd add fish oil to their diets and try them on a white fish and sweet potato diet for a week or two just in case it is food related.

What age and breed of dog? Are they related? What age did you first see signs?

It is highly likely they have atopic dermatitis, which cannot be cured, only managed through medication and limited exposure to allergens, which are not always food related.

I would start by cutting out chicken. The vet dermatologist we saw said it’s the most common food allergen for dogs.

I agree cut out all chicken
after years of issues this was the cause

My poor dog scratched herself raw behind her ears. I’ve tried everything. She’s now on Zenrelia tablets. She doesn’t need one every day, the prescription says one daily but one every three days works.. My vet authorised a prescription so I could buy it from an online pet dispenser to keep the costs down.

What breed of dog is it OP? Just asking as there can be some breeds which are more prone to certain allergies. Also might be worth asking on a Facebook group for the breed.

Going through a similar thing with our Westie. We had changed to Lilys so now looking at changing back again.

One thing that we used to do was to buy big bags of frozen fish and cook bits of white fish/salmon to put in with every meal. We actually did it just to encourage Ddog to eat as she was fussy about dog food but think it might have been helping with the the skin as well. (She had been happily eating the lilys without so we had cut it down and now the itching has started)!

Have a look at Wolfworthy. Lots of information on their website.

@AllGrownUpMollyDo they have a monthly spot-on that treats sarcoptic mange? If not, have you considered that to be a possibility? Vets are notoriously bad at diagnosing it. It seems odd that both of your dogs are itchy. They can catch it very easily from other dogs or where foxes have been.

Have you cut chicken out? That made a massive difference to our dog.

otherwise it might be grass seed allergy which should improve as the seed season passes over.

Just a little update. We switched to Harrisons Just 6 Salmon with an added squirt of salmon oil and she is doing much much better.