Puppies on Raw - Page 1

We brought home 2 brothers a couple of weeks ago.  They are long coats and I transitioned them from Eukanuba puppy to Bravo raw and Blue Wilderness kibble (they eat very little kibble).  Anyway one of the pups (Rocco) seem to be scratching all the time.  He is not ripping hair out, but he does have some spots on his belly and inner thigh.  The other pup (Milo) is fine.  I am wondering if Rocco may be having some type of reaction to the grass.  Rocco's eyes also seem to be tearing more.  The pups are 14 weeks old.

We are visiting the breeder kennel this weekend so I will ask them, but has anyone experienced this before?

Thanks

Mike

Mike,
Now you have to be a detective. First are you absolutely sure he did not have any spots or scratching at the breeders before you brought him home. If you are sure it's new then you have to start figuring out what he's reacting to, there's been many new introductions, not only the food. Has he been to the vets for any kind of immunization? I have been feeding raw for 12 years  so am a big advocate of raw so it pains me to say that the most sensible thing to do first is to put him back on the food he was eating IF you are sure he had no issues at the breeders. If things clear up then  look at the main meat ingredient in his food and move to raw feeding that alone-I don't know if the Bravo has anything mixed in but you don't want that. Then you can add foods 1 at a time to see if anything triggers a reaction. Be aware of any treats he has gotton. If it doesn't matter than it could be anything enviromentally in his new enviroment-detergents,floor cleaners,air fresherners etc. and things will be much harder to figure out. Good Luck!

Could be allergic to what you've swapped him to. Had a Vizsla who would break out when he ate chicken, which of course seems to be in every dog food. Start weeding out the possibilities of what it could be. I assume you have him on flea prevention, and that he's not looking mangey or anything like that. It could be that he has seasonal allergies though. Check with your vet and see if they recommend switching him to a sensitive formula. If he's just scratching and driving both of you crazy, you can give him some benadryl, 1 mg per lb.

I have to sister's. One has a nice shiny coat, the other a bit dry. I give the dry coat more red meat and less chicken and vitamin E and salmon oil. Seem's to be working fine. It's funny how different GSD's react to there diet. And ditto to all above posts. Take Care

My pup has been on raw since I got him at 7 weeks.
He's the little guy in the icon (92 pounds now).
We fed him whole prey (cut in pieces).
Mostly whole chickens quartered, turkey necks and cornish hens.
One side benefit was eating would wear him out (yea!).
He has had no problems.  
He's healthy, strong, beautiful and has energy through the roof.

Also the transition may take a while.
It probably took a good month to get all the other stuff flushed out of his system.
During that time he looked kinda dusty and itchy.
Then we could really start to see the difference.

Hope this helps!

Orlando
Blitz Vom Wittenhaus RN

Just a thought but I had to drop anything and everything that had ANY kind of flax in it, 2 of my 4 cannot take any flax, no oil, seeds, etc.  Don't know if Blue Buff has any flax but my sisters dog could not take the Blue Buff formulas either??  Go figure,  but raw is definitely better and it took my guys about 6 months to come around to raw and pick up muscle and better coats.  Be sure he is parasite free also.  Nan

Thanks for the replies.  The Blue B Wilderness for puppies is grain free and quite frankly, they are eating very little kibble.  I'm pretty sure he was scratching from day one, but I thought it was from the Eukanuba they were eating. As of yuesterday they are fully transitioned to Bravo raw and Blue Wilderness Puppy.  They both have had 3 rounds of vaccs...last round due next month, a med for a common parasite (completed last week) and a nasal Bordetalla required by the training facility.  The Bravo raw is the Balanced Chicken and they LOVE IT!  They both look very healthy with the exception of Rocco's scratching and some eye tearing (not a lot, but I can notice it :) ).  We are heading to the breeders this weekend so maybe they will have some ideas.  My next move will be to replace the chicken with another source of protein and see if that works.  The little raptors are a handfull but very loving!

Mike

Also...going to bring in a stool sample to see if the "R" man may still have the parasite or maybe he needs to be wormed.

Mike

Check for demodex.  Puppies often get that.

It seems that many In the US use to much chicken we use chicken once every 14 days and give Them alot of bone with Meat and veggies we feed fish, lamb, cow Meat , salmon, reindeer, turkey, Rabbits and further chicken is not that valuable as meat source