Question about food-my dog is scratching like crazy! - Page 2

feeding TOTW for some time now.. no problem with any of the dogs.

GSD Justice, thanks for the useless information.  Considering Royal Canin has chicken and barley in it, the two things I suspect she's allergic to.  Also, what is the purpose of insulting someone new here, who is trying to learn and provide the best, afforable food.  You sound like a wealth of knowledge considering the food I've fed is better than Royal Canin as you've suggested!

I know people are gunna scream ... but we had a dry coat issue with Ike on Wolfcub... so when we changed him over to same food I've fed my Shepherds for 20+ years.  He's was on Blue Seal  Natural 26 for about a week, and 100% of the itching, and the dry brittle coat is gone.  He eats it like a horse, and enjoys every meal.  No shy eaters EVER, and have never had an allergy issue.  My shepherds have lived good long lives, from 10-17 years usually... So why fix what's not broke??

Oh, and a bonus... a 50# bag of it costs about $23...

I know everyone is going to RAW (my sister feeds her Akita RAW due to massive allergy issues) or to meat based foods these days... but the cost is very high, and Having tried several for a couple months at a time I didn't see any improvement, indeed I like the results on the Blue Seal better.  *shrug*  guess to each their own.

Good to know. People need this kind of info, windwalker. I for one am not going to scream. I wonder what that brand does that is different? Any idea? 

Hi Missfly,
                 You say whilst your dog was on TOTW Prarie it didn.t scratch, so why change to another food?.  I,m a great believer if it ain.t broken don.t try to fix it.  My advice would be to go back to the food that worked and see how it does.

I cannot give an opinion on some foods mentioned as I.m in the UK.  Hope switching back to TOTW works for you.
       Wee Man. 

I tried switching food because I'm able to get breeders bag size in the Fromm locally.  I was trying to get all four of my dogs on the Fromm because the bigger bag is way more cost efficient.  Looks like I'm going back to the TOTW today for her.  I was just wondering if anyone had a suggestion of whether it could be the barley or the chicken causing the itching.
My other 3 dogs are doing fine on the Fromm adult gold.

I would put money on the flax seed, both Fromm and Blue Buffalo contain this and the other one does not. Flaxseed is notorious for causing itching.

I fed/feed Blue Buffalo to a variety of my dogs.  It's a quality food, but, it does have grains and grains are a major allergen for many dogs, especially Shepherds for some reason. 

Personally, I currently feed a raw diet to my working Shepherd, while the little guys (my maltese x yorkie mix and his friend...the mutt-of-a-different-color) eat Blue Buffalo, supplimented with whatever I give Phantom (my GSD) e.g. chicken, meat, and so on.

I have always liked to suppliment my dogs food with other things for a variety of reasons.  Flavor being part of it, but more importantly, is that it's difficult to subsist on ONE food for an entire life-span in any dog.  Dogs/Wolves are hunters and to a degree, they also scavenge and are opportunistic.  They eat what they find and aren't picky.  That said, feeding a quality dry food in addition to a raw diet can help a lot of dogs with allergens (if you have any problems with just switching to raw.)

One food/brand called "Wellness" and "Eagle Pack" - while expensive, are grain free dry dog foods, and have been good options in the past for many dogs.  My Vet is private practice, and tends to reccomend Wellness or Blue Buffalo over the foods most vets reccomend, like the coveted Science Diet. ;-)


Some dry food options are very good in comparison to feeding a raw diet.  Just like some raw human-grade food is horrible stuff, some processed foods are just as bad.  It's a matter of what you want to spend and how much your dog can take.  Dogs have pretty powerful stomach acids that knock out bacteria in raw meats, and thus your allergy problem could be solved that route.  But, for the same price, a nice quality holistic grain-free dry food may be just as good.  To each his own, every person and dog has different ideas on what encompasses the best in K9 nutrition. :)

I like the term:  IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON't fix it.

I don't think it is the flaxseed that she has problems with.  When she was on TOTW I also gave her Hokamix natural supplement with her food daily and the Hokamix has flaxseed in it.  I'm still leaning more toward the barley or possibly chicken.