Have you tried Acana? It's made by the same company that makes Orijen and is also grain free.
I, too, was feeding TOTW prairie formula, but got spooked by the recalls. Now I feed Acana's prairie formula. It's very similar to the TOTW without being associated with the sketchy factories.
My aussie blew up with horrible allergies after we had a new carpet installed. Are there any new dog beds, rugs ect that came with the move?
I feed our cats Taste of the Wild and have no worries...
Our dogs were going CRAZY with itching. Many hundreds of dollars spent on skin scrapings, allergy tests, canine dermatolagists. A casual comment from a friend resulted in trying ivermectin. Itching completely resolved in three days after a year of torture. Then monthly Revolution and no recurrence. It wasn't fleas-it was mange which apparently does not always show on tests. Obviously if one decided to explore this possiblity, it would be done through a vet as some dog breeds do not tolerate ivermectin. I just can't believe that multiple vets and specialists were not able to help us identify the problem.
Most of Acana is NOT grain free. High quality, yes. But not grain free. Most of their varieties have oats in the top three ingredients.Quote:
Originally Posted by SaturdayNightLive
Only the "regionals" are grain-free.
The itching has been both since before the move for several months and now after the move for several months.Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboymom
Ah, my mistake.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simkie
The one I feed is grain free. :)
Yes, Taste of the Wild was recalled, due to being produced in the same factory, but no actual bags of Taste of the Wild were ever discovered contaminated. The recall was self-enforced, and just for "safety's sake." The only dog foods actually contaminated were the cheaper ones made in the same place.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaideux
If you don't feel safe feeding it you don't feel safe. But since your dog seems to have done the best on it, just tossing it out there that there's really no reason to not feed it! At least not any reason related to the recall.
Maybe try some hypoallergenic cleaning products. White vinegar to clean your counters and floors. I use Pyrex glass water bowls and disposable paper plates for food. And if you use carpet cleaner, stop and see if it gets better.
How does his allergies do in the winter?
Oh, REEEEALLY? Well, in that case maybe we will just switch her back. Hmm!Quote:
Originally Posted by GoForAGallop
We got her at the beginning of last summer (2011). Itching started in the winter, was resolved with the addition of fish oil in January. Restarted this past early summer (2012).Quote:
Originally Posted by Chall
Aaaaaccckkkk!!!!!!
Get thee to a veterinarian and stop asking advice over the Internet!
If your dog does have food allergies, all this fiddling around with different proteins is going to make it next to impossible to actually do a true food elimination diet on your dog to diagnose food allergies should you decide to do one.
A food elimination diet consists of a diet with ONE novel (never had it before) protein and one novel carbohydrate. And water. No treats, table food, no supplements, flavored medications, or fish oils or ANY THING else edible such as raw hides or greenies or chews. You feed this for 12 to 16 weeks and then you can begin to challenge the pet with a single protein or carb per week.
Itching in dogs is commonly from food allergies if it is nonseasonal. Seasonal itching tends to be from environmental allergies or fleas. Dogs can be itchy from fleas even if you never see one on your dog, so be sure to treat all the pets in your home. And don't use Frontline, it stinks for fleas, though it is great for ticks.
If your vet suggests long term steroids and you don't like that suggestion, go see a different vet or veterinary dermatologist.
(Sorry, I don't mean to lecture but as a vet, I can't help myself)
Good luck!
We also had a dog that developed itching that was cured with a dose of invermectin.
Bears mentioning here that some dogs will die from a dose of ivermectin.
Well you could just skip all the switching of foods and otc human allergy meds and have a food sensitivity test performed and be done with it!
http://nutriscan.org/
I got spooked off of TOTW too from the recalls, and switched to a few other brands. Ended up back on TOTW, because they like it the est, and do the best on it. No issues ever.
If I were you, Id totally stop the Orijen and see if that resolves your issues.
Excellent information to have. I've decided, for the moment, to put her back on the food she was on when we first got her and there was no itching. She doesn't get treats, raw hides, table scraps, etc so that will be easy to maintain :) And, we are up to date on all flea treatments so that's covered as much as possible at this point in time. If I don't see any changes, we'll go the route of the vet and testing. Seems if I put her on the food she ate when she wasn't itching, we can easily rule in or out an allergy to the food she's been on this summer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Momto3
Definitely wouldn't be administering that without a vet's directive. But is certainly something I will ask about if we end up going in to the vet!Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboymom
I could. But I think the $14 small bag of her original diet is a test my wallet will like much better, at least as a starting point. And I'll work my way up from there.Quote:
Originally Posted by vtdobes
It's not constant itching, she doesn't seemed distressed by the itching, her skin looks just fine (no hot spots or hair erosion) so I think I can take a wee bit of time to try this before trying the expensive options.
Thank you SO much for everyone's suggestions. I'll let you know if the food switch is making any difference!
My dog started itching and licking from it.
I tried changing food without any helping her.
Next time we were at the vet, he gave her a cortisone shot and we changed her to the old and tried Science Diet Z/D and she has been fine since then on that, no itching or licking any more.
I know, it is not considered PC on any internet forum to feed Science Diet, but I consider even less PC to let your dog itch while trying to follow last fad PC forum nutrition.:p
Why not do what makes medical sense first, then if you don't find help there, try other alternatives?
My Boxer has TERRIBLE itchies. He scratched himself bloody. Went to the vet and they diagnosed "environmental allergies" gave him a cortisone shot and me some antihistimines. Neither worked. I have Malaseb shampoo for my equine Summer itchies so I tried it on him. VOILA--no more scratching--immediate relief!!! I think he's allergic to dust mites and they feed on bacteria and yeast.
My double-coated shaggy dog (mutt) had horrible allergies for years. She went on and off steroids which would solve the problem - until the next pollen season rolled around. That huge coat would hide irritation until it blew up into a hot spot, etc. Finally get fed up and and went to a vet allergist. They prescribed hydroxyzine twice a day in allergy season and the allergy form of Science Diet prescription, and a topic to spray on any area she started to scratch or bite. It worked, thank God. We'd also tried Benadryl with the regular vet, but that didn't seem to make a difference. They also switched her to Revolution from whatever heartworm preventative she was on before, as Revolution also protects against mites. I think they were pretty sure she had seasonal/pollen allergies, but decided to cover the bases with mites and diet as well.
For the undercoat issue, try watching this YouTube video about grooming collies. It really helped me FINALLY figure out how to get that thick layer of fur out so I could bathe my dog and have the water actually reach her skin. It took a few sessions, but at the end of it, my dog looked like she'd shed about 10lbs. The slicker brush is your friend here, and a rake is also pretty helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qMrsvKx0c
TOTW is actually much more expensive than Orijen- TOTW is very low in calories per cup so you have to feed much more of it than you do Orijen. So don't be fooled by the cost per pound.
most itchy dogs actually have environmental allergies, not food allergies. However, it's quite easy to just do a food switch and see what happens. If you want a limited ingredient high-protein high-quality diet to try, look at some of Nature's variety instinct formulas- very different than Orijen, so more likely to remove the offending substance from the dog.
If it's environmental, giving the dog fish oil (as you already noticed) and feeding an antihistamine is the way to go- you can try claritin, but note you have to use a much higher dose for dogs than for people.