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Deirdre (Earth Clinic) on 09/13/2009
5 out of 5 stars

I have 3 dogs and took my 15 year old dog, Max, whom I've written about numerous times on this site, to a holistic vet in July. Because he was going #2 every 3-4 hours, the vet advised me to take him off his senior food and put him on another brand of food with less fiber. I slowly switched Max to another holistic brand. Well, changing to a new brand of food cured Max of his constant bowel movements, but within a few days, one of my other dogs, Tuxy, whom I also switched over to the new food, started itching and scratching. Within a week he was itching and scratching like no tomorrow: morning, afternoon, evening, middle of the night, scratch scratch scratch, bite bite bite. Poor boy! I surmised pretty quickly that the new brand of food was causing his new itchy skin issue, as I found no sign of fleas on him when I used the flea comb. What eased the scratching but did not solve the problem was to add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to Tuxy's evening food and a small clove of garlic mashed up just once every few days. I also bathed him and finished the bath with an oatmeal rinse. I put 1/2 cup of instant oats in a Bodum pot (the kind that pushes the coffee grounds down to the bottom) and then filled up the rest of the Bodum with hot water and let it sit while I was shampooing him. Once I rinsed off the shampoo, I poured the oatmeal water over him and did not wash it off. I could tell he was feeling pretty good after that and the scratching stopped for about a day.

At any rate, I ordered Tuxy's old brand of food online and just got it delivered yesterday. Amazingly enough, he has almost stopped scratching after only 1 day back on his old food!! So I am guessing he had either a yeast overgrowth or allergies in connection to the new food. Isn't it interesting that he started to scratch right away on the new food and stopped scratching just as fast on the old food?!

If your dog has skin allergies or yeast issues, consider that their food may be the culprit!

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Replied By Demi (Atlanta, Ga) on 05/04/2010

What was the food you ordered? My lab mix puppy scratches too. She doesn't have scabs, but scratches as soon as she wakes up.

EC: Blackwood was the brand I ordered. However, I have since switched them all to Taste of the Wild (Salmon).

Note: Be careful with higher quality holistic foods - two of my dogs gained about 7 pounds in 6 weeks on Taste of the Wild (Bison and Venison) and are now on a strict diet!

Deirdre

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Replied By Vicki (Dallas, Tx) on 01/27/2011

I've been the round with dogfoods and as I have a lot of dogs & 3 cats; it's been difficult to find a holistic brand with guaranteed ingredients that don't have grain, or a lot of fat, that I can afford. Pancreatitus is a danger with the high fat brands & if your dog is not an actual working dog in a cold climate, there's a definte risk of this. Grain is responsible for diabetes, yeast infections, & allergies in dogs. One of my little males suffered through 3 rounds of pancreatitus years ago from ProPlan (my vet commented on the high fat content, but it didn't register with me at the time) plus he & 2 of his daughters last fall had a seizure type reaction from one I thought was ok (Blue). Wellness is what I feed them now, with no problems. ACV in their drinking water has improved their coat & skin condition even more. Will be trying coconut oil on one ex-feral cat who continues to have severely itching skin, who vomited the ACV water & refuses to drink it after one episode.
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Replied By Remy6287 (Florence, Ky, Usa) on 03/14/2011

I have a 10 yr old Akita that has suffered from itchy skin for a number of years. It first started when she was bout 7 and then we took her to the vet, got a cortisone shot and she was better for a time. Then about a year ago it came back worse than ever. She was also having trouble with her joints and biting them, mostly her hips.

After doing some research on this site I decided to try a combination of things. Every meal along with her Taste of the Wild food, she gets, 1-2 cloves of garlic , chopped into small pieces (I started with one to see how she reacted and then when she showed no negative side effects, gave her more). About 1 teaspoon of ginger root, chopped up, 3 scoops of organic yogurt, 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil, and 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (to help with her joints). Within a month of using this combination, her skin cleared up, coat looks shiny, and she is bouncing around like she used to. She still has 2 hot spots on her chest but I think it is due to our location. Hope this helps!

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