Diva has been an itching fool. She routinely has wild bouts of scratching (or chewing) at her arm pits, belly, neck, flank and butt. She does not have nasty "friends". She was frustrating the tar out of me. Wondering if it might be food related allergies I began monkeying with her dog food. Trying a few different variations with limited success I've thrown up my hands. I'll give her a good bath this weekend and hope that helps her. Her coat is shiny and she certainly has oodles of energy. I'm not sure what else to do at this point.
While going through my testing period of different foods I discovered something that kind of annoyed me. I discovered my original dog food contained salt. This seemed weird to me. Why would dog food have salt in it? (And fairly high up the ingredient list.) So I began doing some investigation. Did all dog food have salt in it? The answer is no. This irked me. Salt is clearly linked to negative health effects in humans but is necessary for animals like horses. What does this all mean? Do dogs need salt? Or does it increase potential negative health side effects? So today, I went through bag after bag, brand after brand of dog food ingredient lists. Trying to make sense of it all. Like anyone with dogs I have some very definite opinions about dog food. I had noticed that the dog's breath has been worse than normal - hitting atrocious standards. This for me is a concern. Nasty breath (to me) equates to something nasty inside. Both dogs also were "gassy". I don't enjoy living with a gassy dog - do you?
Long story short - I've switched to a different brand with one protein source (fish), no salt and we shall see what happens. She seems to be less itchy on the fish brands so here's hoping this, plus the bath will do the trick.
Either way the whole dog food issue is annoying.
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Keeny is on Nutro Max, he's always done REALLY well on it. He's been extra itchy lately, too. I didn't consider his food - but I will definitely think about that possibility from here on out! - I'm pretty certain its because of the dry weather and him playing in the mud at the barn. Drying mud close to the skin and all up in the bases of the hair would bother me anyway...
PS - I was worried for a moment after reading the title that you ate the dog food lol
Dont even get me STARTED on freakin' itchy dogs!! or dog food!! Poory Hawky has had an off again on again scratching problem for years and I've tried everything to get him to stop! Different foods, constant flea meds (which I hate! Look at the ingredients on that stuff!) and meds from the vet (he has been THREE different vets five times to try to help find the cure and nothing has worked. I have to admit that for the past year or so I have pretty much given up. Wish I had a trick to share! Sorry. It sucks;)
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