My dog is very itchy, has been for many many months, he does it mainly when he wakes from resting at anytime of the day and its usually around the neck and chest android back of his ears (doesnt seem to try and get his paw into his ear). He doesn't cause any damage to his skin. If he is sleeping he doesnt scratch, it starts as soon as he moves.

Seen by vet at the end of November who gave him apoquel and on microscope said he had yeast in his ears so we had to put malacetic aural into his ears everyday for 2 weeks. I also changed his diet from raw to a fish and potato 80/20 with 'itch eeze' already incorporated, gluten and wheat free. Treats he has fish skins and or fishy treats but no gluten or wheat.

Apoquel finished a couple of weeks back and although it didn't stop the itch completely it made some difference but I wanted to see if with a different diet he was now calming down (I know generally it takes 8 weeks), but he isn't.
His ears just build up with what looks like the yeast brown moist stuff and I am having to put the malacetic ear cleaner in every few days still, but is this being caused by the potato in his diet?? I have read it could be the starch of potato turning to sugar which then the yeast feeds on. His skin doesn't appear yeasty, its clear.
I have put advocate on him to kill off any mites etc just in case it was that, but this hasn't made difference either.

I am now thinking of going to back to raw but only fish. I don't know what else to feed him if its a food thing thats causing this. Vet said allergy testing isn't always conclusive and a bit hit and miss so advised against it.
what else can I put in his ears? I have read apple cider vinegar but need to know dilutions. it's driving me mad this scratching business!

I am a great believer in the raw food, I have used it for about 35 to 40 years.
I like your suggestion of going back to raw, but you have suggested using fish only! This in itself will leave your diet short of many nutrients but nevertheless a good place to start again, remember to include some offal / organ products too.  Thereafter start to add individual meats/bones and watch closely for reactions.

Continue to keep his diet completely free of, gluten / wheat and grains.?

Have you thought of contacting someone like, WolfTucker, Honey's or Natures Menu for some practical advice ?

I can't say that potato does this - until recently** mine have both been on Arden Grange Sensitive which is fish and potato.   With no sign of yeasty ears.   You may need to ask your vet to do a swab, culture and identification to find out exactly which AB will hit what's going on.

**  With my last order, I inadvertently hit the wrong button and ordered AG Salmon and Rice - and it was a double bag offer too.   Rather than try to pack it all up and return it, I tried it and so far, so good (particularly with my Basset who was the reason I was buying their Sensitive diet).  And a plus is it's cheaper than the Sensitive!!

The reason for keeping just to fish is because I am trying to avoid all other animal so I can see if this will stop the itching then start to introduce a different meat source, when he was on raw (from 12 weeks old) he still scratched, but he was getting mainly chicken or turkey or duck and lamb, they had fish but not a lot because they just smelled too fishy after eating and so did my kitchen!. I don't normally do meaty bones as do a pre minced raw that has bone in it too, normally buy from nature them naturally.

I don't think antibiotics will work for yeast in the ears as its fungal and not bacterial or infected?? she did a swab last time and looked at it and just said it was yeast.
I thought rice was carbohydrate too which in turns to sugar once in the body and then yeast thrives on sugar??

If u want to do an elimination diet on raw u need to find a protein that u can feed meat bone and offal of for a full 6 weeks .nothing else.unfortuanately as wait ok has said fish alone will not be good enough and too much fish isn't healthy .  After that u can reintroduce  other proteins to see if he reacts to them assuming things have improved of course.  U will need a single protein and someone like the dogs butcher will be able.to help u through this if u contact them.  If u are on fb they have a group which is the easier way to contact them otherwise phone or email from the website

> I don't think antibiotics will work for yeast in the ears as its fungal and not bacterial or infected?? she did a swab last time and looked at it and just said it was yeast.<br />I thought rice was carbohydrate too which in turns to sugar once in the body and then yeast thrives on sugar??

Well yes to both.   You are right, it would need to be infection for ABs to be relevant.  Rice is definitely a cereal, at least.

It could be anything in his diet, and it could be more than one thing.

The best way to properly identify his triggers is to put him on a novel diet for 6-8 weeks, then introduce things one at a time and look for reactions.  As he's had fish in the past, fish in not suitable: it must be something he's never had.  If you are going to add a carb source too then the same goes for that.

One of mine is allergic to a lot of things and exposure does it as well - currently she is allergic to pork, chicken, lamb, venison, rabbit, and feathers in her food with a couple of other possibles that I've not identified yet.  With her I don't believe she has any non-animal allergies, but yours might.  I've known dogs be allergic to potato, various grains, various veg etc - it can be anything.

Allergies usually come on through exposure as well so if his treats are all fish then he may well be allergic to fish!