I have a three year old golden retriever who we switched over to BARF 4 months ago as she was getting recurring cystitus every three months. The new diet seems to have stopped this (Touch wood), plus even if it didnt we would be keeping her on this as she absolutely loves the food.

But, she seem to be scratching a lot under her front legs and collar. She doesnt have fleas as we use Program Plus and have checked for them. Her skin isnt dry or flakey either.

We currently feed her the diet as suggested from "Natural Nutrition for Cats and Dogs" which generally consists of:

A packet of Natures diet Minced Food(Beef, Chicken,Lam, Rabbit etc)
A Kelp supplement
An Alfalfa supplement
A Cranberry tablet (To prevent cystitus)
A teaspoon of Cod liver oil
2 teaspoons of Hemp Oil
1/2 Carrot
1 Stick celery
Some turkey necks

We also add live to this and occasionally an egg. All the veggies and eggs are organic.

This hasnt been caused by her having a bath or being taken anywhere odd or her having a season as she has been spayed.

Any ideas?

Anyone?

>> A packet of Natures diet Minced Food(Beef, Chicken,Lam, Rabbit etc)

Both NatureDiet and Natures Menu (I assume it is one of these you feed) are complete foods, so you do not need to supplement.

Maybe I have got the name wrong, the one I am feeding is just purely meat minced up and frozen. Nothing added at all, I will check at lunch what it is called.

Ah ok, PM Sent :)

How many eggs are you giving, as in people these should be fed in moderation.

Right it is PrizeChoice packets of meat I am giving. As far as the eggs are concerned, we only give her one or two a week at most.

have you used anything different in the house??????/ car???

febreeze?? soap powder changed????  air freshner???? 

No nothing changed at all, we thought perhaps it could be allegies live hayfever?

Anyone else with any ideas?

Yes, for a dog sensitive to certain foods, hemp oil, cod liver oil and eggs could all cause allergic reactions, and for my dog which is allergic to a lot, it does tend to be the armpits where it shows first. :)

It is more than likely a case of the dog detoxifying :-)  It varies per dog as to if they show any signs of this after being changed to BARF, and how long it goes on for.

I personnally wouldn't give the supplements daily (you don't say how often you are giving them)

It can also show in the form of feet nibbling and slight eye discharge for a while

I;m probably wrong tony,but looking at the list in your first post it looks as tho your dog is getting more supplements than food,it doesnt look particularly balanced either,but that could also be the way i am reading it ;)
Where is the organ meat and RMBs,what form is he getting calcium in,which would usually come from the bones?
Dogs can also get skin problems when there are important nutrients missing from their diet.Just a thought :)

I am not sure what you mean by Nature Diet minced food as Naturediet the commercial brand is cooked meat with carrots and rice.  If you are feeding this then this would not constitute a raw diet........

If you are feeding prize choice packets of food then these are frozen raw meat with 4% bone but practically all mixed with chicken.  So your diet lookes chicken heavy to me.

You do not mention if you feed RMBs ie chicken wings, thighs, carcases, lamb chops, etc etc  No mention of hearts, tripe, kidney, liver, fish.

I would considerably more vegetables both in quantity and variety, and probably some fruit.

Cod Liver Oil is a bit of a problem as it contains Vitamin A and too much can be toxic to dogs.  I am not sure why you are feeding it but if it is for EFAs and the Omega 3s then I would replace with Fish Body Oils; also when feeding either it is essential to add Vitamin E as CLO/FBO depletes the body of this Vitamin which could contribute to skin problems.

Not sure why you are feeding Hemp Oil either as well as the CLO, again this may be a problem with itchies.  Personally I would ditch it.

Kelp and Alfalfa can have a heating effect on some dogs, you might try removing both of these. 

Garlic may help if there is a skin issue.

Otherwise if it is not atopic then your dog may have an intolerance to one of the proteins in her diet in which case you will need to try elimination.

It isnt Natures Menu or Diet I got that wrong. She has a mix of the packets of PrizeChoice varying between all the flavours, leaning towards more of the beef though, because as you say some of the packets are mixed with Chicken (Rabbit and Lamb). However I wouldnt think that this would be a problem anyway as in the wild I would think they would be more likely to eat chickens than cows? We add beef liver every couple of days and she gets her RMB from the turkey necks we give her everyday, she also does gets some tripe in some of the packets we give her. Her veggies are mixed up varying between brocoli, celery, carrots.Cod Liver oil is again added due to following what the book says, she also had very dry skin when she was younger which the vet also prescribed CLO so we agreed that we should give it in this diet.

Somebody has said this could be her detoxing, do you think this is the case or an intolerance to something?

If I cut out one supplement out at a time how long do you think it would take before I would see a change, i.e how long until I should try removing the next supplement.

A better plan is to change her onto something much blander for a short time - just pick two ingredients - for 4 - 6 weeks thats not going to do any harm.

Then if the symptoms are gone you have eliminated the problem. Add the other things back one by one until teh problem reoccurs adn there you have it.

In the wild your dog is v unlikely to come across pure CLO. Its not that good for dogs so id cut that out straight away. FBO has the benefits of CLO but not the downsides, and the best way to feed tht is to feed some oily fish a few times a week.

Yes dogs in the wild would not haev such a wide and varied diet but in feeding a raw diet we are trying to provide teh BEST - so when you have eliminated the cause of the itches, give her the widest most varied diet you can, especially on the fruit and veg mix (mine get apples, celery, broccoli, spinach, sweet potato, carrots, banana, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, lettuce, spring greens and loads more, and garlic and fresh herbs).

A wide range of fruit, veg and herbs will do the world of good, fish is good too and plenty of different meats. Feeding a very narrow range of ingredients is never very healthy.

Em