Hi ya, my dog is fed on Skinners field and trial. since starting her on this about 6ish weeks ago, i have noticed that she is very ichy. the vet said that it could be a mite that has burrowed under her skin and she would grow out of it, didn't mention a food related problem. My dog trainer/food supplier said that the food is wheat free and so that should'nt be a problem. So is it the time of year, grass/pollen ect... or the food
Aly x

Hi Aly,

TBH it could be any one, a combination of a few, even all or none of the above mentioned ;)  As far as the food is concerned, just because a food is wheat free doesn't mean that your dog will not be intolerant to one or more ingredient in it.   Wheat, corn (maize), gluten (from ANY source), soya, beef and dairy are the most common allergens but your dog may be OK with each of them but allergic to chicken or rice or lamb etc etc.

I'd want to chat again with the vet about the possibility of a mite or grass/pollen reaction and if s/he was able to formally diagnose one of these and treat it then obviously leave it there :)  However as your dog is uncomfortable (itchiness is particularly unpleasant for any of us) then I'd want to either get to the bottom of it or at least begin to alleviate the condition (for eg with broad spectrum antihistamine) and look to changing to a diet which had minimal ingredients and excluded the commonest causes, i.e.  wheat, corn (maize), gluten (from ANY source), soya, beef and dairy

If you decide either with or without your vet's input to go down the exclusion diet route, please remember to advise all family, friends, visitors, trainers etc that NO treats or scraps can be given during the period of trial - if you have to use food for training it requires that you use only food from the main diet ration.

HTH, regards Teri :)

If a mite had burrowed under her skin I would think that this needed treating because mites breed My dog had been itchy from being a four month old pup and was diagnosed as having food allergies. He was on steroids every couple of months but in the end he went worse and was just scratching most of the day and damaging his ears badly, making them bleed and very sore.  It turned out after blood test for sarcoptes he had sarcoptic mange - which is a mite that burrows under the skin also.  He was over two years old by the time we found out what it was and it was treated with Stronghold for 3 months (every 2 weeks) and now he isn't itchy at all and he is a different dog - he is so happy and playful now towards what he was like before. The steroids were actually helping the mites to breed

These are the ingredients for the maintenance field and trial,highlighted are the ingredients that could cause possible itching.And if your dog has an allergy to chicken,it could also be the chicken fat.

>Ingredients:  Wholewheat, Corn, Poultry Meat Meal, Barley, Chicken Fat, Full Fat Soya Bean Meal, Beet Pulp, Vitamin and Mineral Supplement, Tripe Powder.<

Peacebabe you never said which one are you feeding? The superior recipe seems to be the best out of the skinners range,but still has possible allergens.

  Poultry Meat Meal, Corn, White Rice, Chicken Fat, Whole Dried Egg, Beet Pulp, Yeast, Vitamin and Mineral Supplement.

I cant seem to find the ingredients to the duck and rice or the puppy field and trial,which 'could' have better ingredients than the superior recipe??.

If your dog indeed has a mite and your vet sent you home saying he will grow out of it,i would be seeking the opinion of another vet,pronto How old is your dog?

Hi Ya, she is 17 wks old and is on skinners field and trail puppy (yellow bag). The vet said she would grow out of it or when she has been spayed?? I though it was a bit of a wierd diagnosis but who am i to question a vet?? She has a bit of a bald(ish) patch at the top of her leg and the vet said its where she has been lying??
will seek the advice of my other vet (the good one) and see what they say. She is doing well on the skinners and don't want to change. Although i was advised to put her on Health & Vitality Puppy!
Thanks guys
Aly x

I was just wondering what you were feeding her - or her breeder was feeding her - before you changed her food six weeks ago, and what was the reason for changing the food? 

Having suffered from itching skin in the past, and having a dog that suffers, I would do what you can to ease the problem and that may involve changing her food, perhaps back to what she had before?

I haven't heard of spaying as a cure for itching skin, or that they grow out of itching caused by mites - very odd!!

It is definitely worth asking your vet for a blood test to eliminate the mange mite.  It is very difficult to find in a skin scrape or hair pluckings and can easily be missed.  As the other poster said giving antihistamines allows the mite to breed without the disturbance of the dog scratching.  You can then go on to look at food allergies after this major source of irritation is eliminated.

Hi Aly

Well its rather strange that your vet did not find out if it was a mite or not that is causing the problem.  Their are many mites, and I do believe their is a product available from vets called "Advocate" that you put on the skin of the dog and it kills, tape worm, ring worm, mange, ear mites, fleas.  But I am not sure what age it can be given.

I was told many years ago that harvest mites can be killed by putting on TCP.

If you are concerned that it could be a food allergy, and it does not have to be just wheat that a dog can be allergic too, but did the breeder feed Skinners?  If she did not, then maybe go back to the type of food they were feeding her.  Some dogs are allergic to maize, beef, to name but a few.

It can even be grass that makes the dog itchy. 

Firstly I would sort out if it was a mite, flea or not.  If that has been irradicated I would then look at diet.

Can I ask do you wash her bedding often ?  Do you use fabric conditioner ?  Sometimes the soap powder or fabric condtioner can be to blame for skin itching.

Their are so many other options too.

Ring worm  ?  If so use Nizoral anti dandruff shampoo or maleseb, but also get a skin scraping done and find out what it is. 

Rachel

peacebabe can you possibly direct me to a website that actually lists the ingredients to the field and trial puupy? It's proving to be impossible to find

Hello peacebabe,
It sounds as though your problems are diet related as the itching coincided with a change of diet. I have noticed that if I feed my puppies a diet containing starch, they start scratching. I first noticed this when I could no longer get Farlene, and started to give my puppies Farley's Rusks as a weaning food. They soon started scratching so I now use Ready Brek. Try her on raw meat mixed with oatmeal and see if that cures the problem. Do you use anything like Shake n Vac. It's notorious for causing skin problems in animals. Do you walk her where the council may have been spraying the grass verges with weedkiller.

I was feeding eukanuba, as was the breeder, i changed cause my trainer said we could try it, its a lot cheaper as well (although the price dosen't Really matter). wooden floor everywhere so i don't use s/vac, could of been the soap powder?  she is still scratchin, well nibbling herself! Still need to get to the other vet, but will change her bck to eukanuba and see if there is any change!
Thanks
Aly xx

I'm given to understand that a lot of itchiness in dogs is more to do with food intolerance than anything else. A for-instance is a work colleague whose one bitch was having aweful problems, and she was told it must be something she was washing the floor with. But a change in food, strangely from rice based to potato based seemed to cure the problem. Inbetween she ended up spending a lot on vet bills!
Feed a good quality food with a named protein source (not animal biproducts), not too high in protein and don;t overfeed, because I think that's just as bad (the dog gets a buildup of toxins in the system)

I tend to agree, the ichiness started around the time i changed her food?? what is a GOOD food to try then, with a low protein? shall i go bck on Eukanuba??
Thanks Aly xx

>what is a GOOD food to try then, with a low protein?<

Why low protein?

I take it you dont want to post ingredients to the puppy F&T then? :)

Lowish, not very low protein, but high quality so that it's all digested. Companies like Burns Pet Nutrition or JBW do natural puppy foods with no nasty artificial preservatives with moderate levels of protein. I think Eucanuba is quite a bit higher in protein. Some foods are higher in protein but its not easily digestible.