I have had Wookee Briard, now for 6 weeks (he is now 12 weeks old) and he has been quite itchy since he came to me. At first I thought that this could be a change in diet or water. He has been to the Vet for a check up and has been given a clean bill of health. No ear mites, fleas or runners in his coat at all. I feed him a raw diet for one meal, varying from tripe, fish tripe, chicken mince, wings etc and Natures Harvest puppy for the other 2 meals.

Recently he has been bothered by his ears again. I have been putting Aromesse Petnat natural cleaner through them and also some natural soothing ear drops from the same company. This doesn't appear to really help. Today I have noticed that his left ear in particular is a bit red and inflamed inside, through his scratching. He is really bothered by it today and getting very upset. He is whining and trying to sit on me, rubbing his head etc because he doesn't understand why he is feeling like this.

The only other consideration is an allergy as they can be prone to them. My other Briard is nearly 9 and she has seasonal allergies that are so bad, she requires steroids sometimes. Her skin gets very red, inflamed and she scratches herself raw, hence the last resort, having tried so many "natural' products over the years is steroids. I have had to get her coat shaved right back this Summer as she has been particularly bad :-(

Any advice on what else I can try would be welcome. He is booked into the Vet for another visit next week. I can't take him any sooner as my vet is on holiday and they don't have any appointments available unless emergency. I am really hoping that this isn't another allergy!

Have you tried Thornit? One of my girls gets mucky ears, and if I clean them with anything, even some damp cotton wall it makes them 10 times worse. I bought some Thornit after seeing it raved about on here, and it has worked miracles. A few days of a pinch every day, and they cleared up lovely. We now only need a tiny pinch weekly, just to maintain things, and she doesn't suffer at all now.

Yes thank you, I have used Thornit for many years, I also use it for plucking the hair out of their ears, it gives me a better grip. ;-) But this hasn't helped him. I don't think that his issue is mucky or dirty ears, more irritation.

Last night and again this morning he is in discomfort but he is also rubbing his bottom along the grass and carpets, this is unusual and I haven't dealt with this for many years since I started feeding BARF. The bones normally help with anal glands and I cannot remember the last time that I had to have anal glands emptied.

He is also teething at the moment so I have a suspicion that this may be connected with his ears flaring up badly. The bottom wiping, teething and ear irritation may be connected but I am struggling to find the common denominator as the moment *sigh*

Maybe try changing the natures harvest for another meal of raw. I personally wouldnt class natures harvest as raw feeding.

>I personally wouldnt class natures harvest as raw feeding.

Neither would I. I have been feeding raw for many years but as I do with all of my pups, I break them in slowly to raw feeding. Once he is a few weeks older he will be getting raw for all of his meals but I really can't see, having changed him onto Natures Harvest from another gluten free similar food that his breeder was using, that this is what is causing him problems. I changed to Natures Harvest because it has worked with other pups in the past for the first few months without any adverse effects.

Knowing my breed can be prone to allergies and skin flares occasionally, I take his diet extremely seriously.

It could well be the change in weather too, humid conditions are what sets my Labrador off with mucky ears (just had a flair up) .

If he was mine I'd have a test done to find out if he was allergic/intolerant to anything.

What did you find out in this situation? My puppy (8 weeks old) has the exact same symptoms. Has been healthy and happy until all of the sudden, this morning, she woke up with an itchy butt and itchy ears. She is teething, so I wondered if it could be a cause...

If u go over to full raw I would speak to the vet about supporting u doing an elimination diet for food allergies. Also bloods for environmental allergies. However some vets dont do bloods with pups as they say they are too inaccurate at this age.elimination diets are easy with raw food but I would only do with vet support for a pup.i  have no experience with pups only adults so would bit offer advice.  unless your vet is familiar with full raw u may need to find a holistic vet who understand it properly. If u Google bahv there is a list of vets there most of who will support and prefer raw

Yeast infection is another possibility so make sure the raw food doesn't contain fruit and veg and see the vet if u want conventional treatment