I got this comment on one of my daily tips on DOGSTER.COM and wanted to share it with you here. I also do recommend signing up for the free Daily Tips on Dogster.com and Catster.com (where mine also appear). They are fun and informative. Here was the comment:
I have a dog that we rescued who was covered in fleas, mange, etc. I got all of that cleared up and he still scratched himself so much he had scabs all over his face. I took him to the vet at least 3 times to see if we could figure out what the problem was with no success. Finally someone mentioned that it could be his dog food and that he could be allergic to the wheat and grains. I bought him some allergy free dog food and lo and behold, a few weeks later his skin cleared up, no itching, and the doggy smell went away!
It’s certainly true that lower quality dog foods can cause adverse skin reactions in dogs, but it isn’t just about an allergy to wheat (which is actually pretty rare in dogs). It’s more likely a reaction to the artificial colors, flavors, chemical preservatives, and generally dubious quality even of the protein source in the food. So you want to switch to a truly natural food free of all that artificial stuff and with the word of the named protein source as the first ingredient (chicken, beef, salmon). Generally speaking, a high quality dry dog food should not have any version of corn in it, either. Just one other thought — if the dog had fleas, the only way to be sure to kill off ALL the life stages of the flea (which survives year round no matter where you live) is to use a topical preventive with an IGR (insect growth regulator) that kills off all the life stages of the flea — otherwise you are perhaps getting the adult fleas you can see, but not the invisible other stages of the life cycle, meaning the dog and the environment will become reinfested. I use VECTRA (sold in Banfield clinics across the country as First Shield) on my dogs because it is the newest safest technology and has a really effective new design of applicator tip.
Tracie Hotchner
The Dog Bible
Tags: catster, dogster, first shield, fleas, insect growth regulator, natural food, vectra 3d