Hi everyone
Im wondering if someone could shed some light on a slight problem i have it has only just started and am hoping to nip it in the bud.Daz has started scratching himself and nibbling his front legs he definatly doesn`t have fleas (been frontlined and checked)skin isnt red or flakey and isnt loosing loads of hair although he does seems to be in a moult should he be at 4 months old?.when he nibbles himself or if you stroke him even gently, his back legs twitch seems really sensitive.he is on bakers complete puppy dog food any advice welcome.Other than this he is one big lump of cuddly fluff that is loved by every person and animal on the estate and is still taking well to training but can be mischevious at times bless him
thanks
alan

Our pyrenees licks and nibbles his front legs when he is stressed about something... Other than that, I would also look at your dog's diet. Bakers is not the best quality food! It is full of artificial additives (flavours, colours, preservatives). This can give dogs an itchy skin.

The first thing I would do in your case is to change the diet to a healthier food. There are many complete hypo-allergenic (or super premium as they are also called) foods out there which contain no artificial additives and contain good quality ingredients. Some examples are CSJ, Burns, James Wellbeloved, Nutro... (there are others too).

If that doesn't help, some veterinary investigation might be necessary.

Vera

Hi Vera
I have been doing some research on the net and came across the Nutro dog food earlier it mentions about the itchy skin due to additives etc.Im sure it is the food as he has only been on it a few weeks and in the past week he seems to started itching more.I need to move fast as i think if he is stressed about something its the itching and as of yet he hasnt damaged the skin or had fur loss.It says there is a supplier just up the road from me.do you think i should go for the Nutro large puppy or go straight to adult or is that a daft question at his age?.thanks
alan

My personal opinion is to put him straight on adult. The protein levels are lower, which stops puppies from growing too quickly.

Vera

Thanks for your advice Vera I will do exactly that. I have just checked the ingredients on the bakers complete now that i have an understanding and Wow what a load of rubbish poor Daz.Feeling the guilt of feeding him a load of rubbish now.Hopefully it wont take long to sort out.Will try and make it up to him tomorow will buy him a new Kong to play with.Thanks vera once again this really is a number 1 site
Alan

Dont feel guilty , you dont know until you ask :D

I agree with Vera about the bakers , when Storm came here as a foster thats what he had been eating and he was really over weight , just under 80 kilos the poor guy was such a roly poly he could hardly move :(

Again as Vera said i would go with the adult food too as they tend to be lower in protein and with our chosen breed we need to give them the best start we can so their diet is really important and slow growth and development is a lot better than growing quickly :D

I think we need to see some more pics of the gorgeous Daz :D

Fiona xx

Hi Fiona
These pics were taken over past 2 weeks he really is a lovable pup









best pic i think is where he stands in the pond in the back garden luckily there are no fish in there.

:wub: :wub: he is gorgeous , for some reason i can only see the top pic ?

It wont be long until he is a gangly teenager :D

Fiona xx

just updated pics think they were still being authorised
alan
p.s the beer can was hijacked from the kitchen bin the contents of the bin were dragged through the kitchen but had to get a photo of him. :rolleyes:

:lol: :lol: :lol: great pics Alan , another bin raider in the making oops . Akira does not raid the bin but Storm would given half the chance so i ended up getting rid of my kitchen bin as he was really bad at resource guarding when he first came to stay , he would empty everything all over the floor eat what he could then guard everything else , anything he stole he deemed to be his and he did not want to give anything up , luckily with a lot of hard work he is a lot better these days and i just put a bin back into the kitchen his leave command is a lot more reliable these days but i better not say he wont raid it given the chance :rolleyes:

Fiona xx

Aww he's so cute.

bakers alsohas an additive that is a banned in human food for causing hyperactivity in children so you may find he behaves better as well.

Might keep him off the beer cans :)

Gaynor

Hi everyone
I purchased the nutro adult lamb and rice today and the guy at the petshop has offered to pay me back for the weight of unused bakers which i thought was nice of him and certainly not expected (still have 7kg of the stuff so thats a tenner off the next bag of nutro).Daz isnt a fussy eater anyway but he seems to like it.I was suprised at the pet shop being so nice but guess he can see that i will be spending loads of money as Daz gets bigger and hungrier.Does anyone have any idea as to how long to expect before the itching starts to calms down providing it was the food that is?
Alan

Hi again
Thought i would update you about Daz and his itchy skin.He is still scratching occasionally but much much less than last week.He loves his new food nutro and is doing really well on it that reckon another week and he should have stopped itching.we are taking Daz out a bit more now mainly to places where others walk their dogs so we can socialize him more.We have discovered he loves water especially dirty puddles (jumps into every puddle he finds he loves it when it rains and gets really excited(and wet) at home he keeps climbing in to the bath then gets stuck and we have to help him out he really is a daft powder puff and love him to bits.Does anyone else`s pyr love water so much?
Alan

Nope, Troy hates water... he doesn't like getting his feet wet... :lol: Although he tolerates his hydrotherapy quite well now, he still doesn't enjoy it yet even after months and months of swimming... :o

Glad Daz is not so itchy now :D

Akira and Storm love the water Akira loves swimming but Storm just likes to paddle , i think he is scared he might sink :lol: :lol:

Akia loves muddy puddles and will run along into them a bit like a crab on her side rubbing herself right through all the glorious mud :D Storm just gives her dirty looks when she does it as if it is so far beneath him :lol: :lol:

Fiona xx

Hi
Just a quick update on my last post Daz has completly stopped itching now and also stopped moulting.He absolutley loves his Nutro lamb and rice adult.His coat looks so much healthier too its amazing what the change in food does i am that impressed i have wrote a letter to Nutro telling them how much of a difference it has made its one of those things i want to shout from the roof tops about. Daz has grown alot too since my last post so has my family (im a grandad now).I have included a few of pics which my friend has taken she is great at taking photos of animals.Cant wait until i can take him rambling for long walks across the Moors down here not to sure if he is old enough yet to do this or not dont want to push him to much
alan

Another success story! :D

I just held a long talk on diet in my new Beginners Class that started today. Sometimes I wonder whether it is worth it considering the huge effort that dog food companies make to market their rubbish food, but then I hear stories like yours and yes, it is definitely worth educating as many people as possible.

I used to know a dog that always had problems with his digestion. Had been to the vet for years about it, loads of drugs, but it didn't improve. He was on I think Eukanuba. I kept telling the guy to change the food to a better quality and additive free food... he never did. In the end, the dog died from a major digestive problem at just four years old and I can't help thinking that if he had changed his diet and therefore stopped stuffing his dog with chemicals, the dog might still be around now...

Well done therefore for taking the advice! And I love the pictures! :wub:

We have an 8 month PMD and the breeder advised us to use Nutro Lamb and Rice. Pup is in superb condition, no skin problems. We also have 2 other dogs and upon advise and experience would never feed our Bakers. The amount of additives is enough to have a pup bouncing off the walls.

Hi
I still feed Daz nutro lamb and rice (large breed)and its fantastic stuff noticed major differences in under 2 weeks.At £36 a sack its not cheap but well worth it when you see the results his coat shines and skin is amazingly pink and hasnt had one skaty moment like when on bakers and the scratching has stopped 100%.
Alan

Hi all,

I am new to this site, registered today. Just been reading about changing food to help with skin problems, and have found it very useful.

My 13 month old PMD Monty has been suffering with terrible skin probs for the last few months. He has been back and forth to the vet and given lots of different tablets but the 'dermatitis' as the vet has diagnosed keeps coming back.

Has anyone got any other tips? Would be greatly appreciated as it is very upsetting to see him like he is.

Thank you
Rachel

:)

Hi Rachel,

Welcome to the site.

What sort of food are you giving your pyr at the moment? I would definitely look into the diet and make sure to use one which is free of artificial additives and uses high quality ingredients. That alone often sorts out skin problems.

In addition, it might be worth doing some allergy testing. You can either do this by using a food with ingredients that your dog isn't used to (e.g. fish and potatoe diet etc), or actual blood test at the vets.

One of our lurchers is allergic to animal protein and gets dandruffy and slightly itchy skin when he eats meat. Since he has been on a vegan diet he has beautiful skin and shiny coat and no further problems (unless he gets hold of meat somewhere...).

Vera

Thank you Vera

Im definitely going to look more closely at his food when I get home and see whats in there. Can you recommend any good brands?

The vet has said that he is going to do tests if the antibiotics he has now dont work.
I just don't like having him on different drugs all the time, so your advice has been very useful.

Also could you recommend a good grooming tool for getting mattes out?

Monty doesnt mind being brushed until I go near his bum and then he gets quite distressed. Have you any good tips?

Sorry to bombard you :)

Rachel

What brand of food is it you actually use now? I might know the ingredients...

Re the matting: you could try a dematting comb with rotating teeth... works quite well with Troy, but won't take out massive mats out. Also, a Coat King or dematting brush (which cuts through the mats to untangle them). If the mats are really bad, then cutting them out might be the only option.

Vera

I cant quite remember the name of it. He has a mixture of chub sticks and complete food, and he also has just normal dry biscuits. When I get home i'll get back to you with the names if thats ok.


I've got a comb with blades which is very good, but Monty gets very restless after a while of me using it on him. I'll see about trying the rotating one.


I have had to cut some mattes out, but im worried about damaging his coat. Do you think it is ok to do this?

Rachel

Just thought I'd bu in here on the de-matting thing. I notice Charlie gets them around hsi ears a lot... and big ones because they just avoid being detected until they're massive. I just use a "comb" type brush if that makes ANY sense at all lol. Just have breaks in between when he gets a bit moody. They can't get any worse the next day can they. I also read about the brushing him and going by his... bum bits haha. I had to cut soem very... undesirable fur from Charlie the other day. First time I've had to do it and he was fine but he never is when I just brush there. I think it might be a bit sensitive there and brushing is sort of... puuling on... said sensitive bits. Just imagine if it was being done to you! :P

I'm probably wrong... but like I said, he was fine with it being cut and not brushed. That's not to say you should give him a new doo back there... but maybe just be as gentle as possible or sort of... hold the fur further down from where it's being brushed so that when it's pulled when brushing it's only being pulled from your where you're holding it. That way I assume it's felt less. Works for me anyway.

I need to stop leaving big gigantic posts of nonsense...

Jay.

Well i just had a very good chuckle at your post.

Monty is still very senstive about his bum being brushed!! I now wait until after his walk when he's conked out and get him then. Otherwise I have a very stroppy dog on my hands :D

I know this topic was started along time ago but feel that I should update.Daz used to have problems with itchy skin etc and we found that if he was given meat like chicken pork beef etc it would make him itch for weeks.Daz used to get hair loss etc until now.Good news he seems to be able to eat meats now with no problems we have been watching him slowly over past 2 months bit of chicken here and there few scraps of beef from stews and roasts and not one scratch at all past 2 weeks we have given him all sorts and he seems indistructable now.Could this have been an intollerance that has now passed as it was definatly meat that caused the previous problems.We are still gonna feed him the Nutro as its a great food and does his coat and skin and number 2`s :D proud.Not going to give him to many scraps though.Iam just so glad he can eat meats now i wont feel guilty everytime i have a roast :lol: :lol: :lol:

You will find that a well balanced body is better able to tolerate stuff that they are sensitive to.

Our lurcher is allergic to all animal protein (even dairy and eggs), so he is on a vegan diet. When he used to get meat or cheese or egg, he used to have dandruff within a few hours and he used to become very distracted and restless mentally and physically. It took the tiniest amount to set him off.

He has now been on a vegan diet for a year. He is in excellent condition, mentally and physically! If he gets hold of meat or something now, he might still show minor behaviour changes and a bit of dandruff, but nothing compared to how he used to be.

I think simply because his immune system is now not overloaded anymore, his body can cope better so reacts less. Could be the same in your case.

Flash is however going to stay on a vegan diet... I am not taking any chances with him! :D

Vera

I will be watching Daz closely for a while the slightest sign of irratation hes back to just Nutro and vegtables all my previous dogs since i was a little boy(still am in mind) :lol: :lol: :lol: have all eaten meat Daz is the first to not get any scraps after meals although we have got used to it now but feel he is missing out on treats.Im also going to try the recall at the park tomorrow with some chicken bits that will be cooked tomorrow for a curry tomorrow as he seems to love chicken treats and may help the recall as he doesnt really have treats he really likes he is more of a praise and cuddle dog.