I’ve mentioned before that I have my mother ship kibble to
me, which I feed the dogs in the morning with yogurt. They eat the homemade dog
meatloaf in the evenings. Overall, their diet is extremely good (varied and
balanced) and all three are quite healthy. But starting early this year, Mimi
and Azza started scratching themselves constantly and Mimi chewed all four
paws so much that they were always red and inflamed and even without hair in
places. She showed extreme reluctance to walk in wet grass so for a while I
thought it was either the caustic reclaimed water burning her sensitive paws or
it was the sand mites triggering some sort of histamine reaction. Azza's skin was flaky and her coat looked dry and brittle. I fiddled
with supplements such as fish oil but nothing seemed to give Mimi or Azza any
relief.
Finally, in June, I decided to dramatically alter their diet:
grain-free kibble and dog meatloaf made with oats instead of barley. I had my
mother ship me some bags of Blue Freedom Grain-Free kibble and I made up a new
batch of dog meatloaf. I started the dogs on their new diet right away.
I started seeing a difference in Mimi within just a few
days. She no longer chews on her feet during all waking moments, and the hair
has grown back. She and Azza aren’t itchy and twitchy and they enjoy being petted
again. The coats of all three dogs gleam. Everyone is happier!
So in one of my infrequent product plugs, I strongly
recommend Blue Freedom Grain-Free for dogs with persistent coat, skin, and
itching problems.
5 comments:
And under the heading, "If CK9 were jumping off a cliff . . .?" the spouse read this today and immediately texted me with the info. Our yellow lab has raw spots from licking and those are exacerbated seasonally. The incessant licking gets slobber on our family room textiles - not pleasant. She enjoyed the first serving of the transitioning kibble. So hopefully, it's a keeper, but Hay-soos is it spendy!
Yes, it is very expensive. But at least you can get it in your local PetsMart. Also, I did bump up Mimi's fish oil intake to two 1000-IU capsules per day. She's barely 16 lbs so that's a lot of vitamin E et al. going into a small dog. I am convinced it is a good food though because Azza's dry flaky skin cleared up very quickly too.
True enough! I might have to look at the fish oil too. Did your dogs start to poo more? Scout has, but I would have thought this was sort of like Atkins for Dogs, w/o grain and was expecting her to go less. On the licking front, I realized today that I have continued with some good quality 'natural' but not grain free treats as chasers for her daily medication, so I'll have to find something else for that job, too. (Always something with these pets!) : )
Yes, the treats can be as much of a culprit as the food! Since I combine homemade and natural treats with commercial, I don't think this is too much of a problem for Mimi. And I carefully select the commercial treats I buy. I never buy any treats made in China, treats with a first ingredient of gluten or grain, or treats with an excessive amount of chemicals, colors, etc.
I read dog and cat food and treat labels as carefully as I do items for myself.
My dogs are pooping about the same on their new diet. I didn't mention in the post but I also shifted more of the carb component of their meatloaf to potatoes which they apparently can digest quite thoroughly.
Often when you switch diets your dog will poop more for a while until everything gets adjusted to the new nutrient types and amounts.
And this new food is pretty power-packed. You may find that you need to feed your dog less.
Oh, and grain-free doesn't mean carb- or starch-free. The Freedom dog food uses potatoes and oats (depending on the one you get) for those diet components.
I'm not a fan of "wolf" diets as I think those theories are utter nutritional bullshit. I've posted about this before so won't rehash it here.
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