Scratching and food

[MSurratt]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum, I have 2 frenchie,
1 with no problems at all and then the youngest (1 year old this month) with a few issues, female blue frenchie. Had to have cherry eye surgery between 5 and 6 months old. She has been scratching a little from day 1, we have tried 3 differant foods. Royal canine, pro plan sensitive skin and stomach salmon and now diamond naturals salmon and sweet potato. Her scratching has gotten really bad the last 3 weeks, mainly under her front arm pits, also has bumps that have popped up. I have medicated shampoo and spray that i use, shampoo every 3-4 days and spray daily, also get omega 3 pills 3 times daily.
What food would you recommend and any other recommendations. I took her to the vet today and they ruled out mites and such.
Thank You,
Mark

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum, I have 2 frenchie,
1 with no problems at all and then the youngest (1 year old this month) with a few issues, female blue frenchie. Had to have cherry eye surgery between 5 and 6 months old. She has been scratching a little from day 1, we have tried 3 differant foods. Royal canine, pro plan sensitive skin and stomach salmon and now diamond naturals salmon and sweet potato. Her scratching has gotten really bad the last 3 weeks, mainly under her front arm pits, also has bumps that have popped up. I have medicated shampoo and spray that i use, shampoo every 3-4 days and spray daily, also get omega 3 pills 3 times daily.
What food would you recommend and any other recommendations. I took her to the vet today and they ruled out mites and such.
Thank You,
Mark

Welcome!
Definitely sounds like allergies. Likely from the low quality food, I would 100% avoid the following brands as they are all fillers(and same with vet food):

- Royal canin
-Hills
- science diet
-Purina
-Kirkland/Diamond(not much better than the other foods you were feeding)
-eukanuba
-anything from grocery store and avoid blue Buffalo too.


Sweet potatoes and legumes and rice all cause yeast overgrowth which is one problem with allergies, and those carbs cause inflammation which causes allergies.

Environmental allergies are very common right now too, especially the flowers in bloom and the pollen and a lot of dogs like my Frenchie Rusty, he is allergic to everything green outside including grass and mold and even the yeast that live on the skin of all dogs(so he is allergic to himself).

If you want to stick with kibble, the following brands are good:

-Natures Logic- minimal carbs and legume and potato free and has probiotics in it. Comes in Sardine and rabbit and beef and pork for proteins. It’s synthetic free too which can cause allergies.

-Carna 4- synthetic free and had probiotics in it, it’s oven Baked, and it comes in Goat and venison and fish for proteins. It does have a little bit of sweet potatoes in it though.

If your open to raw diet that’s the best for allergies and inflammation cause there is no carbs to cause inflammation and it’s high in moisture.

I would definitely switch her to a better quality food, and also what do you give for treats?
Do you give her human omega 3? Or is it for dogs?


Rusty has severe allergies, required a dermatologist cause it was so bad, he was covered in bumps/hives and was getting constant skin infections.

I switched his food and the other thing is to rotate proteins, so if your buying a bag of kibble of natures logic for example, rotate thru the Sardine, Rabbit, Pork, beef cause they can become allergic to what they eat everyday if you don’t rotate proteins, and it give them the most nutrients and prevents picky eater, every proteins have its own benefits.

Rusty actually became allergic to Pork from eating it every day for 60 days without variety, some dogs may take a year or a few months. Rotating proteins is very good for them.

For environmental allergies, the best thing for that is Bovine Colostrum supplement, I buy the Four Leaf Rover brand bovine colostrum for him and you have to give it on empty stomach cause it’s absorbed better. So give the powder by itself in the dish 30 minutes BEFORE you give her breakfast, the dogs just lick the powder out of the dish.

It was the most effective for the hives(as long as you improve their diet so the food allergies aren’t causing itching and that’s improves the immune system). Omega 3 is good too but dog omegas and it should be good quality not the ones for humans cause they go rancid and aren’t the right dosage for dogs. Herring oil is good, I was giving the Thrive brand and rotating with Four Leaf Rover Safe Sea which is what he likes now cause he is picky.

So definitely get her on a better quality food, like one of the ones I mentioned or raw food diet, and if you want to try the bovine colostrum supplement too or wait to see if the new food makes her better.

Also you can give her a bath to wash off the allergens and to help with the itchy skin, I use the Legendary Canine brand shampoo bar for Rusty which works great, the healer bar is best for irritated skin.

Keep us updated.

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Above are all the photos of Rusty’s skin so bad, so dark from all the yeast, all the hives/bumps from severe allergies, and his face was raw from his allergies too.


Below is how Rusty looks now after the diet change to raw and rotating thru 5 different proteins per week(he is very picky and gets bored quick of his food), the bovine colostrum improved the hives and prevents severe allergic reactions. The raw starves the yeast cause the carbs cause the yeast. But the Natires Logic is the lowest carb kibble there is. The yeast of him so dark on his stomach area took 1 year to clear up, that doesn’t go away overnight. But his symptoms improved within 1-2 weeks on bovine colostrum for environmental allergies to improve and 3-4 weeks on his new food for food allergies to clear up. As you can see he was covered in hives/bumps, and lost some fur on his back, which you wouldn’t know if you see the photos below of how he looks now.

 

[MSurratt]

Welcome!
Definitely sounds like allergies. Likely from the low quality food, I would 100% avoid the following brands as they are all fillers(and same with vet food):

- Royal canin
-Hills
- science diet
-Purina
-Kirkland/Diamond(not much better than the other foods you were feeding)
-eukanuba
-anything from grocery store and avoid blue Buffalo too.


Sweet potatoes and legumes and rice all cause yeast overgrowth which is one problem with allergies, and those carbs cause inflammation which causes allergies.

Environmental allergies are very common right now too, especially the flowers in bloom and the pollen and a lot of dogs like my Frenchie Rusty, he is allergic to everything green outside including grass and mold and even the yeast that live on the skin of all dogs(so he is allergic to himself).

If you want to stick with kibble, the following brands are good:

-Natures Logic- minimal carbs and legume and potato free and has probiotics in it. Comes in Sardine and rabbit and beef and pork for proteins. It’s synthetic free too which can cause allergies.

-Carna 4- synthetic free and had probiotics in it, it’s oven Baked, and it comes in Goat and venison and fish for proteins. It does have a little bit of sweet potatoes in it though.

If your open to raw diet that’s the best for allergies and inflammation cause there is no carbs to cause inflammation and it’s high in moisture.

I would definitely switch her to a better quality food, and also what do you give for treats?
Do you give her human omega 3? Or is it for dogs?


Rusty has severe allergies, required a dermatologist cause it was so bad, he was covered in bumps/hives and was getting constant skin infections.

I switched his food and the other thing is to rotate proteins, so if your buying a bag of kibble of natures logic for example, rotate thru the Sardine, Rabbit, Pork, beef cause they can become allergic to what they eat everyday if you don’t rotate proteins, and it give them the most nutrients and prevents picky eater, every proteins have its own benefits.

Rusty actually became allergic to Pork from eating it every day for 60 days without variety, some dogs may take a year or a few months. Rotating proteins is very good for them.

For environmental allergies, the best thing for that is Bovine Colostrum supplement, I buy the Four Leaf Rover brand bovine colostrum for him and you have to give it on empty stomach cause it’s absorbed better. So give the powder by itself in the dish 30 minutes BEFORE you give her breakfast, the dogs just lick the powder out of the dish.

It was the most effective for the hives(as long as you improve their diet so the food allergies aren’t causing itching and that’s improves the immune system). Omega 3 is good too but dog omegas and it should be good quality not the ones for humans cause they go rancid and aren’t the right dosage for dogs. Herring oil is good, I was giving the Thrive brand and rotating with Four Leaf Rover Safe Sea which is what he likes now cause he is picky.

So definitely get her on a better quality food, like one of the ones I mentioned or raw food diet, and if you want to try the bovine colostrum supplement too or wait to see if the new food makes her better.

Also you can give her a bath to wash off the allergens and to help with the itchy skin, I use the Legendary Canine brand shampoo bar for Rusty which works great, the healer bar is best for irritated skin.

Keep us updated.

Hi,
First of all Thank you for taking time to give me great advice, Rusty is looking really good now with the before and after pictures!!
I went out last night and bought the Natures Logic (Sardine) and also ordered the Bovine Colostrum from Four Leaf Rover.
At the pet store they were highly recommending Farmina skin and coat herring formula, I stayed with what you recommended. What brand raw food do you recommend, I may alternate using both kibble and raw. I will also get the shampoo bar once I use all of the shampoo that I currently have. The Omego 3 I was giving them was by Bark & Spark Omega skin & coat Salmon oil. Vet told me to stop with that until we figure out the issue. I will send pictures as soon as I figure out how to downsize my upload size.
Thank you again for all of your guidance.

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Hi,
First of all Thank you for taking time to give me great advice, Rusty is looking really good now with the before and after pictures!!
I went out last night and bought the Natures Logic (Sardine) and also ordered the Bovine Colostrum from Four Leaf Rover.
At the pet store they were highly recommending Farmina skin and coat herring formula, I stayed with what you recommended. What brand raw food do you recommend, I may alternate using both kibble and raw. I will also get the shampoo bar once I use all of the shampoo that I currently have. The Omego 3 I was giving them was by Bark & Spark Omega skin & coat Salmon oil. Vet told me to stop with that until we figure out the issue. I will send pictures as soon as I figure out how to downsize my upload size.
Thank you again for all of your guidance.

Your welcome.

Yes the pet store was recommending farmina ND skin and coat to me too, but for allergies it’s best to avoid foods with added vitamins minerals. Natures Logic is way better.

Rusty too was needing baths often(it was daily for 1 month cause his skin was so bad), but I also was using the vet shampoo which has chemicals in it, so the shampoo bar is the alternative that does the same thing as the vet shampoo(antibacterial anti inflammatory and anti fungal), as I don’t want to bath my dog with chemicals.
Now for maintenance, I bath Rusty 1-2 times a week depending on if he flares up or not, usually 1 bath a week is good, and he didn’t like bath time with the vet shampoo and was always sneezing when I used the vet stuff. He now loves bath time with the shampoo bar(I rotate between the healer bar and the Fresh bar from legendary canine they are made for allergies).

Are you in Canada or US??

There is some brands that are available in Canada and some are only in US.

I will list some raw brands that would be available you depending on where you are.

Yes you can alternate the raw and kibble, some people want to do half raw and half kibble, if you want to do that it’s best to do 1 meal raw(breakfast for example) and 1 meal kibble(dinner for example). I don’t recommend mixing both raw and kibble in the Same meal as both digest different.

You wouldn’t need to give the salmon oil as your giving sardine formula.

When you feed kibble or raw it’s still better to rotate proteins no matter what you feed. But I would see how she does with the sardine kibble and if she does well maybe try a different protein of the Natures logic.

I would love to see photos of your frenchies!

Keep us updated

 

[MSurratt]

Hi,
Sorry, been quite busy the last few days....I am in the US and I have started Lucy(Blue with the white markings) and Wyatt(Lilac and white)on the sardine kibble and they both love it, honestly I haven't found anything that they won't eat. I also have both on the Bovine Colostrum. I have ordered the shampoo bars and should have that soon. Lucy is getting better, still seems to scratch herself but the redness is not as bad and the hair seems to be filling in. I have noticed more little bumps on her back and 1 on her tail. Lucy just turned 1 year old and Wyatt just turned 2 years old. Wyatt has not had 1 issue with any type of allergies or any health issues and poor Lucy it seems is one after the other.
Will plan on doing the kibble and raw diet if you have soom you recommend on the raw food.
Thank You again

 

[MSurratt]

Hi,
Another question....what do you have your frenchie's on as far as heart, tick & flea and mites?
My vet use Bravecto every 3 months and also sentinel every month.

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Hi,
Sorry, been quite busy the last few days....I am in the US and I have started Lucy(Blue with the white markings) and Wyatt(Lilac and white)on the sardine kibble and they both love it, honestly I haven't found anything that they won't eat. I also have both on the Bovine Colostrum. I have ordered the shampoo bars and should have that soon. Lucy is getting better, still seems to scratch herself but the redness is not as bad and the hair seems to be filling in. I have noticed more little bumps on her back and 1 on her tail. Lucy just turned 1 year old and Wyatt just turned 2 years old. Wyatt has not had 1 issue with any type of allergies or any health issues and poor Lucy it seems is one after the other.
Will plan on doing the kibble and raw diet if you have soom you recommend on the raw food.
Thank You again

They are both so cute!

For the bovine colostrum, are you giving it 30 minutes BEFORE you feed them breakfast and let them lick it out of the dish? It’s works best if you do that so it’s absorbed on empty stomach

Since Lucy is getting better and less red, I think it’s probably the sardine food and the bovine colostrum, it definitely minimal if/when Rusty gets bumps/hives cause the colostrum also helped them go away(this was how it’s helped Rusty). That’s great to have them both on it for the immune system.


For raw diet brands in US:

-BJ raw
-Raw Fed K9
-Steve’s raw food
-Darwin’s
-Vital Essentials


It’s also best to rotate proteins to prevent new food allergies.


Allergies are already flare up time here cause the pollen and everything is flying around.

Since they haven’t been on the bovine colostrum very long, you may see some of the new bumps go away and the bumps may be minimal(hopefully like it did for Rusty and my other dog isn’t really itchy like she was before), every dog is so different though for how long it takes for something to work.

Hopefully the shampoo bars will arrive soon so you can give her a bath to help with the itch and to heal the bumps.

Please keep us updated on how they are doing and how everything is working

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Hi,
Another question....what do you have your frenchie's on as far as heart, tick & flea and mites?
My vet use Bravecto every 3 months and also sentinel every month.

I don’t give any flea/tick/heartworm/mites treatment or preventative because last time the vet thought he had a mite(but this was his allergies affecting his skin no mite), he had only 1 of those pill of Nexguard(which is same Ingredients as bravecto), Rusty got head tremors immediately after the pill and the head tremors come and go still sometimes, but that was 3 years ago since he had only 1 Nexguard pill, and now Rusty also has epilepsy, which Nexguard and those similar are known to cause neurological issues such as head tremors and seizures, which I have read on their site that it can show up later down the road-Rusty got seizures 3 years after the Nexguard pill.

But thanks to the good food and allergy supplement(bovine colostrum), and CBD oil for his seizures and IVDD, no more head tremors for 6 months(it used to be off and on but was way worse when his allergies flared up), and no seizures since beginning of July of 2022, knock on wood!

I don’t use anything for flea/ticks cause the side effects the medication for preventative can do is not worth the harm to him is my opinion.

There is a spray on product and a powder to add to food that won’t do any harm like the stuff from vet will do:

-Kin+Kind Outdoor shield-you can spray or bath the dog with it.

And a powder supplement you can add to food it works systematically:

-Earth MD Outdoor shield