hello all! First post! I have a 4 year old, neutered, chocolate lab. He was an itchy guy and I switched him to grain free food, taste of the wild salmon, Which helped big time. He got a few boughts of urinary stones, (don't know which type) which was messy and expensive, poor guy. The vet put him on, Prescription Diet for Urinary. since then, no more issues! I'm just realizing after a few months that he is itchy again. I thought it could be him jumping in lake, but I looked at the ingredients and it has grain in it. Does anyone know of an alternative? Thanks in advance!
I would make an appointment with the vet to discuss the best options based upon his conditions. Does look he need to stay on the prescription diet or was just for a period of time to allow everything to settle down?
I think we have had a few "Itchy" threads. Not sure we have any consensus on food. I think it is multifactorial - sometimes food, sometimes, mites, sometimes pollens, maybe chemicals in the house, etc etc - mostly a combination of several factors. The only way to rule out food - and some people think the sensitivity is more often to the type of protein in the food than the wheat/grain - is to use a single source of protein food. It gets complicated when you are also treating urinary stones. I would second JoJo's advice of speaking to your vet.
Lucy recently shared this page about hypo-allergenic dog food.....not sure if you have seen it? http://www.thelabradorsite.com/hypoallergenic-dog-food/
Our vets said that grains are seldom the issue, that it is usually the protein. We seem to find that Tilly is less itchy on a chicken based food than some of the others we have tried. Because she did not have a big problem, we did not do the whole exclusion diet testing, partly because it is more difficult to do with two dogs, especially if you visit other dog homes and they get treats or steal dog food. We have gotten some treats from "Bark Box" that seem to make her more itchy, and we are trying to see what ingredients are in those, that are not in what we normally buy. So far "No Joy"
