Hi,

our rescue dog Luna has very red, sore shoulders. She has just finished a course of antibiotics which have done nothing. When we got her from the RSPCA last year she had an ear problem which the vet there said was eczema and gave her ear drops but this has been mostly clear since she has been with us.

The next step is skin scrapes and another course of antibiotics. I am wondering whether there is anything I could add to her food which might help clear her skin. We put a tshirt on her at night to stop her scratching and I have just started putting Apple cider vinegar in her food which is renound for making the skin healthier, but so far still itchy red skin.

Apart from this she is very healthy and happy.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

has she had antihistamines for this problem at all?

Ask your vet about administering piriton, but you'll probably want to know the cheapest way to obtain Piriton is to ask the pharmacist for a tub of 500 - which works out at about the same price as two blister packs of 30 (or something equally daft)

I'm not suggesting that you keep your dog on such medication, but if it helps to clear up the problem, you will know it's an allergy and can begin to identify the source

Brude's allergic to fish for instance. Lots of feeds which are supposed to be good for the skin and coat contain cod liver oil - which makes his fur fall out

Our labrador has had problems with red itchy skin mainly underneath on her belly. She had all the vet treatment including the allergy testing and discovered allergies to meat products. We now keep her on meat free hypno-alergenic food and she is much better. She also had ear problems for a while but seems ok now.

Can I suggest some evening primrose oil in Luna's food? You don't state how big she is, but since it's safe for humans to have 4g of evening primrose oil daily it's fine for her to have a small capsule daily (snipped and poured onto her food is fine, you don't have to give her the capsule). You can also buy a product which is substantially evening primrose oil in a pump dispenser for animals- I just can't remember the brand name at the moment!

EPO won't cure the cause of the irritation, but it will help out the healing and treat scurfy, dry and itchy skin, along with short, broken off coat which is usually caused by the dry skin conditions.

As others have said a hypoallergenic food may be worth a go as often intolerence to wheat and additives can cause skin irritation. I feed burns which is a holistically produced food free from preservatives, additives and gulten free. My lad gets very itchy and flaky skin and i have definately noticed a difference since changing food.

I have also used evening primorose to good effect as medusa has mentioned.

I've remembered it! It's Viacutin (also advertised as Viacutan in some places).

It's got fish oils in as well as evening primrose and other oils, so you need to be confident that fish isn't playing a part in the problem before you use it, but it's a standard prescription for cats at the Shelter who have skin problems and within a month usually all the scurf and dry skin has gone. The pump dispenser makes it really convenient.

Thanks everyone. I will book her in at the vets tomorrow and also start on some evening primrose. She does have a very sensitive stomach so some sort of food allergy might fit. I think her ear problem was probably stress related with being at the kennels etc, but this definetly seems something a bit more perseverant.

Fingers crossed...

I can really reccomend extracted wheat germ oil (holland and barret or similar) to help with skin conditions - obviously as long as any allergy to wheat can be ruled out

D used to have itchy skin, we got rid of fish and that helped. His skin on his stomach always seemed a little dry still though did not bothered him. We changed his food about a month ago and it has made a big difference to his skin it seems to be much more healthy looking now and not dry.

He was on wet dog food and mixer as he refuses to eat any dried food, but he now has a mix of chicken carcass, rabbit, eggs and beef chunks with any left over veggies and the occassional drop of olive oil. He seems to enjoy it much more. It takes him longer to eat and he can eat more so he's happy, he also is going to the toliet less and it's much nicer to pick up as he often had dodgy tummy dogs on the tinned food, (I thought that would be a myth but it is true) It also works out cheaper than buying cans and mixer the only problem in freezer and fridge space! We did try to slowly move from tinned to raw but it was a disaster.. it worked much better for D to just go straight onto a raw diet as the tinned food was what was affecting his stomach.

A lot of people feed their dogs similar but just use the minced raw meats you can buy from the pet shops as there is always a risk from bones.

Another good thing is if you have a dog that likes to eat it's own poo you will find that he will not do it on this diet. D liked to sneak the occassional cigar :gag: and it has stopped completely now.

Wow Evei, that sounds very like Luna, to a T even with her secret 'cigar' habit. The only thing I am slightly dubious is the meat prep. I have been veggie for most of my life, so not too hot on meat handling. How much preperation and handling does it take, and do you just go and ask a local butcher for carcases etc?
Have booked her in for some tests tomorrow so hopefully they will be able to enlighten us further.
We did used to use wheat grass in our old dog's food to clear his scurf and it worked wonders - I will try some of this again.
Thanks loads

If your wanting something for her itchy, red skin i used Pet nat Dermacton. You can get in off the internet. Its all natural skin cream for dogs. It really helped us with rockys skin. In summer he scratches under his front legs raw and after the first time we used it he stopped scratching and it healed lovely. Now when we first see him scratching he has it on and hes fine. The vet thinks hes allergic to the grass in summer! It might help to heal her skin and everyones suggestions of changing food could then stop it for good!!! Hope she gets better!

Wow Evei, that sounds very like Luna, to a T even with her secret 'cigar' habit. The only thing I am slightly dubious is the meat prep. I have been veggie for most of my life, so not too hot on meat handling. How much preperation and handling does it take, and do you just go and ask a local butcher for carcases etc?
Have booked her in for some tests tomorrow so hopefully they will be able to enlighten us further.
We did used to use wheat grass in our old dog's food to clear his scurf and it worked wonders - I will try some of this again.
Thanks loads

The prep is not too bad, I buy it from my trainer but you can ask the butcher and there is a place in Hillsborough that someone on the forum mentioned (I'll try and find the link). The chicken carcass (no leg bones) come in 6 pound bags so I weigh it into bags then shove it in the freezer, l have a plastic box in the fridge for defrosting. You can buy frozen beef chunks and minced meats from pets at home and then you can mix and match but people recommend staying on the chicken only for the first two weeks. There is a lot of people who are really against feeding like this as there is always a risk of bones getting stuck and an expensive op or even worse :( , but I’m finding that the benefits are outweighing the risks. I’ve always fed my dogs soft bones and never had any problems, not many vets will recommend it due to this risk. It is something you have to weigh up and decide yourself.

All I have to do is empty the defrosted bag into his bowl so minimal touching once the weighing and bagging is done. It smells less than canned dog food :) He weighs just less than 30kg and has a pound and a half each day which costs me £5 a week.

here is the thread that the suppliers was mentioned:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=471797&highlight=chicken+carcass+raw+food&page=2

Hope the link works!

Thankyou for this - The vet again was pretty unhelpful today. He has given her another course of antibiotics and anti anflammitarys. I suggested that it might be a food allergy and he agreed it could be. He suggested feeding her on dry pet plan which is extremely expensive and very bland looking. So, I will try the place at Malin bridge tomorrow and see if they can advise me on what she should eat. I definetly like the idea of removing the chemicals and additives dog food contains from her diet.
Thanks again everyone x

hi
we buy natures menu raw food with veggies etc all ready made from pets@home - freezers. Ruby suffers terribly with her skin and this change in diet has been very positive for her, we also use oatmeal based shampoos which have a calming and cooling effect on the skin. Another shampoo is exmarid - used a few times - appeared to help.

hth

emma

Luna started her raw food diet last night and loved her minced chicken and veg. The people at the shop in Malin Bridge were sooo helpful and first thing we did was give her a raw egg to play with which she was delighted with! Fingers crossed for the skin clearing up quickly...
Have a 15kg unopened bag of Beta dog food - Active with chicken and rice if anyone wants for a cutdown price or would swap for a small rabbit hutch :-p
Thanks again, this way of feeding makes so much sense and nice to be supported a small friendly buisiness instead of the big corporate dog food chains.
x

I have been getting raw meats from Donnas shop since she opened and ther is no going back to dry stuff for my dogs. I have looked at a lot of information regarding raw feeding and as I said in a previous post, my two are thriving. I hope that feeding raw helps Lunas skin. Try adding lots of pro biotic yoghurt in her food as dogs with itchy skin usually have a yeast infection in the body. Vets prescribing antibiotics don't help the situation.

I know, seriously debated whether I should have done this second round of anti biotics as worried she will have no immune system left. Yoghurt is a great idea and i'll give it a go.
Thanks

i have an EPI german shep,a corgi a mini daschund and an akita cross,all fed on raw diet,i would never go back to complete food after one of my dogs ended up with major surgery due to toxins,german shep is on venison,pheasant and rabbit(low fat),and also itchy skin has cleared up,i too go to malin bridge,i also use tree barks powder

You say sore shoulders do you use a harness to walk her ? it could irritate her skin where it rubs.

We do use a harness as she is very excitable and strong! We have taken it off now though. Don't think it is just that as the skin around the mouth is bad, and the ears have started up as well again (vet told us it was just acne 1st time but think it's more.) I am so happy with her new diet, just makes so much sense, rather then feeding em processed, chemically foods which they can't break down. I like to think that most of Luba's ailments will clear up and we can solely focus on her mental issues! What does the tree bark do johnty?
I think one of the things I have really come to realise throughout this thread (and have been realising for a long time now) is how awful my vet is. They seem if anything to be anti-healing. Am unable to move vets at the moment though as without a car so the only one we can walk to but oh how happy I will be to change when we have wheels again!

the tree bark powder is for different things,diarrhoea,pancreatic insufficiency,malabsorption weaning and convalescene,especially good for my german shepherd who has pancreatic