Q: My dog Raven is a 16 month old Black Lab who has severe allergies. He is constantly itching, scratching, licking himself and gets yeast infections in his ears. I have been able to control his ear infections by cleaning his ears daily to keep them dry. The vet also wants to put him on Prednisone but I just don’t like the idea of having my pets on strong medications like this.

Right now I am switching Raven to [a leading super premium] dry food as it is hypoallergenic. But I don’t feel very comfortable with the idea of giving him that food as the company who makes this food was involved in the 2007 big pet food recall. Do you have a dry food for dogs that can help relieve symptoms of allergies? I do feed Raven green beans, blue berries, carrots and apple pieces (without the seeds) for snacks and he loves them. Should I stop giving him the fruit and veggies?

Sorry I am bombarding you with these questions, I have heard lots of good things about Spot’s Stew (I am a member of Dogchannel and we chat about dog foods a lot and have heard praises on your line of food). I’d really appreciate any recommendations if possible.

A: Sorry to hear about Raven’s allergic tendencies. The very first thing I recommend is to put these dogs on a high quality NATURAL diet–one that does not include artificial dyes/colors, flavors, inferior by-products or any meat meals (for example, “chicken meal”). “Meals” are created by the process of rendering–which often creates a very poor quality protein source. Many times these dogs are not reacting to an actual meat protein but to the quality of the protein or additives/preservatives in a food. Next, I would recommend the addition of a fatty acid supplement to Raven’s food. The complement of fatty acids found in Halo’s Dream Coat are anti-inflammatory. Research has proven fatty acids to be beneficial in a number of skin conditions by providing anti-inflammatory properties. I do not think you need to stop giving Raven the fruits and veggies you described. If none of this seems to help, you may need to do a food trial (to assess for true food allergies) or some skin testing (to assess for inhaled allergies-called atopy) to get to the bottom of Raven’s problem so you can begin specific therapy if necessary. Read my article Allergies in Dogs to learn more about allergies in dogs.

Hope this helps. Good Luck and keep us posted!
Dr. Donna Spector

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Ask a Vet, Dr Donna Spector, Pet Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.