# Help for Skin Allergies - What food is best?



## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

My 8 year old Alli is constantly itching and licking. The vet told me to give her benedryl daily. She has had a few skin infections and needed to take antibiotics. I don't want to be giving my dog medicine - especially if there is a food that will help with this issue. Currently, i feed her grain-free kibble but I am willing to give her something that will help her with the itching. Is this skin condition prevalent in Shepherd's? If so, is there a food that will help alleviate these symptoms?

Please help my dog!!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

How do you know these are food related? Food allergies are actually a very small percentage. Are her symptoms year round? Or only during certain seasons?

Here's an interesting article
Selective Immunoglobulin A Deficiency in Pets


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

What food are you feeding?


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

Nutro grain free


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

I have been basing this "food allergy" from information from the vet. Her symptoms begin in the Spring and into Fall. However, she does experience itching in the winter too - its just not as bad.


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## Msmaria (Mar 2, 2013)

My vet said to use a LID (limited ingredients ) dog food until we rule out what the food allergy was. The first food we gave up was chicken and grains, that seems to be doing the trick.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Try one of the LID Natural Balance formulas. Go with a novel protein like fish, venison, or buffalo for example. Keep her on it for a few weeks and look for improvement. 

Add extras like coconut oil, salmon oil, Olewo carrots/beets, yogurt, probiotics. 

What kind of flea/tick prevention are you using? Do you apply lawn treatments? Is she around anything that might trigger an allergic reaction? Allergies and skin issues are common problems in the GSD - hope you find a solution


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Allidog said:


> I have been basing this "food allergy" from information from the vet. Her symptoms begin in the Spring and into Fall. However, she does experience itching in the winter too - its just not as bad.


If it's worse during the pollen seasons then I would guess part of it is environmental. 

Local, raw, honey helped my Jax and Courtney's dogs. I give 1 tsp per day. Claritin barely kept it all under control but she was still uncomfortable. It all went away once I started giving her the honey. It's like a natural allergy shot. You just have to make sure the pollens in the honey are the ones active during that time. My beekeeper collects twice a year. Mid summer and fall so I give the spring honey (collected in midsummer) until about July and then switch to the fall honey.


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

Thank you for sharing this article - very interesting. I think it is time to find a new vet! However, I am still curious about the food. I don't think Nurto is a good choice since their food is comprised of meat by-products (just learned this today).


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

I do give her Frontline monthly - our backyard is wooded. As far as lawn treatments, none this season. Thank you the input on food and extras!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Allidog said:


> Thank you for sharing this article - very interesting. I think it is time to find a new vet! However, I am still curious about the food. I don't think Nurto is a good choice since their food is comprised of meat by-products (just learned this today).


As far as food goes, I would go with gbchottu's advice.



qbchottu said:


> Try one of the LID Natural Balance formulas. Go with a novel protein like fish, venison, or buffalo for example. Keep her on it for a few weeks and look for improvement.
> 
> Add extras like coconut oil, salmon oil, Olewo carrots/beets, yogurt, probiotics.
> 
> What kind of flea/tick prevention are you using? Do you apply lawn treatments? Is she around anything that might trigger an allergic reaction? Allergies and skin issues are common problems in the GSD - hope you find a solution


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

Honey!! I will try this - assuming i can purchase "fall" honey in grocery store.


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

So i guess grain free is not the answer as my vet indicated. This is so frustrating! More so for my poor girl


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Allidog said:


> Honey!! I will try this - assuming i can purchase "fall" honey in grocery store.


Look for a farmer's market. You need to be in about a 50 mile radius. Grocery store honey is going to be pasteurized and NOT what you want. It needs to be local and unpasteurized. Farmer's markets should have local honey from local beekeepers.



Allidog said:


> So i guess grain free is not the answer as my vet indicated. This is so frustrating! More so for my poor girl


Not necessarily. The LID foods typically have a single protein and sweet potatoes or white potatoes. Grains could be the allergy moreso than meats. The goal is to narrow down both the protein and carb ingredients.


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## Msmaria (Mar 2, 2013)

Jax08 said:


> If it's worse during the pollen seasons then I would guess part of it is environmental.
> 
> Local, raw, honey helped my Jax and Courtney's dogs. I give 1 tsp per day. Claritin barely kept it all under control but she was still uncomfortable. It all went away once I started giving her the honey. It's like a natural allergy shot. You just have to make sure the pollens in the honey are the ones active during that time. My beekeeper collects twice a year. Mid summer and fall so I give the spring honey (collected in midsummer) until about July and then switch to the fall honey.



i heard the same thing from our farmers market re: bee honey helping allergies. I forgot all about it til now, thanks for posting.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I swear by it! Could not believe the difference it made. I know you hear about these natural remedies but they rarely seem to work. This really did! I assume that it depends on what you are allergic too. If it's grasses, honey probably won't help. But if it's anything that flowers then it should.

The place I buy it told me 50% of his honey is sold to people with allergies and some were able to stop taking steroids and meds.


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## Allidog (Jan 31, 2012)

Thak you for this valuable information. It's funny that this morning I was reading the newspaper and there on the front page of the Neighbor section was a story on a beekeeper at a farm about 30 miles from our house! Thought I would share with you!


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## lzver (Feb 9, 2012)

qbchottu said:


> Try one of the LID Natural Balance formulas. Go with a novel protein like fish, venison, or buffalo for example. Keep her on it for a few weeks and look for improvement.
> 
> Add extras like coconut oil, salmon oil, Olewo carrots/beets, yogurt, probiotics.
> 
> What kind of flea/tick prevention are you using? Do you apply lawn treatments? Is she around anything that might trigger an allergic reaction? Allergies and skin issues are common problems in the GSD - hope you find a solution


^^^ I agree with what was said above.

The addition of coconut oil and wild Alaskan salmon oil will definitely help with allergy and skin issues.

Our GSD had allergy issues last year. We have him on home cooked food and add the coconut oil and salmon oil ... I hated giving Benadryl all the time and seeked out other solutions.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Allidog said:


> Thak you for this valuable information. It's funny that this morning I was reading the newspaper and there on the front page of the Neighbor section was a story on a beekeeper at a farm about 30 miles from our house! Thought I would share with you!


Good! They are out there.


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## dakotaandhearts (Feb 28, 2012)

I feed pro plan sensitive skin sensitive stomach and use coconut oil on dry patches - mine has summer skin allergies 


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## kr16 (Apr 30, 2011)

You just need to realize Natural balance was bought out by Del Monte and that never goes well. Take it anyway you want. I just had my mom switch off of it.


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## s14roller (Nov 18, 2010)

dakotaandhearts said:


> I feed pro plan sensitive skin sensitive stomach and use coconut oil on dry patches - mine has summer skin allergies


I just posted on another thread with my experience with that food for soft stools and it did wonderful as well.


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

Eliminating foods one at a time is a good way to find out if it is food related. A lot of people go raw but I couldn't do that as I have no storage space. I use Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch because Raina is allergic to so many things including grain, turkey, duck, lamb, pork, coconut, palm, and a bunch of airborne stuff from certain plants. I bathe here every other weekend with Allermyl for the airborne stuff and the Earthborn food seems to have met all her food allergy problems. I also went the auto-immune shot route as she had so many allergies, but I can truthfully say even though I didn't really have much faith in the shots - she is doing much better and has just 5 more shots to go to finish up her 18 month treatment. Good luck. It takes a while to determine what exactly is making your dog itch. I also switched from Frontline to Trifexis as the Heartguard I was using gave her an upset stomach and the Frontline seemed to be losing its effectiveness after using it constantly for 4 years.


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## LaciDoan (Feb 23, 2013)

We are currently dealing with a possible food allergy. Our GSD Kenai is very itchy, flaky & all around miserable. We took her to the vet & he is putting her on a restricted diet. After 6-8 weeks we will slowly reintroduce foods & hopefully find out what the cause is. We have been fighting her itchiness since she was 8 weeks old & she is now 7 months. It's hard to pin down food allergies. The vet also put her on omega 3 & fatty acid vitamins as well as bee pollen capsules. I hope that you are able to help your puppy out. If you have any questions about what we are using you can email me [email protected]


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