# Looking for a new food for my itchy cocker spaniel



## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

I've had my 2 yr old female cocker spaniel for about 2 months. She has a mild to moderate itchy problem, mostly she scratches her face and neck, and bites her feet. Her stools are *usually* pretty normal looking but sometimes they're yellow or partially yellow. I've taken her to the vet and the fecal came back normal, as for the itching he thinks she just has seasonal allergies like everyone else around here. I'm itchy too, matter of fact. So I'm giving her benadryl for that and it seems to help. 

But I'd like to try and find a food that will help, if possible. She doesn't have sores, or any visible skin problems, not oily, not flaky, the vet said her skin and ears looked great for a cocker spaniel. She has been on Professional lamb and rice (made by diamond) for about 8 weeks now and I think her coat has become shinier (who knows what she was on before), but she is still itching, has eye boogers, and brown staining around the mouth. Just looking for some suggestions on what to try next. I got some samples in the mail of taste of the wild, all 3 varieties and I've been mixing the Wetlands variety in with her regular food this week, since I didn't want to just go cold turkey on the samples. But of course samples will tell me whether she likes the food or not but won't be enough to tell how she does on it. 

I'm not opposed to a more expensive food. I kind of was at first but then I bought an 18 lb bag of food and it is lasting FOREVER since she's my only dog, and she weighs 24 lbs. I was thinking of buying Taste of the Wild next, or maybe just going all the way and trying Orijen or Acana. The choices are so overwhelming! I just don't know where to begin. Any advice?


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## lilstrlett (May 26, 2010)

We have an itchy dog also. We switched to Natural Balance. They have flavors that don't have any grains in it, which is best for dogs with allergies. I'm not sure if it's helping 100%, bit she doesn't scratch as much as she used to. All of their grain free foods can be switched between them without having to mix them before switching, so if your dog doesn't like one flavor you can switch without their stomach getting upset.


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## amdeblaey (Jun 27, 2009)

My chocolate lab use to be very itchy, we switched him over to TOTW, and he has been doing really well-no more itchy skin, or red and flakey skin.


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## Dog_Shrink (Sep 29, 2009)

First thing I would do before changing food since this is mostly localized aroudn the face and neck area is ... do you use a spot on treatment or flea collar? If so ... STOP. See if that decreases the itchy. If not then look at the food. Occasional yellow stool means there's a higher bilirubin (if I recall correctly) count in it which is from the liver. Yellow stool doesn't always mean that the dog is allergic to the food, but could have suffered some other stress that caused her body to go into kinda "hyper drive" you could say and produce more than what is needed. When dealing with allergies I always look to environmental reasons first esp. if the licking is more than just the paws. Are her eyes excessively red in the conjunctiva or blood shot? does her eyes or nose run? Does she get pale yellow or light green eye boogies? If so all those kinda point to environmental allergies such as trees, flowers, etc. BTW what color cocker is she? Is she spayed? Since this is her first summer with you maybe you can ask previous owner/rescue what she was like before during this time of year.


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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

I haven't used any flea treatments on her. She did have a flea collar on when I got her but I took it off. I just check her daily and figure I won't put anything on her unless I have to. I don't even keep her regular collar on because it seems to itch her. Just like a turtleneck would itch me, as I have sensitive skin. She is mostly black and white, her face is mostly black so it's hard to tell what color her eye boogers are. She is spayed. Her eyes have always looked a little red to me in the conjunctiva but they vet looked at them when he examined her and didn't say anything other than she probably has seasonal allergies. Her stool was also yellowish when he took the sample and all he said was it showed no signs of parasites so he must not have thought it was too abnormal. As for the licking, it's just the paws and belly, which to me suggests grass sensitivity. Not too much I can do about that, we keep the grass mowed. She has to go out.

Here's a couple of pics of her. I posted them on my intro post in the newbie forum too.







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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

I didn't see her stool yesterday but today it was MUCH better than it has been. That's with her getting 1/2 TOTW and 1/2 of her regular food. I think when this is used up I'll buy a bag of TOTW. Right now she's trying the wetlands formula, but I have 2 sample bags of each of the other formulas too. We'll see if it helps her itching any. I know it might not if it's seasonal allergies but I know some people have said different foods really seemed to help with their dog's allergies.


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

Are you currently feeding something with grain? If so, I would fast your dog for 12 hours and then just do the switch cold turkey to TOTW. Normally, you don't want to mix a grain-inclusive food with grain-free.

My guess is that the allergies/itchiness will disappear once you're completely doing grain-free as most dogs have reactions to grains. If it doesn't help, the next step would be to go to a limited protein, or try something without chicken (try a fish based kibble instead).


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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

Yes, her regular food contains rice and oatmeal. It's a lamb and rice formula. I was just mixing them to use up the last of the old food, and to use the samples before I buy something else. I think grain free might be the best choice for her. Maybe I'll just give away what's left of the old food? There's still probably a good 2 weeks worth of food left.


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## Enhasa (Feb 6, 2010)

give it a food that is high in omega 3 and 6s.
wellness, orijen, evo, holistic select, blue buffalo are good choices for that


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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions! So, do you think it's okay to keep mixing the Professional lamb and rice and the TOTW samples until it's gone? She's tolerating it well. I think having less grains is helping her, then I'll just buy a grain free when I run out. I'm still trying to decide which one, I'll know for sure when I buy it. LOL! I haven't priced Orijen in my area yet but I know TOTW is doable. The store here that sells wellness, I haven't seen Core there. Just the super5 mixes. I'll have to check out the new store that carries orijen and other top of the line foods. Haven't been there yet, I've been buying at feeder's supply.


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

If your dog is tolerating the mix of grain with grain-free - then continue it. I'd still monitor poops though! 

Orijen is quite a bit pricier than TOTW; however, most places do a buy 12 or 13 and get 1 bag free (depending on the size of bag you buy). I have been using TOTW for the past few months and had wonderful success. I recently changed to Orijen though (Regional Red) to benefit from the higher calorie count per cup.


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## momof3 (Nov 24, 2007)

I really like TOTW Pacific Stream and have great results from it with our Lab. I have decided that I am going to try him on one of the Nature's Variety Instinct formulas the Duck I belive. I want to be able to rotate him because foods come and go up here in my little Alaskan town and I don't want to be so limited.


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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

Thanks! Her poops look a lot better this week since she has been eating the mix. I monitor them most of the time, just to be sure.


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## RobynB (Jun 3, 2010)

I switched my Pug to Wellness Core after years of licking itchy paws and belly. After only a short time eating Core, no more licking at all! We are so relieved! He used to wake us up licking his paws most nights but now he is resting well. Good luck.


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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

I decided to go grain free so we're doing Taste of the Wild right now. I just bought a 5 lb bag yesterday. I would like to do a rotation, so I may add Wellness Core into that rotation, since I just saw it today for the first time. A lot of the better brands are hard to find around here. I'm still in the process of transitioning her to the TOTW but so far so good!


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