Not Eating and Skin Problems

[Toby]

Toby got a new doodle sister this week!  She is wonderful!  She came to us eating Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato, but when she got a whiff of Toby's Purina Pro Plan Selects Turkey and Rice (I KNOW - not on the approved food list), she wanted nothing to do with NB.  My original plan was to switch Toby to the NB, but thought instead, I'll put them both on the Pro Plan since she likes it so much.  Two days later, my new girl is scratching like crazy.  So, I got NB Potato and Duck to try, thinking she might like the flavor of that better than Fish.  She doesn't like it, either.

 

I'm at a loss!  My gut feeling is that I need to keep her on a grain-free food, but maybe try a different line and see if she likes it better.  Any suggestions as to which one is highly palatible?  Both of the dogs are pretty picky. Also, how do I stop the itching?  Just let it resolve itself with a grain-free diet?  I'm afraid that if I take her to the vet she will be put on predinisone.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[Toby]

I said she came to us eating grain-free, but I think I am wrong about that - just looked on the food list.  The Natural Balance formula she was on was a healthy grain/limited ingredient diet, rather than grain-free.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'd switch both dogs to a grain-free fish-based formula. Orijen, or maybe one of the Acana formulas or Fromm's grainfree Tunalini. Most dogs really love Fromm. There are alots of them out there. Canidae has Pure Sea, Wellness has Core, and TOTW has a fish-based formula as well.

How old is Toby's new sister? Something tells me that she is not a young puppy, and that the reason she was eating the NB grain-free LID fish formula is that she has had itchy skin issues before now.

Try giving her a 500 mg evening primrose oil softgel once a day. I need to know her age and weight before making other suggestions for the itching.

 

[Toby]

Thanks, Karen!  She is 2.5 years old.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Weight?

[Toby]

She weighs 40 pounds, but the vet told me last week that she was underweight. 

[Toby]

Karen, I think I'm going to go with the Fromm's since you mention it is well-liked.  Do I need to transition slowly?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

No, I'd just go for it, assuming there are no known digestive issues, i.e. diarrhea or loose poop.

You can also try giving her two 10 mg. loratidine tablets (generic Claritin) once a day.

[BG and Gavin]

I would opt for them to go on the better food and try a healthy topper to entice (plain fat free yogurt for example) rather than going with the proplan.  Or you could try making the better food the only option available and pick up their bowls after 10 minutes.  I think they would eat eventually.  I mean most kids would choose a big mac for dinner every night if they could too, but we know that it is not good for them in the long run.

[Toby]

So true!