Trying yet another food!

[Kathy Janes]

Mater started itching last fall and hasn't stopped yet! Pounds of Benadryl and a shot of cortisone haven't done more than slow him down a bit. He itches mostly behind his front lets and on his ears. I believe these are standard allergy locations. We started with changing his food and we are on our 4th or 5th try now with Taste of the Wild High Prairie. We've dried Premium Edge Skin and Coat and also their Lamb and Rice, as well as Blue Buffalo's lamb and rice, and still he itches. Now I'm not convinced that it was the change from puppy food last fall that has caused this.

On top of that, he's lost his enthusiasm for eating. He used to literally dance across the floor. He increasingly just sniffs, turns and walks away. He'll come back later when he is really hungry, but for a food motivated dog (he really is), the behaviour is really unexpected. When we got the Taste of the Wild, I thought we'd finally found a food he loved. But he walked away from it this morning too.

I can't help but wonder what's up with him. Wish he could talk!

[2SCdoodles]

Good luck with Mater! I love your dog's name, and I have watched your dog's videos! One of my doodles was a very finicky eater for a while, and as a result I tried several foods over a 6 month period. I feed him commercial raw now. Even with the raw diet he has drier skin than my other doodle. He will flake and itch at times. I hope your can figure this out! I know it must be frustrating trying to find the culprit of the itching!

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

Are you sure it allergies? Or does he just have dry skin? Salmon oil is good for dry skin and hair. Obviously make sure it is not allergies before trying it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Kathy, there is a lot of information on food & allergies here, both in the Food Group and in the Health & Medical Issues Group. It is too extensive to reproduce here, but i will tell you that the odds are very high that Mater's problems have nothing to do with his food...but even if they do, you need to do controlled food trials. Just switching around between brands will not help.
Nobody knows how hard it is to have an itchy dog better than I do. Please do a search in the Forums for these topics, there is a lot of valuable info here. And good luck, I hope you can find a way to help Mater.