help me feed my GSD. New ? in post 1

[Frizzled]

I use a shedding blade about once a week. I'm trying to make sure it's just normal shedding and I'm not missing anything. I know it's got to be miserable with all that hair and this heat. I certainly don't want her to be allergic to sometime and not fix it. She stays in the house, so she's cool most of the time and I let her get in the pool when she's outside with me. She really loves doing that.

 

[LindsayB]

Our black German Shepherd 'Mason' has very bad skin allergies that make him chew his feet and get ear infections constantly. He also sheds horribly and I too am vacuuming every day! Sometimes twice a day we he sheds his coat out every year. The have the nickname 'german shedders' for nothing! lol! We switched his food over to Royal Canine German Shepherd Formula and it has done wonders for his skin. We still have to bath him and clean his ears every week, but he is a much healthier dog now. He also gets 2 benadrils in the morning and at night for his itchy skin. how often are you brushing your dog? German shepherd need to have a good brushing at least twice a week. We use the furminator brush on Mason and WOW we can pull a whole other dog out of him in 20 minutes lol. Brushing twice a week helps a great deal with the shedding though!

 

[Willow's Meadow]

Quote:
Yes raw is the best food.....ever. Period.

 

[Akane]

It's possible for them to develop an allergy without their food even changing. Allergies tend to only get worse with age. It's not uncommon for humans to suddenly develop an allergic reaction or intolerance to things that never really bothered them before. Sometimes an allergy will even be to just a certain quality of something. Some people have found their dogs are allergic to chicken dog food and store bought chicken but can eat the chickens they butcher without any symptoms. Higher energy foods like those for growing and active animals tend to use higher quality ingredients to achieve the increased calories.

Mine get several raw eggs a day because sometimes an egg gets too dirty, wet, or sits in the heat too long. These eggs aren't rotten but need used right away because they will go bad quickly in storage. If you decide to feed eggs start with one a day. Upset stomachs are common until they get used to it. Our shiba just had an accident in her crate over night from stealing a few eggs on top of what she got that afternoon.

Flaxseed, fish oil, or vitamin E supplements will also help his skin and coat. You can get flaxseed in various forms but dogs can only digest the ground or oil not the whole seeds. Ground flaxseed also loses it's nutrients quickly so oil would be best (I order it online) or buy only small amounts of ground at a time. Salmon oil is commonly sold as a dog supplement now but a bit more expensive than plant based oils. Vit E can be hard to find in large amounts but you can buy the capsules and break one or two over his food or slip the whole capsule in something.

 

[bumpershoot]

It really sounds as though your dog is blowing it's coat AND perhaps the chlorine is a problem. Do you have a stripper for it's coat? Have you bathed the dog? Pool dipping is not the same. Do some maintenance on your dogs coat and then consider feed changes. When my dogs run across something in their food that is bothering them their ears blow chunks. By that, I mean they get black ear wax by the pound and it smells. Usually this is when my Boston decided that her grain free diet is unreasonable and she goes for the chicken feed. But that's my dog with an opinion. I have seen dogs lick their paws and fronts legs with a food allergy. There are any number of presentations for food allergy, but you sound like you have a coat issue. Get yourself a good shampoo and a good conditioner and strip out that coat. If it's within budget you might consider having your dog groomed by a pro. They will have shampoos that will neutralize chlorine and put oils back into the coat. They also have the appropriate strippers and big blowers that will get down to the skin. While they are blowing the dogs coat they will be able to see if there are red and irritated patches that look like a food allergy. Be aware that not all groomers are equal. Find one that grooms for dog shows. There are enough dog show people on this board you might be able to get a recommendation for someone good in your area.

 

[Frizzled]

Quote:
She gets a bath about once a week, yesterday with oatmeal shampoo. Don't know if that matters or not. I use a furminator about once a week, read they could irritate the skin if used too much. She's not showing any of the signs you guys are describing as food allergys. I bought a supplement for her food with the fatty oils in it and give her 2 raw eggs a day. I am begining to think she is just blowing her coat. I just figured that happened earlier in the spring. I have not had her a year yet so I am still learning when she is going to do whatever it is she is going to do like shedding.

 

[la dee da]

I wouldn't worry about using the furminator too much. Just use it for about 5min. a day and that'll do a whole lot more good than 20min. once a week. We had a collie/husky mix and when we got it and used it gosh I'll tell ya it worked wonderfully! I never realized how much fur was in that dog! She also stopped scratching so much and clearly felt better when we got all that extra fur out.

ETA: We used the furminator on the dog for about 30min. a day every day until the fur was gone.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Sounds to me like you are bathing your dog too often and could be causing some of the itching. Dogs shouldn't be bathed that often unless there is a specific reason for it. "just because" isn't good for the dogs skin. Dogs skin is desinged to be self cleaning, as is the hair coat. Shampooing, even with a so-called moisturizing shampoo, is going to be very hard on the dogs skin. Think about when you wash your hands too often, they get dry and chapped and you start having to apply artificial moisturizures. That is the same thing that happens to your dogs skin when bathed too often. Dry, flakey, itchy and tight skin. Then the skin starts to over produce oils to make up for the stripping that the soap does. Then you get a greasy coat that attracts dirt instead of repelling it. Its a bad cycle.

If you are bathing the dog so often because of a strong "doggy odor" you can blame the food the dog eats most often. Dogs have a smell but it should be light and clean smelling not heavy and musky. Find a better quality of food that your dogs system reacts well to and I can tell you her odor will decrease a lot.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

We've had our older GSD for 13 months now. I've given him one bath in that time. Kane, our younger GSD, has had several baths, but only because he does nose dives into mud puddles and his long coat gets a mess. I don't bathe them "just cuz".
Jax did fine on Diamond Naturals with some salmon oil added. Kane has a screwy GI tract and has to have food without any grains at all (TOTW).
Neither dog has an odor about them and DH comments all the time on how they don't have the "doggy breath" odor. Lots of raw bones for their teeth.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Vit E can be hard to find in large amounts but you can buy the capsules and break one or two over his food or slip the whole capsule in something.

I feed mine vitamin E daily, one capsule each. They eat it from my hand and think it is a treat. I have had GSDs and Dobies for many years, and they all have really, really slick coats. My GSD is blowing coat right now. It comes out in handfuls and I brush her a dozen times a day. When they are not shedding, I brush everyone once a day. I never bathe unless they get into something. None of my dogs has a "doggie odor". None has food allergies and all have gorgeous white teeth (even the 9-year old). Crucify me now because I feed Purina One Lamb and Rice and daily Milk Bones and have done so for many years. No itchy dogs. No chewed feet. No ear scratching. Glossy coats and strong white teeth. Lots of energy. For a so-called "crappy" feed, it has given me some really great, healthy dogs.

I'm a schutzhund enthusiast and competed for a lot of years, just retiring from the sport about a year ago.

HTH

Rusty​