Labrador female dog allergic to chicken/eating chicken poo..../UPDATE

[hinkjc]

I doubt it is the chicken poo eating problem too. My male lab used to eat chicken poo all of the time and he was a very sickly puppy. Every time he ate dog food he vomited everything back up. We went through this for months and tried everything to break his bad habit and tried various foods and couldn't find an answer. We finally got the vet involved who checked him for parasites, although she felt the chicken poo eating was not the issue. I think she did that more for our assurance. Then she suggested taking him off of high corn feeds.

We started by removing him from dog food completely to prove the feed was his problem. He was on a venison and rice diet for several weeks and no more vomiting. That was our answer. She then tried him on Science Diet and Iams, both of which still have corn. The vomiting resumed again. He couldn't tolerate the corn that is common in most dog foods. We decided to go on our own search for a non corn based feed. We found Nutro for Sensitive Dogs. It has been a life saver for us and our dog, who was down to bones until we could figure out what was going on. While this is not entirely the same, I think dogs present allergies in various ways, just like people and I would look at the feed. Even some of the good name brands won't work for really sensitive dogs.

On the topic of meds for physicial itching. My MIL had a dog with severe itching problems. They were told she had a really bad allergy to fleas. If a single flea got on her and bit her, she broke out into a rash and hair loss and such. When they put her on Frontline, it pretty much went away. Not sure if you use anything like that, but it might be a better option, as it provides a two-fold benefit. Reduced fleas and less skin irritation/itching.

Jody

 

[Smoky73]

I would switch the food. I use Flint River, www.flintriver.com
When I told my vet what the dogs have been on after she saw them for there yearly checkup, she was impressed enough to want to see info on it.
My dogs are on the Lamb, Millet and Rice food, which is for dogs with severe allergies to things like wheat and corn, although my dogs do not have allergies, they were just too fat and this one was lower calorie.

 

[halo]

Ive been feeding Wellness Core

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_grain_index.html

Theres a lot of really good dog food out there now, but they arent available at your local grocery store. You may have to shop a little, and they arent cheap, but if your dog is as important to you as mine are to me, you won't mind the added inconvience one bit.

 

[hoppy]

have your vet do the RAST allergy test. it's a blood test.
it does not matter if she is on pred at the time or not. she maybe allergic to something the chickens eat (corn). if you want to rule out diet, change her to the Z/D ultra diet by hill's. it is ultra broken down proteins so the body doesn't react to it and keep her out of the chicken poo/food. you need to do this for 4-6 weeks to know if it is helping (it takes that long for the body to rid itself of the proteins she could be allergic to)
then you can slowly introduce other foods and see what she reacts to (but if you do the rast test, you'll have your answer much quicker) and they can make allergy shots from those results so you can desensitize her.
good luck

 

[farmgirlie1031]

My Bernese Mt. Dog has skin issues. We have to read labels on anything she gets and make sure there is no beef in it. She only gets lamb and rice or chicken and rice food and she does great on that. I can't feed her any dog treats if beef is listed as an ingredient in it. She can't eat the peanut butter treats either or she is itchy again. So normally her treats are cooked chicken or a small amount of fruit and she does great now.

 

[crazy huhn]

Thank You all so much for your replies to help my girl! Absolutely nothing has changed in her diet or environment until the whole dilemma started, except we got chickens 4 month prior. She is spoiled and gets BBQed meat (non-seasoned) from my husband and I have switched to a more expensive brand of kibbles for skin sensitive dogs in addition. I will certainly double-check the label next time to make sure there is no corn in it.
Have not done the Rash test yet, because the vet said it is not too accurate. Regarding the Frontline: I have always loved that product (with my other dogs), but when I applied the Frontline last time, she had such a severe reaction with 105 F fever, rash, legs and face swollen, that I had to leave her in the hospital. The dermatologist there thought it was Rocky Mountain Tick fever, but there is no such thing here in Southern California and tests have reassured that. However tests, after tests and $2000 later still no answer, but maybe I agree with you guys, that it is just as simple as the corn in her food (if there is any in, need to double-check) or the corn in the chicken poo.

 

[thewarriorchild]

Try an all natural flea repellant. I have a cat that with NO fleas on it will lick most of its hair off. I know it is fleas, cause I was a groomer and familiar with such craziness but also because everyone else could have fleas! We had SUCH a nasty flea problem last year.

My dog almost died from a rabies shot. You never know what they will react to!

Deb

Just a thought... if you need a morphine patch for pain, and that is on your skin and into your bloodstream, what happens when you put poison on your dogs skin, lotion on your body, deodorant (not all natural) what you wash and put on your hair....

 

[crazy huhn]

Any ideas?

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

My shih-tzu had the same problems as yours. I switched his food and when I did...staph infection, skin boils, digging himself bloody, coat went to pot, etc. Our new to the area vet chewed me out when we finally figured out it was the food.

Now he has recovered, still eats chicken poo on a daily basis and other than a few places that I am not certain fur will ever grow back...is back to normal.

Good luck