Feed Question

[moana]

Well, this is my first visit to the dog section!

I am sure this will have been asked umpteen times, but here I go.


I have a seven year old gundog, that I have owned for four years. Male, un-neutered.

For the last twelve months he has been itchy, scratchy and he is regularly wormed and de-flead. His skin is clean and clear, no soreness or redness, but vaguely dry. He has been on Yumega Plus for several months. I have change h is diet twice to try to help alleviate the problem. After vet consults but no relief, I am thinking he may be sensitive to something in feeds, but have no evidence. I am therefore looking into trying a different feed, without having to pay a fortune, although do realise I may have to eventually to pay for a feed that will ease his problems. I also realise more expensive brands may well be more cost effective than cheaper bags.

He is currently on a complete biscuit feed but I have to add a little something to encourage him to eat.

Royal Canin has been suggested, they don't make one for his breed (Irish Setter)

He is a slightly fussy eater and some feeds he will not touch.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, preferably something that I can buy a small amount of to test for his liking it.

Thank you so much, an apologies for repeating this question.

 

[PorkChop]

Hiya, might not be what you want to hear, but I would try him on a raw diet. It often helps dry, itchy skin because you are feeding no cereals.

If it must be a dry diet then something like Fish4dogs?

There is a great sticky thread at the top of the page

 

[MurphysMinder]

Would agree Fish4dogs is an excellent kibble. If you are looking for something a little lower priced try Skinners Field & Trial Duck & rice, it is wheat free so might help if it is a gluten allergy. Really the only way you are going to find out is by trial and error, raw may well be the answer but there are some dogs it doesn't suit.

 

[Umbongo]

You could end up spending a small fortune with the trial and error method as you may need to keep him on a certain food for a few weeks until you see/or don't see any results. I would either try a couple of suggestions here such as fish 4 dogs (or fishmonger).

Or you could change him to raw and see how he goes. Or you can get the vets to do bloods for an allergy panel so you can find out what he is allergic too. My friend tried for months on a trial and error dry diet, went to vets for an allergy panel...only to find that he is allergic to storage mites! He is now on raw (minus chicken as he is allergic to that too)

 

[moana]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I have been considering the raw food route, He does like tripe too, he used to get that but my partner won't have it in the house! It would form part of a good diet I think. You could be right about an allergy test. My vet has just retired so I need to find a new one as the ones that took over are rubbish.
Thanks again for your replies.