Scratching and Bitting

[Kitty]

Welcome to ROL.
How often are you bathing your dog? Rotts don't need bathed that often. A good brushing will do it. My Rotts have never had a flea! I only put flea products on them once usually in July. I also use Murphy's Oil Soap when I bath them....the real stuff. I brush them before I bath them twice then after they are dry I brush them again.Murphy's Oil Soap also deters fleas! If you are using a kibble that has grain, corn, etc. ( read what is in the kibble on the bag ) If you switch your kibble don't do it all at once. Are you feeding 2 cups twice a day? Get a grain free kibble. Blue Bufflo kibble is a good kibble. It's a bit expencevie but It's worth it. Make sure you read whats in any kibble you buy. Mix 1/4 cup of the new and 1 and 1/4 th of the old. Put some all naturall pumpkin about a teaspoon and mix it in the kibble. It helps to prevent the cha...cha's!Diarrheah! Only do this for a week....slowly add more of the good kibble. But IMO I would take your dog to the Vet to make sure what is happening. OH and please don't buy Sciene Diet....It's crap!

[RottGRL12]

hMM thats alot to think about! We live in a coutryish setting. We just bought a house a few months ago but this scratching started a few weeks ago. I honestly think I am going to try switching her food. I did notice the first few ingrediients is corn mean and Chicken product.

[RottGRL12]

Kitty- We only bathe her about every few weeks. We probably dont brush her as much as we should but she absolutly hates it so i try to do as much as I can to brush her. We feed her IAMS and i was looking into the Blue Buffalo kibble, just wondering what other people have thought about it. I'm hoping it is worth the money

[RottiMomCT]

Why so much bathing? Too much bathing can dry out the skin, causing itching. Even during the summer months when my dogs spend alot of time outside, they get bathed MAYBE three times a year, more if they smell 'doggy' - I do spot cleaning with waterless shampoo and baby wipes

[MarthaGier]

RottGRL12, I don't know about Blue Buffalo but have had good luck with Healthwise Chicken and Oatmeal. It costs us $35 for 35 lbs. Every 10 bags purchased we get a coupon to send in for one free bag. I wanted to mention I feed my dogs 1000 mg of fish oil capsules that I buy at Walmart and 400IU of Vitamin E twice a week. They each get 3 capsules a day of the fish oil.

[laughing]

When my Dane girl got allergies (and before I have jumped on the raw bandwagon) we fed Blue Buffalo Wilderness. On that she did extremely well. (No more allergies.) She was on Wellness before, so we were surprised she developed an allergy to that.

My cousin has a Staffordshire/Pit Bull (mutt from the pound type of deal) and that poor girl lost all her fur behind her ears. No scratching, no flakiness, etc.. Just hair falling out. Turned out to be a food allergy. I convinced her to switch from Beneful to EVO. In 2 months time all the fur had grown back and she's in much better condition. On Beneful she ate sporadically (wouldn't eat one day, ate 3 the next, etc) but now with EVO she eats consistently. Turns out she eats much less on EVO and the bag lasts longer, so the cost equals out to EVO just being slightly more expensive.

I just want to say, properly transitioning over foods and having a real body response takes 3 months.. I really think this is an office visit situation. What if it is mites and you wait 3 months? Not good..

Good luck x

[FL Cracker]

We started CoCo on Blue when we picked her up from the breeder. She did extremely well on it, and was only on Blue for 2 months before we switched to raw. About the only advice I suggest is when switching (regardless of type) dog food....do so in increments....otherwise your pup could end up with "cannon butt", bad gas, or an upset stomach. I started CoCo out at 90/10%...and adjusted from there...over a period of three weeks. Then she was 100% Blue Buffalo fed from there on out.

[RottGRL12]

Okay thanks so much! I think I may consult with my vet to see which kind to switch her too? They have seemed very strict about not switching her food until she is a year old but i will ask again.!!

[Kitty]

I have never heard of not switching a dog's kibble until they are a yr. old. Vets don't know allot about nutrition. Most are not trained in nutrician....Now some know all about what to feed your dog only because they have taken classes after they have become a Vet. If they sell kibble It will be most likely Science Diet Kibble...... which like I said before is crap! If your Vet has SD.... they will tell you to buy it. DON'T ! And you are bathing your Rott way to much!

Okay thanks so much! I think I may consult with my vet to see which kind to switch her too? They have seemed very strict about not switching her food until she is a year old but i will ask again.!!

[RottiMomCT]

The Hill's PRESCRIPTION Diet foods are 100% TOTALLY DIFFERENT than the Science Diet foods. I despise Science Diet with every fiber of my being - BUT, recommend the Prescription Foods because they WORK for the specific issue they are formulated for.

My boss recommends Iams (blech!), even though he sells Hill's Prescription foods - because NOT ALL DOGS need the Prescription Foods - if a dog has an issue that can be helped with the Prescription Diet, he'll recommend it. I recommend Iams but ONLY when the doc is in the exam room - otherwise I recommend much better quality foods

MOST folks think keeping a dog on a puppy formula until they are a certain age is good the for the dog - but read the labels of puppy food versus adult food for the same manufacturer - not much difference...