I read about people trying different food to possibly add to the rotation. Is this to give the dog more variety.? Do you change brands or flavors or both? Do you transition it like when your trying a new food? I know Amor had been on solid gold bison since january, and now transitioned to natural balance potato and rabbit per the vet (I chose the flavor). I wanted a flavor that was nothing like the bison. I mean I would get tired of eating the same thing for 6 months.
Does Amor have any allergies towards anything? I would do a slow transition if changing brands and protein completely.. I have read that doing a rotation diet has its benefits, How about pork or lamb ?
are you sticking to the new food recommended by your vets? I know natural balance has a few different proteins In their line
If Amour doesn't have any food allergies and has an OK time at switch then it'd say go for it. I plan to do a rotation of a different brand every 6 months and changing proteins within a brand every bag or every other bag. Loki seems to do fine with a quick switch of 3 or 4 day between flavors but at least a week switch between brands. Some people like to switch brands every bag to every other bag but I personally feel that's a bit much on their system and don't want to go through transition to much. Plus I believe it takes 3 months to really see the result of a particular food.
I plan to do it for the variety and some believe that it helps to reduce the chances of a food allergies.. not enough research to back it up fully but it seems logical to me.. plus in case there is a recall or my local store runs out of a brand I know multiple brands that my dog does well on. We also add wet food, coconut oil, raw egg (not all in one day) for variety.
I was told that Amor was probably allergic to chicken so that was why the initial switch in January. The solid gold though had no chicken but did have bison and whitefish in their bison formula as well as sweet potato. The different vet is putting her on the single protein different brand. While I liked the previous brand, I didn't have a lot of options flavor wise. All the new flavors contain turkey as well as the novel protein. I don't know if she is allergic to all feathered animals or just chicken.
All I know is that she is still itchy on her butt mainly after 6 months. It improved her coat tremendously though. I'm looking into a probiotic to add to her food. I know petco carries a few. And there is a vitamin shop in the same area. So the next time I'm out there, I'm going to pick some up. I don't think a probiotic would mess up the food trial. The vet doesn't even want me to add the pinch of cheese I put in it. I used to add a grain free chicken free topper but after the pancreatitis I haven't tried again. I'm thinking I might see if they have a canned food with the same protein to add just a spoon full.
I'm at my wits end trying to figure out the itching. I think probiotic since she had an ear culture and they found yeast in both ears along with an infection. I know that ever since I can recall her right ear had always had brown gunk and been itchy. Not so much when I moved to the country though.
I myself suspect it's more yeast than anything at this point.
The brown gunk is definitely yeast. Her bum issue is probably also yeast. The probiotic will help with that.
As for her diet, going with a limited ingredient kibble may help. Have you thought about switching her to a raw diet? She sounds like an ideal candidate for that. It would likely eliminate most, if not all, of her scratching issues.
I've thought about a raw diet. However, my work schedule is never the same so my dad feeds her when I can't so that option is out the window right now. I've even seem some dehydrated raw or premade raw.
My dad is in his 70's so he is kind of old school where you just put food in the bowl and they eat. He already thinks I'm a nut case for switching foods so often and taking Amor to the vet every few weeks. He had never had a boxer so he does not understand that boxers have allergies and it goes with owning a boxer. I was giving allergy pills, but stopped because of the pancreatitis and not knowing if it could have been a contributing factor.
What should I be looking for in a probiotic? Can I find just a tablet that I can give her rather than sprinkling on food? How much do you give?
So would you think to start with the larger dose first until it's gets under control and then maintain with smaller dose.
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