she might post if sees this

Missing Link created skin issues for my dogs.


I don't rescue animals because I want to feel better about myself, or morally superior to anyone. The best part of my life with animals is the humility they teach and the humanity the foster.
Jon Katz "Soul of a Dog"

For my dogs, it was a process of elimination to find the right food. No treats, bites, or nibbles of anything other than the kibble.

What foods have you tried?

Look at ingredients and try a new food that is as different as possible from what you have tried.

Have you tried the NB Duck and potato with no people food or cookies or bones or treats?

Are you testing environmental stuff too? Detergent, floor cleaner, fabric softener, hand lotion, shampoo, soap??




I don't rescue animals because I want to feel better about myself, or morally superior to anyone. The best part of my life with animals is the humility they teach and the humanity the foster.
Jon Katz "Soul of a Dog"

I can't remember. If you haven't, it sounds like it's time. He may be allergic to a protein you are giving him. Morgan was tested and is most allergic to dust mites.

Josie shed like crazy until I started giving her a daily supplement and NO people food. I tend to think it is the supplement so maybe you may want to try that option. Just a thought. J & T

list everything and i mean everything you are "cooking" for him list any and all addivtives...you can e mail me if you would like and i can give you some suggestions....
dont be upset...this could be a detox he is going thru also....

My Rocky had these problems also. He had a thyroid problem and was put on thyroid hormone it cleared up most of his issues. If we would spoil him and give him something away from his diet we would see all the problems come back. I also cooked for him and gave him dog vitamins.

We just lost him last week to a sever and sudden allergic reaction. It is costly but you might want to try allergy testing. My Rocky could not eat chicken or beef we found that out early on by his allergic reactions.

Good luck with your boy I know how frustrating this can be.

My 18 month old bumper was the same way his nose wrinkle always was pink stinky and bad ears and the poor thing cant reach his ears to scratch them.
he was shedding horrible even the groomer said he never saw a dog shed so bad.
i started him on the missing link 2 weeks ago i got mine at petsmart
all i can say is wow what a difference his coat looks so beautiful and healthy. his ears are still a little itchy but not as bad.
give it a try

I will look for it today, I have even put him on holistic supplements, but nothing is working, I am now wondering if he is allergic to rice, or chicken??? thanks Pat

it is supposed to really help with things like that..
might be a good to at least try.
I have heard great things about it from other dog boards and such
and also from this board too
I am starting my crew on it
as well

it is a supplement..
you can buy it online or at places that sell dogfood

It sure is frustrating. It was hard finding what Josie was allergic to, but I stopped everything but her dry kibble, supplement, and same brand cookies. when i started adding green beans back, she got pink and licky paws and stinky butt. same with yogurt. if i give her one piece of popped corn she blooms out bright pink. so i will leave good enough alone and she gets tiny bits of baked chicken as treats. Josie gets NO food except what i listed above. She is gaining weight, skin clearing up and hair growing and NO shedding. I think Cathy did really well with Audrey and NO treats too and she feeds raw. Keep me posted, I am curious to see what works for the big guy. I am rootin' for yah. Tamsen

You could try doing an elimination diet. Start him out on one protein source then slowly add other things to his diet and see what he reacts too. Good luck!

We had to have Rocky's thyroid checked a couple of times. I use a holistic vet. The second time he was low normal and the vet put him on a low does and it really helped for a while.

Please let keep us posted as to how Rocky is doing. I hope you find the answer soon.

with the food trial. We were very lucky: it din't take 6 weeks for her itchiness to stop, it took about a week. I have kept a diary of it here on this med board, you can look for the raw diet diaries and it goes into a LOT of details about what happened.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=652&S=1&EVetID=0

you are not an idiot! Sometimes these things are HARD to figure out.

Cathy
when she first came home

you are really working hard on it I must be an idiot, I just thought if I took out all the crap and home cooked for him with no additives he would be ok, boy was I wrong, I do know he is allergic to white potaotes, had a really bad ractine to them. thanks for all the info

I did have it tested about 3 months ago, through a blood test, the vet said it was good

I have not had him tested, do you think it could be the Chicken , hamburger, I know for a fact he is allergic to white potatoes, I gave them to him one meal, and 30 minutes later, he was going nuts, his face and folds were red, it lasted until well into the next day, I did give him benedryl, thanks Jacinda

he is taking supplements, I think it might be his home cooking or airborn, |I have started to wash his bedding everyday in just hot water with a capful of bleach only no fabric softener, also washing his area with bleach & water also, no more chemicals. how is Josie doing

I know quite a few people that have tried the missing link on their pugs..with great results.
you just sprinkle it on the food
apparently most dogs love it as well
so easy to adapt
you can use it on both of your bullies

I am still so sad over the loss of your boy, I will never give up on him, just a little sad that I can't figure it out, thank you for sharing, I did have his thyroid checked, it is fine,

where you stop giving him the food(protein source and grain) he's used to, and for 6 weeks give him only one (different) protein source? You have to eliminate the grains too. You make the diet as SIMPLE as possible, see if that clears things up, and it CAN take up to 12 weels for it to really clear itself up. Then if you want you add back ONE thing at a time to see if it causes a reaction. We did this for Audrey, we switched her to lamb ONLY, no grains, no dairy, it was definitely challenging that's for sure. When her issues cleared up,and we gave it a full month, we switched her protein to beef, added a bit of dairy back. She did her own grain test when she grabbed a bit of bread off the table, and within a few hours she was scratching her face again. Now we KNOW she can't have grains. I feed her a pre-made frozen raw but I don't see why you couldn't cook for him.

Here are the ingredients in the Primal raw:
Ingredients: Lamb, Lamb Hearts, Lamb Livers, Ground Lamb Bones, Organic Kale, Organic Carrots, Organic Yams, Organic Broccoli, Organic Apples, Cranberries, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Parsley, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Kelp, Alfalfa, Salmon Oil, Mixed Tocopherols (source of vitamin E).

You can do a different protein source,but NOT chicken if that's what he's eating now. I don't think you'd really have to be super worried abut the bone, I'm sure there are ways to compensate for the lack of it. This formula is 60% meat 40% produce. I also give her digestive aid with probiotics. Since all the Primal formulas use the same non-meat ingredients, it helps me know if she has a reaction to a new protein. ALso there aren't chemicals in theer, so it takes a lot of the guesswork out of WHAT EXACTLY is causing a reaction in my dog??

Cathy
when she first came home

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