Sam is still not doing great when it comes to skin and coat. I tried the allergy pills and they seemed to help a little, but I am thinking they seemed to help as I gave them to him while he was still shedding badly and now most of his undercoat is gone.
I found another hotspot on him, this time on a back knee. His last one wasn't in a wrinkly spot, either. It used to be that when he'd get them, they were in his "dewlap" area, which makes sense. Now they are just wherever. I took him swimming on Friday otherwise, he hasn't been wet much.
Overall he is still itchy, dull coat, and hotspots.
I am going to take him off poultry completely and try beef, rabbit, mackerel, and pork instead. I'm also going to add more low-glycemic veggies and coconut oil. I feel like when we first went raw, he was doing really well, but at the time, I was not feeding much chicken. Over the past several months, chicken has been a main staple. I've also been doing some reading on the Chinese theory when it comes to dogs, and lentils, quinoa, flax seed, and millet were recommended for dogs with his condition, so I may throw some of that in there, too. Also, I'm going to be more consistent with the coconut oil.
Anyone else have issues with raw chicken?
No suggestions on the food. It can be so difficult.
You've probably read by solution for hot spots. Rinse with warm water to get off the crusties-no rubbing. Pat dry, no rubbing, and then let air dry. Then a coat of Gold Bond powder. I did this once a day with Melody's hot spot and it healed very well and quickly.
Sending good thoughts.
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I think I did get the Gold Bond idea from you, last year. Thanks!Originally Posted by POPTOP
I've been using the gold bond when they are really wet to help dry it up and once it's on the dry side, I use Dermoplast. The stuff is amazing! Helps things heal fast and is also a pain reliever and itch reliever, which I like for Sam.
Unfortunately, I've gotten good at healing them. Now I just need to figure out how to prevent them!
Sorry - no advice about hotspots but only about adding or deleting food from Sam's diet...take away chicken and wait to see what happens. If you take something out and then add back multiple items it's hard to determine which part worked. When you add new things do it one at a time to see results (if any). I tend to do this with adding multiple supplements -then I can't tell which supplement is actually working.
Good point. I already know he's fine with veggies. When I started raw and he was doing so well, I followed the BARF diet. I also know he's good with coconut oil as I have fed it to him inconsistently. I will add that, but take out the poultry, and see how things go.
We don't get hotspots, but I stay away from chicken (kibble and raw) .... I thought raw might be better for Jack but it's just the same. He can have a little but as the main protein, No. We feed a beef/rabbit kibble.
Jen
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Sounds similar. Sam quickly became sensitive to the chicken-based dog foods as a pup, but I thought raw chicken was different, so I didn't worry so much. I was feeding a little chicken when we started and being super on top of rotating. Now, I've gotten lax and with the salmonella scares, I can find cart-fulls of bone-in chicken at the grocery store at 50% off, which often brings it down to 75 cents per lb. This also saves me a special trip to the meat place. That said, commercial chicken is likely full of other "stuff" so probably best to keep it to a minimum with both dogs, I suppose.
If you feed raw and no poultry, what do you do for bone?
I can get pork "riblets" for $1.78 per lb and I get been knuckle bones (halved) that I feed once a week and it takes them a couple days to get through them. I also am getting some rabbit. I know Sam will eat it, Linus I'm not so sure about. They are pretty spendy though. The fish bones don't really count. I'm getting some lamb necks. Unfortunately pork and beef necks are cut, but the lamb necks are available whole.
I stopped feeding raw. It got too complicated with one dog not being able to get chicken, and sourcing red meat for Jack was getting expensive.
Look into Mylanta for the hot spots. You dab it on the spots and it helps dry it out.
Jen
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Usually turkey is just fine for dogs with chicken problems, if you wanted to try it. Hopefully this is the problem, poor boy, good luck!
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Maxx and Emma Jean
Ozzy - 10/2002 - 06/2011 - Rest well my sweet boy. You are forever remembered, forever missed, forever in my heart.
Lola had a lot of problems early on with chicken. Our regular kibble is duck, and we also feed a frozen/raw once a week that is turkey and sardine. For bones, we buy buffalo marrow bones, but they're not cheap.
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