Dutch Shepherd Forum

Radar has been having problems lately forming sores on his legs and hind quarters. Of course, his incessant licking of them didn't help, and he's had to wear the cone of shame on and off for the last couple of months.

We finally got the allergy test results back last night.

He's allergic to quite a few things including barley, chicken, venison, milk, green peas, tomato, wheat, rice, and more.

He's been fed Blue Buffalo his entire time with us, and unfortunately green peas are in there. Other than the proteins he's allergic to that seems like the only offender in the mix.

So, now we're on a quest to find the right food for him. The results also give commercial suggestions, but I think they're biased. Royal Canin is the most recommended.

Raw is an option, but of course chicken is out, so that might be a problem

I wish I could say this is the 1st dog I've had to go through with this, but my lab had similar problems.

can you go to a butcher and ask for meat scraps? Liver is good, organs.

Blood or salvia test? Salvia can be false positive.

Is turkey an option? I would start on VE ground turkey and see how that goes. There's a few commercial raw without filler veggies you can try to see if the switch helps or hurts him. Honestly on legs and hindquarters sounds like environmental - bugs or pollen possibly. There's no infection right?

Blood test.

Turkey might work.

My butcher closed up shop last month, and all I really have now are the chain grocery stores. Traffic and distance then become an obstacle.

I would start with commercial raw first. Would hate for you to buy a case of 40# of turkey necks and have Radar hate them. H gets roughly a pound a day of the commercial stuff so a 5 lbs Chubb gets him under a week.

I would also see if Feeding Raw Miami has options for you, as well as Reel Raw. They're I believe based in FL so potentially cheaper. Also see if there's any restaurant food suppliers or processing plants around you; they are another option for bulk. Local Asian markets may have a lot too, though you can't control if it has fillers. Just an FYI poultry and pork generally have been "enhanced" with sodium solution in grocery stores for improved taste so that can send the system dire-rear.

I will check in to the commercial raw - thanks for the recommendations.

The vet thought it might be environmental too, because of the location of the sores. The blood test kind of confirms the food issues however.

Radar has been getting sores on his legs on and off for a while. We chalked them up to anxiety and lick granulomas until they got real bad the last couple of months.

I am so mad at myself for letting him suffer for so long. I was pretty successful in keeping them away when my lab had this issue, and I am hoping I can have the same success with Radar.

are there any health food stores by you. I looked into the reel raw, it looks pretty good, the prices seem about the same as my health food store, but I may look into reel raw, they have free shipping

are there any health food stores by you. I looked into the reel raw, it looks pretty good, the prices seem about the same as my health food store, but I may look into reel raw, they have a HUGE variety

shipping may get you though, for Ct over 30 lbs is free.

Although, I just emailed them about how the animals are kept and fed. I didnt see anywhere if the farms they get the meat from are humane and dont feed antibiotics or growth hormones. otherwise just buy it from the grocery store.

The reply

Hi Lisa,
All of our meat is grass fed, pasture raised, and free of hormones and antibiotics! It is also all human grade and USDA approved.
Best,
Kelly

Yeah Reel Raw is awesome especially if you don't have local sources.

The only thing I can think of to help itchiness would be tree tea oil, Benadryl, and Zymox products. I use the same when pollen goes high and H licks himself into granuloma territory. Zymox has a hydrocortizone spray and creme - I recommend the spray if Radar is okay with it, as H licks the creme right off. Seems to be super tasty.

Well, did any pollen/tree/dust come back positive in the blood work? If there's an immune response from something it reacts to everything, so he may not be truly allergic to certain things, or he may be. I'm not allergic to carrots but when its spring time I become allergic to a lot of things I normally wouldn't be since my immune system is under attack and revved up. Just thoughts to help you experiment with foods. I'm sorry you and Radar are going through this. Allergies are tough!!!

I am really concerned that 50% of the dogs I've owned in the past 20 years have this problem.

This is not an experience I wish on any dog or owner.

We used tea tree oil on the lab at the beginning of his issues, but discontinued after there were some findings that it really wasn't good for dogs. When we finally eliminated all the allergic stuff from his diet he never showed symptoms again for over 10 years (until the food we were using had a recall - had to start over).

We've used coconut oil - of course he licks that right off. The vet recommended calydryl, but we had to cone him so he wouldn't lick that off. With the majority of the sores on his legs there's not much we can do stop him from licking the area.

As for the airborne stuff, we didn't get that test done. He's on Apoquel for that.

There's a holistic feed store down in Homestead I will be travelling to Saturday to look into all the feeding options.

Believe me when I say I will do everything I can to get him right. But, I know it takes time.

Try wrapping his legs with vet wrap. If he will leave it on that could give them a chance to heal.
IF raw is an option for you there are some meat suppliers that grind meat, bone and organs. You would have to google it as I am not in your area. I travel about 2 hours to pick mine up. I get 500 pounds each trip and pay $.65 per pound. My meat does not have chicken in it. I do buy chicken necks from my local butcher for my guys. I also grind fruits and veggies to add to the meat. If you are interested PM me and I will send you my recipe.

have your home tested for mold, if most of your dogs have the same problem then it may not be the dog. what else is common that you have had between the dogs.

ok are you ready for this.............You can by a hand turned meat grinder on Ebay for less than $20.00. Buy the cheapest cut of beef say shoulder, beef hearts, livers, stomachs, put in some missing link, steam carrot, steam sweet potato and blueberries. Throw in some marrow. Combine in the grinder and make patties 1/2 lbs a piece. Add some cooked brown rice, cottage cheese and there you have it. Freeze what you don't use, thaw and serve.

My dog eats pretty much everything.However whole wheat gives him itchiness about 10 hours later.Nothing serios but I noticed and removed it from his diet.Also, it may be environmental or it may be something you were giving your other dog too,so maybe by process of elimination it can be figured out.I would remove each of the allergens one by one not all at the same time and monitor the itchiness or sore formation after a few hours.

My dog eats pretty much everything.However whole wheat gives him itchiness about 10 hours later.Nothing serios but I noticed and removed it from his diet. Also, it may be environmental or it may be something you were giving your other dog too,so maybe by process of elimination it can be figured out. I would remove each of the allergens one by one not all at the same time and monitor the itchiness or sore formation after a few hours.

^^^^This is a very good point. I would start with the higher allergens in the food, which seems to be mainly grain, and work backwards. His protein isn't necessarily as high compared to the others.

Also, keep a diary. It really helps make a pattern clear. I would add in any pollen reports from the weather app or what you notice around you (tree dropping flowers, flowers blooming, went to the lake/river/sea, etc). This will help you determine if there is any environmental interaction.