Strange..

I have a friend with a 3lb, 6-year-old Min Pin mix who had horrible skin problems in the past. He's currently eating something like Pedigree small bites.
We've had the 'food-switch' thing going on for the past 6 months or so, and so far the only thing that has 'worked' for him was the Pedigree. I have compared ingredients to that of the other foods she tried and I just can't figure out why he looks so much better on this stuff. (I even gave her a few cups of Innova EVO to try. After maybe a week, his hair started falling out!)

I've never seen a dog that did badly on -numerous- brands of high quality food.. The vet doesn't know why it is, he just says to stick with the Pedigree crap, but I'm wondering why Pedigree is so good for his skin, and all of the -good- foods just make him worse. Any input? I've been wondering about it for a couple of weeks now that I've seen his hair growing almost all the way back on that stuff.

That is strange, have you tried keeping a diary of what he is eating and how it affects him? Couldd it just be his enviroment that is causing these probs and they just tend to happen when he is on a new food? What about raw have they tried him on that?

I talked to them about raw, they refuse to because their vet said it might be dangerous. I'm not sure what they're doing, I'll suggest the diary idea to her. (I don't see him too often, maybe once or twice a month.)

As far as the environment.. I don't know the people's lifestyle all too well, maybe there is something weird going on at their house when I'm not around, but as far as I know it's pretty stable. It's just my friend and her boyfriend, both are pretty quiet people, and their 3 dogs.

Humm think they need a new vet that isnt so old fashoned lol, I dont know anything about the breed but its worth looking into what they are prone to

it may be the specific formulation of the food he tolerates so well. what immediately stands out to me is that pedigree is a mostly corn and chicken based food with a moderate protein content and a low fat percentage - very different from most of the high-end foods which contain mostly rice, barley etc.

on another forum i know of a lady who has a lab that can simply not tolerate rice. as soon as she got the dog on a food without rice, things improved drastically.

maybe your friends can try out a food like the regular eagle pack maintenance,it's also primarily a chicken/corn formulation and relatively moderate in fat and protein.

i also second the idea of keeping a journal on the dog's condition.