Food Allergies?

Took Gunner to the vet today for a check-up and they think he has food allergies as he has a yeast infection in his ear and has been doing a lot of scratching lately. Have any of you had any experience in this and what food did you switch to? I think it may be one of his treats he's getting but would love any input on the subject

My vet said the yeast ear infections have to do with allergies to something in the air and not the food. I'm interested in hearing from others also on this subject.

Thanks Barb. I wonder too because if it was food wouldn't it have shown up before now since we've had Gunner the day he turned 8 weeks old?

When switching to a food for a allergin free diet you need to do some shopping around and buy the best you can (or go raw) Choose a all natural food, follow all the normal things to look for in a good food, but you also need one thats wheet gluten free, free from or has a low corn % and stay away from dairy and chicken

I have gone thru this with Farley as well. As a young pup he was constantly having ear infections as well as very itchy skin. I changed his food to Fromme's and he started doing much better. Then over the course of time altho the ear infections didn't return the itchy skin and really goopy eyes did. I think the Frommes was better than what I had been using but I think it was a build-up to some ingredient that started affecting him.

I have switched his food again during the past year and other than his eyes still being mildly goopy he is doing so much better. Absolutely no itching. I have found 2 foods that seem to be working quite well for him. Blue Buffalo Lamb & Brown Rice or Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Brown Rice. I have eliminated wheat, corn & chicken. I personally prefer the Blue Buffalo but can only get it at Petsmart. Subbing in the Nutro which is more readily available has seemed to be fine when I can't get to Petsmart.

Thanks. I like Nutro Gunner loves their large breed puppy snacks and with Nutro you don't have all the corn and bi-products that are found in some of the other brands. I have never heard of the Blue Buffalo but may have to research it as well.

yeast problems are often caused by food allergies. yeast cells are present even on healthy dogs, but the immune system is able to keep them from overgrowing.

when the immune system is assaulted by allergies, it doesn't have the resources to do both, fight allergies and keep the yeast from overgrowing, so you get problems.

i saw in another thread that you are feeding your dog nutro, and i'd recommend switching to a quality food with better quality ingredients, such as for example california natural lamb and rice.

nutro is popular, but overpriced and by far not as good quality as salespeople make it out to be. it used to be not great but still decent about four years ago, but since then it has gone downhill.

edited to add: nutro lamb & rice contains lamb, but it also contains "poultry fat", which can still contain chicken - you never know because "poultry" is a generic designation. if a dog has issues with chicken, you have to eliminate any chicken products in the food.

Thansk Mordy. Actually Gunner was eating the Nutro Natural Choice Treats. He was on Diamond at one time and then we head gone to Iams because the Diamond seemed to make him gassy and he would have some looser stool. His parents were on Royal Canin (sp?) What do you think of that? I live in the midwest and haven't heard of the California lamb and Rice, I wonder if I could find it. My vet was talking about Science Diet but to get it from her is pretty expensive.

check out the natura store locator to see if you can find their products locally:
http://naturapet.com/display.php?d=stores-tab

royal canin is probably the best of all the "mainstream" foods (and definitely the best quality of all the brands you mentioned), but you can do so much better than that.

i don't know what's locally available to you, but there are many brands out there that provide better nutrition.
http://www.mordanna.com/boards/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=dogfood&page=0&sb=2

Thanks!

I did find a home delivery place for Natura...I'll just have to check out how expensive they are.
Please don't get mad that I said that, but I am on a limited income. Please believe that I do want the best for Gunner

if price is an issue, please don't compare the price of a bag of one food to another. calculate how much of each food you have to feed per day, and how long the bag will last. you might find that a better quality food may be more expensive, but you'll have to feed less of it, so the bag will last longer - and save you money in the end.