In my adult life…I’ve had 3 dogs.
Dog #1 was an accident. I took her from a friend when she was 4 mos old because she wasn’t able to keep her. I wasn’t really supposed to keep her. But I did. For 12 years. She had no problems other than chewing up everything she bumped into when she was a pup…and she ate all the Tylenol in my makeup bag once…and survived (with the help of lots of fluids and turkey baby food for 2 months cuz her tummy couldn’t handle anything harder).
Dog #2 was planned. Me and my ex adopted him from a shelter. He’s whiny. We found out that he has some kind of bleeding (not clotting) disease when we had a tooth pulled. So…we can’t have any major surgeries without some major planning. And he has allergies in the spring. His eyes get itchy and red…but it’s manageable with Benedryl.

And then there’s Xander.

He’s a mess. Paid for a purebred…paid for the problems, I suppose. And not only that- we wanted a blue dobie… a dilute color gene. THOSE guys come with skin issues…maybe. So, we knew what we might get— and we got it.

He was itchy when we got him. Blame it on stress. Blame it on diet change. Blame it on puppy sensitive skin.

No mites. Tried special shampoos that help soothe and protect from seasonal/environmental allergies. A little better.

So- we changed his diet. 4-5 weeks later, better…but still itchy.

Benedry helped the itching, but the bumps still came.

Changed his diet again… duck and potato dog food.

Itching stopped in 3 days. Bumps cleared up in 2 weeks. Woot!

Narrowed his food allergies to anything with chicken, turkey, corn, wheat or barley.

He can eat venison and sweet potato, but it gives him HORRIBLE gas and runny poop.

Duck does best.

Then there are treats. I can’t give him anything to chew on… all the chew treats have junk in them. The dried animal parts make him itch.

Dried sweet potatoes are ok..but mostly chewy. Not much to work on.

And the company that makes the duck and potato food makes a duck and potato treat….that’s the only one we usually use around here. It’s gotta suck to get a special treat that tastes the same as your food.

So I bought some fish and sweet potato treats (same brand…none of the known itch-inducers)—

In two days, Xander’s belly is red and raw like a sunburn…and in-between his toes is fire red. And today, he’s licked one of his paws to the point of bleeding.

Solution? Treats are trashed. Back to duck. Add another protein to the list of things Xander is allergic to.

And the dog? He’s not really happy right now.

Yep. He’s wearing an e-collar.

And a sock.

heh…