fish4dogs??hw much for tat??laztime da breeder was using eukanuba which i totally dun prefer at all thn i chnge wif go ! salmon stil find out tat gt skin problems for him althou nt tat serious compare to eukanuba time....i actually want to find one ideal food so tat i cn stick wif da brand..pet safari in ikano??oni one type for puppy???
Bsides..hw much shud i feed my min schnauzer???he is 5months old...currently feedin twice...once is about 2 and half teaspoon...i heard all da pets shop tellin me tat 2 teaspoon wil b enuf thn until 8months or 1yr old one meal per day wil b enuf???izit true???

THANKS SO MUCH!!

Sometimes skin issues cannot be fully controlled with diet alone (although a good diet will go a long way to controlling skin issues). Schnauzers (especially ones that aren't bred so carefully) are especially prone to a number of skin issues and are notorious for sensitive skin and allergies.
The food may not be 100% effective because there is still an underlying issue that needs to be resolved (fungus, environmental allergy, hot spots etc). Also it sometimes takes a long time (up to 6months in some cases) for the negative impacts of a not so great food to fully filter out of the system (and so stop affecting the body). It could just be that the initial change in food gave the skin a boost, but the lingering dry skin is just caused by the old food still working its way out of the system.

Some useful things to know to better assess the system include:
What shampoo you use and how often you bath him.
How long you have been feeding the new food.
What the dry skin looks like (is it flaky, red, oily, itchy, broken skin, bumpy).
Where the dogs stays (is it dusty, type of flooring, what the floor is cleaned with, possible access to other animals).
When the dry skin started (and if anything changed at that time, when you brought him home, changed bed, changed shampoo anything new that could cause stress or allergies).

You can try changing food again, but if you found something that made an obvious improvement i would stick with it for at least 4 months to see if there is more improvement to come before switching again.

currently im using PET ESTHE for bathin my schnauzer...erm once per week and bout 15min each time...da food i chnge for bout 2months n i jx bought go! duck formula which is higher grade recommend by da pet shop ppl.....hopefully it works!
da dry skin is sum part flaky and oso gt tiny red spot..nt oily or bumpy...erm i guess nt reali itchy coz seldom saw my dog gatal..
my dog gt his own dog bed n oso slip inside my room which is tiles floor and wil mop once per week..shud b very clean environment..
da dry skin laztime while using eukanuba by da breeder is started ady..bt after i chnge it act gt bit better la..bt stil gt i tot wil b gone...
bsides is it bcoz i was using frontline spray everyweek for ticks prevention???

and divas,cn i ask hw much shud i feed my dog???he is 5months old..currently feed twice per day and 2 and half teaspoon each time...

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Ok in order:
Pet Esthe should be fine. Consider changing if nothing else works just as a test, but i would highly doubt it would cause the problems.
Once per week is fine. Make sure you dry him off really well (you can use a hairdryer but make sure the hot wind doesn't blow too close to the skin as it can burn/irritate.
I would definitely stick with the same food for another 2 months to see if the skin heals fully. If you want to switch after that, you can but at least you know 1 brand which fully clears up his skin in case the problem comes back.
The small red spots sound like hot spots (are they quite spread out like bug bites or more clumped together like a rash?), and the dry flaky skin could just be dandruff or where the skin is healing. Sounds like quite a minor thing at the moment but still best to get it fully cleared up.
The area sounds fine, if you use strong chemical floor cleaners/detergent to clean his bed it could be causing him some irritation but you would most likely see localized irritation from that, usually on the belly, feet and underside of the legs, with very little or none on the back and head (basically only on areas that come in a lot of contact with whatever is causing the irritation).

Random question: why would you buy a puppy who already has skin problems? it is something i come across quite often (well more often that i ever expected when i started out in the pet world), people who would never (for example) buy a car leaky gas tank or a washing machine that only works on one of its settings will happily shell out money for a dog with health issues...

Using the Frontline every week could definitely be adding to the problem. Fontline used very often can irritate and dry out the skin which could be keeping the initial skin problem from fully healing. It is usually only necessary to use once a month (make sure you apply it at least 2 days after AND before bathing). If you find that ticks are still sticking to your dog, try using one of the Spot-on products (Frontline-combo, Advantix, Revolution) for a while (they are easier to apply than the spray) to see if the skin clears up fully (again once a month is usually enough and make sure it is at least 2 days after a bath and 2days before the next one.

As far as amount of food is concerned. Every dog is slightly different. A page or so back (on this thread) is a chart/diagram showing the ideal 'look' for a dog (not too thin and not too fat), in line with that, i always say if you can feel the individual rib bones easily and see the pelvic/hip bones (sticking out above the hips) the dog should eat more, if you can't feel the ribs and your dog has no 'tuck up' (where the body slopes upwards towards the back legs) and has a belly hanging down or a stomach that constantly feels hard and bloated the dog should eat less (or be dewormed or checked for cushings disease). A dog that is the right weight will look heathy, you can feel their ribs but also feel that there is a layer of fat between the ribs and the skin. A healthy (and well fed dog) will have bright/shiny eyes (but not glazed which is a sign of illness) and pink gums.
You can also use your dog's reaction to food as a sign of how much to feed them (although some dogs will act starving no matter how much you give and others will appear disinterested/ full no matter how little they eat). In general, if your dog still begs for more and licks the bowl clean, he might do well with a little more food, if he leaves a few pieces in the bowl or plays with his food towards the end of his meal he could eat less.
What you are feeding sounds about right for your dog, but it can vary greatly from his size (as with a lot of breeds here some dogs are very small and some are very over-sized) and activity level.

Hi Diva,
1.the red spots is very tiny red spot which is nt clumped together...bt can be found i means around my dog body especially near his belly there.
2. this dog i booked before the breeder have the litter which i totally do not know the condition at all..and this is my 1st dog as well...after having this dog i have lots of experience and definitely will go for puppies which is 2months old in the future.
3. the frontline spray i started to use after i found my dog have ticks after go for grooming and the problems is no more after 1month totally disaster...but still i was keep using it as prevention at all. then i guess i should use once per month.
4. my dog seem always hungry and never get full..he eat his meal so fast which i totally shocked..this is no good rite if eating his meal too fast??
and i heard other breeders and people telling me tat after getting 8months or 1yr old then 1meal per day will do.is it true??

thanks always patiently answer my questions..

Hello all!

I am distressed. My doggy has allergy and I brought her to the clinic for a check-up. The vet did a swab test on her allergy area and confirmed 3 kinds of infection - fungal, bacterial and normal allergy.

The vet said the allergy could be caused by dog food. This is the second time it has happened and I really don't know what food to put her on. The last time she had an allergy, it was on Canidae.

When I adopted her, I put her on Eukanuba, then I changed to Orijen 6 Fish and she was doing well on Orijen. Then I changed her food to Canidae because a closed friend recommended it. But after eating Canidae, she started having swollen bumps between her nails on her paws. So I stopped giving her Canidae and gave her Orijen Adult. She was ok, but we felt that it didn't keep her coat well like how Orijen 6 Fish did. So when Orijen Adult finished, we bought Orijen 6 Fish.

And now she has this allergy and the vet said it's most probably the food she takes. I am not sure if it's the dog food, because Orijen is corn-free and it's one of the best dog food we have in the market.

My only concern is this: My boyfriend's mom has been giving my dog bread from time to time in the past two weeks. Gardenia bread... And I need to know if this will caused her to have allergy? Since bread has wheat flour and all.

Can someone enlighten me? I wanted to stop my bf's mom from giving my dog bread, but I didn't know how to tell her without hurting her feelings. I don't know if it is the bread that is causing the allergy and I don't know if bread is bad for dogs. Hope someone can help.

Thanks!

Firstly, i have to ask exactly how your vet made a diagnosis of food allergy from a simple skin swab? As far as i am aware the ONLY way to confirm a food allergy is to use an elimination diet for at least 3 months. A food allergy can be suspected from seeing certain symptoms in a dog (although all of these can be seen without a swab). The only way i can think of that a swab would help lead to a diagnosis of food allergies is if it found no cause for the symptoms that were present (both a fungal or bacterial infection could explain any symptoms that would possibly indicate a food allergy).
Also, most veterinarians and researchers agree that less that 10% of dogs actually have food allergies. Symptoms suggesting allergies are more often caused by external allergens (dust, pollen, chemicals etc) rather than ingested food allergens. However switching to a very high quality, usually fish based food (as most people do when they suspect food allergies) would help relieve skin symptoms of any allergy by boosting both the skin and immune system which would make it seem like the dog had had a food allergy and switching the food had stopped the allergy.

The fungal and bacterial infections must be fully healed before there is any chance of getting any hint about allergies. I'm assuming your vet has prescribed you some combination of Antibiotics, Anti-fungals possibly Anti-inflammatories and probably some form of medicated wash as well. After the courses of medication have been completed, see if the symptoms have subsided (although they may just be temporarily hidden by the medicated wash/Anti-inflammatories).
Depending on which area is affected, even if the symptoms reoccur, it could be due to a reoccurring fungal or bacterial infection (with the other being an opportunistic infection). Keep a very close eye on the affected area and go for another skin swab/scraping as soon as any redness, itchiness or abnormal skin is seen, if there is already a fungal or bacterial infection, it is most likely something in the environment passing on the infection rather than an allergy. If no fungal or bacterial infection is found, then you should move on to look for potential allergens.

As it is extremely difficult (as well as long and time consuming) process to determine exactly what is causing the allergy symptoms, learning to manage the allergies though food and supplements is usually the best course of action.
There is some evidence that environmental allergies respond well to steroid treatment (whereas food allergies are not improved at all) so you could try a short round to rule out (or prove) that environmental factors are to blame for the allergies.

If the symptoms respond to the steroid treatment and you have time (and discipline), you can try to eliminate all potential allergens until the symptoms subsided and then slowly introducing them one at a time until the symptoms reoccur (then you know that whatever was last reintroduced is the cause of the allergies). This process of elimination can take many months to years as you would need to introduce only one potential allergen per month and ensure that no new potential allergens are introduced at any time during the trial to keep the results accurate.

If there is no response to the steroids, then you would need to move on to a novel food trial. During a novel food trial you must find a brand of food that is as different as possible to anything the dog has eaten before (usually finding a food with a novel protein (meat) and carbohydrate (rice etc, or now you can choose a grain free variety) is considered enough, but sometimes it is a more obscure ingredient causing the allergies, so finding a food as different as possible saves time and stress). The dog must eat this food and ONLY this food (no treats, no snacks, no nothing) for at least 3 months. If the symptoms are seen to subside during this time, the dog should then be put back on the original food for 2 weeks, if the symptoms come back the elimination food is used again to see if the symptoms again subside. If they do it is confirmed that something in the original food is the allergen (causing the symptoms).
At this stage you can choose to stick with the food that reduced or eliminated the symptoms or you can slowly try foods with different ingredients to try and pinpoint the exact allergen (although this is a very very complicated, time consuming and often frivolous endeavor).


Finally to answer your question, yes your boyfriends mother should definitely stop feeding your dog bread, it is not good for dogs at all. A healthy dog may be able to take a small corner of your sandwich as a snack on occasion however if your dog is already experiencing skin issues, many of the ingredients in bread (especially commercial breads such as gardenia) will definitely not help the situation.
Perhaps try buying her a pack of treats and ask her to feed those. Try to find natural, 'healthy' treats, there are a lot of them around at the moment. Salmon based would be good as it could help reduce, and probably won't worsen your dog's skin problems. You can tell her that you are very happy she likes your dog and wants to give her treats, but that she is suffering from some skin issues that could be made worse by the bread.

Sorry it turned out very long, hope you find it useful. If you need anything explained in more detail let me know .

Wow!!

I love your explanation. It definitely helped me understand a lot about allergies and infections!

I have already told them not to feed her bread. I have snacks for my dog, but I don't know why his mom just love to give my dog bread... especially if the bread is about to expire!!

Sigh. I will take precautions next time. Thanks a lot!

hey, what is the price for Evo and Wellness ? both dry and canned. at which shop/store cand i find both of these ? is it selling at sunway pyramid ? thank you


This post has been edited by Calvin871989: Jan 29 2011, 12:53 AM

---

Added on January 29, 2011, 12:52 amanyone ?

Hi Calvin, I don't know of any place which sells Wellness. But for Evo, the grainless chicken and turkey canned food retails for about RM10/can. You can get Evo canned food at: Seapark Pet Supplies, Uptown Pet Centre at Damansara Utama, Petsmore outlets and Pet Lover Centre outlets (PLC sometimes runs out of stock though).

For Evo chicken and turkey dry food I got the 13kg bag at Seapark Pet Supplies a few weeks ago at er ... can't remember if it was RM218 or RM228 after discount. They had the variety with grain also which should be cheaper but don't know the price.

Uptown Pet Centre and Petsmore sell smaller bags of the turkey and chicken small bites if that's what you're looking for, not seen 6/13kg bags though. Hope this helps!

EDIT: Sunway Pyramid has a Pet Lovers Centre at the lower ground floor opposite Giant, they occasionally stock Evo canned food and more seldomly small bags of Evo dry food.

This post has been edited by byaku-chan: Jan 29 2011, 01:37 AM

hey byaku-chan,

since there's no wellness, ill just go for evo then.

ok, lets say im going for evo, what type of dry, canned food and some treats would you recommend for a beagle pup 2 - 3 months old ?

and i would like something that i can keep for 1 month. dont really want to be running up and down to shops to get dog food.

i dont really have a figure or budget to give you but im really hopping what your suggesting wont cost a lot.

between, where is this Seapark Pet Supplies ? how far away is it from sunway pyramid ?

im afraid they wont have what im looking for at pyramid or out of stock.

please advise, thanks

hi all pet papa and mama here,
I have 2 miniature schnauzer teddy and piggy which is 9 months and 4 months..i supposely have 3 dogs but (X'mas) kena stolen on september 2009..haiz..

For x'mas -I feed him Regas turkey puppy bites, then lamb and rice. in his 8-10 months age, i found out he got skin problem and vets recommend me to change his dog food. and i 've change to blackwood 3000 lamb and rice, result is so so..then he kena stolen edi=(

For teddy- a white male schnauzer, i feed him blackwood and NB from young, until i found out he had abit skin irration..and im lucky the petshop recommend me a super good dog food golden eagle, previously known as eagle pack! (Holistic Salmon and oatmeal)..after i feed my teddy 1 month, very good result i see..no more skin problem,and the poopoo and weewee not smelly already..and his body odor not so strong..im happy with this product and will continue all the time =) and also, now for my little princess piggy, she is now too young to have it so i put her on addiction salmon puppy=) she is now got serious skin problem, need all sifu's help also! what shampoo should i bath her?

check out this website for more info: http://www.goldeneaglepetfoods.com/index.html

u can pm me, i let u know which petshop can get it.
I wish all the doggys always healthy ya=)

This post has been edited by purple115: Jan 29 2011, 12:14 PM

WHAT SHOULD I FEED MY SHIH TZU PUPPY AROUND 1-5 months olds,what brand and at melaka sell wat price

I hate blackwood, hate hate hate.
The Golden Eagle looks decent, although i would prefer to see 1 or 2 more meats in the first 5 ingredients, nothing majorly bad in there (except the chicken digest stuff, yuck).

Where do you get your dogs from? you seem to have bad luck with the skin problems. Alternatively, do you use any hard cleaning products at home or some weird shampoo on them?
What skin problems do they have? (or at least what are the symptoms?)

If Golden Eagle is working for one, you can always use it for your puppy as well. Most decent foods can be used for all life stages as they should be balanced enough to provide decent nutrition for a puppy. However if she is already eating a decent (addiction) salmon based food and her skin is still having issues i would say it isn't the food, or she has an allergy to a specific ingredient (depending on her symptoms).

As far as shampoo goes, your best bet is to use a mild, natural shampoo with little/no chemicals and definitely no fragrance (as in they haven't added anything to make the smell strong). A dog shouldn't still smell like their shampoo a couple of days after a shower (if you want your dog to have a fragrance, use dog perfumes instead as you only apply them lightly to a small area they don't dry out the skin and coat as much as a heavily scented shampoo). I prefer natural shampoos that can be diluted (usually 8:1 or 10:1) as they are often more economical than cheaper shampoos (if you count how much you get after dilution) and are much milder on the skin. You have to put a bit more effort into the bath and massage slightly longer to get very clean but it is worth it (and the extra massaging time is great for your dogs skin and shower enjoyment ).

@Calvin - I prefer to use kibble instead of canned food for normal meals (this also fits with your only wanting to stock up on food once a monthish). Kibble helps clean a dog's teeth as they eat it and is also more often than not (if you choose a decent food like the ones you are considering) more nutritious than canned food.
You can go with a puppy formula or all life stage formula depending on your preferences. As far as treats go, look at the ingredients and choose healthy ones. I like to use treats that have unique meats in them, or at least ones that aren't in his regular kibble (for a bit of novelty) this is really usefull especially for motivation during training.
If you are feeding treats, make sure he doesn't start leaving some of his meals for treats. Also don't over do it, give him one or two treats for a few days when introducing new treats as new treats often cause diarrhea like new food does).

@derking96 - Depends on your budget, diet preference and if the puppy is actually 1month or 5months old (there is a HUGE difference). an undetailed question deserves an undetailed reply.

How about Royal Canin ..
Any feedback regarding this brand for Dogs ?
Am currently Using Royal Canin Junior for my Golden Retriever for the past 7 months ..
Can really make out the difference after using it as her coats are more shinny and gold ..

thanks for ur comment divas, ya all my schnauzer got skin problems..my fren recomment me to bath them with MCLEE's medicated shampoo..but currenty im bathing them with YU'S bubble bath..
any good comments?

to divas,ok i am so sorry for myundetailed question.may i ask what brandto choose for my shih tzu puppy at around 2 -3 months,my budget is around 30-50+ a month.tq

I have yet to try Yu myself (although i have some samples waiting in my shop), but i have not been at all impressed with the comments i have heard on it so far. I don't think i have heard a single positive review of any of the Yu products which leads me to be pretty uninterested in testing it. From the comments i have heard, it would definitely be worth switching shampoo to see if it makes a difference.

A lot of people seem to like McLee's although i am not that impressed myself. Its definitely not a bad brand so might be a good place to start. I personally would switch to a very natural (again preferably dilutable) non-medicated shampoo to see if it was the shampoo itself causing the irritation (something with oatmeal, aloe etc would be fine, just avoid any of the real medicated washes with sulfur or anything stronger (pretty much anything with a chemical name) to begin with and see what happens.

If there is still no improvement after switching shampoo then we can look at other options like food and environment, but a shampoo switch is a pretty simple and easy place to start.

@derking96- Ok that is a little clearer . It really is up to you what food you feed. within your price range there should be a number of very decent options. A 5-6lb bag of food (most small bags are around that weight) would last you more than a month and often cost between 50-80RM per bag (which falls nicely within your budget). If you want to start with a puppy formula, you can (that will start narrowing down your choices as not all brands have individual life stage formulas) but often puppy formulas are slightly more expensive than adult/all life stage ones. If you want to go with an All Life Stage plan (the same food can be fed to a dog of any age) this will also help narrow down your choices.
Your next step in choosing a food would be to go down to a pet shop that is convenient for you and see what they have in stock (only look at brands that the packaging looks new and the shelf is fully stocked, if there is only 1-2bags of the food and they looked pretty bashed up it is most likely that that food doesn't move in the area and they will stop stocking it soon). Keep in mind the list of good and bad ingredients (explained on the first page of this thread as well as in a number of links scattered throughout, if memory serves) and start looking at the back of the packages. Also keep in mind that the money a company has spent on the package (with shiny logos and fancy packaging) is money they haven't been spending on RnD or the actual ingredients that go into the food. Some times lesser known brands that have simple packaging and do little advertising are much more value for money than one that goes all out and obviously has a huge advertising budget (where do you think all that advertising money comes from?).

Don't feel shy to take along a camera or note pad and list down the pro's and cons of each food as well as the price (or snap a picture of the name and ingredients list). If the shop people give you a funny look or ask you what you are doing, let them know you want to compare foods and decide on which one you would prefer to buy your dog, if they are good 'animal people' who understand how important choosing the right food is, they won't have any problems with this.
if you get stuck deciding between a few brands, post them up and we can give you some more detailed advice.

Hi Everyone,

I just started reading this thread. I've been feeding my GF's 5 year old poodle with Blackwoods for a few months now. Starting with Lamb and now Salmon. Previously, it was some generic brand I didn't quite remember. Anyway, he seems to like the food better and his poo is not soft & smelly anymore (which is good since I had to clean his room everytime). So is Blackwood really that bad? I would definitely change it since it cost me RM 60 for the Salmon.

For shampoo, I've been using something called Ferbes. It's made in Korea and does come highly recommended by some relatives of mine. It keep him nice smelling for a few days. I've heard that Yu is better in scent though but quite expensive.

Would really appreciate some guidance. Don't want to be blamed by my GF for mistreating her poodle. Sigh...