My dog has a lot of fur loss and wonders if it could be her diet

I have two black labs, a male and a female. They are both inside dogs and spend at the most 8 hours a day in the back yard (not all at one time but 4 hours in the early morning and 4 hours in the late evening since it is cooler at those times). They are both very playful and energetic. Both of them are very healthy; they are both on Heartgaurd (Heart worm Meds) and Frontline (fleas, ticks, and mosquito meds). Both of them have dry, flakey, itchy skin, and my female has fur loss around her neck, shoulders, hips, and butt areas. Could this be caused by a allergy to something in their dog food or in their enviroment?

My male is 1 year and 9 months old and weighs about 105 pounds. He is allergic to bee stings,which we found out about a year ago when he got stung, and he is neatured. We fed him Science Diet (Lamb & Rice dry dog food) for large breed puppies from the time he was 8 weeks old until he was a year old. Then we switched him to Blue Buffalo (dry dog food) for large breed puppies; which he is still on but will be switching him to large breed adult dog food here will soon when he turns 2 years old. The reason why we switched him from Science Diet to Blue Bufflo was because our dog trainer recommended it to us and stated that it would be better for our dogs and their coats.

My female is 1 year and 2 months old and weighs about 73 pounds. She has not been spayed yet and is getting ready to go into her second heat cycle. We fed her Science Diet (Lamb & Rice dry dog food) for large breed puppies from the time she was 12 weeks old until she was 5 months old. Then we switched her to Blue Buffalo (dry dog food) for large breed puppies; which she is still on. The reason why we switched her from Science Diet to Blue Bufflo was because our dog trainer recommended it to us and stated that it would be better for our dogs and their coats.


Hello,

Labs are a wonderful breed, full of fun, life and good natured. The problem with labs is they are very sensitive to foods and their environment.

Everyone should be able to believe their bag of dog food when it says its complete nutrition and good for your dog. But for the most part, this is all marketing with the commercial dog foods. If you've read through our web site I'm sure you've seen our thoughts on these foods.

I'm afraid Science Diet is one of the top brands for creating food allergies with dogs. We've seen it hundreds of times in our store.

It's good that you got them off this horrific food and into Blue Buffalo. We carry that brand and know it's a good premium food. Your dogs may still be suffering the consequences of a puppyhood diet from this stuff.

If you already feed Blue Buffalo, feed the Wilderness formula. This is their grain-free formula. It's the bad grains and other ingredients in Science Diet that cause the majority of the problems.

The main ones are wheat, corn, soy, by-products, gluten, animal fat, animal digest, and chemical preservatives. These bad ingredients cause many food allergies and health issues that plague today’s dog.

Sense they built up this sensitivity to the bad grains; you need to get them off all grains for a while. That means even the good ones like brown rice, oatmeal and barley.

It's absolutely critical that you feed at least half their diet in a premium canned or fresh meat. No dog should ever be on a dry food only diet. This is completely opposite of the way nature intended our dogs to live and thrive on. They need fresh meat with high moisture content.

A raw or partial raw food diet is the best by far for any healthy dog. The live nutrients they get are far superior to any processed food. Two of the very most important nutrients are enzymes and probiotics. These are plentiful in a raw diet but are destroyed in a cooked or processed diet. Without these nutrients a dog’s digestive system suffers. The digestive system is the heart of their immune system. A weakened immune system hurts their skin and coat, internal organs and their whole wellbeing.

If you don't or can't feed a raw diet, their are probiotics and enzyme supplements you can add to their food.

Another factor that can hurt the skin and coat is the Frontline you are putting on them. This is a chemical that has to be processed through the liver. This will weaken their immune system and cause damage that tasks their body to control and heal.

If you use Front Line on a rare occasion for a bad infestation of fleas then fine, but you should never give them monthly doses every month or this will really hurt their internal systems.

If fleas are a constant problem there is a natural product called Diatomaceous Earth. This natural very fine powder is used to dust over the animal. The fleas pass through this dust and it actually dries them out and they die. They don’t have to bite the dog to get a poison. We use it on our dogs and cats with great success. You can buy the food grade product and it will not hurt the dog if they lick part of their body and digest some.

It’s a very fine powder. We put it in one of those plastic spice containers to sprinkle on our dogs and cats. If fleas are present, apply every few days, if not then about once every other week is fine.

Your dog’s also need supplements to strengthen their immune system and improve their skin and coats. Add things like salmon or cod liver oil to their daily diet. Give them an occasional can of tuna fish or canned salmon. You can even give them each a can of sardines in water once a week. These contain a full chain of omega 3’s and 6’s.

Some green powders like kelp mixes and Nano Greens are great for strengthening the immune system.

So to recap, keep feeding your Blue Buffalo but make sure it’s the Wilderness Blend, add fresh meat to their diet, add supplements like the oils or canned products, make sure to keep away from any grains for a while, even in their treats and give this some time.

If you like the idea of a raw based diet or partial raw diet like we do, research it more on our site and others. Your dogs will thrive and be healthy and develop beautiful skin and coats for their whole long lives. It makes that much of a difference.

About 90% of the time it’s the food and/or lack of supplement like omega’s that cause the dry skin and coat and hair loss.

The other issues are from chemical based products being applied like Front Line and others. Occasionally it’s the environment causing the allergies.

But to combat all the above, a balanced complete diet with supplement will strengthen their immune system and fight off any of these issues.

There are many good books on holistic care for your dogs as well. They contain many helpful tips and feeding advice. You can find them on Amazon, your local book store or the library.

If you have a holistic vet in your area, go see them. They are great. They treat the whole body through nutrition. They’ve done great things for us and many of our customers. They can even help you get on a full or parial based raw diet.

I hope this information has helped and/or given you more things to try. If you should have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

Roger