Blonde By Nature

When visiting Niagara I noticed that my parents dog, our beloved 9 year old gigantic “field” lab, had a very very serious itchy skin problem. Often when sitting on the couch, he would lay at your feet and sit up, start itching and the entire couch would shake. Felt like an earthquake because he always did it with so much vigor.

I checked for fleas, insects…nothing. My Dad kept saying, “it’s because he’s outdoors all the time in -10 in the winter.” If dogs skin reacted to the outdoor climate like an allergy - then they would never have evolved into what they are. I did notice his skin was VERY red and his ears were inflamed - allergy. Being the proactive daughter and lover of dogs that I am, I had to do something about our poor Apollo. I was also shocked as to how much he shed. Never have I ever seen a dog shed that much and I’m still pulling blonde course hairs out of my socks and sweaters a month later. I’ve heard that recently his itching has slowed down and he seems to be doing less of it. My solution to this problem was quite simple, much healthier then putting him onto so medication that a vet would prescribe and cheap!

1. I bathed Apollo in luke warm green tea when his itching was at his worse, keep doing it once a day if you can until you see it subsiding.
2. Switch kibble or better yet, switch to a raw diet (but do your research first). Your dog has a very serious allergy and his body is pushing out the toxins through his skin. I’m not a fan of kibble (as you know) but I am a fan of selecting the best kibbles out there. I’ve done a lot of reading and often visit The Dog Food Project website for some great advice and dog food advisories. The best kibble in my opinion is Orijens.
3. I had also discovered that my parents were feeding our precious Apollo milk bones. Those old fashion, filled with fillers, milk bones. I took him off of that and went to a Health Food store and purchased a big bag of banana chips (no sugar added). They are a great healthy substitute for treats.
4. Supplement. Sure, your kibble may have oils and good healthy supplements in it already, but lets face it, your pouch will need to eat a lot of it in order to get the right amount to do them any good. In terms of itchy skin, the following in my experience works beautifully:

• You MUST get your dog on an oil. Omega 3, 6, 9, Flax or Salmon oil. For an 80lbs dog, 1 heaping tablespoon a day.
• Also, my personal fave is Organic Apple Cider Vinegar for a number of reasons (I’ll blog about that later as ACV deserves respect as a healing technique). For a big dog 2 tablespoons a day.
• Yogurt, get some good bacteria in it. When shopping for it, look for the yogurt that has 2 ingredients in it (Milk and Active Bacteria Cultures). Big dog - 1 or 2 heaping tablespoons.
• Blueberries. Costco sells a whole bag of frozen organic blueberries for very cheap. Toss 5-6 blueberries in his food a day. The same characteristics of blueberries that hold true to humans, are the same for dogs.

So there you have it. I would much rather prefer to fix problems like this myself then to fork out the money to visit a vet. You should see results after about 1 week. After 3 weeks the itching should be completely gone. If the itching persists, then you must start looking at and analyzing your dogs food history to determine what can be causing the allergy.

Oh and it’s an epidemic because almost ALL dogs I know in the Niagara region have this itchy skin problem and I believe it is because they don’t have access to the knowledge nor the food options that we do here on the West Coast.  (Sorry guys, Pet Smart and Petcetera are out to take your money without caring about your pets health. They are boxes.) So do some reading and get knowledgeable on the topic. There is loads of information out there!

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