Allergies

[Valeria S]

Are the allergies an issue for your dogs?

Would be very interesting to hear how you feed your dogs, based on what you chose the diet, and what the outcomes.

This is an important subject to me since my 6.5 mos pup had skin problems since i got him at 2mos old. And it turned out that a lot of boerboels in Russia suffer from food allergies or other skin problems. 

When I brought the puppy home, i fed him with homemade meals(meat, milk products, cereals, vegetables + vitamins & minerals) dry food was given only once a day. After few weeks I had to bring him to the vet with the skin problems. He was diagnosed with pyoderma. The dermotologist's verdict is that pyoderma is the outcome of the allergie. Now we are trying to diagnose the origins of this allergy (food, environment, parasites etc)..

[Marco]

Great topic Valeria! The vet recently said Kenzo had pyoderma because he had some bumbs on his belly. He mentioned its very common in puppies and that he could have got it by laying in something. He gave him a antibiotic and it cleared up within a week. The vet said it gone and I have not seen anything of it since. This may be a helpful link to you PYODERMA Good luck with everything, I hope everything turns out ok. Kenzo has been on Blue Buffalo Wilderness kibble since day one. Heres a nice site to research dog food. Dog food reviews At some point I would like to work raw into his diet.

[Valeria S]

Thank you Marco for your response! Glad that you could treat the pyoderma successfully and everything is fine now. In our case i think its a bit more complicated than just pyoderma due to single contact with something. His pyoderma is accompanied with otitis, which indicates that there is an allergy. The problem here is that there are no food allergy tests done for dogs in Russia, so the only way to diagnose the food allergy is by excluding method . For now i give him hypoallergic dog food to eliminate all the allergy symptoms and treat otitis locally. After that will have to get back to his usual diet to see if the reaction to the food comes back. This will indicate that it is food allergy not something else. and only after all this will have to experiment with different food to chose the one that doesn’t give him an allergy.
The dog food review you gave is very informative, thanks, I have used it to chose the right food for him. The problem is that Russian market is not as diverse as in US.
I was thinking to feed him BARF but i think its very hard to balance right all the ingredients for the growing boerboel, especially the protein and fat.
Do you give any additional chondroprotectors or vitamins?
Uff, hope my writing is not very confusing. lol

[Marco]

I have been thinking about doing BARF as well just doing my research still. I may just start off by trying to order some from here. BARF World As far as any joint protection or vitamins nothing yet. I have been curious about it though and wonder what everyones thoughts are on the matter. I wish you the best on finding out what the source problem is. Please keep us updated.

[Justin]

I have a Boerboel and a Cane Corso, both a little over one year. The Corso came with kennel cough, which to my surprise the Boerboel just kicked to the curb. He was raised from the breeder to us on raw food only. He has one of the best immune systems I have ever seen in a dog. It just makes me more of a believer in feeding raw.

[Valeria S]

That’s what I hear more and more often, that well balanced raw food gives much healthier and better looking dogs. As to my concern is to balance it well and chose good quality products, without any conservatives, pesticides, antibiotics etc. I have been doing research on dry food since a while, and even super premium class foods leaves the wish for better quality.

[Marco]

What would you recomend me starting out with feeding raw? Any tips?

[Sharon Bank]

I fed both of my Boerboels raw since day #1. My girl, Azaan, is nearly 3 and my boy, Jaf, just turned 16 months. I am very happy with raw. The breeders of Azaan fed their adult dogs raw, but they weaned the puppies on kibble in case the puppy buyers weren't going to feed raw. When I brought Azaan home, I switched her back over to raw, so she has been raw fed since she was about 9 weeks old. Jaf's breeder, Jenny Well's of Quo Vadis Boerboels, feeds raw to her pups, so when I got Jaf he was already accustomed to raw.

When I made the switch for Azaan, I started by having plenty of kibble on hand so that she could free feed, and then I started giving her small amounts of raw chicken, raw beef and ground beef. Raw organ meats such as liver tend to give a dog/puppy loose stools, so you have to be careful feeding liver until their system gets used to it. Once their system gets used to it, they will be fine. The more she ate raw, the less she dipped into the kibble bowl. I just tried to make the transition slowly for her so that it wouldn't upset her stomach. I think I started with one chicken neck, wing or thigh the first day and continued that routine for a few days, then started upping the quantity until she was on full raw within about 30 days.

[Jeannie hansen]

Checking in on the Allergy thread to since Deuce is having allergies to 'something'!! He's going to the vet this afternoon so hopefully we'll get him fixed up. He doesn't deserve the annoyance of skin allergies!! Could it be the food or just agitation from fleas? We've been bathing him but he's still in a bit of agony. I'm sure the poor guy will be given the cone of shame today. ( movie UP) love the phrase though. Happy day to all Boerboel lovers!!

[Sarelle Walton]

My 2 year old male has battled with nasty ear infections for quite some time now. He gets a yeast build up in his ears that smells horrible and drives him mad. We've tried switching foods, including raw introduction, applying topical ointments and sprays and have considered going to an allergist. I like the idea of raw and he has chewed well when I've traded kibble for raw a few meals during the week. I just hesitate to go 100% raw since my husband and I travel and occasionally have to kennel the dogs. We know they will have kibble there. SO, as a last ditch effort before the allergist and possibility of meds for the rest of his life, we are trying the grain free diet of Taste of the Wild. We noticed an increase in the yeast during transition and was told that will happen as the grains leave his system. So we shall see!

[Jeannie hansen]

So... Our Deuces is allergic to FLEAS!! He has more of a reaction to the bites. With a more toxic flea antidote, lets see if he is cured!!




Jeannie hansen said:

Checking in on the Allergy thread to since Deuce is having allergies to 'something'!! He's going to the vet this afternoon so hopefully we'll get him fixed up. He doesn't deserve the annoyance of skin allergies!! Could it be the food or just agitation from fleas? We've been bathing him but he's still in a bit of agony. I'm sure the poor guy will be given the cone of shame today. ( movie UP) love the phrase though. Happy day to all Boerboel lovers!!

[Sweet Pea]

Jeannie,
How did they determine it's fleas that Deuce is allergic to? Is it just fleas? My boy has been suffering from allergies for the past year. I've changed food more times than I can count and we're currently doing an elimination diet. My vet hasn't been terribly helpful in this circumstance, so I was wondering how you went about testing.

[Jeannie hansen]

We just brought him to the vet, I honestly think we got lucky that it was only fleas!! He has been doing very well!! He had chewed himself so bad that he was starting to lose his hair on his hinde. This is day 2 and still no itching!!!