tinned food for dogs and skin condition

palaver

The search thingy coughed up so many threads that I rather ask again:

In a previous thread I told about my dog getting caught in the bramble and gorse jungle behind the house. She was scratched all over afterwards, but that was weeks ago and she is still scratching herself, developes scaps, and the tiny wounds take a long time to heal. Only a few, mind. Most are gone by now.
I applied aloe vera to the wounds which helps a lot. But still ...

I talked with my multi-doggie-friend about it, and he said that the tinned food could cause skin conditions in dogs.

My dog had never any problems with her skin, she was always admired for her healthy shiny coat. But now I'm a bit worried. The coat is shiny alright, but some scabs occur again whatever I do.

Is tinned food really a cause for skin condition? She is not too fond of pellets, she would eat what I eat though (home-cooked - but I love my food spicy, so no option).

Any ideas and recommendations apart from dry food?

Goffie

What breed is your dog. palaver?
Is it one that's prone to skin conditions, like a westie? How long have you been feeding her on tinned food?

Some breeds are better off on the dry food because the wet can aggravate their skin, but if she's never had a condition before it sounds to me like she's got into and itch-scratch-itch cycle since her little escapade and can't break the habit.

If it were me I'd take her to the vet and maybe her can give her something stronger to stop the itch or heal the wounds. Try to distract her as well when you see her scratching.

Silly question but you do treat her for fleas every month?

palaver

Thanks for your reply.

She is a beagle cross, no idea if they tend to have skin problems. She gets the tinned food since I have her, that is two years. No problem until now.
For the time being I cook for her (jayze, what we are doing for the beloveth! :rolleyes: And she loves it even better - unseasoned rice, vegetables and meat) to see if there is a connection with the tinned food. And I still treat her little wounds with aloe vera.

If there is no improvement until the end of the week, off she goes to the vet.

About fleas: not a silly question, you'll never know! But she gets these drops between her shoulder blades every three months.

Alfasudcrazy

While it may seem harsh you will need to wean her off the canned food in favour of dry. I use Burns and the dogs love it. My dogs had itch problems too with other foods and I too found it hard to just leave them with the 'plain looking' dry food but I now see the benefit of what people here were telling me to do.

While she may love your home cooking it may be too rich for her in the long term.