MY MIXED JACK RUSSELL AND RAT TERRIER

Question
QUESTION: He for the last 4 yrs. continues to pull his hair out on both of his sides. He has been to the Vet numerous times and they give him a steroid shot and antibiotics for the redness. I would like to know if you could tell me is it possible he has a thyroid problem? His skin is really flaky and dry but not from over bathing. Thanks in advance....

ANSWER: Donnie-

It sounds more like food allergies.


What are you feeding him? (Specific brand, type and ammount)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: He eats Purina Beneful skin and coat food. He gets 1/2 cup in the morning and evening No beef but chicken and turkey brand may be some salmon in it also and it is dry food mixed with Purina One Entree Chicken and brown rice and only a spoon full of that just to wet the dry food.

Answer
Hi Donnie-

If I were in your shoes, I would be looking at corn or wheat allergy, two of the most common allergies with pets. Beneful is primarily made of ground yellow corn, which is highly indigestible, offers no worth while nutrients, and is one of the leading causes of pet allergies. If you can indulge me for just a moment lets dissect beneful's ingredients:

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), salmon, brewers rice, soybean meal, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, soybean oil, animal digest, water, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, calcium carbonate, dried carrots, green beans, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, Vitamin E supplement, added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, copper sulfate, biotin, garlic oil, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.


GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein (Min) 25.0%
Crude Fat (Min) 12.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 4.0%
Moisture (Max) 14.0%
Linoleic Acid (Min) 1.8%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) 1.1%
Zinc (Zn) (Min) 135 mg/kg
Selenium (Se) (Min) 0.30 mg/kg
Iron (Fe) (Min) 200 mg/kg
Vitamin A (Min) 15,000 IU/kg
Vitamin E (Min) 100 IU/kg


The first five ingredients are what appears the most in the food. That first ingredient, ground yellow corn is what the food is primarily made of, and we have already covered that so lets move to the second. Chicken by-products... that's the ground rendering of whatever parts of the chicken are unsuitable for human consumption in any way. That means beaks, feet, undeveloped eggs, feathers, and eyes. They can't even legally call it chicken. Very little nutrients and protein actually make it into the food from that. The third is corn..again. This time, in the form of Gluten Meal. Gluten meal is worse then just ground corn- this is ground corn AFTER all of the nutrients have been removed to make corn syrup. Basically, its the husks and shells. Its like sawdust.

Wheat flour is a further low quality ingredient. In dog food products, this is commonly a byproduct (think floorsweepings) of human food production and is a grain fragment (think sawdust.) Wheat is believed by many to be **the** leading cause of food allergy problems in dog foods.

On top of that, there is excess fat, color dye, sugar, artificial and synthetic vitamins, yeast, rice, and very little fruits or vegetables.

In other words, if I were you Donnie, I would switch his food ASAP. Your dog is exhibiting classic allergy symptoms.
After a few months on a new food, you may find out it was indeed allergies, and your dog will be in better shape then you could ever imagine!!

Try some of these foods: (Grain Free alternate protein source is the best for the worst allergy sufferers, but anything is better then beneful)

Canidae all life stage food (this has grain in it but is high quality rice)

Wellness CORE (Grain free)

Taste of The Wild, Prairie Formula and High Wetlands formula (Grain
free AND with alternate protein- no beef or chicken)

Blue Wilderness (available at petsmart, Grain Free)

Innova EVO Red Bites (VERY high beef protein, no grains)

Whatever new food you decide on, avoid ANY corn, wheat, gluten, soy, byproducts and raw added fat.

I hope he feels better!!!!! Good luck!