Good Morning Everyone,
Sorry if this has already mentioned many times on here. However, this is the very first time I ever participated in a forum and also the first time I ever owned a German Shepherd.
My wife and I purchased a GSD two months ago. He is 22 weeks old and it's REALLY starting to bother me how much he itches himself, to include biting (his arms, back area, his tail, behind his ears). Just so you can have an idea on the frequency, today he woke up at 0530 and by 0600 he stopped what he was doing (eating, playing with his frisbee, or just walking around) 17 times to itch. I got him from a good breeder and she said none of her dogs ever had an allergy history (he comes from great blood lines to include a sieger world champion) not that it matters.
Like most pet owners, we want the best for him and we switched him from Purina to the Orijen Large Breed puppy food and he LOVES the food (licks the bowl clean every time). However I am starting to think he has a chicken allergy, but with all the meat protein sources in orijen, it's almost impossible to know if it's the chicken. Three days ago we switched him to the ACANA freshwater fish food, and we are still transitioning the food, but he is still scratching a lot.
We checked him for fleas and ticks and he doesn't have any. He's a clean dog, the complex we live on doesn't treat our lawns, the vet checked him and couldn't find anything (fleas or ticks). His coat seems fine (no dandruff and doesn't feel like straws). The only other thing I can think off is his treats. When we got him, our neighbors bought us about 25 bags of FROMM treats (lamb, chicken and salmon are the three different protein sources) however it also contains (flour potato, tapioca, and pea flour) maybe this is a cause? I read that a puppy at this age is very unlikely to have developed an allergy already, so my question to ALL is, Is this normal for a German Shepherd Dog, and if any of you experienced this, what have you done to help your dog?
Sorry if this has already mentioned many times on here. However, this is the very first time I ever participated in a forum and also the first time I ever owned a German Shepherd.
My wife and I purchased a GSD two months ago. He is 22 weeks old and it's REALLY starting to bother me how much he itches himself, to include biting (his arms, back area, his tail, behind his ears). Just so you can have an idea on the frequency, today he woke up at 0530 and by 0600 he stopped what he was doing (eating, playing with his frisbee, or just walking around) 17 times to itch. I got him from a good breeder and she said none of her dogs ever had an allergy history (he comes from great blood lines to include a sieger world champion) not that it matters.
Like most pet owners, we want the best for him and we switched him from Purina to the Orijen Large Breed puppy food and he LOVES the food (licks the bowl clean every time). However I am starting to think he has a chicken allergy, but with all the meat protein sources in orijen, it's almost impossible to know if it's the chicken. Three days ago we switched him to the ACANA freshwater fish food, and we are still transitioning the food, but he is still scratching a lot.
We checked him for fleas and ticks and he doesn't have any. He's a clean dog, the complex we live on doesn't treat our lawns, the vet checked him and couldn't find anything (fleas or ticks). His coat seems fine (no dandruff and doesn't feel like straws). The only other thing I can think off is his treats. When we got him, our neighbors bought us about 25 bags of FROMM treats (lamb, chicken and salmon are the three different protein sources) however it also contains (flour potato, tapioca, and pea flour) maybe this is a cause? I read that a puppy at this age is very unlikely to have developed an allergy already, so my question to ALL is, Is this normal for a German Shepherd Dog, and if any of you experienced this, what have you done to help your dog?