Allergies

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siroscardogy

Boxer Pal
I was wondering if it is more comon for white boxers to have reactions to things. Oscar has allergies to chicken (which gives him pimples around his lips) and fabric softener (he gets hives) are there other things I should be aware of that are comon allergies? I currently feed him Nutro Natural Lamb and rice food...is there a better brand for sensative dogs? Thanks you for your help and information.
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
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No, I don't think white boxers are any more prone to allergies than other boxers. Nobody has ever done a study or a decent survey to find out, of course, but really, we get so many posts about allergies and skin problems on this site, we'd tend to get a feel for things if there was a colour relationship - and there really is no sign of one.

Since the dog is white though, you probably notice his red itchy skin more than you might if he were coloured (and without white areas round the face and feet).

Anyway. The cause of his problems is almost certainly allergies. Allergies can be environmental or they can be food-related, and often are a mixture of the two. You already know he has a problem with chicken... but other *very* common problems in dog food are low quality grains, corn, wheat, beet pulp and soy.

Nutro is an OK dog food - but really only a mid-range food. It's not the worst out there by any means - at least there's no corn and wheat. But that food still contains a number of low quality grain fragments and controversial ingredients like beet pulp that commonly cause the sorts of problems your dog has with itchy red feet.

How about trying a high quality allergy food instead? Something like California Natural lamb/rice is a much better food than Nutro, and contains no waste ingredients at all. It's lamb, rice and sunflower oil. Alternatively, Natural Balance make at least one formula (duck/sweet potato, I think, or else it's the fish/sweet potato) that contains no grains at all (and grains are usually the problematic ingredients in dog food). Another good option could be Fromms Four Star (excluding the chicken formula, since he can't have chicken - but there's still three others to choose from).

Lastly - if it is only chicken in the meat range that he has a sensitivity to, then it would probably be a good idea to give him a variety of different foods if you can. The thing about allergies is that they are rarely a case of being allergic or not. That's true in some extreme cases, but the vast majority of allergies are actually things that build up over time, and with constant exposure. The fastest way to develop a food allergy to lamb, for example, is to feed it every day for an extended period ;) Just as is the case for people, it is better to feed as wide a variety of different things as possible, which helps prevent the sort of constant irritiation that can end in allergies developing.
 

siroscardogy

Boxer Pal
Thank you

Couple questions.....are those foods avalible in Canada? and two if I am to switch up his foods...do i slowly intergrate these new foods into his diet and how often do they need to be switched....Thank you for all your advice
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
Yes, I'm pretty sure you'd find them in Canada. Here are the manufacturer's websites, all with store locators:
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=stores-tab&country=Canada
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/home/canada.tpl
http://www.frommfamily.com/retailers_us.asp

As for the process of changing foods, yes, it is always wise to do it gradually. Food changes don't upset every dog by any means, but diarrhoea is such an annoyance it's worth avoiding the risk and just doing it slowly ;)

You'd normally start with a 25% / 75% mix of new to old food, feed that for a few days, then go to a 50/50 ratio, after a few more days go to 75/25 and then finally to 100% new food. Should take about a week to 10 days all up. If you have any loose stool issues along the way though, you should hold off increasing the amount of new food in the mix until the stools return to normal.
 
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