I had always been interested in feeding raw but the whole thing is pretty intimidating but I finally decided to feed a few raw meals a week and work up from there. I started with a small turkey neck last week for dinner. The reason I started with turkey instead of chicken was because Molly's old kibble was chicken based and she was SO itchy on it until I switched her to a duck based kibble. She was still itchy, but it definitely improved a lot. I have read allergies to food are rare, especially to raw food, but she started itching a LOT (especially on her face/mouth area) after she had that turkey neck. I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I gave her turkey for dinner for two more nights and I think it's just getting worse.

Should I stop? I think I read somewhere that skin problems might become worse on a raw diet before they get better. Is there any truth to that? Also, that turkey neck made her breath smell really funny. I checked her teeth and gums and everything is perfect. Molly had an undetected tooth problem in her mouth that caused her to have bad breath for a long time, and it's not the same smell. It's fishy but it isn't strong.. I only smell it when she yawns in my face. Is it just the smell of raw meat plus saliva? Any thoughts?

__________________

Not trying to start anything, but my general philosophy is if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Is there a reason why you are switching? When you do a food allergy trial, you feed that food exclusively for 2-3 months, then gradually reintroduce foods. If one makes the,dog itchy, then you go back on the,diet that didn't make the dog itchy and start over...

__________________
Janice and The Celebration Gang -
"Samantha, George, Tiki, Emily, Mick and Basil" Gone but not forgotten, Sally(Windjammer's Ima Country Girl CDX CGC), Laney(Mandell Marlenes Celebration UD RA CGC), and Cookie(Starseeker's Kissmas Cookie CDX RE CGC).

You're right. Now is not a good time to introduce her to new foods.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

__________________

I've heard of dogs that couldn't tolerate any kind of poultry.

__________________
Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

IMHO I would quit the raw diet and see if the scratching stops. Then you found your culprit!