# Allergic to Wellness?



## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

About 2 weeks ago I started Flora on Wellness Herring and Sweet Potato, because the last time I went food shopping they didn't have Purina Pro Plan fish formula. Anyhow, I figured the switch would be okay. She is SO freakin' itchy! Biting her paws, nibbling on her legs, scratching nonstop. This started recently. Has anyone had dogs allergic to Wellness? I'm going out tomorrow to find a bag of Purina Pro Plan and immediately switching her over to that in hopes that her itchiness will go away.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Aww,, poor Flora. I have no idea as I've never fed Wellness. I'd suspect that the food could be the culprit, though I'd think it might take longer than 2 weeks for symptoms. Who knows! If you bought the food @ Petco/smart, take it back for a full refund! Hope you can find the Pro Plan!


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## 58loosy (Apr 18, 2010)

My springer is on wellness fish/potatoes for his seborrhea after trying many other foods this got rid of seborrhea and his hair looks beautiful, who knows if that is it but he is doing great on it, could you have gotten a bad bag, definitely take it back.


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## Prov31 (Aug 16, 2006)

Our Golden can eat anything, but our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was tested for food allergies. The second thing she is most reactive to is....sweet potatoes! Although they are healthy for many, not every dog can handle them. I kept trying the holistic foods and most of them had the sweet potatoes in them. I eliminated all of the allergens from her diet and she was better in 3 days. I'll bet Flora is reacting to something in the Wellness food. Back to her old food


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Prov31 said:


> Our Golden can eat anything, but our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was tested for food allergies. The second thing she is most reactive to is....sweet potatoes! Although they are healthy for many, not every dog can handle them. I kept trying the holistic foods and most of them had the sweet potatoes in them. I eliminated all of the allergens from her diet and she was better in 3 days. I'll bet Flora is reacting to something in the Wellness food. Back to her old food


I sincerely hope so! Yesterday I found a horrible scab on her neck where she had obviously scratched herself so hard that she cut herself.  This morning she's back to her old food, so hopefully within the next week, or two weeks I'll see a difference. I've got her on benadryl too for the time being.


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

My dog was on Wellness Fish and potato years ago. When she was due with her first litter I switched her to Wellness Puppy. She was fine on it but when the pups were weaned and were on a full puppy diet they were really having a tough time on it. When I contacted the company and asked they said I must be doing something wrong. Here is 7 puppies in 7 homes and they are all getting loose stools. I had all my families switch their foods and the pups were fine within days. We don't use wellness anymore. We have had litters since on a Canidae ALS grain free diet and they were big and beautil and Mama looks fantastic. Find what works for you dog and stay with it. They all react differently to different things. Good luck the dog food search game can make you crazy.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

^^ Yeah, Flora has runny poops on Wellness too, although they are becoming a little firmer now.

I washed Flora with Sulfadene and she seems to be doing MUCH better today! Still a little itchy, but not doing it all the time. Crossing my fingers that the food switch and some extra bathing in Sulfadene will do the trick.


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## MyCodyBoy (Sep 27, 2008)

We fed Wellness for almost a year and although I thought Cody was doing well(stools were good) looking back he was itchy too. He was on the large breed(chicken)
It is too bad cause it is a very well made food and I am sure most dogs do well on it.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

That's strange. It's probably just a random additive that's in the Wellness but not in the ProPlan. It doesn't say anything bad about the Wellness, but it's clearly not the food for Flora.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> That's strange. It's probably just a random additive that's in the Wellness but not in the ProPlan. It doesn't say anything bad about the Wellness, but it's clearly not the food for Flora.


It is weird, which is why I'm still somewhat worried it's something environmental. She's still itching, and I've found another good sized scab on her elbow that's shaped like a scratch mark, so she's obviously scratching/biting herself hard enough to break the skin.

Most of her skin looks great; it's just the skin on her elbows that looks red and cracked. She's getting groomed today, so I'll see what they have to say about her skin.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

kdmarsh said:


> It is weird, which is why I'm still somewhat worried it's something environmental. She's still itching, and I've found another good sized scab on her elbow that's shaped like a scratch mark, so she's obviously scratching/biting herself hard enough to break the skin.
> 
> Most of her skin looks great; it's just the skin on her elbows that looks red and cracked. She's getting groomed today, so I'll see what they have to say about her skin.


Hmm...any other changes besides the Wellness? Fleas are by far the most common cause of atopia. There are a lot of things beside food allergies that can cause this kind of thing. In fact, food allergies only account for 10% of cases of atopia in dogs.

On second thought: if it's localized to a spot that touches the ground, is there any chance she was exposed to an environmental allergen? Could she have lain in a poisonous plant or some other environmental hazard? It seems weird that it's localized to one spot if it's a food allergy.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> Hmm...any other changes besides the Wellness? Fleas are by far the most common cause of atopia. There are a lot of things beside food allergies that can cause this kind of thing. In fact, food allergies only account for 10% of cases of atopia in dogs.
> 
> On second thought: if it's localized to a spot that touches the ground, is there any chance she was exposed to an environmental allergen? Could she have lain in a poisonous plant or some other environmental hazard? It seems weird that it's localized to one spot if it's a food allergy.


The groomer said her skin looked nice and clear except for around her elbows; however, I noticed on her belly near her vulva she has a couple of small round bumps that seem to be like insect bites.

She is free and clear of fleas, HOWEVER, I did just move into a new house with 2 new dogs, both of which have skin problems (one has a thyroid problem, the other itches just... because.) I wonder if there's something in the house that's bothering her. I also know that Louisiana in the summer is rife with fleas, so it's possible she got bit by a few and that started some kind of a reaction. Right now I'm at home in Illinois visiting my family, and her itching hasn't gotten much better.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

kdmarsh said:


> The groomer said her skin looked nice and clear except for around her elbows; however, I noticed on her belly near her vulva she has a couple of small round bumps that seem to be like insect bites.
> 
> She is free and clear of fleas, HOWEVER, I did just move into a new house with 2 new dogs, both of which have skin problems (one has a thyroid problem, the other itches just... because.) I wonder if there's something in the house that's bothering her. I also know that Louisiana in the summer is rife with fleas, so it's possible she got bit by a few and that started some kind of a reaction. Right now I'm at home in Illinois visiting my family, and her itching hasn't gotten much better.


Sounds like there's something in the environment. Even if she's flea-free, she may have encountered some and received some bites that she's reacting to. Fleas are the most common culprit in atopia.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> Sounds like there's something in the environment. Even if she's flea-free, she may have encountered some and received some bites that she's reacting to. Fleas are the most common culprit in atopia.


Any idea how to alleviate the itching? I've bathed her 2x in Sulfadene already in the last few days and she got an oatmeal bath today. I give her benadryl and brush her 2x a day as well. Is this just something she'll have to wait out until the bites heal?

I never noticed fleas in the house (god forbid) so I hope they're just outside. I guess I'll have to be extra vigilant after our walks from here on out.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

kdmarsh said:


> Any idea how to alleviate the itching? I've bathed her 2x in Sulfadene already in the last few days and she got an oatmeal bath today. I give her benadryl and brush her 2x a day as well. Is this just something she'll have to wait out until the bites heal?
> 
> I never noticed fleas in the house (god forbid) so I hope they're just outside. I guess I'll have to be extra vigilant after our walks from here on out.


Sorry - I have no experience with flea bites. Microtek shampoo has always served me well with skin issues on the dogs, and oatmeal is supposed to great too.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

I still have to wonder if it's something else. While she doesn't really pay much mind to her paws, the undersides of her paws are very red and flaky. The bumps I talked about disappeared about 3 hours after her grooming, which lead me to believe it was razor burn (they gave her a sanitary cut, bleh.)

I dunno. I give up! :


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> Sounds like there's something in the environment. Even if she's flea-free, she may have encountered some and received some bites that she's reacting to. Fleas are the most common culprit in atopia.


Sorry, typo! I meant to write atopy (skin itching caused by allergies), not atopia.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

kdmarsh said:


> Any idea how to alleviate the itching? I've bathed her 2x in Sulfadene already in the last few days and she got an oatmeal bath today. I give her benadryl and brush her 2x a day as well. Is this just something she'll have to wait out until the bites heal?
> 
> I never noticed fleas in the house (god forbid) so I hope they're just outside. I guess I'll have to be extra vigilant after our walks from here on out.


Micro-tek shampoo will immediately relieve the itching and help heal any infection. There is also a spray which you can use daily too. www.eqyss.com There are tons of posts on here about the product if you do a search.


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