My greyhound poops frequently and has itchy skin. Is it food?

Have Minnie examined by your veterinarian to diagnose skin infection (bacterial or yeast). Hypothyroidism should also be ruled out. Greyhounds normally have low thyroid levels so request your vet submit blood for a fT4 and TSH in addition to a "simple" T4. Consider adding an essential fatty acid supplement (usually a fish oil) to her diet to promote healthy skin and coat. Search www.pet360.com for fish oil supplements such as DermCaps or EicosaCaps.

It does sound like this particular dry food may be triggering a reaction and it would be worthwhile contacting your vets office and advising them of the progress. There are many sensitive and hydrolyzed diets available and it can take time to find the most appropriate option

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Oh goodness I love greyhounds and in the US we never see them as puppies just as adults rescued off the race track! Sadly a lot of skin conditions look exactly the same. The most common skin diseases that look like that are: demodex (non-contagious mite) which are sometimes hard to get on a scrape, a skin infection either from yeast or bacteria or ring worm. I recommend you ask your Vet about treating for demodex despite a negative scrape. Some of the edible flea and tick products are being used off label to treat demodex. I'd also ask the vet about doing a tape cytology of one of the hairless areas and look at it under the microscope to see if there are too many yeast or bacteria present. And then have them send out a culture of the hair/skin for ringworm. The culture can take up to 4 weeks to be finalized. I guess ultimately it could be nutritional and Rain just may need time on the diet you have him on. Good luck!

It sounds like you have done a good job trying to figure this out. If her anal glands have consistently been found not to be full, then that’s a sign that the supplement is doing its job. My only thoughts are making sure that the food trial is done with a hydrolyzed protein diet such as Ultamino because it will diagnose all types of food allergy that a novel protein food may miss. You may also have a trial of a drug like Cytopoint or Apoquel to see if that stops the itching. An antihistamine may also be useful. An omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs may help as well with inflammation. I hope this gives you a few more ideas and that one of them works. Best of luck!

It's not likely that a high amount of protein is causing the itching. It's possible the itching is related to drier skin, environmental allergy or food allergy. At home you can try giving him an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for pets but it may not correct the underlying cause. This can however improve over all skin health. There are two brands of food, Royal Canin and Nutro, which are aimed at skin health and they may help as well but again, they may not affect the underlying problem. If the itching continues, have Rocky checked by the veterinarian. Also, just so you know, most vets do not recommend to feed a grain free diet due to the potential link with heart disease. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

First you have to rule out other things as well like fleas and secondary infection which can both be itchy. If there are any lesions under the skin there may be a secondary infection (common with allergy). For food allergy it can take time for symptoms to resolve (8+ weeks for some dogs) and those pets who are very itchy may need medications to stop the itch (itching can lead to secondary skin infection as well). So if your pup is very itchy you may want to talk to your family vet about meds to help with itch while going back to the old food. And treat for fleas just in case (even if you do not see any). I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although pic would help to determine the underlying cause, this is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.