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Hello it is me again...sorry I have so many questions....

Since we got Jax he has always been a itching, biting, licking himself a lot. I did not think a lot about it at first but we have tried to keep him from biting himself a lot.

Recently in the past day or two he has started scooting his bottom across the floor. I have only seen him do it twice but my first thought was worms.

The vet says he does not have worms and he seems to think it is a food allergy. We were going to change his food anyhow after he got used to us and had begun looking for higher quality food. The breeder was using a 4 star quality food (review from the website that someone was kind enough to give me on here.) but I would prefer to feed him a 5 star food that I know is the best quality food for him so we had begun researching.

I contacted the breeder where we got Jax and asked if he had these issues when they had him because he was on the same type of food there. The breeder seems to think it is a anal gland that needs to be expressed.

From everything I read dogs with the anal gland issue do bite their knees but they also tend to bite their bottoms and that is one area I have not seen Jax bite. His stool has been loose ever since we got him. It is not diarrhea but it is always loose and he tends to have 4 or more bowel movements a day. I have him on a fixed eating schedule and I figure that he would have a bowel movement after the two times he is fed a day but, he has one almost every time we go out and always wakes me up in the middle of the night because he has to go out and it is usually for a bowel movement as well. The vet said that these were all symptoms of a food allergy.

When I came home I also did some reading and it seems that it does point to food allergies more then the anal gland expression.

He bites his ears, elbows, knees, feet, but he usually does not bite his bottom, but as I stated I have seen him scoot it on a couple occasions.

If it is a food allergy should I mix the new food that I find with the old food like I normally would or is it just going to make him feel worse?

I am not someone that believes what dr's or vets say I am always going out and finding my own research to go with what they say. I was hoping though that the breeder would agree with the vet.

Does anyone have any experience with pet allergies or anal gland expression that could enlighten me if either of these issues could be what Jax is experiencing.
 

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My lab developed a food allergy he was constantly scratching I switched him to a grain free food and he got much better pretty quickly I just switch from one to the other some say mix it but I just wanted the food gone I didn't see any sense in prolonging the misery.
 

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I switched mine immediately to a better dog too without mixing. If your chi already has diarrhea, he should be o.k. to switch the same day. A good quality food usually has enough fiber to keep the anal glands cleaned out and will firm up the stools.
 

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
I am not home right now and can't remember the exact name of the food. It is what the breeder had him on. I believe it is a grain free food but it is from Tractor supply store. We did not want to change too many things at once on him and figured changing his food would be a big change. Now I am kind of wishing we had changed it from the beginning. I felt better about feeding him the food because it was a 4 star review food on the review site so I figured it could not be as bad as Pedigree or something similar.

I went to Petsmart but, I did not really see anything that they had that I have heard was good on this site or was on the dog food review site except for Blue Diamond Wilderness and although Blue Diamond Wilderness got good reviews on the dog food site I would like to get him something top notch like Orijen or another top quality food.

I was hoping that I would be able to buy his food here locally but, I think I am going to have to order it on line. The only pet stores we have in town is Petsmart and Petland. I could go up to Dallas and buy his food but then I would have to go there every time he needs food. So I guess I need to find a good dog food retailer on line.

The breeder did not even seem surprised by the situation so perhaps he goes through this a lot by feeding this food.. I will determinately be ordering him food today, I just wish I could have switched his food today for him so that he could be on the road to having this over.

Thanks everyone for your input!
 

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When you do switch the food be sure to mix it with what he is used to. I first mixed RC:Orijen 2:1 and it was too powerful and I needed to add more RC, I am actually still in the process as the Orijen I ordered came in the day after I picked up another bag of RC to get her through until my local store got my order. That Orijen went through her like a freight train ~ back door trots to the max. But when I mixed it a little more RC rich she firmed back up again. And RIo is a little nibbler ~ quite often even with her being on a Heavy Orijen mix she munches on her feet. She does scratch a bit but I was told a change into the winter season (we live in PA) and new environment could cause her skin to dry a bit so we're just watching that for a yet. Vet said she is as healthy and as happy as can be. So I think a little nibbling must be ok as I explained everything to her. I never had a pup that liked their own feet so much, lol.
 
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