Life With Gus: The Homemade Way

So last week and this week have been pretty tough for my tough 11 month old Scottie. The weather turned warmer and I noticed a significant amount of scratching. I just chalked it up to hot spots. Saturday, a week ago, Gus went to his last doggie obedience class and the trainer noticed his scratching too. There would be times that he scratched so much that he could not do the exercises we asked him to do. The trainer and I talked and I told her that I just thought it was the heat. Well, things got worse. All last week, Gus was scratching so much that I was determined to take him to the vet. Then all of a sudden, I thought....maybe he has allergies. A quick trip to the store and I bought some Benadryl. I got 2 doses in him and things seemed to calm down....some. The dog was literally waking me up at night scratching. I could hear the rattle of his kennel all the way in my room! During the day, my mother was putting him in baking soda baths. Things were not getting better! Another, eureka moment and a quick check on the internet....Gus could be allergic to his dog food. Getting him to eat has always been a struggle...and this is EXPENSIVE dog food. He has always been on Blue and then stopped eating it. I switched him to Innova and he seemed to like it for awhile then acted as though I was forcing him to eat. I also can look back and his stools have not been what I'd call "just right". Even as a younger puppy, I had taken him to the vet twice for an upset stomach. Things started clicking. This dog is allergic to dog food, which is not uncommon for Scottish Terriers. So I immediately took him off everything and began a homemade diet. For 5 days now, he has been eating a rice, chicken and veggies dinner with a vitamin supplement. He is still scratching but NOTHING like he was before. He even now comes in the kitchen when I'm fixing his dinner and actually looks excited about eating! I got on line and did some more research and I have ordered a grain free, organic mix from Dr. Harvey and a vitamin supplement of flax oil, borage oil, fish oil and Vitamin E. I can't wait to get the stuff next week and I'll keep you posted on his progress. This mix looks very interesting.  You can check out the site yourself and see!


Dr. Harvey's Fine Health Food for Companion Animals