[chowder]

Both my dogs are suddenly itching like crazy. Rocky has scratched several sores on himself and now has an ear infection. Chelsy can't scratch but she is walking in a comma and her eyes are all red and goopy. The only thing that has changed for both of them is that they are both eating a new 95% meat canned food that contains flaxseed oil and neither one has ever eaten that ingredient before. I actually didn't know it was in the food when I ordered the cans. (Rocky is also finishing his trial bag of TOTW but Chelsy doesn't get that so it wouldn't pertain to both dogs).

Do you think it could be the flaxseed oil in the food that is setting both dogs off? There's really nothing else different outside, inside or getting put in their mouths to cause all this that I can figure out. Has anyone else had trouble with flaxseed in food causing a reaction in their dogs?

The only other thing is that the TOTW food has quail in it that Rocky has never had, but Chelsy is not eating that and usually it would not be a meat protein like quail that would cause an allergy in Rocky after one exposure.

 

[whiteleo]

I believe Khan had big issues with flaxseed oil and decided to go raw.

 

[chowder]

I believe Khan had big issues with flaxseed oil and decided to go raw.

This is the first food we've ever encountered that had flaxseed oil in it. None of the others I bought ever included it which is why I was surprised to find it in a 95% meat food. Now I will know to look for it in the future but my regular brands don't use it.

 

[Gia]

My dogs get flax seed oil and have never had any issues...but just recently in the last couple of weeks...I started giving them a granular supplement that contains ground flax seed and flax seed oil in it, among a lot of other ingredients. One of my dogs has started scratching. I don't know if it is the ground flax seed, but the timing seems about right. The oil never caused her to itch. However, that doesn't mean that the oil isn't the culprit with your dogs itching problem.

 

[Rottnk9s]

My Kamo scratches if I feed him flax seed oil or ground flax seed. It just kind of depends on the dog I think. Once I switched to fish oils he stopped scratching

 

[chowder]

My Kamo scratches if I feed him flax seed oil or ground flax seed. It just kind of depends on the dog I think. Once I switched to fish oils he stopped scratching

Not on subject but I LOVE your avatar! My son has a 4 year old rottie mix he got from a rescue group last year and he is the sweetest boy! He gets his feelings hurt so easy and insists on snuggling on the couch with you .....I just love Rotties, and the babies are adorable! You have some very good looking dogs.

 

[magicre]

we stopped using flax seed for our dogs because flax is simply not the best i can give my dog...it's a bowel irritant....it goes rancid too quickly....and isn't practical for my weight dogs....

they do much better, besides the horrific shedding this year...on salmon oil....their coats are absolutely brilliant and malia, my older duchess, no longer has a sensitive stomach....

mainly because now i realise that dogs don't have sensitive stomachs..i was just feeding them some additives that irritated their intestinal tract and flax is on the list.

 

[kimmy]

well flax seed is a grain...

and a lot of dogs do have allergies to grains, right? it is a great supplement...i eat it daily, but i don't give it to my dogs.

 

[Penny & Maggie's Mom]

flax is a common allergen, and the omega 3's found in it cannot be processed by dogs.

 

[Debrus]

Itching from flaxseed meal

We were told to put our shelties on flaxseed meal for their coat and skin. We just started them on it three days ago and two of the three have serious itching problems. We took them off last night hoping to see results soon and in meantime gave them Benadryl. One of our shelties is fine, strange but glad he isn't itching also. Nothing else has changed for them so pretty sure it is the flaxseed.

 

[Shamrockmommy]

After having fed The Honest Kitchen Embark, (theSECOND ingredient is flax!!), I had 3 of 4 dogs itching frantically nonstop.
It took about 4 days after putting them on food w/out flax for the itching to subside, and even then, the scratched areas were bothersome enough to the Echo that I had her wearing a shirt to keep her from damaging it anymore. It was about 3 weeks of coat wearing before the itching stopped.

Right now they are eating home cooked and pet guard lifespan, no flax in either, and I'm a bit worried to go back to their "usual" Fromm grain free foods which I've loved so much.

I know the other thing 2 of the 4 dogs are sensitive to is brewer's yeast. Do you know how hard it is to find a food without one or both of those things? I think I've read every possible dog food ingredient panel and the vast majority have flax in it.

So needless to say I do not recommend flax or flax seed oil. How are your shelties feeling still?

 

[NutroGeoff]

My dogs, personally haven't ever had any issues with it. Although I have had a few people come into the store saying their dogs don't do well on it. It depends on each dog with that.

 

[Lance-Dash]

My dog was scratching relentlessly for a stretch and I had thought it was possibly allergies or something food caused. It turned out she had a problem with mites. I was trying to save a few bucks by only using heart worm meds during mosquito season. I was unaware the Ivomec was also beneficial in killing mites. As soon as I went back to monthly doses, the itching had stopped. Sad part is, it was really completely unnecessary because I get about a five year supply of Ivomec at Tractor Supply for about $40 a bottle. I crank up the dosed maybe twice a year, but normally all she gets is about 5 drops on the tongue monthly. Again, when I went back to regular monthly dosing itching had completely stopped.

 

[Petie]

Hi, I am new here but I have trouble with flaxseed also, what food are you feeding that doesn't have it in it? My boy will only eat can food. Thank you