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Caeda has another ear infection, she had one in December when she was spayed too, so I'm a little concerned that there might be a pattern developing. She's also got a little bit of dandruff too (which she had a bit before her bath last week). Both are fairly minor, but either way I'm trying to track down whether there is an associated cause or if they're unrelated, and perhaps relatively innocent.
The two relatively "innocent" causes I'm considering for these issues : First off she likes sticking her head in the shower if we are in there....getting water in her floppy ears could be the cause of the infections, but I'm not sure (I dried her ears well after her bath, but after shower episodes I haven't been as thorough). As for the dandruff, well...its REALLY dry in our house, my skin is flaky too, no matter how much I moisturise. Thinking she might be having the same problem.
If it isn't these causes I'm thinking maybe food related, but I'm having a hard time pinning down the ingredient. We tried completely grain free for a while but it gave her horribly loose stools (and she had previously done very well on SD, which has lots of low quality grains, so we don't think its grain). For the last several months we're feeding her Horizon Large Breed and giving her a kong of wet food once a day (a variety of flavours). So first off I need any hints anybody might have to start pinning down what ingredient it might be with the minimum of food changes possible. My DH thinks possibly chicken, so I'm starting out by just giving her beef food in her kongs for the next couple of weeks (Wellness). Is this a good place to start or should we change her kibble soon? How long does it take to see a change in these things to be able to say what ingredient it might be?
The two relatively "innocent" causes I'm considering for these issues : First off she likes sticking her head in the shower if we are in there....getting water in her floppy ears could be the cause of the infections, but I'm not sure (I dried her ears well after her bath, but after shower episodes I haven't been as thorough). As for the dandruff, well...its REALLY dry in our house, my skin is flaky too, no matter how much I moisturise. Thinking she might be having the same problem.
If it isn't these causes I'm thinking maybe food related, but I'm having a hard time pinning down the ingredient. We tried completely grain free for a while but it gave her horribly loose stools (and she had previously done very well on SD, which has lots of low quality grains, so we don't think its grain). For the last several months we're feeding her Horizon Large Breed and giving her a kong of wet food once a day (a variety of flavours). So first off I need any hints anybody might have to start pinning down what ingredient it might be with the minimum of food changes possible. My DH thinks possibly chicken, so I'm starting out by just giving her beef food in her kongs for the next couple of weeks (Wellness). Is this a good place to start or should we change her kibble soon? How long does it take to see a change in these things to be able to say what ingredient it might be?