We Began to Wonder About Calling the Vet…

Roscoe began itching maybe a month or so after we moved off the breeder’s recommended puppy food and onto new adult food (this was before we were creating our own Bounce and Bella grain-free food).

We thought it was fleas initially (even though we never found any), so we bought everything we needed to fix that.

via GIPHY

However…

The itching continued, but how much and how often varied.

Some days he’d not be too bad, just the odd flurry of scratching. 

Other days he’d be terrible.

We began to consider calling the vets. But should we be calling? Was it just a habit he’d picked up? Was it severe enough? Would the vet know what was causing the issues? Was it going to cost us a fortune? (Only Gill was bringing in a proper wage to the household at this point.)

We felt incredibly lucky…

We began thinking whether there had been any other changes in Roscoe’s life recently… and Gill had a moment of inspiration!

She remembered we’d switched foods away from the breeder’s recommended grain-free and back to the supermarket stuff we’d always got for our previous dog Sorrel – who had suffered from itching later in her life and for whom we never got a successful diagnosis from the vet!

We switched to the adult version of the breeder’s recommended food, and the itching stopped – no need to call the vet. We felt incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon the answer.

And as soon as our own Bounce and Bella food became an option, we switched again, and the itching remained a thing of the past.

Skin and Coat don’t get the nutrients…

I didn’t know this back then, but when grain is present in dry dog food, it’s there as a cheap alternative to good healthy ingredients that can actually provide the nutrients your dog’s body needs.

​Without those nutrients, your dog’s body has to prioritise the most important organs (such as the heart and brain), and the less vital parts of your dog’s body simply don’t get all the necessary nutrients.

So your dog’s skin and coat end up lacking moisture and oils and becomes dry and itchy.

Is grain one of your main ingredients?

If your dog is itching, it’s worth checking out the ingredients in your dog’s food and treats.

If the main or secondary ingredient (1st or 2nd on the composition list) is cereal, grain, oats, wheat or similar, then your dog may be allergic to the grains… But more commonly, they may simply not be getting enough of the nutrients their skin and coat need.

If you think you may need to change, we have free samples of grain-free food available for your dog to try out. They’re available in a variety of delicious flavours such as Angus Beef, Lamb and Duck.

Click the link to find out more: https://shop.bounceandbella.co.uk/collections/samples

And if grain isn’t the issue – we’ve got you covered with a blog post dedicated to how to access the vets for free as well!