best food for dogs with allergies?

My Sheltie fortunately hasn't had any allergies yet but my Westie does and he had some pretty bad scabbing and a bit of itching. I switched him to Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Diet which would put me out of house and home if he was a big dog but he eats less than a cup a day so I'll survive.

BUT! My local pet store that specializes in premium pet foods has been recommending Zignature for dogs that have allergies and they've been telling me that their dogs are doing great on it, even their picky eaters. Haven't personally tried it on my Westie though, don't want to fix what's not broken. They sell it at $11.99 for the small bag which is significantly cheaper than my $18.99 Nature's Variety bag.
 
Megan is right. Our Linus developed an allergy at 6 years old. We have been dealing with this for 3 years now. Up until that time, he had a magnificent coat. I took him to the vet dermatologist. She did scrapings, and came up with nothing conclusive. It was like a ring around his neck. She told me they don't do allergy testing like they do on people, and recommended doing trials with different foods.

So, I started doing my own research. Here is what I found out. 80% of all dog allergies are to grain. So, I tried Natural Balance foods, with some success. I made the mistake of thinking that bathing the area with an oatmeal shampoo would be soothing. Dah....oatmeal is a grain.

Most recently I read an article that potato is too close to grain, and dogs do better on legumes. So, In May, I changed his food to Nutrisca salmon and chick pea. He ONLY gets his food, and cookies of the same ingredients. I bath him weekly with a wonderful shampoo that I buy at Petco. "Earthbath totally natural pet shampoo". Tea Tree Oil and Aloe Vera formula.
This has made a world of difference. Also when he has a flare-up, I give him a Benadryl tablet every 12 hours.

Our boy hasn't looked this good in years. And I know he feels better too. Oh, I also spoke with the nutritionist at www.naturesfarmacy.com. He mentioned that sometimes these symptoms show up if a dog develops 'leaky gut'. So, now, I give Linus 1TBS a day of pure coconut oil, and ProMax probiotics. His coat condition looks great, and maybe the coconut oil is working on his symptoms.
 
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Have you had your dog tested for hypo thyroid? Skin itching is not the most prevalent symptom of the disease....normally you would see loss of fur and skin funk first, but it might be worth looking into. Shelties are in the top 10 breeds for this disease so you should not discount it entirely.

Apart from food, I can recommend you bathe your dog with Nizarol which is a human shampoo available at your pharmacy. It's expensive so dilute it with water.

Many people make the mistake of thinking to treat skin condition with oatmeal based shampoos. For some conditions, that can only make it worse. Like my Bacca!

Ultimately, I recommend a trip to the vet. When Bacca lost all his fur last spring, a round of antiobiotics and 2 x per week bathes with Nizarol totally cleared him up.

But it does help to be somewhat educated before you go to the vet so you know what questions to ask
 
I am so sorry to hear about your sheltie. Its heck to go through this, its a process of elimination to find what is going on. I had a setter with skin problems so I feel your pain.

It could be the food, it could be an immune deficiency. I use Wellness, the purple bag, or small breed. I know Fromm is good too. I would stay away from the high protein, use grain free. Salmon and Sweet Potato I use also.

I would imagine the vet did a skin scraping and blood tests. I hope you find what the problem is and have great results.
 
Good news -- Daisy is much better!

I am thrilled to report that Daisy is like a different dog compared to a month ago.
Before going the medical route with allergy testing, shots, antihistamines, steroids, etc., I decided to experiment with Daisy's diet – even though I was very skeptical and didn't believe it would actually help.
At our local pet-supply store, I told the manager I wanted to try feeding a grain-free kibble but didn't know which kind I should get. She recommended a brand I'd never heard of, Hi-Tek Naturals Grain-free. It's made right here in Georgia, has never had a product recall, and is more affordable than most of the other grain-free brands. The company's products have received favorable reviews on dogfoodadvisor.com.
I decided to buy a small bag of the Lamb & Sweet Potato grain-free formula. I figured it couldn't hurt to try it, and if it didn't help I could switch Daisy back to the Nutro Natural Choice.
For the first feeding, I gave her about half Nutro and half Hi-Tek. To my amazement, after just one day, Daisy's itching/scratching/shedding had greatly diminished – even though I was still feeding her some of the Nutro!
Within a week, she wasn't scratching at all.
There was also another benefit from the Hi-Tek that was completely unexpected. Daisy had been suffering from a sort of acid-reflux thing where if she went for more than 8 hours without eating, she would vomit yellow frothy stuff. This was happening on an almost daily basis. I would get home from work and before I could even give her any food, she'd start heaving.
But as soon as I started feeding the Hi-Tek, this symptom disappeared. Miraculously, there has been no vomiting at all in the past month!
Moreover, now that the hair loss has stopped, Daisy's undercoat has started growing in -- which is a relief to me, because I was worried about her getting too cold this winter.
So, to summarize: On the new food, my dog has a healthier coat and is no longer itching or throwing up. I never would have thought a change in diet could make this much difference, and I want to thank everyone in this forum who recommended that I try a grain-free food. Now that she feels better, Daisy was able to enjoy Christmas (she opens her own presents)!
 

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