Hello - I saw a post on here stating that Nutro can cause irritation to Basenji's skin. Tika has been on Nutro forever, and the past 3 months, she has been itching A LOT. She is wearing her skin raw, and has bald patches from where she is scratching so much. I have tried fish oil, fish based food, keeping her from getting on the heater vent so much, changing her shampoo we bathe her with, and anything else I can think of, so I am beginning to think it is the Nutro. Any suggestions on which food I should switch her to? She is not a picky eater, at all. She does get a lot of exercise in the summer, so I want the food to be pretty high in protein for the next 8 months.
THANKS!
Do you know if Nutro changed the formula? This could be the problem. Which Nutro are you feeding. I would switch to a grain free food but stick with the same protein you are feeding now. Although most Lamb food is lower in protein and fat.
Has Tika had a complete thyroid test done recently? If not, I would have her tested.
She has been on a couple of different kinds of the Nutro - just dependent on her needs for the season. Right now she is on one high in fish, because I thought that may help… She is only 14 months old, we got her when she was 6 months old. She was completely current on all shots, had her tests done then, and everything looked great. About a month ago I took her to the vet, because she has a small hernia on her bellybutton. We also asked about the dry skin and itching. The vet put her on an antibiotic, thinking it may some kind of a bacterial irritant, but that did nothing. Other than the dry skin, she acts perfectly fine and normal. (as "normal" as a Basenji can be!)
I am on a new grain free food now. I recently switched to Erthborn Primitive Naturals. I have only found one problem with it so far. It is quite high in calories and now Medjai has too much energy for me, so I have to figure out how to exercise him more now.
Jibini was on Nutro from the time he was weaned until he was about 6 or 7. He did fine on it- I ultimately ended up feeing Nutro Ultra which worked better for him than MAX or Naturals….all was good until right around the time that Mars, Inc. acquired the company.
Wasn't long before both Jibini and Tana (whom I had just adopted at the time) both developed a long-lasting bout of diarrhea. I eliminated everything I could think of, including washing their paws & bellies after walks, thinking it may have been winter road salt aggrevating them. Put them on a diet of bland chicken/rice...and the diarrhea stopped. Back on the Nutro, and it came back. Clearly the food was the culprit!
Could have been a coincidence as far as the Mars, Inc acquisition; but I don't know. It was also right before the big pet food recall thing.
Anyway, did some trial & error to find a new food- Jibini did very well on Blue Buffalo up until recently- they DID do a minor formula change and it didn't agree with him- but I feel it is still a good quality food. His coat got a lot softer on Blue than it ever did on Nutro; his shedding & dandruff went way down. My mix Chloe never had a problem with the new formula; Jibini is 9 and it may just be his system developing intolerance to certain things. Tana does best on a grain-free food and I've foun Blue Wilderness (Blue Buffalo's grain-free formula) is the only grain-free that will keep a decent weight on her. It's a high protein food so if that's what your dog needs, you may want to check it out.
Blue's probably one of the most widely available "good" foods; which is another reason why I fed it for so long....I'm rural and my choices are limited!
I can't really speak for other brands- lots of people reccomend Orijen, Solid Gold, etc....which I'd love to try if they were available locally! Unfortunately I can only vouch for Blue Buffalo working for my dogs.
Good luck! 
Thanks - that is very helpful.
I second the Orijen suggestion, always liked it as a dry food.
There are loads and loads of strings on good grainless food for your B - with thorough though and discussion put into them. Just use the search box at the top.
I use Blue Buffalo and am very satisfied with it. It is a high quality food and is easier to find than most of the other high end foods. You can get it at PetSmart, Petco and Tractor Supply in addition to many independent pet shops and feed stores. Nutro puts menadione in all of its products, including cat food. For that reason alone I would switch.
I found a funny good thing about Medjai's new food. Now his poop looks like it came from a small cat. So tiny.
With blue buffalo, is there a real grain free version? I was told there wasn't yet, and I'm afraid about using the rest of the formulas. Which do you use/suggest?
I have been using Fromm Gold on my puppies and really like it. While I have ordered from the internet, there are some local pet stores (not the chain stores) that will carry or order it too.
I am a new member. Our basenji is "Bird"(Sukari-Jasiri Charlie Barker). He is 12 yrs old and doing well for his age. He used to get itchy skin, especially on his tail, where he would bite it until it was raw. We switched to AvoDerm lamb and rice. The itching stopped. We changed back to Nutro and it came back. We're free feeding AvoDerm now and his itching has stopped.
Hello, thebartsch! Welcome.
I was told that itching that starts from the tail/back and moves forward is usually flea bites. But if the itching stopped with a change of food, that's great too.
I realize this thread is slightly old, but those that feed Blue Buffalo should know about this:
