My Basenji has HOT SPOTS is it really a food allergy?

[Bonnie]

My Basenji (Kona 7.1/2) years old have been suffering from what i think they call it HOT SOPTS ! She licks her self all day and bites her feet sometimes too.
She also scratched behind one ear.
After many vet visits and a dermatologist she has been on a wheat free, dairy free diet. Eating only exotic meats…rabbit, venison, lamb
Dry kibble mostly, then i ADD a little bit of Tuna to stir into it. Also just bought checks of frozen raw meat which he loves in her kibble as well.
Not sure she has food allergies thought...
Has anyone had this problem with their pet?

[MrBaRooampBitty]

A few years ago when we were into spitz type dogs, @ shiba Inu's and a Korean Jindo, all 3 were terribly bothered with hot spots. After many visits to the vet and vet dermatologists we talked to a Shiba breeder in Florida who aid that the best thing for them was an avocado based dry dog food, AvoDerm. We switched them over to baked avocado based kibble in the spring and that summer mthey did have hot spots but not nearly as bad as before. We kept them on AvoDerm from then on and the following summer none had hotspots, their coats were beautiful, and if you can believe it they no longer had any typical 'doggy' smell. When we got into Basenji's we stayed with the AvoDerm and all 3 of our B's have beautiful coats and smell sweeter. You might try it, we swear by it now.

[tanza]

Are you feeding "all grain free"? especially corn and beet pulp?

[stash]

Our Kaiser is feed a raw diet and only natural treats and had started to chew his feet and scratch his ears and lick lick his hernia(seemed to affect his skin where he is white and where he has no hair and it is pink skin which also came up with a few little lumps here and there), this started after we went to the dog park twice in one day, which has long grass which he just loves to bounce through, hadn't noticed it so bad until that day, other times he came back a little bright pink but it would go and there was no chewing and licking, I thought this was due to the heat and running around. Found we also had some wandering dew coming through from next door but that I had cleared through betadine soaks and this was cleared previously to the park incident and mainly affected the two front paws not all four like after the park and he didn't chew as much with the dew as well. To get him over the eating himself alive episode I gave him half a tablet twice a day of Histaclear which is the same as Razene and Zyrtec which are all allergy meds. and kept up the betadine soaks and he has cleared up after 2.5 days, now I will test him out at the park in the long grass will also have a good look to see if there is any wandering dew about and see if he reacts and then I will speak with our holistic vet as he is due for a titre and see what she thinks. So pretty much thinking he has a contact allergy any chance your basenji has come in contact with something similar.

Sorry wanderind dew also called wandering jew, wandering willie it has a few names, just search one or the other and you should get offending plants.

[Bonnie]

Thank you everyone for your kind replies on suggestions for Kona's (hot spots)
Last night i noticed that sneezes a lot while in our bed (Window always open near my bed)
So now i am thinking allergic to something perhaps environment or the cotton sheets or detergent.
I will keep her on a wheat free diet just incase.
I might just add the avocado (i also heard coconut oil)
And hope that this stops soon…i really don't want to have a scratch test done on her to see what she might be allgeric too, then shots 2x a month.
Rather give her a pill !

[eeeefarm]

No question they get contact allergies. My guy has a seasonal problem every fall, and I think it is a ragweed allergy, although he hasn't been tested. He gets a rash on his knuckles and belly. If I keep him out of the fields things generally improve. Sometimes he gets to wear the cone of shame for awhile, till the rash clears up. But he is also a compulsive groomer all year round. Lots of licking when he is in grooming mode, and some feet biting, but he never does any damage, and no rashes, so I don't worry about it. Possibly low grade allergic reaction to something, or just another quirky Basenji with cat like tendencies.

[YodelMa]

My youngster was losing his fur in patches last winter, I was convinced it was food allergies. My vet said it was likely a contact allergy. Sure enough,homemade organic food didn't help. Since I don't use any chemical household products (no cleaners, rug or room deoderizers, scented candles etc) I was mystified.

You need to become a detective to find the problem. In Sunny's case, the problem was a dust allergy: I moved his crate close to a heat vent so he wouldn't be cold! As soon as I moved his crate away from the vent his fur started to grow back. I moved to a house with wood heat this summer and he's been fine this winter.