My dog is losing hair and itching like crazy...?

First of all there may be a few things possible here and the first thing that jumps out at me is the food change. First of all because he has been prone to itchy skin BUT this severe itching/scabbing has started about two weeks ago and the food change happened about two weeks ago. Thats the only common denominator I can see (the kitten came two months ago but this still only got worse two weeks ago when the food was changed and an allergy to a kitten would be VERY rare, none of the others have mites which makes that unlikley)

His normal GSD formula; Chicken (>20%), maize, rice, wheat, animal fat, poultry meal, dried beet pulp, chicken digest, dried whole egg, brewer's dried yeast, potassium chloride, sorghum, salt, fish oil, sodium hexametaphosphate, fructooligosaccharides, linseed, DL-methionine, glucosamine hydrochloride, chondroitin sulphate.

The adult Large breed formula; Chicken (>20%), maize, wheat, barley, sorghum, animal fat, fish meal, dried beet pulp, poultry meal, dried whole egg, brewer's dried yeast, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, linseed, DL-methionine, glucosamine HCl, chondroitin sulphate, salt, sodiumhexametaphosphate Additives per kg: Vitamin A: 12000 IU, Vitamin D3:900 IU, Vitamin E(á--tocopherol):100 mg, Copper as Copper II sulphate:25 mg, â-carotene:10 mg.

The new food has barley in it which his last food didn't. Thats a bit of a possible 'red flag' The new food has four fillers/grain products before the animal fat, thats more than what his last food had. Grain is a common source of this type of allergy. The old food had fish oils but not fish meal which the second does (you would think since they both come from fish...but a change in form can cause issues for some sensitive dogs, he is used to more poultry than fish, since the first ingredient is not meal this has been 'measured on a wet matter basis' meaning that chicken actually is way down on the list, down further than the poultry/fish meal so thats a big change that also means the grain thing is a bigger issue...) I would seriously try to get him on his old food for a few weeks if possible before taking him to the vet and give him antihistamines to help ease the itching so it dosn't become too much of a habit. If it eases off then you know what the problem is. If it was mites then it would be highly likley that the other dog would have them too. The only way to know if its mites is a skin scraping sample to be looked at by the vet but since the cells that show for mites are also the same ones that show for an allergy, the best outcome is that you will be told to give him and all your pets a treatment for mites regularly and change his food back ASAP. Use Advocate, this is the product in this link; http://www.bayeranimal.com.au/default.aspx?page=50...

Give him 4mg chlorphenamine maleate (you can buy this from the vet or from the drug store/chemist, depending where you are it may be called Piriton) in the morning, afternoon and evening and change his food back and he will more than likley be fine in about three weeks if not sooner, gradually lower the dose of anti-histamine (Piriton) and wean him off it. He should be fine from then on.

I realise the thinking behind adding olive oil to his food but this will not help. If you are going to add an oil use something that is digestible and act as an anti-inflamatory such as salmon oil.

Since he is prone to itchy skin anyway, I would actually consider feeding him a gluten free food with far less grain/cereals and a higher meal content.

ADDED; The Advocate is available from/through most vets if you cant get it online, unlikley you will get it in a pet store. This treats against fleas, ticks, mites/mange, worms etc so can rule out a flea allergy too. This definatley sounds more like a food sensitivity and or an environmental allergy (seems like food though), than anything else. If you do all this first, he should be fine in which case you know what the problem is, if not then you can at least rule a lot out and tell the vet so they have a smaller group of things to look at testing him for as that would be their 'protocol' order to start with anyway. Feel him over regularly, if he starts developing cysts then it may be worth going for a single carb, single (white meat) protein source food for him.

Sorry thats a bit long but thought it better to go into more detail so you can see why I'm recomending what I am.

So many different things could be causing this. Mange, fleas, skin allergies, food allergies, dermatitis....

My guess would be a food allergy as this coincides with a switch of the food. I would try a grain free food and see if that helps. A visit to the vet would be a good idea to at least get something that you can apply to ease the itch while you try various remedies.

my dog has the same problem..her issue is that she is allergic to fleas..you should see ur dogs vet about it..its not too serious but you may have to use a certain cream the ver perscribes u...

hope this helped

it very well could be mange go to tha vet cause it could spread to ur other animals or it may be allergies either way he needs to go to tha vet