Accepted Answer

The thing to do is cross check ingredients between the two foods.

The Royal Canin ingredients list can be found here

http://tinyurl.com/yl8pg67

"Ingredients:

ROYAL CANIN Veterinary Diet® canine OSTEO & DIGEST OD^TM 23 LARGE BREED ADULT dryChicken meal, rice, brown rice, chicken fat, wheat gluten, barley, oatmeal, natural flavors, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), anchovy oil (source of EPA/DHA), soya oil, sodium silico aluminate, dried brewers yeast, potassium chloride, psyllium seed husk, dried egg product, ..."

So it doesn't look like its new ingredients in the new food that are an issue. Dogs do typically react to ingredients they are exposed to all the time but she is a bit young for food allergies to show.

If her bed is a cedar bed some dogs react poorly to cedar oils.

If you are using a new carpet cleaner or floor cleaner that could cause something like this too.

I am hearing from some people that Frontline is not working as well as usual with this years crop of fleas and ticks in some areas. It may be you are dealing with a tick carried disease, or a reaction to a flea bite.

What you describe could be allergies but it might also be something such as mange mites which you can read about here

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_sarcoptic_mange.html

Or a skin infection with ringworm

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ringworm.html

or a bacterial skin infection

http://www.e-doc.co.za/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=396

You can read about allergies and dermatitis in dogs here

http://www.lbah.com/allergy.htm

http://www.priory.com/vet/vetatop1.htm

You can try a Chlorhexiderm shampoo from the pet supply store in case the problem is a bacterial skin infection. Malaseb is another good one to eliminate yeast from the skin. Follow directions on the bottles if you try one.

Dogs can have low thyroid level issues and that can trigger skin allergies. The vet can check for that with a blood test.

You can also try cleaning the areas with Betadine iodine solution and applying some plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic ointment to the sore spots to see if that clears them up.

But I'd suggest a vet visit to have the area checked for mites or fungus and to see if you need oral antibiotics to clear this up.

Hope this helps you!

Expert:	NancyH
Pos. Feedback:	99.5 %
Accepts:
Answered:	11/5/2009

Dog Expert:Rescue, Train,Breed,Care

30+ yrs dog home vet care & nursing, rescue, behavior&training, responsible show breeding, genetics