Food Allergies and Intolerances in Fox Terriers.
Wire Fox Terrier Itching, Scratching and Paw Licking (The Itchies).
We have Six Fox Terriers in our family and have occasionally bred from them, over time we’ve become very familiar with the breed. As a pedigree dog they have relatively few issues compared with most other breeds. I put this down to their fall from popularity after the thirties, so over the last seven decades they have not been intensively bred (inbred) like some other pedigrees.
However one issue has popped up a couple of times for us and is often incorrectly diagnosed.
Sore red and bleeding bellies through licking and biting, scratching of the arm pits and constant paw licking can sometimes be seen in these dogs. We have found most vets would tend to treat this behaviour with antibiotics, cortisone (steroid) creams and other drug related methods. However having had one FT with an intolerance to chicken, which is often recommended if a dog has an upset or sensitive stomach, we were aware that the norm is not always correct when dealing with Fox Terriers.
After many sore bellies and armpits with our next dog, we slowly realised he had a strong reaction to beef and a lesser one to chicken. Our Vet suggested we tried an intolerance test (York Test) that will diagnose food intolerances in dogs. Even though I was a little cynical (it’s also very expensive) we gave it a try. However the results completely matched what had taken us six months to work out by trial and error through exclusion diets, and also added many more to the list duck, lamb etc.
The only meat he can eat with no reaction is pork and fish. This has produced a 100% success with regards to paw licking and scratching. The only time he has had the itchies since is when other well meaning people have given him dog biscuits (contains meat proteins) and burgers, steaks etc at BBQ’s.
As you can’t seem to buy pork dog food (because of cheap sausages?) we cook for him and supplement his diet with ‘Royal Canin Vetenary Diet Hypoallergenic’ which he will eat and agrees with him. Some other anti-allergen dog food contains untreated meat proteins from various animals so can potentially still be a problem depending on your dog.
I hope this information is of use to all terrier owners.