[Jennifer L]

I have a six year old golden retriever that constantly has brown smelly wax oozing in his ears and scratches all the time. I hate that he is so uncomfortable…currently I am feeding him a salmon & sweet potato dry food by Eathborn called Coastal Catch. Looking to change his diet as I am afraid he has now developed a fish allergy and the starch in the sweet potatoes is feeding the yeast. Please help my baby!!

[Susan]

Hi, try a low carb diet with no potatoes or sweet potatoes, my boy gets real itchy stinky ears when he eats kibbles with sweet potatoes, I prefer kibbles with rice as a lot of the grainfree kibbles have either potatoes, sweet potatoes & peas that are very high in starch…. The Earthborn Grain free kibbles (Large breed, Meadow Feast, Great Plains) has no potatoes or sweet potatoes they use Tapioca instead but does have peas… have you looked at Freeze dry foods like K9 Natural http://www.k9natural.com/

[Jane E]

Have you taken your Golden to the vet and had the vet determine if it’s yeast or bacteria? His ears need to be treated effectively . True food allergies are not very common. It’s much more likely that the sweet potato (starch and sugar) is aggravating and feeding the yeasty ears IF that is what he is dealing with… I would look for a food without sweet potatoes and even one without potatoes altogether. Pure Vita has some nice foods,Fromm,Zignature. I would look for a single source protein (you may have success with a novel protein) and of course grain free.

[theBCnut]

It’s true that true food allergies are uncommon, but yeasty ears aren’t associated with true food allergies as much as they are with food hypersensitivities, which are an Ig response, just not the same Ig as true allergies, and also aren’t as rare as true food allergies.

[DogFoodie]

My Golden reacts to fish, among other things, and his ears immediately get yeasty when he eats any fish. My Golden doesn’t have any true allergies, but plenty of food intolerance / hyper-sensitivities. I’d look for a new limited ingredient food that is a different animal protein and binder and is as different as possible from what you’re feeding currently.

[InkedMarie]

A starting place would be my stickie in the Dog Food Ingredients forum here for grain & potato free foods. It id not up to date but a place to start. My yeast prone dog has had no problems since being on raw.

[Kristin S]

My great dane-shepherd mix has the SAME problem with having occasional yeast in his ears and having red itchy ears. I’ve taken him to the vet a couple times and they just dismiss the issue as not being serious. However, I hate the thought that my buddy might be uncomfortable and have itchy ears. I was recently told at a small boutique dog store to try no potatoes in addition to grain free. So, I am trying Earthborn GF Great Plains. He hasn’t been on it long enough to see results but I am really hoping for the best. The one thing I’m worried about, is that the Earthborn foods are vegetable based foods and not meat based. I’m thinking I should have him on a meat based food. Any ideas or recommedations?
Thanks!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Kristin S.

[Jennifer L]

Thank you for all the great ideas! I have decided to keep him on a fish based, grain free, and potato fee diet. It seems when the grain are pulled out the filler becomes starches which the yeast love. I have switched to Orijen…time will tell and I will keep you posted!

[Susan M]

I have had my Weim for four years and we’ve gone through so many dog foods trying to find one that doesn’t make her yeasty.we are now on Orijen Adult and she’s much better.

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