Recently, Beanie’s been having what appeared to be an allergic reaction to… something. The skin on her legs, stomach, chest and snout became very itchy, and took on an angry shade of pink. Initially we kept it in check by using antihistamines and oatmeal baths, while we sought to eliminate possible irritants from her environment: carpet freshener, dust mites, pollen, grass etc.

Since food was also a possible cause, we changed her diet. She’s been on Burns Minibites since her early puppy days, and wanting to keep going with such a well-respected brand, we temporarily switched to Burns adult food – pork & potato – so she’d be getting completely different ingredients. She loved it, and wolfed down every bowlful. We switched to using the food for treats too, so pretty much the only thing she was eating (aside from the usual Beagle food snatching accidents)  was her kibble.

Despite our efforts, her symptoms got gradually worse over the next week. The vet sent away blood samples for analysis, while we struggled to see any kind of pattern to the problem. Grass/pollen didn’t seem to fit, as we saw no appreciable difference whether she was at the beach or running on freshly cut grass in the park. Carpet freshener didn’t seem to be the culprit either – we’d already washed any residue away. Finally, although you can never eradicate dust mites from a house, we must surely have reduced Beanie’s exposure to them by very regular vacuuming and excluding Beanie from our bedroom during the day. What was left?

The only thing that fit the pattern of escalating irritation was Beanie’s food. By eliminating the normal range of treats, we’d actually concentrated her exposure to it. Admittedly we’d changed to a different product, but it was from the same manufacturer. We contacted Burns to see if they had any ideas or experience of this, and when we told them the amount of food Beanie was getting each day, they suggested we were overfeeding her, and that the excess of food could manifest itself as skin problems rather than weight gain. On the Burns site we found the following statements:

I CAN’T BE OVERFEEDING BECAUSE MY DOG IS NOT OVERWEIGHT

NO!! Many pets which are overfed do not put on weight because they discharge the excess rather than store it as fat. This discharge of excess tends to occur in those pets which are physically active. It is the less active ones which become overweight.

And:

MY PET HAS DRY, FLAKY SKIN. DOES HE NEED MORE OIL IN HIS DIET?

No! Dry, flaky skin (dandruff or scurf) is a sign that there is an excess of waste matter in the system. It is not a sign that anything is lacking in the diet. The solution is to feed a high quality diet in smaller amounts. This will enable the body to eliminate the waste matter and the skin condition will then improve.

We didn’t fancy reducing Beanie’s food intake – she’s nice and lean as it is, and it sounded really strange that overfeeding could cause skin problems. The way I understand it, food shouldn’t work that way. If you eat more than you burn through growth or exercise, you get fat. I’m carrying about a stone of flab around at the moment as proof of that! But even this fit the pattern, because the skin problems had started when we’d increased her intake slightly, following advice largely from people involved in showing their Beagles.

At the weekend we ditched Burns in favor of WafCol. Literally overnight we saw a reduction in the pinkness of her skin. This morning it was pretty much back to normal, and although her itching hasn’t gone completely, it’s much reduced.

WafCol food is even more expensive than Burns, and is famed for being a food that can be tolerated by even the most sensitive dogs. My guess is that almost any other food would have done – the key was just to get her off Burns food. I’m not saying that Burns food is bad, in fact for a long time Beanie really thrived on it and stayed lean, which is very desirable from a health and growth point of view. However, I’m having doubts about whether it’s a good choice for Beagles. Beagles have an insatiable appetite – if something’s edible, then it MUST be eaten! The normal way to determine if a dog has been overfeeding is to test its fat levels. In Beanie’s case, that test didn’t apply. She didn’t put on flab from overfeeding, she just had a whole lot of skin trouble.

I guess there are a few lessons to be learned from this:

• On most Dog forums, when you write in for help with skin problems, the first thing you’re advised to do is try changing your dog’s food. At this point I’d have to say that seems like good advice!
• If you try changing your dog’s food, change the brand, not just the recipe.
• Just because a food is expensive and well regarded doesn’t mean it’s going to be good for your dog.

One of Beanie’s sisters – Bella – came along to the park this morning for an off-lead romp, but what started out as a little family reunion quickly turned into a full-scale meeting of the local hound Mafia.

Sophie aka “Scissors” was there first, looking much fitter now that her galastop medication is easing her out of her phantom pregnancy. She quickly got down to some full on mobster-style play with Beanie (“Runner Bean”), and earned an extra item on her already lengthy rap sheet: Assault with intent to consume an ear. In this case Beanie’s left lug. Being such a tough gangster Beanie didn’t press charges though (code of silence and all that).

When Bella “The Belle” joined the group she looked a little uneasy – this was probably the first time she’d seen such a gathering of canine miscreants.

But she soon learned to throw her weight around and earn her position in the pack.

Before long Tess “Big Momma” arrived, bringing the Beagle count to four, but Beagles weren’t the only hounds in this joint.

Polly “The Stare”

With so many mobsters around, you might think the human types would be smart enough to empty their pockets and surrender their treats immediately. Unfortunately that was not the case. One young man needed a little “persuasion”..

..and that was the last we saw of him.

Once the important business had concluded, Beanie and Bella had some quiet time together.

Bella’s certainly well named – she’s a really beautiful Beagle. But she’s not half as fast as our little sprinter!

I wrote recently about how lots of people at a recent Beagle Club event had thought Beanie was too thin, but her vet and many non-beagle owners (and us!) thought she was in great shape.

Well it seems now that Beanie might be eating too much!! :)

She weights 9.6 kg, and her weight hasn’t changed much for a couple of months. Although she has got a little bit bigger and consequently leaner. The vet said this is fine and normal – she’ll bulk up in her own good time. We decided a couple of weeks ago (when she was 9 months old) that as she was over the rapid growth stage that it was time to put her on adult food.

She’d previously been on Burns Mini Bites and eating the maximum amount advised for puppies of her size – about 8 ounces a day. We switched her to Burns Adult Kibble and the guidelines say a maximum of 4 ounces a day for a dog of her size – so half the amount of a less concentrated food. Clearly she’d need to stay on at least 8 ounces if she was to maintain her weight.

So for a couple of weeks now we’ve been giving her adult food at double the recommended amount and she’s not put on an ounce (well she put on a tiny bit then promptly went back to her normal weight). The really puzzling thing is, that when she was under 7 months and growing quickly she had the appetite of sparrow and rarely ate more than 3 or 4 ounces of mini-bites a day. Now that she’s stopped growing (and has been spayed) she’s eating more than twice the amount of food and is much leaner.

I was concerned that given her levels of activity (which are very high compared to other dogs we know) that we’d taken her off puppy food to soon. I decided to contact the Burns advice centre for advice, and sent them her vital statistics and some photos of her. Here’s what they had to say:

Your dog looks fantastic and we would not like to see her carrying anymore
weight. She is within the weight range for her breed and you cannot see her
ribs.

You should be able to feel the ribs and backbone easily and see a tucked in
waist.

We would recommend very gradually reducing the amount of food fed. This
should be done over perhaps a two month period. If you feel she is really
not satisfied on the adult food then the Canine Extra or High Energy Lamb
diets would be recommended but the volume would have to be reduced. As she
is under 12 months we would recommend around 150 grams per day.

Some dogs grow to be greedy and not hungry. My colleague’s dog would eat a
whole 15kg bag of food and still want more!

We would try and reduce the amount of food fed to your dog but would not try
to achieve weight gain; she looks fab as she is.

Interestingly, the Burns web site says the following in their FAQ (http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/frequently_asked_questions.htm#anchorover):

I CAN’T BE OVERFEEDING BECAUSE MY DOG IS NOT OVERWEIGHT

NO!! Many pets which are overfed do not put on weight because they discharge the excess rather than store it as fat. This discharge of excess tends to occur in those pets which are physically active. It is the less active ones which become overweight.

…and…

MY PET IS UNDERWEIGHT. SHOULD I FEED HIM MORE?

It is first necessary to establish if the pet really is underweight. There are so many overweight dogs that a fit, lean dog looks underweight. Forget what the charts and scales say. You should be able to feel the dog’s ribs with only a thin covering of skin. In a short-coated dog you should not be able to see the ribs and the bones should not be prominent. Many dogs are lean because they are active, not because they need more food. Often, increasing the food intake will reduce the efficiency of digestion so the dog may not put on weight.

Which sounds hard to believe, but I have to say that in Beanie’s case whether we feed her more or less her weight remains constant.

The FAQ also says:

MY PET HAS DRY, FLAKY SKIN. DOES HE NEED MORE OIL IN HIS DIET?

No! Dry, flaky skin (dandruff or scurf) is a sign that there is an excess of waste matter in the system. It is not a sign that anything is lacking in the diet. The solution is to feed a high quality diet in smaller amounts. This will enable the body to eliminate the waste matter and the skin condition will then improve.

Well Beanie’s coat is lovely and glossy, but she has been suffering from a mild ichy skin problem that we can’t seem to be able to connect to any allergen or irritant. The mild itching first started at around the time when her appetite increased and she started doubling the amount of food she eats. Then the little flare up of more intense itching occured when I started giving her yet more food because people had thought she was too thin. 

So in the last couple of weeks we were worrying about whether to feed her more, and now we’re worrying about whether to feed her less!!  But I think my first step will be to keep her overall food intake the same, but to feed her more frequent small meals. Then I’ll try cutting back a little and see if she maintains her weight.