puppy food?

my corgi puppy is three months old. She is missing hair on top of her head around the ear area. She has also been have wax in her ears alot. I have to clean them out about every four days. When I took her to the vet she said she may have a food allergy and asked me what I was feeding her. I said Natural Ballance. This product is a all natural no grain product. If this food is doing this I'm not sure what to feed her? Has anyone else had this happen?

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Comment by Jane Christensen on June 12, 2011 at 8:34am: She might have yeast or mites in her ears , have you had the vet check? We just went through this with yeast at my house and we had to treat longer than normal. How are you cleaning them? The reason I am asking is the wash is better as you don't want to shove the dirt or whatever farther down in the ears. Can't comment on the hair missing.

Comment by Julia on June 12, 2011 at 1:26am: If the problem is indeed a food allergy, and it may not be, remember that you can be allergic to anything. Some foods are just more likely to cause allergies than others. For example, corn is a common allergen, meaning that many dogs and people with food allergies are allergic to corn. Other foods are less likely to cause allergies, such as beef or apples, but it still can happen. So you need to try eliminating many different foods to find the culprit. A good quality dog food can contain lots of good quality ingredients, but some of those ingredients could cause allergies.

Don't be too quick to blame food allergies. They are rarer than thought. Have you worked with your vet to eliminate other causes? Fungal? Contact dermatitis? Mites or flea allergy? I stress this because if you have already eliminated grains from her diet, a true elimination diet is time consuming and difficult to do with dog food. If you want specifics on how to do this diet, I'd be glad to explain it. (I've spent way too much of my life doing this :))

Comment by Melissa and Franklin! on June 12, 2011 at 1:18am: did they do a skin scrape or ear cytology? Its possible she has an ear infection and being a puppy may possibly have demodex, a type of mite that can cause hair loss and is most common in puppies. Franklin had dirty ears all the time (and usually still does) and never had an infection or allergies, it was mostly just form the ears being so darn big! Also, MOST food allergies are not from grain/corn but rather from the protein source (i.e. chicken, beef, etc). Try switching the protein source and see if that doesn't help if the vet thinks it may be a food allergy.