Does anyone have a dog with allergies?

[sncbird]

Our 9 year old Golden Retriever has had a history of licking and biting his paws, scratching, rubbing his eyes to the point he looks like a raccoon because he's rubbed all the hair off them and chronic ear infections. The last few years they would give us ear & eye drops and pills to help control his symptoms during bad flare ups. Now, he's like this all the time. His vet thinks he's allergic to his food and had put him on an IVD venicin (deer) and potato diet (dry food)for the next 12 weeks to see if this helps. Has anyone else have a dog with these symptoms and what did your vet do? Also, can you buy this stuff on-line? Our vet is charging us $35.00 a bag Plus we bought a few cans of the moist stuff to make meatballs out of them so he can have some treats. Thanks for your help

 

[doxdogy]

We have one that suffers from allergies and chronic ear flareups. When the skin allergies flare up, I switch him to home made food. I usually cook up chicken and brown rice. First I cook the chicken debone it, cook the rice with a little garlic in it and mix it together. Usually after having him on it for a week it will clear up. I also give him benadryl for the itching. Ask your vet how much to give him. For the ear flareups I just keep his ears clean and add some over the counter powder I bought at the pet supply store.

 

[Meriweather]

Mine wasn't allergic to food....but GRASS!!

It was terrible!

 

[cherylp3]

My dog has stomach allergies.
I have to be very careful what I feed.

I feed Wellness Fish and sweet potato food by Old mother hubbard. http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/dogs/wellness_detail.asp?pCode=dryDogSup5MixSwtPot

Nature's Recipe makes 2 allergy foods
http://www.naturesrecipe.heinzpetproducts.com/pages/dogproducts/allergy/

Links to buy on Petsmart
1 Venison (deer) and Rice
http://www.petsmart.com/dog/shopping/food_center/nature_s_recipe/products/product_7625.shtml
<br>
2. Vegetarian Canine Formula
http://www.petsmart.com/dog/shopping/food_center/nature_s_recipe/products/product_7602.shtml

 

[goofy4tink]

cherylp3.....how does the stomach allergy manifest itself?? Our 2 y/o golden spits up a lot and we have to give him Pepcid AC every day. It helps but it still happens a little. We are feeding Neuro Wellness Lamb and Rice kibble with some of the same canned. He gets benedryl (50 mgs) a day. Helps with his itching also. His ears aren't too bad. I've heard that after you get the ears cleared up, you can rinse them out once a week with an alcohol/vinager solution. It's the same as we use for swimmers ear. I have also found that if I give my golden one of the nylabones to chew on, he really licks at his paws and legs after using the nylabone. He actually holds the darn thing in his paws! Now he gets raw marrow bones. Much better with the licking.

 

[Muffin]

Sncbird, have you tried Petsmart and Petco for the special food?

My dog has a reaction to her yearly shots. After her second round we realized the connection. Now the vet has to give her a shot of something first to counter the swelling.

She also has a very sensitive stomach, I guess it could possibly be a stomach allergy. She throws up any kind of table food and dog snacks. She can only eat dry chicken and rice formula and Milk Bones.

Cherylp3, thanks for the links. I'll definitely check them out.

For those of you who mentioned giving your dog benadryl, is it a special dog benadryl or just regular OTC stuff from the drug store?

 

[Pembo]

We were told that our 8 yo golden retriever is probably allergic to his food. (Purina for overweight dogs for the last 4 years). He keeps banging his ears and then the flap fills up with blood and it has to be syringed out to the tune of $50+ each time! AUGH! In addition to the continuning ear infections.

The vet recommended food that is lamb and rice, so we're trying Purina's first because it is the cheapest.

Poor puppies!

 

[Disney Doll]

My dog has a wheat allergy. Of course, the majority of dog foods have wheat as their primary ingredient!!!! Prior to us figuring out that he was allergic to wheat, he would have a terrible rash all over his stomach. He'd go to the vet, be put on an antibiotic. As soon as the antibiotic was done, it would flare up again. The girla t the pet store where I bought his flea collars etc finally suggested putting him on a wheat free food. I started him on a food called California Natural, and he's had no problem since. Of course, it's like $35 for a 40 lb bag, but still cheaper than taking him to the vet once a month.

 

[cherylp3]

when my dog ( chow chow) was diagnosed with his stomach problem .(diarhea) <br>He was 6-8 months old, I had "rescued" him from someone who couldn't keep him and was feeding who knows what. After we adopted him we changed food. It was shortly after that that he was getting sick.(diarhea).

Our vet examined him and took an xray of his stomach, at that time the stomach lining was thicker than normal and inflamed.

The vet switched us to Science Diet I/D ( now sensitive stomach by Science Diet.)
We have definitely ruled that he can not tolerate chicken or rice.
A few years ago I was at a dog show and saw the wellness foods. I switched to them and no problems.

Goofy4tink: Did you use the flavored nylabones? Those caused problems for me. Check out Greenies at http://www.greenies.com/

 

[christineann]

My black lab was having terrible skin problems, so my vet suggested we switch him to lamb and rice dog food, and the problem cleared up almost immediately. I buy the storebrand dry dog food from the grocery store and from Walmart, and I also buy the "Moist and Meaty" in the lamb flavor.

 

[Nagle]

Glad to see it's not just my dog. We have a 4 year old Airedale Terrier who has a sensitive stomach and has summer allergies. We keep him on the food sold at the vet's office and during allergy season he got a prescription for "prednisone?". It sure stopped the CONSTANT licking and chewing of his paws.

 

[LuvTigger]

I have two dogs, my little dog sneezes everytime she lies on her back for a long period of time, I wonder if she's allergic to dust or anything getting into her nose?

As for my big dog...she has a host of problems. Her chin used to get all red, and our vet said she might be allergic to plastic. We changed her plastic food bowl to ceramic and now metal, and that seemed to cure her red chin.

Most recently, we noticed she'd be bloated (she's already overweight) and her stomach seemed really hard. She also had recurring diarrhea. Our vet recommended that we feed her rice and chicken noodle soup for a week and see if anything improved. It did improve, so our vet said it meant she was allergic to her dog food, so we're trying something else now.

 

[goofy4tink]

cherylp3....no, just the regular ones. But I will try the Greenies.
Nagle...we had a terrible problem with prednison. My golden was on it for itching (as was my previous golden: notice a trend?). His immune system was severly impacted. Got a blood/system wide infection. I know it has happened before to other dogs. Prednisone is used widely, with no side effects. Just telling you all this so you'll know if something ever happens while on it!! He got sores all over his poor little body.
As to the expensive foods, that's what we always have fed. It is cheaper than many trips to the vet. This dog doesn't go very often while our first golden was taking up residency at the vet's!! If they had charged us rent it would have been cheaper!!!

 

[LuvTigger]

One more thing, I have friends who swear by a product called Missing Link. I found this website that sells it:
http://www.naturalhealthdirect.com.au/shop/cat23_1.htm

It's a powder that you mix with your dogs food (it will stick to dry food too), and it's kind of like a supplement. It's kind of expensive, but I did notice results in my dogs, and they also seem to like to eat it. The first person who told me about it was giving it to his older dog and he noticed that the whiteness in the eyes (you know how that happens when they get older?) went away.

I mentioned it to my vet, and although she's never tried it on her dogs, she said many of her clients mentioned that they really think it helps their dogs in many ways.

 

[Nutsy]

sncbird you described our dog to a T!!

Our Cavalier does exaclty the same. He had been on cortosone tablets all his life to try & control the biting & licking & rubbing his chin. They kinda help. He has had that many bottles of ear drops it just isn't funny & at times it gets to the point where the ears are so bad, I give him a paracemetol tablet to help with the pain of it all.

He is now on a special medicated shampoo from the vet & this also is used for his ears. It works wonders for his ears. The feet, well they are another story. He is to stand in the stuff for a minimum of 10 mins, but there is not enough for him to stand in all that time. Gotta figure out some other way to get his feet wet & stay wet.

Good luck with your Pooch, we've had our little guy for 7 yrs now & even tho he has his allergies we would not part with him for the world.

 

[Gretel]

Our shiztu is allergic to grass too!!!!!

 

[zurgswife]

See Zurg.....Our dog isn't the only defective doggie around....

Smore has allergies and a constant "hair folical infection".....Fish and potato diet, steroids, antibotics.......I'm hoping that this last treatment of antibotics does the trick with the hair follic(sp) infection.....

Glad to hear other dogs cost their loving masters...big bucks.....

 

[LuvTigger]

Zurgswife,

Out of curiosity, what is a hair folical infection?

I was just wondering because my big doggy (the one that has other problems) has something kind of like dandruff in certain areas (esp. the lower back, above the tail). She also gets rash in her arm pits and leg pits, but not too bad, just a little red. Our vet told us to rinse her with a little bit of vinegar after her bath. (I'm not sure if that's for the rash or because she suffers from a slight body odor too!)

 

[sncbird]

You guys all sound like you truly love your dogs!! Our Golden (Jake) was on Iams - Lamb & Rice and still had problems. That's why the vet wants to change him to the venecin and potato food. He's still on Prednisone which makes him more hyper than normal as well as 2 types of ear drops. We had been wipping his ears with a baby wipes everyday and that seemed to help for awhile but he had another nasty ear infection. He's such a good dog. I hate seeing him licking and scratching all the time!! I guess this is a common trait in Goldens. Thank you all for replying to my post. I'm glad to see we're not the only ones with this problem. Too bad they don't have a Claritan or Zytex for dogs!!! He also goes to the doggie "spa" once a month for a oatmeal bath

 

[ahutton]

Our dog was also allergic to grass, specifically bermuda which was what everyone used on Phoenix. Now in Texas we have St. Augustine and she is doing great!!

Regarding the Benadryl - no special doggy kind - just the regular over the counter people stuff.