Doggie Allergies?

[Octoberbride03]

I am wondering who has dogs with allergies here. And what do you use to treat them?

My Onlsow has all the classic symptoms for them and we have tried Derma Caps and Hydroxycine for doggies, but they don't really help over much. Switched diets from Nutro to Diamond and that actually has helped as he really doesn't need the furniture to scratch his back anymore. But he still licks his paws all the time and a rubs his face and body against walls at times.

So i am looking for suggestions. I'm debating on taking him to a doggie dermatologist, but not really sure if its worth it. He doesn't seem to mind his behavior, but i am worried about the pads on his feet, I know he needs them.

So please tell me what you do for your doggies.

TIA

 

[luvwinnie]

I could write a book about what we went through with our Hooch and his severe allergies. I would DEFINITELY see a dermatologist and honestly, what helped Hooch was an integrative vet...prednisone made him aggressive even though it helped and we had tried everything else at that point to no avail.

A few tips: Dogs can be allergic to dust mites...vacuum like crazy and get air purifiers for the house, wash his bedding often in detergent with NO fragrance/no dyes (Arm& Hammer is good)...do not use anything with fragrance, such as Febreeze, etc on anything he touches. Bathe often with an oatmeal shampoo, put a t-shirt on him to limit the pollen on him, wash his feet after touching grass. Add fish oil to his diet.

 

[robinb]

What breed is your dog? Are allergies common in the breed? My current dog does not have any allergies, but my Japanese Akita did. We had to put her on an elimination diet and then add different foods back one by one. She was allergic to beef.

I have a friend who has a cream colored Goldendoodle and he chewed the heck out of his paws. They were all brown and icky. She treated his paws with Itchy Dog by Omega Paw and it went away .

 

[usnuzuloose]

I use Benadryl for one of mine. You give them 1 mg per there weight. My one weighs 15 lbs so I give her a half a tablet. The doctor said I could give her a half 3 times a day. She still itches and bites but it is better, it takes a while to build up in the system. My other one is on steroids, but he gets a little worse. Check with the vet and find out how much benadryl your little one can take.

 

[Octoberbride03]

He is Lhasa Apso mix. And from reading a few things over the past couple of weeks it looks like allergies are common for his breed. He is about 25lbs and that stays pretty consistent for him.

 

[EMom]

I'm sorry about the doggy, but I can't help but laugh at his name. Does he live in a car, by chance?

 

[disneycruising]

Have you thought about doing home cooking for him? He might be allergic to something in the food.

My dog does not have skin allergies, but did have a on going ear infection for a few years. We switched his food to 'home cooking' and his ear cleared it up. He has not had an ear infection in 2 years.

 

[Starshine]

I'm also a big fan of an all natural diet. We switched our Dalmatian to The Honest Kitchen food which is dehydrated human grade food. You just add warm water and let it soak for 10 or 15 minutes before feeding. He loves it and it cleared up a multitude of problems including allergies.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I'm also a big fan of an all natural diet. We switched our Dalmatian to The Honest Kitchen food which is dehydrated human grade food. You just add warm water and let it soak for 10 or 15 minutes before feeding. He loves it and it cleared up a multitude of problems including allergies.

Just visited the website, and as good as it sounds I think this is out of our doggie budget. Even though he is small and doesn't eat as much as a Lab does, For us to get this it would mean close to 40 mile drive round trip and starts at $55 a box. Even at translating into 40lbs of actual food, that is still twice as much as we are paying now for the Diamond food. And then you add the gas bill and wow.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I'm sorry about the doggy, but I can't help but laugh at his name. Does he live in a car, by chance?

NO he doesn't, he also refuses to wear the F&H hat. But his general scruffiness, lounging, and lack of shirts means he can keep his name

Good catch

 

[puffkin]

My beagle had chronic ear infections. He also would lick the carpet constantly and chew/lick his paws. He has been on Chlortabs (generic walmart allergy medicine) for years. He takes one in the morning and one at night. They are $2.76 for a bottle of 100. That helped a lot as well as diagnosing a thyroid condition. He still chews on his paws on occassion...but no more carpet licking and he hasn't had an ear infection in about 3 years now.

They also have allergy blood tests now. We actually went through that with my cat who had severe gastro-intestinal issues and was literally on deaths doorstep. It was about $200 for the test, but they sent back a complete profile that showed us what she was testing allergic to and it allowed us to find food (very few things, but some) that are safe for her. It has made a huge difference in her. So don't rule out allergy testing...it is fairly new but it made a huge difference for our cat.

 

[marcyinPA]

Ours (a male Corgi) has spring allergies. He licks his paws constantly, until they are red and raw on the pads. We have a spray that we use from the vet. Let me see if I can find the name of it and I will post later- I need to get going!

 

[Ephany]

My lab has chronic ear infections and she licks/scratches. We did a 6 month food trial ($70 a bag ) and it didn't help a bit. We then put her on generic benedryl, but that made her itching worse so she's now on generic zyrtec. It's about $12 for a years supply at Costco; we only started a week ago, but I hope it helps. The pollen count is record high here and she's been miserable.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Ughh. Baxter has allergies and the constant scratching drove us crazy!!! We switched his food to an Iams Sensitive and Natural food with Fish... and he's been 100% better!! No scratching!! Unfortunately since the food swap he has the worst gas a little Yorkie can have

I tried every kind of bath and spray... and the food switch seemed to help the best. At least we can sleep now that he's not clawing our back and making noise.

 

[KimR]

We gave our dog allergy shots. It was years ago, so I don't remember how often we had to do it, but it did work.

 

[Pre]

My bichon is allergic to chicken. When he came home from the shelter (i adopted him) his paws were all brown, he licked everywhere and he sneezed like crazy! I went to my local mom and pop pet store and they suggested taking him off chicken. It worked and he eats taste of the wild dog food. It's affordable and they have lamb,chicken,fish,and beef varieties. They are also grain free.
Try talking to a pet store employee, they may know something about dog allergies in your area.

 

[EMom]

NO he doesn't, he also refuses to wear the F&H hat. But his general scruffiness, lounging, and lack of shirts means he can keep his name

Good catch

Several years ago, I was visiting a friend in a small English town. DD5 and I were walking into town and passed by a rather disheveled looking house with all sorts of ....crap.....laying about the lawn. There was a decrepit car parked by the house and when I looked closely, a cat had taken up residence INSIDE the car. I LMAO, took a picture and sent it to my sister, who is also a fan of Keeping Up Appearances. The email was entitled something like, "I found the home of Onslow's feline-loving cousin".

I looked for that cat every time I passed the house. It OWNED that car.

 

[bballmom56]

We have a St. Bernard who would go through seasonal scratching, ear problems and hair falling out by the handfuls. Her skin would be red and irritated. We tried the elimination diet and had her on just a lamb and rice natural food. She would still get the symptoms seasonally. We had her on predisone twice (it worked but there were side effects, and you shouldn't use it long term anyway), antihistamines (that really didn't work 100%), and would be at the vet's routinely for her problems.

I had always had her on a joint supplement from Springtime, Inc. I read about one of their other products, Fresh Factors, that was supposed to help her skin and coat as well as having the joint health properties. I gave it a try and she has never had the seasonal problems again. It is amazing. And we don't have to give her a special diet - she seems able to eat most things now. And she loves the Fresh Factors tablets, so it's like a treat for her.

 

[ElaineMarch]

Spencer is a retriever mix and weighs about 100 lbs. I have had the allergy testing done on him and he is allergic to pork, rabbit, dust mites and a variety of trees, grasses, weeds and molds. He eats prescription allergy dog food which is about $80 for 25 lbs. I give him allergy shots every 3 weeks.

He also gets 5 zyrtec and up to 12 benedryl a day. This winter has been hard because it was so warm there were molds outside all the time. Winter usually lets me stop the zyrtec and benedryl, but he has needed all 5 zyrtec and 12 benedryl everyday. He tried a variety of antihistamines and this worked the best.

We also took out all the carpet in the house due to the dust mite allergy.

With all of the above you would think he would be dopey and tired but he is still very active. He continues to lick his feet alot and chew them occasionally. Without the meds he really chews the paws and will rip the fur out from the bottoms of his feet and chew and pull on his nails.

He still infrequently needs steroids to get the itching under control and gets infrequent ear infections too.

He is on the couch licking his foot right now.

This is expensive, but we love him and want him to be as comfortable as possible. Good luck with your pooch.

 

[Starshine]

Just visited the website, and as good as it sounds I think this is out of our doggie budget. Even though he is small and doesn't eat as much as a Lab does, For us to get this it would mean close to 40 mile drive round trip and starts at $55 a box. Even at translating into 40lbs of actual food, that is still twice as much as we are paying now for the Diamond food. And then you add the gas bill and wow.

Yeah, I completely understand, unfortunately it is pricey. We don't have anywhere close enough to drive for it, we just order it online at SitStay or Wag. Wag is always free shipping over $49 and SitStay has a 10% discount every Tuesday which almost covers the shipping. Our dog was on prescription U/D food before, which was really expensive too so the price difference was pretty much negligible for us. The 10lb box of Keen is around $50 or $55, which as you said equates to a 40lb bag of regular food whereas the U/D was around $50 for a 30 or 35lb bag. And the U/D was full of chemicals, his coat and skin were a mess, he was overweight, he had really soft stools, and he would throw up a lot. He's lost 15 pounds with no other changes on our part!
And the running joke in our house after the switch is now his poop doesn't stink! (Really it doesn't, it's amazing ).