one more dog related thread: allergies

[Deleted]

If your dogs have allergies, what are they allergic to and are they on any medication?

We have initially suspected food allergies on one of the dogs. We have switched foods, tried different proteins, and even limited ingredient food. We finally found one that made her itch a lot less. She does not get any more treats, table food (I know, I can't help it!), etc. The next step would have been the prescription/hydrolyzed food but apparently one has to be super vigilant that she does not get anything else but that. Since the baby is starting to eat regular food and is constantly dropping food on the floor, spitting up, whatever, we did not want to go that route. Also her itching is way less than it was in the beginning. 

The thing is on some days/stretch of days she suddenly itches a bit more, those days I give her Benadryl per the vets advise. I am now suspecting environmental allergies on top of some food allergies. We are planning to get her allergy tested but we want to get the very long distance moving plans settled first to see if we will do it before or after the move. I sort of want her to be on allergy meds even without the test but I don't know if that is okay. 

[nomad100]

Our Willow is allergic to corn and is sensitive to wheat.

When we got her from the rescue, her feet, ears and nose were pink and warm to the touch and she was an itchy mess. So, based on what I read on here, we immediately switched her to a grain free food to see if that made any difference. We fed Costco's Salmon and Sweet potato dog food. Everything cleared right up and she hasn't had any issues since. Now we alternate between the salmon and turkey varieties. She does not like the new beef variety.

Regarding the wheat. We try to avoid it because she seems to get bad (I mean room clearing bad) gas whenever she has a treat with grain in it. Since we don't want to be gassed out of our own home, we avoid wheat.

[VeryViolet]

I don't give Tucker chicken because it seems to help with his ear infections when he doesn't get it. I also feed grain free but not because of allergies.

He also gets seasonal allergies and benadryl seems to provide enough relief most of the time. However, the antihistimine we get from the vet does work better when it is really bad in the spring. It might be worth looking into something other than benadryl because I have heard that it doesn't always work for every dog.

[Deleted]

Mar 7, 2014 12:34:22 GMT -5 VeryViolet said:

I don't give Tucker chicken because it seems to help with his ear infections when he doesn't get it. I also feed grain free but not because of allergies.

He also gets seasonal allergies and benadryl seems to provide enough relief most of the time. However, the antihistimine we get from the vet does work better when it is really bad in the spring. It might be worth looking into something other than benadryl because I have heard that it doesn't always work for every dog.

I was wondering this about the benadryl because I still caught her itching 2-3 hrs after the benadryl. I will bring this up with the vet and see if we can get a diff one. The funny thing is that when I first gave it to her using the pill pockets she started itching MORE! She is crazy allergic to the pill pockets. Cheese gives her very bad gas but it is the only thing I can wrap around the pills to make her swallow them whole, I just use as little as I possibly can.

[VeryViolet]

Mar 7, 2014 12:39:05 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

Mar 7, 2014 12:34:22 GMT -5 VeryViolet said:

I don't give Tucker chicken because it seems to help with his ear infections when he doesn't get it. I also feed grain free but not because of allergies.

He also gets seasonal allergies and benadryl seems to provide enough relief most of the time. However, the antihistimine we get from the vet does work better when it is really bad in the spring. It might be worth looking into something other than benadryl because I have heard that it doesn't always work for every dog.

I was wondering this about the benadryl because I still caught her itching 2-3 hrs after the benadryl. I will bring this up with the vet and see if we can get a diff one. The funny thing is that when I first gave it to her using the pill pockets she started itching MORE! She is crazy allergic to the pill pockets. Cheese gives her very bad gas but it is the only thing I can wrap around the pills to make her swallow them whole, I just use as little as I possibly can.

I will tell you what we get from the vet is $$$ which sucks. We are lucky though because there are only maybe 3 weeks or a month in the spring where he needs it. 

[hokiegirl82]

Our black lab is highly allergic to just about everything outside, and dust mites inside. We adopted her at 2 years old, and the first year we had her we dealt with the constant itching, runny eyes, bald spots, etc. After she got a staph infection on her mouth from rubbing her face on the carpet, we had the vet do a full checkup on her. They said taking her to a dog dermatologist would probably be helpful, but first they put us on a very expensive diet to see if it was food allergies. After 4 months of spending hundreds on their special food and having no change in her itchiness at all, we took her to a dog dermatologist who did a full panel allergy test (with shaving her side and giving her about 50 shots with different allergens). That's how we found out she is extremely allergic to everything outside. She has been on a specially formulated allergy shot for the past 4 years - she gets a shot every 3 weeks, and the dermatologist sends us a year supply at the beginning of every year.

She still has itchy episodes where we put her on a steriod, but she is about 75% better than she was before we got the allergy testing done. She can eat whatever she wants - she is not affected by food at all.

I would get the allergy testing done as soon as you can if possible - I hate that we wasted so much money at the regular vet on their special food when we should have just gone to the dermatologist in the first place.

[megstoo]

My cocker spaniel has allergies like you wouldn't believe. It was the constant scratching, rubbing her mouth along carpet, hot spots etc.

We did vet food but it was so pricey so I started playing around with other foods. Through trial and error we learned she's allergic to anything poulty related. No chicken, no turkey. We started using Blue Basics (salmon) since it's limited ingredient and it's seemed to help. She still scrathes but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. Had we not found something I was going to do the allergy testing but hesitated because of how pricey it was.

The other we do on a regular basis is steam clean the carpet. It sounded dumb when my vet recommended it but anything she brings in from outside, or dust etc will take up residence in the carpet fibers. She also gets benedryl to deal with the seasonal allergies (mold outside).

[Deleted]

Mar 7, 2014 12:44:01 GMT -5 hokiegirl82 said:

Our black lab is highly allergic to just about everything outside, and dust mites inside. We adopted her at 2 years old, and the first year we had her we dealt with the constant itching, runny eyes, bald spots, etc. After she got a staph infection on her mouth from rubbing her face on the carpet, we had the vet do a full checkup on her. They said taking her to a dog dermatologist would probably be helpful, but first they put us on a very expensive diet to see if it was food allergies. After 4 months of spending hundreds on their special food and having no change in her itchiness at all, we took her to a dog dermatologist who did a full panel allergy test (with shaving her side and giving her about 50 shots with different allergens). That's how we found out she is extremely allergic to everything outside. She has been on a specially formulated allergy shot for the past 4 years - she gets a shot every 3 weeks, and the dermatologist sends us a year supply at the beginning of every year.

She still has itchy episodes where we put her on a steriod, but she is about 75% better than she was before we got the allergy testing done. She can eat whatever she wants - she is not affected by food at all.

I would get the allergy testing done as soon as you can if possible - I hate that we wasted so much money at the regular vet on their special food when we should have just gone to the dermatologist in the first place.

Thank you for this! Thankfully her itching is not so extreme. She sort of chews on her front paw pads and nothing else. But never to a point of it getting bloody/bald spots its just seems a little pink on bad days, never hot spots. She would do that maybe 8-10 times throughout the day (some days more). Since the food change, it has been down to maybe 2-3, sometimes I never see her chew (I SAH and she is like my shadow so it is easy to monitor her that way). When the baby started eating puffs we noticed the chewing increases a few days later so we stopped giving him puffs because he lots sharing them with the dogs! ugh! We may be doing big move where she has to be on a plane (s) and the whole sides being shaved, I am not sure how she will take it. The move is in a couple months so I think we may just do it when we get there and have a new vet. 

[sake]

Cosmo is allergic to chicken and lamb based dog foods. She can have actual chicken, but not chicken based food. She is on a fish based food (one protein source, wellness white fish and sweet potato) and she has done great on that. Chicken based foods make her throw up, and if she eats one meal of lamb based food, she gets terrible ear infections that are awful to get rid of.
She also has some seasonal allergies, to trees and grass at my parents house. She gets beanery for that when needed, but since she isn't there often, we only treat her when needed for those.

Doby's stomach doesn't do well on the fish based food, so he eats wellness chicken based food now, and we just have to make sure we pick it up when he's done eating so that cosmo can't get to it.

[trixie12]

My dog has pretty bad allergies as well. He would get frequent ear infections that would never clear up, hotspots, and he would chew his front paws constantly.

The vet recommended a protein change and also Benadryl. We ultimately ended up on a salmon based dog food. He has not had an ear infection since and he rarely chews his paws now. Oh, and no hotspots.

We were buying Pulsar Salmon dog food at $65 a bag, but we've found a cheaper alternative (Pure Balance) that's been working just as well for $35 a bag.

Hope your dog feels better!