zayda_asher

You've gotta laugh at something or you'd go nuts... :rolleyes:

Don't you find the grass cuts distressing?? :rolleyes:

:rolleyes: Well that is lucky! Like anything some people find it just doesn't work for them or their dogs. My dogs are around the 23 and 30 kilo mark and take 4 salmon oil caps (each 180 mg EPA) a day. They could quite easily take more if needed. The research in people has show that the levels needed are quite high, to the point where some people have had troubles taking as much as needed... So they tend to try for as high a dose as possible and see if it helps. Some people also find that Evening Primrose Oil helps (GLA), but again it doesn't work for everyone (I found it didn't make a difference for us).

The reason omega 3 EFAs are used for allergies is because they help to reduce the inflamation in the system due to the histamine response in the mast cells. The levels needed for this to ocurr are much higher than what are needed for improving coat shine / condition and definitely much higher than are in commercial foods. So whilst it is working for you to improve coat, it is most likely not working at a theraputic level to reduce inflamation and, therefore, itching. :rolleyes: However, the sardines etc. in the diet will certainly improve that. Whilst many of us with allergic dogs do feed fish we also use a daily high dose Omega 3 EFA supplement to ensure that they are getting a high enough dose to help reduce their itching on some level. Hope that helps clarify a bit more what I meant

Look for a reaction to the antihistamines too because some dogs will become drowsy and dopey like people do! Different ones will effect them differently. Re: the fish oil in the proplan. The amount of fish oils in foods is no where near enough to constitute a theraputic dose for itching, as Tash says its much better to give the supplement directly, a dog BC sized could have at least 3 caps a day (you might want to build up to that amount of oil though if they are not used to it). The other thing with the oils in foods is that it is usually rendered useless (and rancid) but the high tempratures of the extrusion process, so its not much more than a marketing ploy for the companies! RE: the rash on the GSD two things come to mind: 1) Do you know what she is actually allergic to (i.e.: has she been tested?), if you look at the other thread Tash referred you to you will see an explaination on why this is important. 2) Are the welts like little pimples, crusty and oozy once they burst? It is possible from your discription that she has a secondary Staph skin infection. If this is the case and its bad then she may need a course of antibiotics. The vet can test her skin for the presence of Staph bacteria. Staph Bacteria are notoriously resistant and a strong infection on the skin will need a course of at least 30 days duration (I recommend probiotics whilst undergoing this). Once you have done this to break the cycle you can try using some of the other methods mentioned in the other thread to control her allergies. If its not Staph and "only" that her skin is inflamed you can try some of the other methods before she develops a secondary skin infection! Good luck Dan

Yeah, they are all great ideas! I've done various combinations of those with my guys... and this reminded me of another thing. Zayda gets REALLY gunky eyes with the mould allergy and we use antihistamine eye drops called Patanol (they are actually human ones and if any of you guys suffer these are THE BEST eye drops I have ever used!) as well. I know if its a damp/humid or very cold day she will probably need drops. ;)

Awwww! No problems... I hope some of it helps... look forward to hearing from you... Zayda and Asher send big kisses and waggly bully butt wiggles! Hugs to you and Raf

Have you established that she has allergies? I think the single most important thing you can do is see a dermatologist, establish that it is allergies (there are a lot of things that cause itchy skin) and then have the allergy testing done to find out what she is allergic to. You can't begin to successfully control allergies (there's no cure) if you don't know what is causing them. That can even be allergic to the things we use to try and improve their skin (such as the emu or fish oil). My boy is allergic to Tea tree, Daisies / Dandelions and Yellow Dock... all of these things are used in preparations for skin and other healing treatments... If I was using them unknowingly because they are "good for skin" I would be making his skin a lot worse! So if we don't know what the allergies are we can be making them unintentionally worse. There is no one essential treatment because each dog is individual in their symptoms, what they are allergic to and what will work for them. ETA: You'd Probably know too that Staffords are prone to allergies (so its quite possible she is)? Atopic (air born) allergies (its thought all, but has only been proven with Atopic) are an inheritable condition... So that's another good reason to see a Derm and make sure it is or isn't allergies. Good luck with her.

Hi... sorry to hear you and Raf are still having so many problems (sorry I never PMd you... problems at this end too <sigh>)... Some of the things that have helped our guys (and I'm sure you're doing some of this): 1) Regular baths, even twice a week if needed. But not with medicated shampoo, colloidal oatmeal works better... However his skin is pretty good isn't it, so that might not apply. 2) Asher does excellent with a daily oral dose of 1000mg of Pau D'arco (is a natural antimacrobial) and then I use it as a tea rinse when he breaks out on his skin. This can be used in the ears. 3) Grapefruit Seed Extract in their food, 1 drop per 5 kilos. This is also an antimacrobial and can be diluted for use on the skin (prolly again no use for Raf). Its also an antiparasitical. 4) Dermotic and antibiotics for ears when they get really bad 5) Some homeopathic remedies like Sulfur really help with the itching (surely there would be something for ear infections) Also if you can I'd get rid of all your grass and get it paved... even getting rid of most of your plants if you have any he is allergic to in the yard (understand this is problematic if you are renting). Does he have mould allergies? I can't remember... Any ways for Zayda keeping her warm and dry with her mould allergies is a big improvement. Keeping the ears cleaned out too. Oh for the poops we use the aloe vera caps (which I know you were doing) and probiotics. My guys get a digestive enzyme everyday as the allergies do stop them from absorbing all their nutrients (we had weight gain problems for a long time too!). You will prolly want to look for the plant based ones for Raf if he has any problems with pork and/or lactose. I've also just started experimenting with adding olive leaf extract (for immune system) to their food and this seems to be helping some. Sharon and I have talked about Atopica for Zayda, but me being me is not going to do this until I've tried everything else that I consdier less damaging than immunosupressants. But if he is this bad and nothing is helping then maybe its worth disucssing! Vitamin C also helps with some dogs, but beware that this one needs to be taken to bowel tollerance so can cause more runs when trying to work that out! Oh, definitely diet... but as you say that is another saga you are trying to sort out, so once you have that may well make a difference too! Um, I'm trying to think of what else... If I do think of anything I'll let you know. :D Good luck and to both of you! Dan

I recommend going to see a Dermatologist... GP vets on the whole just don't have the specialist knowledge to sort out allergies. A dermatologist has many many tools to help you work out what is going on and treat allergies. Dogs can be allergic to many many things too so don't rule out anything in the environment just yet. I have two dogs, both with allergies... they can be tested for in various ways (the blood tests are not reliable though and are only used in certain cases where the regular tests cannot be used)... Here is a list of my dogs' main allergies so you can see the variety of things that can cause allergies... there are many more things to be allergic to besides what my guys are allergic to as well! I've been dealing with allergy dogs for 5 years and I can tell you nothing beats the advice and help of a good, open minded dermatologist! Good luck. Zayda Food: Beef Lamb Corn Tuna Sardines and an intolerance for eggs Atopic: Alternaria mould Insect: Wasps Bees Asher Atopic & Insect: 1) Dandelion 2) Melaleuca 3) Fleas 4) cocksfoot grass 5) Johnson grass 6) Yellow dock weed 7) Deer Flies 8) Dust mites 9) Fodder mites Contact: Proplyene glycol (used in shampoos, ear cleaners, spot ons, vaccinations, semi-moist foods) Sensitivities: Many chemicals and preservatives ETA: A dog is most likely to be allergic food wise to what they are most exposed too... that's why beef is so common here, most dogs eat beef... If a dog has NEVER eaten beef though it would be a novel food for that particular dog and not likely to be an allergen because the system has not been exposed to it. Food allergies are actually one of the least common allergies. Atopic (environmental, like hayfever) are the most common.

My deepest sympathies... I am so sorry to hear this! Dan

I have two dogs with Chronic Allergic Skin Disease. Zayda has food allergies and food companies have a habit of changing products and we were limited in what we could use as just about everything has things that she is allergic to in them. Asher is very sensible to chemicals and preservatives and gets ADD from some of them. So being me I was researching options and the more I read about raw feeding the more I liked the sound of it. I had control of exactly what I fed, I can exclude chemicals and preservatives to a much smaller amount, I can make sure that their diet suits them. The general health benifits lead to an overall improvement in general health which (important for any dog) helps to ensure that a dog with allergies is as healthy as possible to deal with the antigens that will be thrown at them. My dogs have flourished and its been a great part of their general helath program. On top of that the dogs LOVE it and are so much more enthusiastic and happy about their food. Everyone wins! :D Dan

Any more news on how his feet are going? Dan

Good luck with your boy, I hope you at least have some good news. Here is what our Dermatologist told us about sterile pyogranuloma when our girl, Zayda, had them. She is a chronic allergy dog, it may or may not be related: She was diagnosed by our GP and then we took photos and sent them to our Derm. Here are the pics, obviously her's were not interdigital: Unfortunately in our case it seems some of the hair follicles were damaged and we've never had full regrowth of hair (much more noticeable on the foot which was the worse one and got very infected ) How old is your boy? Dan PS: I should add what we treated with: Malaseb shampoo (more so paw) every day and then once a day resichlor lotion and once a day Pau D'arco (herbal antibiotic) rinse. Also internal Pau D'arco.

How's Raf doing? Hope all is well... Dan

Here's a link: http://www.bachflower.com/rescue_remedy.htm I would still try them in the crates together before leaving them for a whole day as it may be different when he is confined... sometimes for dogs like this its their confinement (separation) that can cause the panic, even if they can see the others. It depends on the dog though of course. Good luck, let us know how it goes. Dan

Oh that is a good idea!!!! Then she is still confined and he can't hurt her by accident, but he can be with her! I would try it out on a short test first though, go out for maybe a short time and come back as he may still stress at not being *with* her still and may hurt himself if he tries to get out / get to her. But I think that's a really great idea! Dan

YEP!!!! That is very typical of bullies, they can't stand to be left alone and it would be terrible for him as he has never been alone. You really want to watch him: they are determined and can do a lot of damage to themselves and other things. My girl ate almost right through a front door and broke all her milk canines on the security screen!!! Not to mention the stress it puts them through As its for only a short time and he will have his friend back soon can you get someone to baby sit for the time your girl needs isolation?? Other than that you are looking at long behavioural desnsitisation courses... You can try things like rescue remedy, but I have found that its not strong enough for this sort of panic. Anti depressants are the other medical option, but again this is not suitable for you as its a short term issue whilst his friend is away and they take a month to kick in just like they do with people. I think someone, a pet sitter maybe, would be easiest for you. How is the girl doing locked in the laundry? good luck! Dan

Sounds like my Zayda girl, she came home at 7 weeks and was already shredding her self Yeah, it is possible he had something with turkey when he was younger. Have you had him tested for the environmental allergies? Very unusual for them to keep developing at the later ages like that. You have a one in a million!! Re: the treats the two easiest things I have found are to get meat they are fine with and boil it until just cooked. Or get it minced and roll into balls, then microwave. They stick together like meat balls and you just pull apart as needed. That's the simplest whilst on elimination and I still do a lot of treats this way. Dan

You want to be very careful now of swapping sources of food on him. The more you swap now the more you are exposing him to and if you need to see a dermatologist then you are severely limiting what you will be able to put him on when they want to test him. Its also going to confuse his gut whilst he is trying to adjust to new foods and also you will have to start again each time you swap for the 6-8 week period you have him on "elimination". This is where its really useful to be doing this process with a Dermatologist because they would be holding your hand through this process and showing you where to go next. I think at this point in time I would be asking about a referral to Murdoch. Dan ETA: I forgot to say fingers crossed for a good out come for Raf

Actually that shows that you have a very rare dog. The critical period for allergy development is from birth to about 1.5 years of age. There is a critical window (about 6 months to 1.5 years) during which time most dogs will begin to express and show their allergies. For them to develop new ones after this time is extremely rare, although it can happen, just its a 1 in a million kinda thing. An intollerance is slightly different, can develop at different time, however, it is still extremely rare for a dog to keep developing intollerances to a variety of new things. Its quite possible that (given it is an intolerance as opposed to an immune mediated allergy) that he just has issues with poultry. Intolerances aren't always as specific as true allergies. Given that it only took two exposures too I would think this might be the case. Either that or his system just needed to adjust to a new food. Dan

Got the list On my way out, so I'll get back to you tomorrow... The elimination diet makes absolutely no sense to me... I'll get back to you with more details tomorrow!! Dan

Ah, ok I just reread your post too: contact and atopic allergies are different, vastly different. So you need to know which ones she actually has... if you tell me what she is allergic to I should be able to give you a better idea. Atopic are air born, like hayfever, so plant pollens etc. Contact are to something they have physical contact with and are actually rare. They can be to plants, chemicals and other things. Dan

Hazz, when you say elimination diet what do you mean? Do you mean just taking out the foods the dog is allergic to and not feeding them anymore? Because an true elimination diet is the manual way of testing to see what foods a dog might be allergic to... if you already know from the blood test there is no point in doing an elimination diet Are you seeing a GP vet or a dermatologist? Can I ask what the dog is allergic to? If you are seeing a dermatologist I am not sure why they are not suggesting immunotherapy for the atopy. If you give me some more info, like what the allergies actually are, I might be able to help more Dan

Spike has been tested and they know what he is allergic to. The "vaccine" (which it isn't, its immunotherapy) is for the atopic allergies NOT food allergies, which is what an elimination diet is for. Different treatments for different sorts of allergies Dan