Allergies, Allergies,allergies

[the cat lady]

Hi Folks, I have only just joined this forum, however have gained much knowledge and useful advise from browsing for a little while now.

I am hoping to gain some advise on how to help our dog. He is 6yrs old, and we adopted him from a rescue towards the end of last year. He is thought to be a cross between anyting from a sheltie to a foxy, to a pomeranian, and who knows what else. Anyway, we love him whatever he is officially

When he came to live with us we were told he was recovering from a bad case of mange and ringworm and was finishing a course of cortizone tablets. His fur was patchy in some areas, his chest and armpits, and he has no fur on his stomach and base of tail area.

In the 4 months we have had him he is continually itchy and scratching and biting himself, particularly his feet and legs, and scratching at his ears. We have had him to vets 4 times and each time has been given either more cortizone tablets, or injections. WE also use claratyne and he has fish oil tablets each day.

His ears are also a huge problem with yeast infections and we are continually having to put drops in them. This is a problem in that he reacts badly to anything going in his ears and has to be muzzled to avoid us being bitten. We can however touch and rub his ears without incident. I think in some way his ears and allergies are connected.

His diet is either cooked chicken mince mixed with vegetables and rice or Royal Canin Allergy diet from the vet. No matter what he eats he is still itchy.

Sorry about the long post but I feel that there must be some way to alleviate the constant discomfort this little dog must be suffering other than continual medications which can have negative side effects in the long term.

I have read about allergy testing, but this is expensive and does not guarantee good results.

I have also read about using a naturopath and using herbal remedies.

Any help and suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

PS my vet told me on the first visit that if my dog was a car she would say I had a lemon..... she's not my vet anymore :)

[WreckitWhippet]

I'd forget about wasting money at an every day clinic and head straight for a specialist. By the time you stuff around and try this , that and the other with a regular vet, you'll have spent a fortune and will probably be none the wiser.

[megan_]

What are you feeding him (including treats and tidbits)?

[Salukifan]

Agree on the specialist visit. Until you establish what your dog is allergic to, you're operating blind.

[Tara8430]

Have you tried removing kibble all together and only feeing raw? I had an itchy girl and since i put a ban on kibble shes doesnt itch anymore and her skin and coat are the best ive ever seen.

[Sheridan]

Before the raw evangelists go completely to town, just want to reiterate the going to a specialist suggestion. Your dog might be allergic to a food but if it's a contact allergy, no dietary change is going to help.

[trinabean]

I agree with WreckitWhippet that you may save a lot of stuffing around by going straight to a specialist. We did stuff around going to a regular vet for quite a while before being referred to a canine dermatologist. Yes, the testing is expensive, but at least you can find out exactly what is causing the allergies, and take it from there. In our case the allergies are caused by specific grass pollens, insects and house dust mites and storage mites (which are often in commercial dry food). Without the test results, I would not have known about Bruno's allergy to storage mites, and might have continued fruitlessly to try and find a commercial dry food he could handle.

There also seem to be a number of foods that my dog is intolerant to (eg. chicken, beef, lamb). The derm vet has put my dog onto an elimination diet to start working out which foods he can/can't tolerate. Without the specialist advice, I really would have been stumbling in the dark for years I think.

So, I guess some of your options are to investigate the causes of the itching (which could be environmental or food-related, or both). Or you can just treat the symptoms as they occur. For me, knowing the causes means that I can adjust those things that I can control, to prevent some of the worst flares. So I do things like washing bedding and floors with hot water and eucalyptus oil to kill/remove dust mites. I wash my dog weekly to remove allergens from his coat. For things outside of my control (eg. air-borne pollens) I can also use medications like anti-histamines to ease his symptoms. The knowlege that I've gained from the dermatologist has really helped my dog.

I wish you well with your dog. :)

Edited to add: Because my dog is allergic to so many things common in both the indoor and the outdoor environment, we are doing immunotherapy too. I really hope he is one of the dogs that it works for.

Edited March 6, 2013 by trinabean

[trinabean]

Agree on the specialist visit. Until you establish what your dog is allergic to, you're operating blind.

God I wish I could write a succinct post like this. I always use too many words and waffle on! :)

[Rascalmyshadow]

I am very interested in these replies as we are now going through the same problem with our new boy we rescued a couple of weeks ago. He was a mess, yeast all over his body and coming out of his ears.

I wash him in malaseb every second day, then re wash with a tea tree based shampoo, this is helping a lot but allergy testing souns like a good option.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone know of any good specialists in Melbourne and also approximate costs.

[trinabean]

I am very interested in these replies as we are now going through the same problem with our new boy we rescued a couple of weeks ago. He was a mess, yeast all over his body and coming out of his ears.

I wash him in malaseb every second day, then re wash with a tea tree based shampoo, this is helping a lot but allergy testing souns like a good option.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone know of any good specialists in Melbourne and also approximate costs.

I can't help with the Melbourne specialists but I will look up some of the initial testing invoices I have, to give you an idea of pricing. :)

Edited March 6, 2013 by trinabean

[trinabean]

Ok, for the original poster and for Rascalmyshadow, here's a link that explains the basic testing etc. for allergies: Murdoch Uni vet hospital

I know it's in Perth, (which doesn't help either of you) but the info is relevant and I imagine the pricing would be similar to other dermatology vets in your states.

For us:

the intradermal testing was $285

HESKA blood allergy test was $475

Skin scraping, cytology of skin and ears $150

Initial consult was $175 (revisit consults are $90)

On the day of testing there was also sedation, catheterisation, and a hospitalization fee which all added up to another $147 too.

All up the total for testing came to roughly $1230. Not cheap, but we now have a good treatment/management plan in place. We decided to go down the immunotherapy path (a vaccine is tailor-made to combat Bruno's worst allergens, particularly the pollens and insects). That costs about $600 per year. We will do that for up to 3 years.

Thankfully Petplan have covered most of this for us. Kind of makes up for all the things they've excluded on Bruno's policy.... :)

Edited: Link should work now.

Edited March 6, 2013 by trinabean

[the cat lady]

Thanks so much for your advice. From your replys the allergy testing may be the way to go.

I'm guessing that Sydney would be the closest place to us. Can anyone recommend someone in Sydney?

The cost may be a bit prohibitive straight away, and I have been told that the winter is the best time to test.

We have already paid close to $800 in the last few months on vet bills and medications, washes and special food etc. so, unless there is another way to work with the allergies in the long run it will be worthwhile.

Unfortunately we don't have pet insurance, with him being 6 years old and now having a history of allergies, I don't think they would be interested in us.

[Rosetta]

Has the vet treated him with antibiotics? If his ears are so sore then he may have a deep-seated infection and cortisone is not going to cure that. Food allergies can be treated fairly easily but if it is environmental you will have to live with treating the symptoms in many cases anyway.

Poor boy he must be very uncomfortable - good for you to take him on. Do you bathe him in Malasab or similar?

[giraffez]

Could the allergy be a build up from the same protein? While I was researching yesterday on what brand of kibbles I should change my dog to, i read somewhere that it was suggested that proteins in the food should be changed on a regular basis.

[the cat lady]

Has the vet treated him with antibiotics? If his ears are so sore then he may have a deep-seated infection and cortisone is not going to cure that. Food allergies can be treated fairly easily but if it is environmental you will have to live with treating the symptoms in many cases anyway.

Poor boy he must be very uncomfortable - good for you to take him on. Do you bathe him in Malasab or similar?

He has had a courses of antibiotics for his ears, however, they seem to keep flaring up not long after the antibiotics have stopped. The vet said it was a yeast infection.

When he first arrived I continued to feed him cooked chicken mince, rice and vegies (no potatoe) as this is what his diet had been at the rescue - he was itchy from day 1.

I then swapped to the Royal Canin allergic diet as was suggested by the vet.. he is still ichy! At the moment I am alternating between these each day.

He had a bad flare up last week after the lawn was mowed - so maybe environmental causes, who knows, and after a bath in Aloveen shampoo which was also recommended by the vet.

I would love to be able to give him some relief, this scratching and chewing must be making him so uncomfortable

[Rascalmyshadow]

Trinabean thank you for all those pricings.

Cat lady I would advise you stop using aloveen it is oatmeal based which actually promotes yeast growth. This is the reason we are using malaseb - to kill off the yeast and tea tree shampoo to sooth the skin and also it is anti bacterial.

[sheena]

Could the allergy be a build up from the same protein? While I was researching yesterday on what brand of kibbles I should change my dog to, i read somewhere that it was suggested that proteins in the food should be changed on a regular basis.

Thats interesting, Giraffez, I was told something similiar by someone just recently. They said that proteins can build up in the body (in some dogs) & cause all sorts of skin issues & that sometimes it can help to go onto a lower & different protein food. But when I Googled it I came up with no reference to it.

Edited March 6, 2013 by sheena

[Dogsfevr]

Does this dog have yeasty feet ??(especially the back feet)

[Rebanne]

you could try an infusion of calendula. Cheap and seems to work for a lot of dogs. Heath food shops stock the dried leaves, I just bought 100 grams for $5.90, put a handful in a bucket of hot water, let it cool then sponge it onto the dog, let dog drip dry.

Erny is a long standing member here who has been singing Calendula (marigold) praises for a long time. I have a dog with some seasonal contact allergies happening at the moment. Yesterday I bathed her fully in the calendula infusion. Today I made a smaller amount and stood her feet/legs in the container one by one, washed her belly and let her drip dry.

I admit I was sceptical but it has made a big difference. I even wiped out her ears with a very well wrung out cloth.

[Rosetta]

If he is not getting any ongoing relief from the Cortizone perhaps it is best to see a specialist if only to get a treatment plan. I would ditch the chicken and try him with turkey - avoid lamb also. Wash twice a week in diluted Malaseb and try some Curash powder to help with the itching. Perhaps

a t-shirt on him when he goes outside.