Allergies, Allergies,allergies

[persephone]

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.

yes - there have been lots of success stories with the calendula :)

cortisone does not kill yeast ..or is it anti histamine for allergies ..it just helps with itching /inflammation...

Maybe phone these folks? I have used them quite a bit dogs/horse/human .

CLICK HERE

[ann21]

Another +1 for calendula tea. My dog scratches himself a lot, and while I am trying to investigate the cause I tried the Calendula tea rinse Erny recommended. Literally within 24 hrs I saw results! Much less itching now :). I am going to replace my dogs conditioner with Calendula tea from now on.

[Jumabaar]

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 :)

If your thinking about going to a specialist (which I think is your best bet) I would suggest initiating an elimination diet and doing fortnightly flea treatments before you go so that a food and flea allergy can be ruled out (and possibly save yourself a revisit). Food and flea allergies are unlikely in your senario but still have to be officially ruled out for some diagnosis to be made.

[temperamentfirst]

FOr specialists, the Animal Referral Hospital at Strathfield/Homebush is excellent. Also, I've had a few friends rave about the Sydney Uni clinic at Camden.

[aussielover]

Linda vogelnest at SASH is very good and really nice.

Ask your regular vet about what you should do before seeing her- as jumabaar suggested it may be more cost and time effective to have completed the food allergy trial and flea control trials prior to seeing the specialist.

[the cat lady]

Many thanks for all your suggestions, good practical advice is just what I was hoping for.

Thank you for your suggestions of clinics in Sydney, very helpful.

I have previously heard about the calendula tea, so will definately give this a go.

Showdog, yes he does have yeasty feet, especially the back ones. I kind of think he is passing this infection back and forth from feet to ears as he uses his back feet to scratch his ears. I have the drops for his ears, however the vet has suggested nothing for his feet. Any thoughts on how to clear up his feet?

Persephone, thanks for the link to the herbalist, I will sit down after work today and have a good look at the website.

Again thank you all for your advice

[Dogsfevr]

You need to treat the affected feet ,you can use tinea cream or cheap white vinegar,malaseb or anything that you use on the ears,Its frustrating that vets don't check this & treat aswell

The issue will go back & forth & then they lick there feet & it goes to there mouth /face .

Edited March 7, 2013 by showdog

[giraffez]

You need to treat the affected feet ,you can use tinea cream or cheap white vinegar,malaseb or anything that you use on the ears,Its frustrating that vets don't check this & treat aswell

The issue will go back & forth & then they lick there feet & it goes to there mouth /face .

showdog, out of curiousity, how can you tell whether there is yeast on the feet? Is it like white flakey stuff?

[Dogsfevr]

You need to treat the affected feet ,you can use tinea cream or cheap white vinegar,malaseb or anything that you use on the ears,Its frustrating that vets don't check this & treat aswell

The issue will go back & forth & then they lick there feet & it goes to there mouth /face .

showdog, out of curiousity, how can you tell whether there is yeast on the feet? Is it like white flakey stuff?

]

The feet will often look swollen,sore,underneath very sore & unhealthy looking .They will often if yeasty look just like the ears

[Jumabaar]

You need to treat the affected feet ,you can use tinea cream or cheap white vinegar,malaseb or anything that you use on the ears,Its frustrating that vets don't check this & treat aswell

The issue will go back & forth & then they lick there feet & it goes to there mouth /face .

showdog, out of curiousity, how can you tell whether there is yeast on the feet? Is it like white flakey stuff?

Its quite easy to see yeast under a microscope- so a quick swab done by the vet and you have an answer 2 minutes later :)

[giraffez]

The feet will often look swollen,sore,underneath very sore & unhealthy looking .They will often if yeasty look just like the ears

So there is no discharge or anything visible to the eyes except redness and quite possible moisture?

[the cat lady]

You need to treat the affected feet ,you can use tinea cream or cheap white vinegar,malaseb or anything that you use on the ears,Its frustrating that vets don't check this & treat aswell

The issue will go back & forth & then they lick there feet & it goes to there mouth /face .

Thanks for this info I have some canneston cream for tinea, is this ok to use on the dog, if he is licking and biting his feet.

Also with the vinegar do you use it straight or diluted?

[Dogsfevr]

You need to treat the affected feet ,you can use tinea cream or cheap white vinegar,malaseb or anything that you use on the ears,Its frustrating that vets don't check this & treat aswell

The issue will go back & forth & then they lick there feet & it goes to there mouth /face .

Thanks for this info I have some canneston cream for tinea, is this ok to use on the dog, if he is licking and biting his feet.

Also with the vinegar do you use it straight or diluted?

vinegar neat just the cheap stuff ,also consider when washing bedding to wash in vinegar to help kill the yeast

Canneston is fine or any good product that can help settle yeast

[hankdog]

My itchy bulldog cannot be washed in malaseb so in the evening all his feet are washed in quit itch which is an iodine solution and then rinsed in water, his chin also gets wiped over because of the transfer when chewing. Lots of fish, canned sardines, tuna or dory fillets. Lamb bones, chicken or beef but not the same protein too many meals in a row. No rice, he had bad reactions to most of the expensive kibble but can tolerate little bits if super coat. There's a list in this forum if the different antihistamines digs can have, just work through until you find one that suits.

His feet had reddish goo between the pads when we got him and whilst he will always be slightly itchy this routine keeps him under control. My vet said considering his breed and the state he was in we could pretty much assume he was allergic to such a range of things that we would just try managing for all the common allergens.

Edited March 12, 2013 by hankdog

[*kirty*]

Iodine also kills yeast so you could try wiping his feet and ears out with that.

[dogbesotted]

do you have a pic or two of your dog that you can post???

H

[sas]

Here's what we use:

Anti Yeast Bath & Rinses

Gallon of water (3.78 litres)

Cup of Vinegar (I use White)

Cup of Lemon (or don't use if you have a darker coloured dog you don't want to risk lightening its coat colour)

20 drops of Pure Peppermint Oil - myst be pure, get from a Healthfood store not cheap shop etc.

Yeasty ears - use Witch Hazel on cotton wool.

Yeast foot bath

Gallon of water (3.78 litres)

1-4 Cups of Vinegar (I use White)

We do the foot bath first then bath the dog and finish with the rinse.

Edited March 17, 2013 by sas

[the cat lady]

My itchy bulldog cannot be washed in malaseb so in the evening all his feet are washed in quit itch which is an iodine solution and then rinsed in water, his chin also gets wiped over because of the transfer when chewing. Lots of fish, canned sardines, tuna or dory fillets. Lamb bones, chicken or beef but not the same protein too many meals in a row. No rice, he had bad reactions to most of the expensive kibble but can tolerate little bits if super coat. There's a list in this forum if the different antihistamines digs can have, just work through until you find one that suits.

His feet had reddish goo between the pads when we got him and whilst he will always be slightly itchy this routine keeps him under control. My vet said considering his breed and the state he was in we could pretty much assume he was allergic to such a range of things that we would just try managing for all the common allergens.

Hi, and thanks for this info. I have tried to keep his diet fairly simple, mainly chicken, or turkey with rice and veg plus alternating with Royal Canin Hyper Allergic food. We were told from the rescue org that he was having lamb bones as well, but I haven't continued with the lamb as it can be quite fatty. I didn't think of giving him fish, that may be worth a try and mix up the proteins a bit more.

Even though we have been advised by nearly everyone to wash him in Aloveen, he had a big setback after using this, to the point where he was scratching till be was almost bleeding and was sooo uncomfortable he just couldn't settle, till we rewashed him with plain water.

We are now washing him, just with plain water every 2nd day - basically wetting him down to remove any allergens that may be on his fur. This seems to help him and calm down his skin.

I am working my way through the anithistamines, Claratyne and Phenergan have made no difference!

Our vet has strongly recommended the allergy testing, which are thinking about, however it is really expensive, and is no guarantee to be a cure.

We would have spent close to $800 on him since November last year, in vet consults, medications, and special foods.

If the allergy testing could fix him then I would go ahead, but there are no guarantees, we could spend the money, and have it done, and be no closer to having an answer.

I would love to hear your experiences with the allergy testing. Thanks in advance

[shirra]

I've spent a small fortune on shampoos that have been recommended for itchy dogs, but no luck so far. They all set her off, the worst being Alloveen, soap and sulphate free organic baby shampoo, and soap free tee tree oil dog shampoo.

This afternoon I sponged my itchy girl with Calendula tea for the first time. She is still scratching

She doesn't have redness anywhere. The itchiness flares up after every bath.

I've tried leaving her for months without a bath but she got a bit smelly and had to have a bath as she's an indoor dog.

So glad you started this thread Cat Lady, I'm following it with interest.

[megan_]

Most shampoos for itchy skin are in fact very harsh. I would minimise washing. Have you tried something like MooGoo (which is for humans but is very gentle)?