DianeMcA Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 My 10 mth old GSP is driving me nuts with allergies who do I believe in regards to the best treatment for him ,raw food? Special dogs biscuits? Cortisone ,$1,000 dermatology testing? creams and washes ? Do frustrating !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 It depends what he's allergic to as to what treatment plan you will need to take... I'd say the first step is to find out what is causing the allergy. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 What is he diagnosed as being allergic TO ? :) That ,and that alone will determine the management of it . if he is allergic to grains , or certain meat proteins, or pollen, or flea treatment, or vaccination diluent , or dog shampoo .. it is all different .... What are his symptoms ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakway Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Unless you give us some more details about the condition as to when it happens where it is on the body and what it looks like and what treatment has already been administered, there is not much we can do to help. :) For all we know it could be case of Dermodex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) Look at diet. Game meat such as roo I find is the least 'heating' meat protein. Combo vegetables (pureed is best). Look at the 'recipe' recommended by Augustine Approved as a guide. Keep it simple and as 'clean' (i.e. pure) as you can. In the meanwhile, bath your dog with Calendula Tea and feed him the spent tea with his meal. Using these techniques amongst others, I avoided all use of cortisone and antibiotics with my dog. Edited March 31, 2014 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Erny, I'm confused about feeding the dogs the spent Calendula flowers. Surely after they've been seeped in boiling water...and in my case left to cool in the water there wouldn't be much nutritional value left in the spent flowers. What is your opinion on this? I now use a small coffee plunger for my Calendula tea which works well. If I strain the tea 3 times and add a little more of the boiled water to the tea it will spray easily in an ordinary spray bottle without clogging up the works. My dogs don't have skin problems but can get a little scurfy after being bathed at the groomers. A spray with the tea eliminates the scurf and keeps their coats shiny and healthy looking. Perhaps the groomer is not rinsing as well as I do. It's been my practise to do a final rinse with AC vinegar in the water. Would you advise replacing the vinegar rinse with a Calendula rinse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Erny, I'm confused about feeding the dogs the spent Calendula flowers. Surely after they've been seeped in boiling water...and in my case left to cool in the water there wouldn't be much nutritional value left in the spent flowers. What is your opinion on this? Hi cavNrott - my opinion on it is this (and it's based in personal logic rather than science, per se). The hot water breaks down the plant cells making the nutrition the tea provides available for absorption. If this were not the case, no one would gain benefit from ANY tea 'out there' for the various therapeutic benefits that the various teas are each prescribed. There would be less nutritional/therapeutic benefit left in the tea after steeping because much has been eked out to the water, but that's not to say there would be none remaining at all, so to me it's a "waste not want not" type approach. I now use a small coffee plunger for my Calendula tea which works well. If I strain the tea 3 times and add a little more of the boiled water to the tea it will spray easily in an ordinary spray bottle without clogging up the works. I broke my previous coffee plunger that I used for the purpose and bought a replacement the other day. The new one is fairly useless as it doesn't strain well. My previous one filtered very well and no spent tea leaves passed through. I'm on the look-out for a better one than the one I have now. My dogs don't have skin problems but can get a little scurfy after being bathed at the groomers. A spray with the tea eliminates the scurf and keeps their coats shiny and healthy looking. . Glad it is helping with that. Unless he HAS to be shampoo'd due to gross filth (e.g. something he rolled in etc. etc), why not ask the groomers to wash him with the Calendula instead of shampoo, seeing as he is scurfing up after their bathing? Or speak with Steve (DOL) and source out a natural based shampoo the groomer can use instead? Perhaps the groomer is not rinsing as well as I do. That is possible. It's been my practise to do a final rinse with AC vinegar in the water. Would you advise replacing the vinegar rinse with a Calendula rinse? I'm not against AC vinegar - it has many great uses - but I prefer Calendula because it is not in any way astringent. Mild/benign yet commonly effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bruce Syme Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I'm a big fan of the raw option - better than 50% chance you can manage the allergy drug free. Allergy tests can help, but only if you can avoid the allergen, and most often that is not the case if it is environmental. using the raw food and supplements help you act on the immune system - so you treat the underlting cause, not just the symptoms - info attached. Allergies in dogs and cats 2012.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeMcA Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 He started off with red itchy feet licking and chewing them, I had him on Black hawk gor puppies and raw meat, mainly chicken I would pulverise so he got all the bone as well and I would give him necks and occasional carcus , sometimes I would do rice and carrot and meat off cuts , 1st took him to the vet just before Christmas he was bit over 7mths old, she did a scraping (no mites) she put him in cortisone 30 mg1x day then weaned off , he weighed 30 kilos and I questioned her to the high dose she 1 mg per kilo, it got better , but came back after finished the course, the course lasted about 3 weeks , I then took him to a homeopathic vet his toes were redand hair was coming off the red angry skin went between toes under pad on back of the feet and about 8cm up the back of his leg above the paw, I had been washing his legs in diluted pine tarsal and putting sudo cream (zinc based) over his legs and feet as well, also tried finding in ACV and putting oats in a stocking and squeezing all the while milky stuff over his legs and belly which occasionally got red rash on as well, anyway the vet in Feb did another scraping (nothing) and put him back on cortisone 7.5 -2x day for 3 days then 7.5 1xday 3 days, then 7.5 every second day for 3 days put him on vets all natural but for Adults, said he would be ok on that. And kangaroo mince, VC 1 teaspoon a day acidophilus 1/2 tspn 3x day omega oil 3,6 and 9 and some metagenics tab for inflammation and antioxidant called oxygen something, I would mix the Vitamins ect in their ing with cottage cheese and yoghurt , he was getting human grade kangaroo and V all N , the cortisone worked again but red itchy skin came back when finished I went to Melbourne March 15th thought change in scenery would help, but no it came back , called my vet back home he faxed through script for more cortisone , told me to stop V ALL Natural and juice sweet pot carrot pumpkin and beans mix together with kangaroo did this for 2 weeks he is loosing weight, no fat in meat , cortisone finished 2 days ago feet red and angry he is licking them and I hot Aveno cream and cure rash cream , have been lathering that on he has lost 4 kg on this diet and he is no better off , I think it is contact allergy , dermatologist testing and vaccine is almost $1,000 I rang the breeder today she has been breeding 35 yrs had her dogs on vountry kibble and turkey or chicken mince and never an allergy she told me these new expensive feeds have too much stuff in them and can do more harm , and to put him back on a simple diet , I am tempted cause nothing else diet wise has made a difference , I we have wandering jew here , but I didn't see it in Melbourne , hope you all get a clearer picture now, I was too busy and just peeved off when I quickly wrote this morning , I washed Rslph in Teetree shampoo before I left his feet are red but he's not biting them , I've left him at home I'm at the races my horse is about to race I have5 dogs 1 is 16 raised on cheap biscuits can food end fresh never bed. To thd vets for illness she's also a crossbred so maybe I was too fussy with Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakway Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) Well that gives everyone a better insight to the problem. I have another question, how many times have you vaccinated this dog, strange question to you I know, but may give us all a big clue. Edited March 31, 2014 by oakway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 get rid of the wandering dew!!! ALL of it! or fence off the area so dog cannot near it .... that could well be the cause - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeMcA Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 his 7 week one , then 12 and 16 week I think that's how it went,his next one wis 12 mths after the last , whatever is the protocol , I too questioned the vet when I took him for the 16 week one if it could have made him itchy as I am very paranoid about stuffing their immune system up , of course she said no, I even god just nosodes with one of my dogs and when I got the other dogs vaccinated they only had their puppy ones and then a 12 month booster, if the vaccine has messed up his immune system , will it ever be able to be fixed ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Sounds like a contact allergy rather than a diet related one... check your yard for Wandering Jew first... Does his allergy get worse after you have mowed the lawn? Sometimes the seasonal grasses can bring out allergies in dogs too - and I have had one dog who reacted to cut grass only - was allergic to the sap. Does he lick his paws when he doesn't have the redness? Some dogs lick their paws as a symptom of stress or anxiety, and that can inflame the area too. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeMcA Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Yes the wandering jew I'm sure is a big part of it but when I went to Melbourne for 8 days it got bad again , but he may have walked in it before we left, I do have a really good front yard fenced off , think I'll have to take him for walks in town on a lead and concrete paths Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeMcA Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Yes mowed the other day and it got worse, he doesn't lick feet when not red, I washed him today in locally made goats milk soap with Teetree his feet are red but he wasn't licking them when I left home, I put nothing else on his feet no cream after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudia123 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Hi DianeMcA My boxer had similar allergy issues including hives and the vets placed her on cortisone and Zyrtec. This left her very tired daily. After doing a fair bit of research, I found a product called Superboost by Augustine Approved which I add to her food daily. After only 3 days she was a totally different dog, full of energy and no more scratching and she is drug free. I also only bathe her with Calendula Flower . Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakway Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 his 7 week one , then 12 and 16 week I think that's how it went,his next one wis 12 mths after the last , whatever is the protocol , I too questioned the vet when I took him for the 16 week one if it could have made him itchy as I am very paranoid about stuffing their immune system up , of course she said no, I even god just nosodes with one of my dogs and when I got the other dogs vaccinated they only had their puppy ones and then a 12 month booster, if the vaccine has messed up his immune system , will it ever be able to be fixed ? Firstly I agree with the others get rid of the Wandering Jew may be the whole cause of your problem. Well your a wake up to the vaccination problem or the over vaccinating problem. Also it is believed that their can be a problem link up with vaccine and black dogs. Google is your friend about many things but not all the time. :) Hope what has been said has been of some help. Tackle one thing at a time so you may eliminate it from your list and let us all know what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeMcA Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 I'm a big fan of the raw option - better than 50% chance you can manage the allergy drug free. Allergy tests can help, but only if you can avoid the allergen, and most often that is not the case if it is environmental. using the raw food and supplements help you act on the immune system - so you treat the underlting cause, not just the symptoms - info attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salukifan Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 If your dog has a contact allergy, then you need to get rid of the allergen. I suggest a blitzkrieg on the Wandering Jew and you may well have the problem solved. Its a very very common allergen for dogs. Constant washing would be exacerbating the problem. Time to go after the plant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bruce Syme Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 The wandering jew is a real nasty - must avoid this. Booties can help to prevent contact with allergens, as can washing his feet any time he has been outside. You may find the least toxic approach to this may be using cortavance spray on his feet any time they get red and he is licking at them. Many people think that diet changes are only for food allergies, but a change to raw food does much more than just avoiding a food allergen - it can change the way the immune system functions, and it will assist in ALL types of allergies - atopic, contact, food and FAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now