Cynder is my boyfriend's little 30 pound Spaniel/Lab mutt dog. She's around five years old or so and has been spayed. She's always had a problem with seasonal allergies, but she is BAD right now. She started having problems towards the end of summer and it has not improved at all. I'm tight on cash right now, but it is getting to the point that I'm about ready to take her into the vet and see if they can give her any kind of medication or something. But, since I'm tight on cash, I thought I'd ask here first to see if anyone had any suggestions we could try to see if it will help her out.
She's currently eating Pedigree (the skin and coat version, or something...no corn, but wheat). He was feeding her a mix of that and TOTW Wetlands (which I bought for her) and I think while he was feeding the mix she improved a bit, because now that he's gone back to just straight Pedigree (the TOTW ran out) he said she's been digging more. So I'm going to pick her up a bag of TOTW tomorrow and get her started back on that.
Her coat is actually in great shape. He had shaved her down mid summer (she has a coat like a really thick Lab, I guess) to help keep her cool and it has grown back just fine. She doesn't have a dandruff problem and she's not massively shedding. Her skin looks healthy (besides where she's irritated it digging at it).
I'm pretty sure she doesn't have fleas. I haven't seen any and neither has he and she's on a preventive.
She digs really bad at her shoulders, her lower belly (on the sides, right by the tuck up area), and the base of her tail/thighs. She scratches, she chews, she licks, she chomps...she sounds horrible. She dug at her shoulder so bad last night she actually broke skin and caused a scab to form.
He has her on a fish oil supplement (200mg once or twice a day, I think) and I gave Chloe's old antihistamine pills to give her for when she really gets itching bad to see if it would help, but I don't think they really have any affect. He'll cram a benadryll down her throat if she's having a horrible time of it, but it only helps a bit. He also bathes her with an oatmeal shampoo every two weeks or so to try to keep her irritation down. I've given her a bath in Cortisoothe before at work, but it didn't seem to make a difference.
Any ideas? Short of giving her some kind of steroid shot, I'm at a loss.
And for the life of me, I can't figure out why she'd still be reacting to an environmental allergy since we now have snow on the ground and I highly doubt there is any kind of pollen left in the air. He did move in to a new place at the beginning of August, so is it possible she is having some kind of an allergic reaction to something in his apartment? But, she also still itches and digs when not at his apartment, so...
And, just because they were really cute...two pictures of her and Chloe sleeping on my bed one afternoon:
She's currently eating Pedigree (the skin and coat version, or something...no corn, but wheat). He was feeding her a mix of that and TOTW Wetlands (which I bought for her) and I think while he was feeding the mix she improved a bit, because now that he's gone back to just straight Pedigree (the TOTW ran out) he said she's been digging more. So I'm going to pick her up a bag of TOTW tomorrow and get her started back on that.
Her coat is actually in great shape. He had shaved her down mid summer (she has a coat like a really thick Lab, I guess) to help keep her cool and it has grown back just fine. She doesn't have a dandruff problem and she's not massively shedding. Her skin looks healthy (besides where she's irritated it digging at it).
I'm pretty sure she doesn't have fleas. I haven't seen any and neither has he and she's on a preventive.
She digs really bad at her shoulders, her lower belly (on the sides, right by the tuck up area), and the base of her tail/thighs. She scratches, she chews, she licks, she chomps...she sounds horrible. She dug at her shoulder so bad last night she actually broke skin and caused a scab to form.
He has her on a fish oil supplement (200mg once or twice a day, I think) and I gave Chloe's old antihistamine pills to give her for when she really gets itching bad to see if it would help, but I don't think they really have any affect. He'll cram a benadryll down her throat if she's having a horrible time of it, but it only helps a bit. He also bathes her with an oatmeal shampoo every two weeks or so to try to keep her irritation down. I've given her a bath in Cortisoothe before at work, but it didn't seem to make a difference.
Any ideas? Short of giving her some kind of steroid shot, I'm at a loss.
And for the life of me, I can't figure out why she'd still be reacting to an environmental allergy since we now have snow on the ground and I highly doubt there is any kind of pollen left in the air. He did move in to a new place at the beginning of August, so is it possible she is having some kind of an allergic reaction to something in his apartment? But, she also still itches and digs when not at his apartment, so...
And, just because they were really cute...two pictures of her and Chloe sleeping on my bed one afternoon: