Any Vet's out there? (Allergies)

[kathisi]

I'm new to this forum and found this thread when searching for information about allergies. I have two puppies. The younger one, a siberian husky mix, had a rash with a few blisters on her belly last week. My mother noticed and told me it looked like a side effect of hookworms. Well, the vet told me that she had hookworms, but we hadn't treated her because she was ill and the vet wanted to give her time to recuperate. After being treated for hookworms, the rash disappeared but now she has been itching chewing around her tail and near both hind legs. I changed the food this week to Eagle Pack. I typically add garlic and brewer's yeast to their food, but had run out of the brewer's yeast for about two weeks. I started the yeast back this week and have been putting aloe vera on her red spots. It seems to be clearing up, but she still seems itchy. Also, just FYI, I put some A&D diaper rash ointment on her when she seems itchy and that seems to soothe the itch.

I had another dog that died a few years ago and he suffered with allergies (the vet said he was allergic to fleas) his entire life. I had no idea that diet had such an influence on a pet's health. The vet at that time told me that Purina was fine for my dog. It wasn't until my mother took him in and started giving him brewer's yeast that he started to get better. I am doing things completely different this time with my babies!!

 

[chilover]

I am new here but found this thread regarding allergies and had to respond. One of our greyhounds was very sick when we got him (needless to say he wasn't a good racer and retired young - to our benefit ). After Muchresearch and investigating, we finally figured out it was food allergies. It took us the better part of a year, but we figured out he is allergic to most foods. He couldn't eat Any kibble (we tried most brands including the holistic, allergy formulas, etc...).
At first we went through our vet - who wasn't any help at all (sorry to any vets on this board) - they seem to know little about allergies, especially food allergies.
We also tried a holistic vet, who started us on the right track but in the end, we had to do our own research and investigation in order to get to the "bottom" of the problem.

It was the process of elimination that pointed us toward what he is allergic to exactly. We started with a Very plain diet (cooked sweet potatoe with skin, white fish, and another food that I can't remember at this moment)- no supplements. This was fed to him for 6 weeks minimum - until it appeared his symptoms were gone or on the mend (actually he was in such bad shape, it took many more weeks than 6 for him to even start getting better).
Then we very slowly started adding one food at a time, adding a new one every few weeks, providing he didn't react to the new addition. Because he is allergic to SO many foods, this took a Very Long time as we had to start all over again each time he reacted. But we eventually managed to figure out what he could eat (list is much shorted than what he can't eat).

In the end, we put him on the BARF diet (bones and raw food) and he continues to do exceptionally well. His diet consisted of raw turkey thigh meat, raw ground turkey, raw turkey necks, cooked white fish once or twice a week, and a mixture of specific vegetables, - ground up (only the veggies he isn't allergic to), and supplements.

It is now over 2 years later, and he still has the occasional bout with allergies but only very recently has been able to tolerate a little of Solid Gold Fish kibble and we have found a store bought "treat" that he able to eat, in moderation, without reacting.
We have found that if we give him too much of either of these in a short period of time, he reacts.
It is very difficult to find foods without wheat, rice, chicken, or any of the foods that he is allergic too....

His system is very delicate and we have to be very careful what he gets to eat. It has taken a few years, but it is much better than it was.

Within a year of mostly clearing up his problems, he became a very happy dog. He is such a character, smiles all the time (he has a huge smile), wags his whip of a tail at every possible moment...generally, a totally different dog than when we adopted him. Well worth all the work...

Good luck with your investigation.

Thank you for your post, JoAndGreytdogz.
It seems I have to do the same thing you did with the elimination diet. I just got a Chihuahua from a rescue and he is about 10 years old and has allergies. His nose is stuffy and his ears are smelly and itchy. he also has some skin rashes which are not too bad, thank god, but itchy sometimes.
I want to do what's right for him, but it is so difficult to figure out what he is allergic to. The vet just said "Allergies!" and gave him some herbal chinese pills to take that didn't help at all. I started cleaning his ears with Maloseb flash and giving him a bath with Maloseb shampoo which are medicated but not steroidal. It helped with the smell already, but he still scratches his ears and nose. And his congestion is not going away.
I am feeding him all lamb Neura meat brand canned food. I hope it'll help, but so far no results. It's only been about a week since I switches him though. He was on Canidae Chiken food before that.
I just ordered some Lamb Crunchies from Foster&Smith cataloge for treats, since I can't give him anything else but lamb at this point. This is taking me so much time and effort to do all the recearch and find the food and treats! I hope I don't have to actually prepare his food because I just don';t know how I'm going to find the time for that. I just hope what I'm doing now will help. I'm also giving him fish oil supplements, probiotics and Prozyme.
He is a really sweet dog, but so skinny and he had worms when I got him. So they gave him broad spectrum dewormer. And he was given 2 rounds of antibiotics for his kennel cough and one for sinus infection. The worms are gone but so called sinus infection is still here and now they call it allergies.
And on top of that I now learned that kennel cough doesn;t even respond to antibiotics since it's a viral infection! He has yeast now due to all the antibiotics he was given! It is so frustrating!

 

[aurorab]

I know that this is and old thread but I just wanted to add something. Actually my dogs don't have allergies but I do and I have to take pred. and I just wanted you to know a few things about it. Many of us w/ allergies find this out but Drs don't tell you and I doubt vets would either.
Pred actually lowers your immune system ability to work properly. SO it actually can cause more problems than what it is trying to help.
On pred your diet can really change. Food can taste different, you gain weight, you can also get cravings and munchies. Plus pred can affect you emotionally. I have known many people that can go from sad to happy back to sad so fast on pred. Anxiety is another fun side effect. Then there is the insomnia and tiredness. It's not fun being up until 3/4 in the am and so tired but not be able to sleep. Plus when you lay down you can't say in on spot and have to move around. There's actually more but this is already way plenty to deal w/. I know that this happens to people and I would think that it would also happen to pets onthis stuff and the bad part for them is that they can't tell us that they are going through this. I know that pred can be good and it does have it's place, believe me it has helped me so much but now that I know this and have experienced it I try to use it as little as possible and for as little as possible. I have also turned to alternative meds and therapy. Both have helped. I know I can never give up my meds, so this has helped.
I just wanted you to know this and I hope it helps! I would imagine that it also affects our pets this way and we really should be made aware of this, but of course they never tell us stuff like this.

 

[Old Dog]

Well I will throw my 5 cents of experience in. I have a sharpei and have had dobies.All have had allergies. Ruling out flea allergies which then development into secondary staph. Food........read your contents.....to much grain,soy in particular,chicken can also aggravate.........lower protein nothing over 21% . Hi protein over 21-22% aggravates skin allergies. I live in the south and with all our humidity and heat we have ALLERGIES..........I have seen the lower protein and lamb and rice work wonders on the itching and chewing themsellves..........especially in those breeds like terriers,poodles,shitzu's ect............doesn't cost nothing but change in food and watch the protein %. It usually takes at least 4 weeks for improvement.......chicken and rice is not the same and most has little rice but alot of grain.........good luck. I was a vet tech for over 10years and I agree long term predinsone has all kind of terrible problems that turn in to more serious health problems...........

 

[Whitedobelover]

I had Corgan our Sieb Husky to the Vet about 3 months ago. Doc said he has allergies. He lost some hair inbetween his legs and he was in terrible pain.
He put him on "Prednisone". It worked! But now it's back again. I called and they said to start him on it again......Does this mean he will always have to take it?? Anyone have this problem? I really hate giving him this med. It makes him drink and eat alot. It can't be good for him. I'll have to take him back to the Doc. But thought I would get some input from some of you.....Phyl

well im not sure if this well help... you can try a raw or holistic diet... that gives them alot of wat they need... though the raw diet is like being vegetarian... they also need other things in their diet other than meat... Holistic kibble though is great... you can get raw inside holistic kibble... which is awesome...

also take him off tap water... put a brita filter on or a filter of some kind as long as it is charcoal filter... then use that... water chemicals can cause problems with the skin...

also get some fish oil... salmon oil. or some other fish oil if you cant get that... use olive oil... it isnt as good but it will help... they need those oils in their diets... if they arent getting them they could have skin problems...

also dont give him a bath every other week... once a month then use baby wipes in between to keep him clean... this way he has his natural oils on his body to make sure that his skin is normal...

no im not a vet but i have studied skin problems alot... i work at a holistic dog food store we sell raw, holistic, oils and otehr things... i hope this helps out alittle

 

[Ilovegoldens]

Purina in my opinion is nothing but garbage... but that is my opinion.. some people my find their dogs are fine on it... a higher quality food will show you much less problems and will end up costing less in the long run because you use less and you have less problems.. Pred.. is not great to use excessively infact I would never give it to my dogs if I could avoid it at any given time... you could try a holistic vet.. as I treat my dogs very well with many herbs.. it might be what you need... but I really wouldnt' know.. good luck

 

[dogadvicer]

Hi,
Your dog has been subjected for steroid therapy. It requires treatment with the same drug with tapering dose for at least 10 without discontinuation. If you follow this procedure, definitely you will get good results.
Hope You might won in this game!
-dogadvicer
www.edogadvice.com

 

[shabess1200]

Allergies

Allergies in all domestic animals have always been a mystery. However, after very extensive research on wild as well as domesticated canines and felines one thing becomes very clear. The so called diagnosed 'allergies' aren't really allergies at all, it all boils down to either a lack of something in the diet, or an overload. The lack stems from an inappropriate diet, and the overload comes from a sudden diet change that contains what the animal was originally lacking. In some cases the lack of certain vitamins and minerals in a diet effects the health, but never shows itself, eg., no outward signs at all. Sometimes however there are outward signs and because it is not known what the animal is missing the 'allergy' is diagnosed. Same goes for the diet change when the diet is more complete, however, this doesn't usually last long once the body adjusts to what was originally missing.
This comes from an animal nutritionist of 35 years experience and one that has done research on both wild and domestic canines and felines. If I'm allowed to post a website that gives more details I can supply it.

 

[ledoc]

There are certainly diet related allergies but to state that all allergies are a result of a dietary imbalance is I'm afraid way off the mark. There is just too much documented and prima facia evidence to the contrary.
What one can say is that sensitised animals, over time, may become reactive to more allergens and some of these may be contained in the diet. Remove that allergen by altering the diet and you reduce the allergenic load and hopefully the clinical symptoms.
It is misleading in the extreme for anybody to claim any single "cure" or cause of allergies - the interactions at cellular level are just too complex and interlinked to even consider such a claim seriously.

 

[Renee750il]

But, Doc, if changing the diet makes the "allergic reaction" stop, then you've essentially solved the problem.

Kinda like the guy who went to the doctor and said, "Doc, when I have my coffee in the morning I get a stabbing pain in my eye." Doc asked him if he took sugar in his coffee and the patient answered "yes."

And Doc replied, "take the spoon out."

 

[ledoc]

We need to consider a few points here. (1) What is an "allergy' in this case. In dogs and cats, the skin is usually the target organ for allergies (in humans it is the respiratory system). This means that allergies usually (but not always) manifest as itchy skin. (2) Even in food related allergies, you can add or subtract ingredients to your hearts desire, but if you don't eliminate the offending food type, the allergy persists. (3) No matter what you do with the diet, you will have very little impact on say, a flea allergy.
The point is that altering the diet may positively impact on a food allergy sufferer, but will have little direct effect on other types of allergies.Diet is not an all encompassing solution to every allergy.

 

[Renee750il]

No, but it's a great place to start looking, and good nutritional support is always a cornerstone of good health.

 

[rowdy ridgeback]

i would use a different dog food. I wouldnt use anything with corn or wheat in it. Puma my older Ridgeback would itch all the time on Science Diet. I switched her to Nutro Natural and it pretty much stopped. I looked and seen that Nutro has corn gluten in it. So I went to Innova and havent had any problems. It is also human grade. All my dogs react that way to Lamb too. And remember just like most other drugs, they just mask a symtom of a bigger problem.

 

[aelizilly]

My sister's Yorkie has had problems with allergies and skin reactions for several years. The summer months are the worst on him and I used to feel so sorry for him as he would have bumps all over his body, constantly scratching at them and they'd get irritated and infected.

A couple of years back her vet was advising on the shots very frequently and it got to a point where he wasn't getting any relief. Then a friend of hers suggested she change his food and would you imagine....whoala!! He cleared up and has been much better ever since.

It is truely unfortunate that more vets do not recommend a food change before subjecting these little ones and our pocket books to all of this medicine. It is just like our doctors, and most people for that matter, want to solve everything with a pill. It frustrates me.

Sorry for my rant...but I feel better now.

 

[ledoc]

This is not a simple food allergy. As described, there was a seasonal aspect with him scratching more during the summer months. This would not have happened if it was a simple food allergybut is typical of flea allergies, atopies etc (at least initially).
The likely explanation is that he is allergenic to several things - e.g. a food type, fleas, pollens etc. By removing the food allergen, you have dropped the "irritation load" below the scratch threshold and so he doesn't scratch anymore.
However, if the other factors are not corrected, you might well find that as he grows older the itches return - simply because allergic animals tend to become allergic to more thing as they get older which in turn pushes up the irritation load.
A further interesting point is that generally speaking - food allergies don't respond well to cortisone therapy (while other allergies do - although it is not a cure but just relieves the symptoms). So that would support a food allergy diagnosis while the seasonality does not.

Makes life interesting (+sometimes frustrating!)

 

[patience2]

allergies and dog food

Hi everyone , I just wanted to share my experience with you.
My german shepherd was scratching constantly! causing bald spots
It was really bad. I tried all kinds of cream, shampoo, rinses, ointments,
took her to the vet with no help. I cooked her home made meals.
Nothing worked till I put her on Purinas Beneful Healthy Radiance Dog
Food. It made a world of difference in her. If your dog has this
problem, give it a try. It cant hurt.

 

[labdoglover]

Natural treatments are best

After more thab 30 years of owning and rescuing dogs and cats I have found that natural is best.
Allergies could be complicated and your vet will almost always recommend chemicals because he/she gets great perks from makers of drugs for doing so.
I personally have found great results with natural produces that work just as well or even better, I am so elated that I have found these treatments and cures.
Read this article http://www.supernaturaldog.com/
Good luck to you..

 

[bubbatd]

I agree to a certain point .... I personally would go to a Canine Dermatologist first ....save a lot of $$ and anguish in the long run .

 

[Vylula]

Was your old vet Dr. Butler??? I live near you. Can you tell me about the holistic vet you go to???

Thanks!!!

 

[DogTreats]

Here's a post I made on another forum. I took the freebie link out cuz I don't want you to think I'm selling something. I just hate it when any dog has an allergy that is difficult to remedy.

This recipe works for many dogs because they haven't been exposed to fish and after using if for about a week you should see results, mostly in the lack of itching, but also in the coat becoming brighter.

The key of course is to eliminate various food items one by one to find out what is causing the allergy. Sometimes it's not food and this is when you need a GOOD vet to tell you what to do.

Here's a hint on finding a good vet; your friends recommendations AND when you go to a vet who sells ANY brand of dog food, (don't let him look at the bag) ask him what the first ingredient is. Chances are he won't know, even though he's selling it. Then ask him what the protein percentage is; he probably won't know that either.

If he doesn't know the answers, get another vet.

WHY? because he is pushing a very important product that affects your dogs life and he doesn't even know what he's selling. This should cause you to ask yourself, do I want to put my dogs future in this persons hands? Especially if he is going to give my best friend a powerful drug?

Here's my response in another forum to a serious food allergy;

My brother Panda is lot like you. Just about everything gives him the itches!

Panda has driven my human almost mad, and believe me it was a short trip.

Fortunately for Panda he writes dog health and natural home made dog food recipe books so I eat really good all the time.

He feeds Panda (my brother) whitefish, rice and potatoes and it seems to work better than most foods whenever he has an "allergy" outbreak. I seldom get them anymore because I only eat the food my human makes me. Panda is allergic to everything, sometimes even me I think.

Here's how my human makes it;

Panda's Favorite "Yucky" Food (He calls it yucky cuz he only gets it when he has the yucks.

3 medium potatoes (skins included)
4 filets whitefish (or salmon)
1 cup white rice
1/2 tsp salt

Boil potatoes in 3 qt sauce pan or larger

+ Cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces and boil in 3 qt saucepan
+ Add rice when potatoes are 3/4 complete (potatoes firm but not soft)
+Add fish when rice is just beginning to soften (it takes only about 3 minutes in boiling water to make the fish tender and really good)

When the fish begins to break up add salt. Do not over cook (potatoes should not be overly soft, but somewhat firm)

Drain and mix but do not "mash" the potatoes (leave little chunks - great for chewing).

The rice should not be soft and the fish will have broken into small pieces.

Let cool and serve. My master says it's good enough for him to eat!

Depending on how big you are, this should make about 5 to 7 servings.

My human feeds Panda a normal serving in the morning and at night. He leaves the rest in the fridge no longer than 4 days.

It usually takes Panda about 5 to 7 days to get back to normal and then he puts him on his normal home made diet, which he changes every three weeks or so to keep all of us from getting bored and keeps us healthy and happy.

He said you could have this eBook to try some of the other great tasting natural home made dog foods. I like them all.

Here it is;


Junior

PS. Let me know how you liked the recipe.