Allergies in dogs

[Bugs_s_Mom]

@animaldoc

If you want to do a true elimination diet, you really need a Rx diet. Hydrolyzed protein diets work well, or true limited ingredient diets. Unfortunately most OTC diets will have cross-contamination or other protein sources if you get down far enough on the list of ingredients…you only need to do the diet for 6-8 weeks.

Thank you! It really seems like we are going to have to put his big boy pants on and go see the vet.

[Foxtrot_s]

My Boxer has allergies - we only went so far before giving her 1/2 an Apoquel daily. She does not scratch at all now and the vet does not think the long term effects are hard o the dog. The doggie dermatologists/allergy specialists never came up with anything for our English Bull Terrier, and with him all I could find for his hot, pink itchy skin was frequent baths of Mal-A-Ket.

[stargzng386]

@16 Hands

My lab was recently diagnosed with having a whole host of allergies when she started scratching and it wasn’t fleas because the other dog was unphased. took her to the dog dermatologist and first did a food allergy test and that turned up negative, then did the skin prick test and took about 15 different skin samples and came up with the results:
Allergic to cat dander (we have a cat)
Allergic to dust mites
Allergic to ragweed
Allergic to a number of common field grasses

So now, vet concocted serums for her particular issues and she is on a shot every 3 days until she reaches the end of the third vial and then will wean down to 1 shot every 3 weeks. What the vet neglected to tell me, it takes 6 to 10 months for full effectiveness and meanwhile she’s scratching her fur off and her whole underside is red and inflamed and she scratches constantly. Plus her skin stinks, not normal dog smell, but just stinky. The only time she’s not scratching is when she’s playing ball or sleeping. The dogs were found to have contracted fleas and we eradicated them pretty quickly and our other dog has stopped scratching at fleas and now is back to his normal self. However, my lovely young lab is not. It breaks my heart to see her so unhappy but hopefully we’re on the right track to helping her cope.

I had a golden who scratch tested allergic to grass, ragweed, dust mites and a bunch of other trees/plants. We did the allergy shots and it did wonders. When she was first diagnosed she was losing fur in clumps…so gross. Once we built up and kept up with the shots she had no more issues. The vet did prescribe a shampoo(I know we could only get it from them at that time) that we had to use religiously until the shots kicked in. We had to lather her up, let it sit for 15 minutes and then wash her off. I had to do that 2-3 times a week depending on how itchy she was and it did actually work…though I have a lot of pics of a pathertic sad golden staring at me while her 15 minute timer ran. I don’t remember what it was called but call and ask your vet.

[16_Hands]

Did it take that long for the shots to kick in? Six to ten months? He did prescribe a shampoo to use but he said use it only at the beginning but I’m going to go ahead and start using it. Yes, that 15 minutes drags out forever and she definitely was not enjoying herself. But yes, she’s losing hair, has scabs from sores, belly red and inflamed, the whole nine yards.

[S1969]

@Bugs's Mom

Thank you! It really seems like we are going to have to put his big boy pants on and go see the vet.

That’s what I would recommend. Because there are so many factors that it is really difficult for anyone to accurately measure and change a DIY diet while they have no control over the allergens in the environment.

In cases where a dog has mild symptoms, sure, it might be worth playing around with a few changes and see if they help. But in cases where the symptoms are significant - it could take forever to figure it out. Or, you could make it worse.

Because there are also non-allergy reasons for a dog to be itchy.