Asking out of desperation. Have been diagnosed with an idiopathic cough, low grade infection. Antibiotics clear symptoms about, say, 40%… Eyes water all.the.time. Weird toenail growth. Some wheezing on exhale. VERY sensitive nose.
Just would like to compare notes, please.
Took her off chicken based kibble last week and seeing mild improvement but I’m not convinced I’m pursing the right avenue. Naturopath visit scheduled in the next month.
PAW LICKING (and licking, and licking…) Mine are allergic to something that’s in a lot of the commercial kibble. I switched 'em to Healthwise natural kibble and about 85% of the paw licking stopped almost instantly.
Oh… and they get one benedryl capsule morning and night. Helped a ton with sneezy/weezy/ drippy allergies.
Maybe it can’t hurt to try something like that? Good luck!
Itcy skin, chronic ear infections, anal glad issues, sore on nose from chronic rubbing of the nose.
I would do more than just remove chicken. Look for a dog food that does not include and corn or wheat. Just one protein and one carbohydrate. ie duck and potato etc. If the symptoms clear up, you know it’s food allergies and can experiment with using a food that is not quite as restrictive (or as expensive).
I had one shepherd that had bad allergies. Almost all went away once I switched to a lamb and rice diet. If she ate too much beef trimmings or too much pop corn (as occassionaly treats) the insides of her ears turned bright red. I could just imagine the amount of inflamation in the body if she was eating allergens every day.
Mine gets crazy itchy, and licks his feet endlessly.
You can do allergy testing to pinpoint the issue. My vet had me put him on food (and treats!) with NO chicken, beef, corn, or wheat. It has helped immensely! He’s currently on Nature’s Recipe Lamb and Rice formula and I have seen a huge improvement over when we changed his diet.
If you give treats, also make sure that these don’t contain any of the ingredients that might trigger the allergies. It might seem like an insignificant amount, but it’s not!
My Border Collie is allergic to 21 different environmental allergens (grasses & pollens) and he is also allergic to the following food: poultry, milk, peas, oats and wheat. We had his blood tested and found out what he was allergic to. His symptoms were only itching and hair loss. He did not have any runny eyes or nose.
The vet had a lab make a special serum for 20 of the environmental allergens and we eliminated the foods that he was allergic to and he is FINALLY a normal dog. Occasionally he will get a bone from the UPS guy that has stuff that he is allergic to but it doesn’t seem to effect him in such small doses.
In our case the lab sent a pamplet listing the dog foods and treats on the market that he could have so I didn’t have to read every label on every bag of dog food. It makes it so much easier :yes:
I highly recommend having your dogs allergies identified with a blood test. It can end the endless guessing. In the end the test will save you money from trying all those different foods and shampoos. Not to mention all the medications from the vet.
My corgi starts scratching himself raw. He’s on hypoallergenic food from my vet and that clears up his symptoms. I just tried to switch him off to a less expensive ($100/bag) food, but he went back to scratching.
Corgi allergic to most grains, chicken, beef, and some other stuff (alfalfa, blueberries).
Manifests itself as itchy skin, anal gland issues, boil-like sores on his belly and feet, and endless sneezing and nose rubbing.
Our golden would get horrible hot spots on his head and lose hair on his butt, and itch. We switched to Canidea dog food and he never had another problem. Switched all the dogs and everyone raves about their coats. We do no wheat, corn, soy. Did not know so much about meat allergies, but there are a lot of good foods out now. We go to a speciality pet food store to get it, about $45 for a 44 pound bag. They are good about keeping up with changing companies/recipes. If it is not up to quality, they will not sell it.
Yup… itching, mild sores on head, wounds on elbows, paw licking, FLOOR licking and reallly funky-stinky if I dont’ supplement with chlorophyll (NOT chloroform!)
(pathetic attempt at humor)
Switched to Blue Buffalo Fish & Sweet potato because I’m unsure if it IS, in fact, allergies. My thinking is no more chicken or rice or barley, so common allergens are eliminated.
Have you tested her for Lyme? Could be a combination of things. Limited ingredient diet for starters…
Dog’s been tested for lyme, dex supression test, thyroid panel, senior panel, had head rads, rhinoscopy, abdominal u/s, full body rads, urinalysis, dental with multiple extractions, and has been on pulse antibiotics.
It’s GOT to be an allergy. She’s been off a lousy food (contained corn) a month ago, and has been on a fish/ sweet potato kibble about 10 days now.
Just wondering - is she a shepheard or cross?
Sounds like you have done a huge workup -has your vet recommended allergy testing? That would be my next step! We used to give custom allergy shots pretty frequently when we had the old clinic - seemed to really help a lot of the dogs out when they had serum specific for the allergen.
Oddly enough, no. Allergy testing has not been suggested. She was on hydroxazine for the coughing… did nothing to improve that or other conditions. Well, perhaps made her sleepy, which supressed some of the more annoying symptoms.
This dog also has a dropped or reduced heartbeat. EKG/ ECG 3x now, cardiologist tells us he’s nearly 100% certain this is something she’s had since birth and nixed the regular vet’s idea of medication, and scoffed at the idea of a pacemaker.
I’m hoping the diet change makes a difference even though the antihistamines did not.
Small vet suggested dog live on Pred. I just won’t do that to an animal.
Oh… and, Chow.
Has she ever been treated with antifungals before?
I’ve never heard of a cough being related to a dog-food-allergy OR an environmental allergy?
dog allergies usually manifest as skin/ itchy problems.
We cultured her nasal passages after scoping and it came up negative for fungal/ yeast however the test said essentially false negatives were possible. Then, we cultured the wounds on her elbows: only white blood cells indicative of fighting an infection.
I asked specifically about utraconazole and the small vet discouraged it saying it would potentially cause liver damage. I’d love to know about a irrefutable yeast or fungus test.
Any suggestions?
Also, I’ve heard that food infections dont’ usually show in teh way of respiratory issues and draining eyes. None of her symptoms line up neatly for much of anything. The diet change is just another attempt in a long list of many to make her more comfortable.
The changes to the nailbeds causing irregular nail growth made me think fungal infection. Some other kinds of fungal infections can cause chronic cough and airway irritation. I think you mean itraconazole? It’s true that ketoconazole has potential for liver damage, but fluconazole much less so. I’d have to look up where itraconazole falls in the spectrum of hepatotoxicity.
With the cough though, I’d consider doing a BAL, or a bronchoalveolar lavage, or even a bronchoscopy to investigate further. While there is not necessarily an “irrefutable” test for fungal disease (though you can get serum levels against things like cryptococcus I think), you might simply be culturing the wrong areas.
I’d also consider seeking the opinion of a board-certified internist, if you haven’t already.
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