I NEED SOME ADVISE ABOUT DOG ALLERGIES AND REMEDIES

[Champist1]

HELLO MY NAME IS BRANDON AND I HAVE A 4 YOUR OLD APBT. I HAVE ONLY HAD HIM FOR A YEAR. HIS PREVIOUS OWNERS WERE UNABLE TO CARE FOR HIM ANYMORE. HE HAS HAD THIS PROBLME FOR I BELIEVE SINCE HE WAS BORN. AROUND HIS LEGS AND UNDER HIS FRONT LEGS BUY CHEST AND ALSO HIND LEGS UNDER NEATH. HE HAS BEEN SCRATCHING VERY BAD. I HAVE TAKEN HIM TO SEVERAL VETS AND EACH TELL ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT. ONE SAID MITES. ANOTHER SAID MAYBE CHANGE HIS DIET AND THE OTHER SAID IT COULD JUST BE SOMETHING IN THE AIR. I HAVE CHANGED HIS DIET SEVERAL TIMES WITH NO RESULTS. I BATH HIM REGULARLY WITH SPECIAL SHAMPOO MAYBE EVERY 4 DAYS. SPRAY HIM ON HIS IRRITANT AREAS WITH SPECIAL SPRAY. IF SOMEONE COULD GIVE ME ANY ADVISE ON HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM RIDDICK WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. AND ANOTHER THING THE SCRATCHING OCCURS ALL THE TIME NO CHANGES IN SEASON OR TIME OF DAY OR PLACES WERE AT PROBLEM PERSISTS. THANK YOU AND HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU....

[Big Dog]

Hi Brandon,

First, welcome to our forum - we are very happy to have you here. A request please?

No more ALL CAPS postings or titles. It is very hard to read and considered "shouting," believe or not, in internet manners. 

It sounds like you are a very concerned and caring owner of your AST - excellent for you and lucky for him! The world needs more folks like you. His name is Riddick, is it?

Perhaps you could post some pictures of him and his problem areas?

I'm not a Vet and can't give you Vet advice, nor should you take it as Vet advice from anyone else here (we can't because we are not doctors nor have we seen Riddick).

But many of us have faced allergies in our dogs and can share our non-medlical experiences with you.

Allergies in dogs are a regular challenge and a real pain - both for us and our dogs.

Untreated they can lead to much more serious issues, infections, etc.

A few questions:

1) What are you feeding him right now and what have you tried before?

2) What kind of mites did the Vet say he had?

Over bathing can be an issue sometimes, but you said he had this issue before you adopted him, right?

Look at your home too. Are you using cleaning supplies on the floor or other areas he sleeps (even your bed if you allow it).

A classic issue is "contact dermatitis"

Contact dermatitis is a localized rash or irritation of the skin caused by contact with a foreign substance.

If he is sleeping on things like carpet scents (those powders you shake in before using the vacum) or other things like that it could cause contact dermatitis (so could many other issues).

So this is a start - there are other smarter folks around here who hopefully will add to this topic for you.

Craig
(publisher of DogExplorer)

[Champist1]

in reply to big dog...


thank you for the welcome. for about the past month i have been feeding him the Nutro brand. Large breed adult. lamb and rice formula. there has has been no results with the scracthing but his attitude has changed for the better with this food. the mites i believe the vet said he had would be dust mites. does that make sense? im not sure. i understand about the bathing when i was bathing him every four days it seemed the problem would slower or lessen. now i try and bath 6-8 days. i took him in march of 2006 so its been a year. his previous owners had taken him to vets also with no luck. the only thing that ive seen that helps is a steroid shot but i know these are not good for the dog. i would like to tell about the house. i have tile floors. tile not linoleum. i sweep everyday wop on occ. with water and pinesol. he does sleep inside he has his own dog crate. somtimes he will sneak on my bed but i have changed laundry soaps also and even washed with no soap. i also travel to my parests house with riddick bout twice a month and the problem persists not worsens but stays the same.i recently had him altered. hoping it would help. i am new to dogexploer and i have no idea how to post pictures ... i have no problem e-mailing pictures to anyone. my e-mail is     ifalldown2hard@yahoo.com  ..   his problem areas are underneath his hindlegs mostly in this area. also under front legs like arm pit area. i have recently seen him scratching his back...thank you-Brandon-

[Swissy Lover]

Hi Champist1,
From what you are describing sounds very much like allergies.  I agree that steroids shots are only a quick fix and not an answer.  What I would suggest is making sure your dog is current on frontline or any type of flea product.  Even one flea bit can set off any symptoms in a dog for a month if they are allergic to them.  On that note, you must make sure that all your animals are treated for flea's even if they don't go outside.  Since you take your dog outside he will bring the flea's inside to other animals, i.e cats.
In today's society dogs have allergies that we are unaware of such as food.  Allergy testing would be a good first step.  Since you have seen 3-4 doctors and the other owners have seen a few I would recommend going to an Internist.  They should be able to help you.
Meanwhile, I would recommend switching to a duck and potatoes, fish and potatoes or fish and rice.  Make sure to switch over very slowly (2 weeks time).  Most dogs aren't allergic to the above mentioned.
Depending on the area you live I can recommend an internist for you.
I hope this information helps you.
Best of luck,
Swissy Lover

[K9 Obedience]

The area's that are badly affected by the itching suggests to me that your dog is reacting to either a chemical substance you are using around the home, the diet being fed or any medications such as flea treatments that you are using. I have exoerienced the exact same problems in one of my Border Collies. Like you say NOTHING seemed to work despite many skin teasts, medications, different vets and changing brands of dog food. In the end I stopped everything. No medications, creams or potions. No commerciallly prepared dog food and I stopped using ALL commercial cleaning products. I exchanged cleaning materials to ECO natural ones. I threw out all bedding and replaced it with a wool blanket that was washed first in ECO soap powder. I began to prepare natural home cooked meals, (first just for the collie and now includes all the dogs) As with anything new it was difficult at first. I purchased a second hand freezer in which to store blocks of frozen tripe/chicken/fish. By this I mean just raw products that have been minced and frozen, so no additives, preservatives or anything nasty. I cooked up organic brown rice and the peelings and kitchen scraps from organic vegetables and fruit. I gently shampooed the dog in a shampoo made form organic oatmeal and calendula purchased from one of the online sites along with some organic cream to apply on the raw areas. I purchased an "Elizabethian Collar" from the vets to prevent the dog from scratching when I was not around to stop him. Whether you believe it or not the dog was showing signs of improvement after four days of being fed a natural diet and no chemicals being used in the household.

Today all my dogs are fed as naturally as possible and I myself have stopped using commercial products and buy natural shampoo's, cleaners, toothpaste and so on. I am not a dedicated convert as I have neither the time not the money to adhere totally to a natural lifestyle (I love chocolate too much)  but I do the best I can. Honestly natural cleaning products do WORK. Since swapping to ECO soap powder my daughters ecxema has improved, as has my son's dandruff. The dogs all have superb coats with little hair loss. They have fresh smelling breath, have bundles of energy and the Border Collies allergy has ceased.

Look you are not gettting anywhere with everything you have tried so far so why not give a go? If you just start by feeding the dog meat from the butcher mixed with organic rice, then grate some organic carrots over the top or add natural yoghurt. If you have a health store near you go and talk to the salesperson and get a tube of cream to sooth the itchy areas and some organic shampoo to bath the dog. Something is making the poor creature scratch the way it does and I believe that maybe through trial and error you may well find the answer is more simple than you thought.

Dog Lover.

[K9 Obedience]

OOps. Just reading through what I had written and noticed

Since swapping to ECO soap powder my daughters ecxema has improved, as has my son's dandruff. The dogs all have superb coats with little hair loss.

From this it sounds as if my son and the dogs all get washed with ECO soap powder.     

I assure everybody that that was NOT what I meant, though I daresay my son would not notice if he was washing his hair in ECO soap powder. Being a male, his mind is usually fixated on the latest football scores or a bit of totty he saw the night before!!!!!

Excuse my poor grammer.... but I do hope that my suggestions help your poor dog and keep in touch to let us know what's happening

Dog Lover