Help with dog allergies!

[Michelle Chandler]

I have a 3 year old Pug with skin allergies. I have removed all plants from the yard, tried all of the antihistamines, Atopica, bathing her, and special foods. I don't want to use steroids all the time because of all the damage it can do internally.

Daphne(my pug) and I would welcome any helpful information.

Thank you.

[misharu]

Make sure it is the right kind of Bendryl. Our vet told us to use Walgreen’s brand of Benedryl when our mix breed ate a bee. Apparently there are some additional chemicals in the others.

[girlscout]

This may be unrelated to your issue, but, my lab had summer skin allergies. By mid-summer she would have scratched off most of her back hair and had many hot spots. Since then she’s started swimming in a pond in the warm months and doesn’t lose her hair or have the hot spots. Good luck!

[LYSandra]

Yes to the person who feeds their dog California Natural. My Bichon had bad skin and they suggested Benedryl but I didn’t want my dog all lethargic so I switched to the Calif chix & rice Calif Natural and the bumps etc went away. I had also ordered the Dynovite online but he didn’t like it so I don’t know if it would have helped.

[A CA Guy]

That breed is known to go nearly blind at a young age and many go deaf as well.
They are known for the allergies. Neighbors of mine had put for a short time the animal on a steroid and the pooch did fine.
Just give the medicine over the week or more with food and they should be fine.
You would be ending all the itching, rashes and suffering.

[A CA Guy]

The dog is usually sensitive to what they eat, so getting a non allergenic dog food helps.

[A CA Guy]

Is this Barbara Walters from THE VIEW?

[bcsco]

The dog is usually sensitive to what they eat, so getting a non allergenic dog food helps.

Been there, done that. Didn't help.

[Joe 6-pack]

As others here have said, work closely with your vet. If it appears seasonal, it may be foliage in your area, or it may be fleas...while they are an annoyance for most dogs, some dogs are actually allergic to their bites and have extreme reactions. I'm not really familiar with pugs, but Shepherds tend to have a very alkaline skin which can also encourage infections...a little bit of vinegar in their bathwater can be helpful but if she's suffering from really bad dermatitis, I wouldn't bathe her too often.

I've used benadryl in the past with a topical hydrocortisone spray with very good effect.

Good luck!!

[LYSandra]

As a p.s. do not feed your dog the Calif Natural that is sweet potato/can’t remember if herring or salmon but it made problem worse-just feed the Calif Natural Chix & Rice. Some dog person had me use the sweet potato one and didn’t help so I switched to the chix and rice and it cleared right up.

[martin_fierro]

[Titan Magroyne]

Looks like a lot of helpful doggie peeps are here already.

I’ll second (or 5th) the fish oil to help the skin overall. You can get veterinary formulas at a pet store; get one with both omega 3 & 6 oils.

Before you try possibly expensive food, you may as well ask your vet for a scratch test so you know exactly what is triggering your pug’s allergies.

Until then, you can feed people-food quality cooked meat - beef, poultry, low-sodium canned fish - with plain brown or white rice. (I know a lot of peeps feed raw, but it seems like you have enough unknown factors w/o adding that right away.)

[grellis]

Meet VVD, one of FR’s resident docs.

[MountainDad]

dinovite.com

[vetvetdoug]

itchnot.com website has valuable information about how to manage your dog's allergies. Go back to using a novel protein in the dog's diet...it may take a year before one finds the allergen. Skin testing used to be the standard, however the results vary from company to company and currently the procedure is under review because there is no consistency in results. The RAST tests using the blood are totally unreliable (recent findings).

Sorry for the delay in reply...my Internet service was down this morning.