Lhasa Apso with an allergy

jolenejolene

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone has any experience of allergies in dogs? We are having problems with our 1 year old Lhasa. She began scratching her face causing a sore to each side and often had runny poo - resulting in lots of bathing!!. The vet thought food allergy so after antibiotics and prednicare we tried her on duck James Wellbeloved. As soon as the prednicare stopped she scratched herself silly again. The vet then advised the Hills z/d diet. This has helped with poo problem for sure, but she was still itchy (and very smelly) and again as soon as the prednicare stopped caused another sore. She had a skin biopsy and a blood test to rule out mange (sp?) and that was clear. The biopsy confirmed allergy. We have now had some other blood tests to try and find out what she is allergic too exactly. We also tried antihistamines and malaseb (sp?) shampoo. Neither helped much.

Has anyone else experienced this with their dog? Are there any natural remedies that may help? Any ideas / tips generally?

I must say the vet has been great - and thankfully I have pet insurance!!!

Thanks for reading!!

hethmar

Skin allergies are very common nowdays - I dont think that many dogs dont have them!

Ive tried everything over the last few decades and I recently came across something which I was told was a "miracle" (which I very much doubted!). Well, nothing to lose, I bought this stuff for my rescue Border Terrier who had scratched himself raw - his back legs were virtually bare.

AND - it worked. Ill give you a link to Many Tears Rescue who were trying the product out on their allergic westies which they get from puppy farms who dump them because of the allergies - you can see one little pup who started off with red raw bare legs and I think 5 weeks later, he is absolutely fine.

I got this product about 5 weeks back in that very hot period we had and my dog was literally covered in raised pimples all over his skin. He has sores under his front arms and he was rubbing his legs along the floor all the time. After one bath, honestly, the pimples were gone and they sort of flattened out and came out over the next few days as scurf when I brushed him.

Have to warn you the shampoo STINKS, but a small price to pay -

http://www.aromesse.com/pages/petnat/dermacton.htm

They are lovely people, the product is completely natural. I have the cream, the shampoo (which comes in a block like a soap) and the spray. I should think your dog is much same size as Diggs so the soap/shampoo should last a dozen baths.

Try it yourself, nothing to lose as I say and Im just grateful it has stopped my Diggs chewing himself to bits. The big test will be mid summer when he gets frantic with itching - so far, so good. Ive been using the soap shampoo on him once a week, I shall do it a few times a week if he worsens in the mid summer heat.

Do let me know how you get on. I so hated the vet giving my dogs steroids which really do harm them over time.

Oh, I also feed my boys Royal Canin Skin support food - you can get it from your vet but its normally cheaper on line from somewhere like petsupermarket (and you can used quidco.com for cash back)

Oh, the link to Many Tears Rescue when they were using the product on trial:


Sadly, this site wont let me add the link, so just google Many Tears Rescue and have a look on their home page for the link

Errata

Does she go to a dog groomer? If so, could it be something the groomer's using that she's allergic to ?

tiff

My Lhasa x Shi Tzu scratches a lot, mostly his face and the vet says its just habit as he doesnt have a reflex action when touched in the place that he scratches iyswim.

jolenejolene

Hi again,

Hethmar - that really does sound worth a go. I'll look it up now and try an order. Like you say, nothing to lose!! The shampoo can't stink more than the dog at the moment............can it!!

I do use a groomer, but only once evry 3 months or so, so I don't think it is linked?

Tiff - does your dog cause sores by sctaching as well?

Thanks everyone for the replies!! Off to look up the shampoo suggested. xx

tiff

No, he doesnt have sores from scatching. My dog stinks too, he has to be washed once a week and I spray him with some doggy fragrance thing in between washes! You must be fab at grooming to only have him cut every 3 months, I cant leave him more than 6 weeks as he gets matted and I can never seem to keep on top of it.

Errata

Mine goes every 6 weeks otherwise he looks like an explosion in a mattress factory. Because Llasa's coats are woolly it's also much too hot for him, especially in the summer.
In the winter he likes to patrol up and down in the flower beds and if his feet and legs weren't clipped short he'd finish up with feet the size of mud footballs.

*zippy*

We have a schnauzer with skin problems, I spent a fortune on different remedies, vet vists, stopped all treats in case it was that, used organic shampoo, used natural floor cleaners, I even changed the dog bowls in case she was allergic to the plastic..nothing worked so I tried the James wellbeloved helpline. They said the most likely causes of allergies are either cereal or meat think she said paticulary beef. She said choose one to omit and if it doesn't help then try the other. We omitted meat first feeding her burns fish based food as she was already on the burns venison food as that was advertised for allergies, it cleared up lovely and all her hair grew back slowly :T

Definately worth ringing them for a chat or the burns helpline maybe.

Hope you get it sorted, its so horrible to see them suffering x

robert_harper_2000

It usually boils down to the food Hills Z/D although Vet recommended may not be the best thing and could still be causing the probs. Google 'Real Pet Food' and look up Science Plan Z/D on Yahoo answers, I don't know quite so much about dog food but I would try and find a company that is a bit independent 'Barking Heads' use oats rather than rice, Orijen use 0% grains or of course cook your own oh also look up Salters which has been going 10 years and uses only the best ingredients and can also source all his ingredients etc, plus when you call you can ask to speak to Mr Salter and he knows his stuff search salters pet nutrition. Burns contains about 60% plus rice - Dogs aren't strict carnivores but it does seem a lot of rice.

hethmar

I use the Vet skin support food from Royal Canin and also Orijen (both fish based). But whilst some of these problems are clearly due to whats going into a dog, with others, like mine, its outside allergens such as pollens and grasses, house mites - hence my two pronged attack with the PetNat shampoo and creams plus the good food. (I spent £550 on skin tests for one of mine, they said he was allergic to his own yeast on his skin! - very helpful)

Glad

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