Dog allergy to house dust mites

nac

We have a 3 year old choc lab. He's been itching, scratching for months now. He's been on and off steroids, antibiotics, ear drops etc etc throughout. He's had blood tests and scrapes done which have come back saying he's allergic to house dust mites. Before we riot up all the carpets and look for anti allergy bedding, has anyone else experience of this?? I can't imagine we could get rid of all the mites so is it worth spending hundreds of pounds? We've already spent at least £600 on vet fees. Insurance won't look at it. Any advice would be great, thank you

codemonkey

Have they tried an antihistamine with him? Not quite the same thing by CD has hayfever and gets runny eyes and a runny nose. Anyway the vet recommended an antihistamine and he's so much better now. She said she could prescribe something but that human and dog antihistamines like cetirizine, loratadine and whatever is in piriton are the same thing and the people version is much cheaper, and just to give him one tablet of cetirizine hydrochloride (claritin or own brand) as long as its not one with decongestants in it and it seems to have worked. So in the summer, me, DH and the dog all take the same hayfever pill.

Obviously, you'd have to check with your vet if it's ok and dosage instructions and so on. Just an idea if it hasn't been tried already.

I believe feeding a raw food diet can also help with allergies but I'm sure someone who knows more about it than me can help you out.

peachyprice

I second asking the vet if it's ok to give antihistamines. My dog has a cat flea allergy, if he gets a bite piriton sorts him out in a couple of days.

System

One of our dog's had that. We were giving him Piriton but the problem with that is that it makes the skin very thin with prolonged use.

We eventually got a proper diagnosis from the Vet School in Edinburgh who also arranged to get de-sensitising injections set up. We had to give him an injection once a month and after about 2.5 years he seemed to be de-sensitised to them and we stopped the injections.

For some reason the injections came from Holland. They came as a complete 6 month kit. A bottle of the 'vaccine' and 6 syringes. Can't remember the cost but the insurance was paying for it.

Misty_Blue

One of mine has a dust mite allergy; you (and the dog!) have my sympathy.


Atopica capsules worked absolute miracles for him, but they are not the cheapest. However, I was able to cut the dose right down over time, so the cost is really quite low now. If that hadn't worked, our next step would be the custom made vaccines as mentioned above. They are made abroad and the vet has to import them and obtain a licence to have them on the premises, IIRC.


What was the reason your insurers gave for not covering allergy treatment? My dog was fully covered with M&S.

teddysmum

Teddy my cavalier had blood tests which came back showing a dust mite allergy. The vet recommended Virbac anti-flea spray as it is one of the few that also treats dust mites. However, once the canister was empty I didn't replace it as it seemed to make no difference and I was also concerned about the effects of the spray on my aquarium, as the instructions say you should remove fish from treated rooms.


We tried anti histamines with no effect , but steroids did work. These are not desirable, so he only has them less than once a year, when he has real flare ups.


The vet suggested Atopica, saying some dogs have bad reactions (upset tums0 but the manufacturer suggests working through. His first test was on a lab, who had tummy problems, but eventually got to tolerate it.


Teddy had no problems and has been on one a week for about two years. He does vomit about two hours after taking his tablet, sometimes, but there is no pattern to this and last week, he had actually eaten a little grass.


He is still quite an itchy dog (wriggles if you ruffle his coat) but he stops scratching if distracted and doesn't chew or scratch until his skin is raw. He is a paw nibbler, after being out on the lawn, so I suspect that actual dust (soil) as well as the mites' poo irritates him.


As he is on one tablet a week and that for the next weight category down from his (vet said it's not a severe allergy), it costs me less than £1 a week. I buy from Animed, who are cheapest for this drug.


Some doom watchers online warn that Atopica can cause cancer, but there is no experimental proof and Teddy is a healthy lively 10 year-old.

nac

Hi code monkey, he doesn't get runny nose /eyes just scratching constantly - tried him on piriton type tablets but they make no difference

codemonkey wrote: »

Have they tried an antihistamine with him? Not quite the same thing by CD has hayfever and gets runny eyes and a runny nose. Anyway the vet recommended an antihistamine and he's so much better now. She said she could prescribe something but that human and dog antihistamines like cetirizine, loratadine and whatever is in piriton are the same thing and the people version is much cheaper, and just to give him one tablet of cetirizine hydrochloride (claritin or own brand) as long as its not one with decongestants in it and it seems to have worked. So in the summer, me, DH and the dog all take the same hayfever pill.

Obviously, you'd have to check with your vet if it's ok and dosage instructions and so on. Just an idea if it hasn't been tried already.

I believe feeding a raw food diet can also help with allergies but I'm sure someone who knows more about it than me can help you out.

nac

Thanks. Yeh no better on antihistamines, he's on his third lot of steroids in 4 months which I hate as I know they can damage kidneys, but they're the only thing stopping him scratching, can I ask you what atopica is? I'm tearing my hair out, vet just keeps throwing pills after pills at us

teddysmum wrote: »

Teddy my cavalier had blood tests which came back showing a dust mite allergy. The vet recommended Virbac anti-flea spray as it is one of the few that also treats dust mites. However, once the canister was empty I didn't replace it as it seemed to make no difference and I was also concerned about the effects of the spray on my aquarium, as the instructions say you should remove fish from treated rooms.


We tried anti histamines with no effect , but steroids did work. These are not desirable, so he only has them less than once a year, when he has real flare ups.


The vet suggested Atopica, saying some dogs have bad reactions (upset tums0 but the manufacturer suggests working through. His first test was on a lab, who had tummy problems, but eventually got to tolerate it.


Teddy had no problems and has been on one a week for about two years. He does vomit about two hours after taking his tablet, sometimes, but there is no pattern to this and last week, he had actually eaten a little grass.


He is still quite an itchy dog (wriggles if you ruffle his coat) but he stops scratching if distracted and doesn't chew or scratch until his skin is raw. He is a paw nibbler, after being out on the lawn, so I suspect that actual dust (soil) as well as the mites' poo irritates him.


As he is on one tablet a week and that for the next weight category down from his (vet said it's not a severe allergy), it costs me less than £1 a week. I buy from Animed, who are cheapest for this drug.


Some doom watchers online warn that Atopica can cause cancer, but there is no experimental proof and Teddy is a healthy lively 10 year-old.

nac

He had been seen @ 4 weeks previously due to berry bugs which he picked up in the long grass but were quickly eradicated. Insurance said this meant he had a previous condition
QUOTE=Misty Blue;64954070]One of mine has a dust mite allergy; you (and the dog!) have my sympathy.


Atopica capsules worked absolute miracles for him, but they are not the cheapest. However, I was able to cut the dose right down over time, so the cost is really quite low now. If that hadn't worked, our next step would be the custom made vaccines as mentioned above. They are made abroad and the vet has to import them and obtain a licence to have them on the premises, IIRC.


What was the reason your insurers gave for not covering allergy treatment? My dog was fully covered with M&S.[/QUOTE]

nac

You're so lucky your insurance covered it, we've been told about these vials, £110 per vial for 2-3 months:eek:

which

!!!!!! wrote: »

One of our dog's had that. We were giving him Piriton but the problem with that is that it makes the skin very thin with prolonged use.

We eventually got a proper diagnosis from the Vet School in Edinburgh who also arranged to get de-sensitising injections set up. We had to give him an injection once a month and after about 2.5 years he seemed to be de-sensitised to them and we stopped the injections.

For some reason the injections came from Holland. They came as a complete 6 month kit. A bottle of the 'vaccine' and 6 syringes. Can't remember the cost but the insurance was paying for it.

hermoine_2

Our shin tzu has dust mite allergy and has steroids very other day. She also has malaseb shampoo very week. It is not ideal but it keeps her comfy.