Dog with allergies - Options?

Hedgehog99

Our dog used to chew his paws sometimes after getting back from a walk (stinging nettles? thistles? sweet chestnut cases?). He used to make them hot and sore, but was good at obeying our "gently..." and leaving them alone. Holding a damp cloth wrung out in iced water against each paw helped take the heat off & soothe them.

I know if your dog has allergies, it's different, but maybe this'll be little extra help if he's extra distressed about his sore paws.

Misty_Blue

Atopica was a miracle drug for my allergic boy. He was on it until the end of his days and it changed his life (and mine).

sheramber

teddysmum wrote: »

If the dog's allergy is not food related (Teddy's isn't; we had the trials) changing the diet won't help.

True, but the OP suggested that she thinks chicken and rice is causing problems but was having difficulty finding a wet food without ine if thise ingredients in it. On that basis I suggested raw as a way of eliminating these in a wet food.

I spent two years and a lot of money trying to get to the bottom of my !!!!!'s itching. I eventually put her on boiled fish and rice and the itching stopped within three days - her skin took loknger to heal.She was reacting to wheat gluten.

My next dog had a rash and was scratching and my vet wanted to put him on steroids which I did not agree with for a young dog. One morning I noticed his rash was worse than the day before.

Again , the next morning more spots.

I wondered if he was reacting to his food although my vet had discounted that as he was fed a lamb and rice complete which was considered hypoallergenic ( no such thing as it depends on what is causing the reaction).

That night I fed him tinned Chappie, which I had for my oldie. and next morning no new spots.

I tturned out it was lamb that was causing the problem. I later switched to raw feeding but still could not give him anything to do with lamb- even a lamb bone- without him reacting.

Paradigm

Have you tried something as simple as Piriton?

Can be effective against a wide range of allergies, it's cheap & available over the counter, has few side effects when given at the correct dose.

It may or may not work but for a few quid I'd say it was worth a try.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

My b1tch has a whole raft of allergies, hot spots, chewing, itching, yucky ears...We used steroids to get her most recent flare up under control, then moved her onto antihistamines. In the meantime, I bought Derm Opt shampoo and put her on Orijen fish. All her problems have cleared up and she's been off the steroids and antihistamines for as long as she's been on the Orijen.

steelframedhouse

lisa701 wrote: »

Last time I spoke to the vet I said that I would prefer to find out for definate what is causing the flare ups than jump in with both feet and put him on costly and nasty meds, but he said it wasnt worth finding out - this upset me and made me feel he was more concerned about income than my dog's health.

I just don't know what to do. I'd like to speak with someone who is specialised in allergies/dermatology who isnt interested in the big bucks the pills and injections but how to I find such a person?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Any specialist, in any field, is going to be more costly than a regular vet. My dog was seen by a European specialist in dermatology at a referral centre - the first consultation was £230, that's not including any tests, that's just the consultation/examination fee (which was very thorough and over 1 hour long). Some basic tests on top of the consult fee made the visit over £400. Follow up consults are £170, again just for the consult - no tests etc

An alternative to a specialist ie European/RCVS specialist is to find a regular vet who holds a certificate in dermatology. Use this link http://findavet.rcvs.org.uk/find-a-vet/advanced-search/ This will show any vets who have studied/earned the extra qualification in dermatology but will likely be working in general practice so the consult is likely to be much less than the above, altrhough I would imagine it will still be more than a regular general practice vet. You can also search for an RCVS specialist but when I did that the search results were only the referral centres, which as above are going to be very expensive.

Do the search based on postcode within X mile radius (rather than town name as it doesn't offer you the search radius) then use the dropdown for 'practice staff' select and search for the following:
certificate in advanced veterinary practice (veterinary dermatology)
certificate in small animal dermatology
certificate in veterinary dermatology

gettingready

Zara has now been put on Apoquel

Initially for the first 2 week 1.5 tablet (16mg tablets)twice per day then if it helps and she stays on it will be less as maintenance dose.

She chews her paws when it is wet outside, red raw between her pads. She also "rides her bum" when out (wormed up to date, no issues with anal glands) and after about a year or a bit more of this, her vet (lucky we do have a specialist dermatologist where we go) put her on Apoquel.

I hope it helps as nothing else did so far... sighhhh

If anyone can recommend a dermatologist referral place in London - would be grateful.

By the way, I paid £110.00 for 2 weeks supply of the tablets. Found them on animed and vet uk at £2.99 per tablet (at 3 per day now that would be £9.00 per day so ... very expensive) but both animed and veuk have "out of stock" on those.... Apparently there is shortage. Hmmm

Statement of availability

Interesting

Comparison of Atopica and Apoquel

rising_from_the_ashes

lisa701 wrote: »

He is currently on Penlan Farm chicken & rice sachets, with a bit of Burns chicken and rice biscuits thrown in (he refuses to eat dried alone). Also used James Wellbeloved Turkey & Vegetable kibble which he enjoys but won't eat dried - fussy thing!!

I wonder if the rice or chicken is now causing issues but I've searched for a rice / corn / chicken free wet food and cannot find anything.

There are several good quality fish based wet & dry foods around

Most of the 'sensitive' fish kibbles use Potato as the filler - it's actually really quite hard to find one with Fish & Rice in (Maisie is intolerant to potato - and many other things - unfortunately)

As for Fish wet foods that don't have corn or rice in - again several spring to mind - Wainwrights (P@H brand) do both a fish & potato kibble & wet

Might be worth a try

cherrykerry

There are plenty of different foods available now that do not contain corn, rice etc. If you go on the allaboutdogfood website and select grain free you will get dozens of choices. One of my dogs has IBD, grains, turkey and beef set it off aswell as any dry food so he has a selection of high quality wet food which is usually lily's kitchen, wainwrights, simpsons etc. My other 3 dogs are on canagen which is also grain free. Bulk fillers, grains, additives etc are often causes of itchy skin in dogs.
If your vet doesnt think its worth finding out the real problem then I would suggest you change vets. Any decent vet will care about the health of the animal, not just his profit margin :cool:

gettingready

I have to say that so far so good as ALL of Zara's skin problems dissapeared since she was started on Apoquel