Dog allergy questions!

[R7]

For the past month, I've been back and forth to the vets with my 9 month old black lab. She started to get itchy and was scratching to the point where she started to lose fur in some areas. At first, they said give a Benadryl in the morning and another at night to see how things went. It helped a little for about a week! Shortly after, she started to get small bumps, looked like little pimples on her belly and arms/legs. A return to the vets once I noticed them, they said it could be several things, but likely allergy related. So home we went with a perscription dog food and 3 medications to take. One was a steroid to help slow the itching, another was an antibiotic for possible infection from the little pimples, and another topical parasiticide.
There was instant improvement at first, the itching stopped, the bumps went away and she stopped losing fur.
The steroid was only a 6 day perscription, so after that, there was slight itching again...but the bumps never came back. The antibiotic was for 26 days...no more than a day after the antibiotic ran out (this past Thursday), she started intching even more. Then yesterday, I notice the bumps are coming back...and today, they have turned into small sores! At the time, they gave me extra steroid just in case she itched again, so I gave her one to help ease the itching and making the sores worse...which again has helped.
When I called the vet last week, they wanted to do a blood test to test for what type of allergy is causing it...I normally wouldn't question this and say yes...but it's $550.00 for the test.
It seems odd to me that as soon as the antibiotic ran out, all the problems started again in force? I thought antibiotics were for infections, not allergy?
I have to bring her back tomorrow, I just hate to spend that kinda money and "hope" that's what's causing it.
Any suggestions from the long time dog owners here..or the vets that are here?

Another thing today that scared the shit out of me, I had a fenced in grape vine and I removed the fence to mow the lawn, got distracted and didn't put the fence back once I was done. Of course I happen to look over and see the dog eating the grapes..in fact, she ate ALL of them that were on the vine. I knew they were toxic for dogs, I just didn't know how to deal with it! Called my neighbor who's a dog owner and a nurse, he said giver her a tablespoon full of Hydrogen peroxide ASAP and that will make her puke it all up. Less than 30 seconds later and there was maybe a quart sized pile of grapes sitting ina big pile on the lawn. She was slow for about an hour after that, but is back to her usual self now

[rg500]

We had similar problems with my mother in laws dog. It ended up being a thyroid problem. We put him on the mess and it cleared right up. The downside is that he will be on meds for the rest of his life.

[06gixgirl]

It can be an allergy to maybe the food you're feeding her. I had a rottie before that no vet could figure out what he was allergic too, he was going bald & would bite himself & scratch. I figured out myself that he was allergic to the food I was giving him then. I had to put him on the fish/sweet potato one from Wellness, cleared his allergies right up. I would try a different food. also if you feed them sometimes out of metal bowls or plastic some may be allergic to either metal or the plastic ones. buy some mackarel fish in the oil & mix it in the food, that also helps alot. I wouldn't pay to have some allergy tests done until you rule out foods etc. My dog Busa who is a pit/mix is allergic to grass & when he lays outside on the grass he gets bumps & a rash on his belly.

[lrrs313]

+1 on the food allergy. My dog had a lot of the same symptoms. We changed his food and it has helped a lot.

[RandyO]

try feeding her some of your honey ?

[GearHd6]

R7, DO NOT do the blood allergy test, it's a waste of money. The only tests that get results are where they shave their side and poke them with small doses of what they might be allergic to. The vet then reads the reaction on the skin. We did the blood test and shaved skin one and the blood results were a waste of time and money. Have you changed her food or anything like that? Has anything come out environment wise that wasn't out before??

We have been through the EXACT same thing and ended up going to a veterinary dermatologist in Boston for a resolution after wasting THOUSANDS of dollars and 2 years trying to treat our dog with our normal vet. The bumps are most likely a staph infection, which is typically caused by breaking the skin open after scratching from being allergic to something. The dermatologist flipped out when we first went there because our dog was on steroids for the itching, and her reasoning was this. Infection is fought in your blood stream by your white blood cells, that is what carries the antibiotic to the infection to kill it, a steroid (prednisone, right??) kills your bodies response to infection and severely lowers the white blood count in your blood stream. So,now you're taking meds to kill something, but there is no carrier to get the meds to the infection. She said that every time you treat an infection with steroids and antiboitics the itching will decrease IMMEDIATELY but as soon the meds are stopped it comes back worse than ever.

Honestly, I'd do one of two things depending on your financial situation. First (cheaper method, but sorta a shot in the dark) go back, get the pestules looked at to see if it's bacterial or yeast,and go on a broad spectrum antiboitic for at least 6 weeks. We've been on a few of them like cephalexin or clindamycin. Whatever you do refuse to use prednisone,the itching will just come back immediately after you stop. The second approach is to have the staph cultured in a lab which will tell you exactly what antibiotic it is sensitive to so you can treat once and for all with that medicine. Again, our dermatologist always did a minimum of 6 weeks of treatment. We also use Douxo 3% chlorhexidine shampoo for our dog that has staph issues. Twice a week baths makes a world of difference...

Sorry if this is a novel. Really, it's not that bad. We've been going through all this with a rescue of ours for a while now... Good luck, let me know if you have any questions...

[union]

We had a similar thing with our dog when we got him from the shelter. He was itchy and had dry spots and bald spots from scratching. They had us give him revolution which worked out good for us. I think we gave it to him for a couple of months and it hasnt been back since.

[boloson]

Yea most likely food allergies and skin infection. My girl has the same thing. Steroid type meds are only for temporary relief. Try an elimination diet. In the mean time my girl got prescribed this shampoo (virbac animal health hexadene).That shampoo really helped clean her skin and removed the itch. It was prescribed but my wife found some websites that carries it. I'll ask her later if u want it. It's worth trying before u drop $500. Did the vets even get a skin sample/ scrape to test?

[Half Squid]

I went through this twice with my pup, first time was a food allergy, just changed brands and the issue was gone within 2 days and her fur grew back.

When I went to Deals gap my friend watched Sammy and when I returned she had dry skin again. Fur was missing near her hind quarters and she was iching like crazy. Friend called my vet and they said probably a food allergy, but I knew that wasn't it, then she tells me she treated her for flea's as her mother in laws dog that lived with them got flea's a few weeks ago and they infested the house and all the pets including Sammy. I was not pleased. Vet told them to give treat her for the fleas and give her Benadryl same as you were told and find a good medicated Shampoo as well as pet Hydrocortisone spray which I found both at my local grocery store. Pics attached. Within a day I got home Sammy was better. Her fur is now completely grown back and hasn't itched since I gave her the bath.

[R7]

I have changed the food, it was one of the first things I tried. I've also tried olive oil in the food to help with dry skin. As mentioned in the first post, she is now on a perscription dog food from the vet that is supposed to be non allergy.
They gave her the revolution for the possiblity of scabies..or sceavies...not sure what the actual name was?

Thanks for the tips, we are heading to the vets this afternoon and I'll hold off on the blood allergy test for now.

Yes, the first visit the vet did a skin test of one of the pimple like things and she found some type of infection

[GearHd6]

Chances are they did a skin cytology on the pustule, which is where they take a glass slide and look under the microscope to see if it's bacterial or yeast. It must have come back as bacteria, but unfortunately they prescribed the steroid along with the antibiotic which made it moot. The dermatologist we saw could never figure out why all vets prescribe the steroids since they negate the antibiotic, and it definitely was the case with us. Prednisone... no itch... stop it and the infection came back worse the next time. The only true way to know if the antibiotic prescribed is the right one for the bacteria present is to do a culture though, that will typically cost about $200 and take about 3 days to get the results. But, honestly, a broad spectrum antibiotic will probably work for you as long as the treatment is long enough, and (I know I sound like a broken record) but DO NOT let them give you steroids again.

Food allergy versus inhaled allergy is so hard to pin point, but unless you changed her food right before she started to itch, it's probably not a food allergy. But you could always go back to the old food. We're on Purina HA hypoallergenic dog food. Duke reacted the best to that one. We tried the Science Diet and Royal Canin, but the purina worked the best for us. But when you're feeding that dog food you have to feed ONLY that dog food. No milkbones, treats, or table scraps unless it's a vegetable. You can treat her with apples, carrots or any non-toxic fruit or vegetable.

As mentioned above, honey is fantastic for dogs that have inhaled allergies. It's one of the more used holistic approaches to canine allergies. Another fantastic additive is coconut oil. It's better for the skin than olive oil, but it has to be virgin cold pressed. You can usually find it at either a food co-op, whole foods, or even stop & shop. Another good food additive is fish oil. But make sure you get fresh fish oil, refrigerated is best.

The revolution was for sarcoptic mange, also known as scabies. If she reacted to the steroid though and got better temporarily then it wasn't that. Scabies feed on prednisone and typically get worse with that treatment.

[Stoneman]

I'd get to your nearest Rite Aid & get 1000mg fish oil supplement pills & put at least one in her food every night...

I'd also head down to the local Tractor Supply, get a tube of Safe-Guard & a tube of Ivermectin and dose her for 3 or 4 days. These are both dewormers. IN MY OPINION, you/we should do this once a year anyway. Yes, deworming can & will clear up A LOT of skin alergies/reactions. And yes, those are equine dewormers. It's the same shit just a helluva lot cheaper, does the same thing, covers a WIDE array of worms & parasites & lasts for quite a while...

I've never bought into the whole 'specialty' food thing. I'm not remotely interested in hearing way anybody DOES, I just DON'T...

Use Gold Bond powder on the bare skin/scratched open sores...

And as Randy pointed out - if she doesn't mind the honey, why not toss some in her food?

And I'd steer clear of steroids. I'm thoroughly convinced they are what led to the demise of wunna my dogs...

Except for the honey, the above very simple & inexpensive things cleared up something very similar sounding with Simon recently...

[Evadd]

We have an American bulldog with a very sensitive stomach. We went through about 6 different foods (changing them out slowly over a period of weeks, so this went on a long time) before finding one that finally worked. However, he had diarrhea, not hives with food intolerance. He did, however, have hives a few weeks ago. He had no new food, treats, shampoo, or anything else. Not sure if he was getting into something outside.



Bendadryl didn't help him at all. A course of steroids helped almost immediately and the issue hasn't really returned. He will get one or two every now and then, but nothing like the pics. Still don't know what caused it.

A course of steroids can help to break the cycle of inflammation, but like was mentioned above, they're not the solution in the long run. Just to clarify a few things: prednisone and other steroids do not negate antibiotics. Glucocorticoids (ie, pred) do suppress the immune system, but do not completely disable it. If there is an infectious process and you give steroids alone, it likely will get worse. If given with antibiotics, they can both work on the parts they need to - the antibiotics on the infection and the steroids on the inflammation. Again, though, steroids shouldn't be used over and over when you don't know what they're treating. They definitely have long-term side effects, with immunosuppression being just one.

[boloson]

Yup fish oil supplements should help with inflammations and dry skin & should be a part of their regular diet. Is the prescript diet I.v.d? Kibbles & canned? You're better off feeding an elimination diet. Try steam rice with chicken broth. See how they do, Then gradually add stuff to it like boiled ground beef, see how they do, then add Veggie & see how they do. If they react to the additional ingredients u added then u can pin point what they don't respond well to. I believe wellness makes an elimination diet in kibble form. The ingredients are simple where it only has 1 source of carbs, 1 source of protein, etc.
Don't ask why this works but simply boil chicken carcass, add the chicken broth to steam rice and add some of the chicken meat or boiled ground beef and it will work wonders on dog skin. Not to mention that it's a very cheap alternative to any dog food out there. My girl has the same stuff as what evadd posted

[Stoneman]

I'm guessing it's NOT food related. I'm curious to hear what the vet comes up with, but my money's on insect/pest/environment related...

[R7]

I tossed the food bag out, so not sure what it is..the slip from the vet says z/d Canine Ultra?

5:50 appointment today, I'll see what they say...

[Stoneman]

And?

[R7]

And?

Bacterior found in the skin and she said traces of yeast. As of now, she is back on the antibiotic and she is going to call me Thursday to see if there is any improvement..if not, start a treatment for yeast on Friday. She is also pushing for the blood allergy test...and I misunderstood the pricing. It's $200 for the test, plus office visit..so around $250. Once they figure what the allergy is, it's $200.00 every 6 months for the shots.
Her thoughts are environmental allergy, so if there is no improvement, I'm going to try and bring the dog to my parents for a couple weeks to see if there is a change. I'm not doing the blood allergy test, that I know..or lets say I'm not paying for it!