My Dog Has Allergies! :(

We also had a dog with allergies, she would chew her backside raw or lick excessively. We had a allergy blood test panel done, I believe most vets can do these, which showed the most common allergies. She was allergic to a lot of stuff. So we started her on allergy shots and switched her to Lamb & Rice food. We also had her on those Flea Tablets that we gave her regularly, so we didn't have any fleas. We then switched to Frontline, a liquid flea repelant that you put on their skin between their shoulder blades. After we used that, we discovered that she was allergic to the Flea Bites and that she would go crazy if one was on her. After this discovery we were then able to stop the allergy shots. She was good ever since. Good luck.

My parents dog, Rueben, had allergies. He took Benadryl (half of a human pill twice a day) and also received steroid injections a few times a year.

My dog is allergic to fish. We found this out because we changed his food to a brand that uses fish meal & boy did it make him miserable. Within a day or 2 after switching back to the original brand of food, he was fine again. Just one more food allergy in the family to watch out for. Good luck with your dog. I hope its nothing too terrible.

My dog has allergies, too. You can keep him clipped back as much as possible. The less hair, the less surface area for allergens to get picked up and trapped. This has been a tremendous help with the itching for our dog. And it makes it easier to wash the dog and rinse fully. Hope this helps!

My dog is allergice to bees - we found that out when he cought one in his mouth and the roof of his mouth got stung! The vet gave him Benedryl - regular old human benedryl for the swelling and made sure the stinger was out of his mouth. The swelling went down with in the hour. His long lean Laberminer face went from pug (like) back to normal :) Contact your vet to see if they agree. The vet also gave my other dog Benedryl for a flight from Dallas to Chicago (born in Dallas) to keep him calm and it worked like a charm!

we use Benadryl for our dog. The vet did not recommend any testing at all.....just said use the med seasonally.

Mine has allergies too to a variety of things, (trees/grass/bug bites/some foods...). She doesn't have fleas or ticks or mites either and has had to do steroid shots, several rounds of antibiotics, and then she gets nasty fungal and bacterial staph infections caused from the itching. She gets horrible hair loss, her eyes swell shut and lots of terrible wounds from the itching. B/c they can't figure out what exactly she is allergic to, and we really can't afford the test, my vet told me to give her one Benedryl a day and we give her weekly oatmeal baths and makes sure she is on a good food (such as salmon or lamb), stay away from byproducts and foods with wheat/corn in them. It has majorly cut down on most of her issues.

She is 10 years old, and I have had her since she was a small puppy. She had a severe allergic reaction as a puppy to a mosquito bite, but this nasty allergy/itching nonsense has only started in the past year and a half. So yes, it gets worse as they age.

My dog has allergies as well (super ironic, considering my 6 year old is allergic to dog dander, and my dog is allergic to human dander, go f*cking figure).

While our vet was kind enough to administer the allergy test for next to nothing, it can get pricey, but IMO, totally worth it. Pets are the same as kids; you'd get your kid tested, right? Same goes for the dog! The meds are not that expensive, and totally worth your doggy's happiness :)

Poor puppy! I dogsit for a dog I suspected of having allergies, and convinced the owner to take all wheat, corn, and soy out of her diet. Dogs didn't evolve to eat those foods -- they're carnivores! She gets a medicated bath every couple of weeks and is now on a pure meat diet and doing much better. The last time I sat for her, she had open weeping wounds. I pureed some aloe leaves and wiped the gel over the raw spots, and made sure she spent a lot of time outside in the sun. She seemed much more comfortable and happier, and the wounds started to dry out and heal within a couple of days.

I wonder if there is a topical hydrocortisone or antihistimane cream or bath that's safe for dogs? Those are standard treatments for human skin manifestations of allergies -- you might want to talk to the vet about it. I wouldn't use human creams though, as if your dog licks the cream, it would probably be toxic.

Benadryl helps. Check with your vet but mine says 1 milligram of benadryl per pound of dog weight 3 times a day. So, my 65# princess gets 2 benadryl tablets 3 times a day as needed.

BTW -- my dog also has developed some allergies to, we think, certain foods. We're using Nature's Variety Instinct (Lamb & Sweet Potato kind) successfully. She started with some weird reactions in late November. We were home cooking for a while and, in the roughly 6 weeks she's been on the Nature's Variety I haven't seen any hives or irritation.

Our dog that passed a year and a half ago was allergic to fleas.
I was told I could give him benedryl. It helped .

The same thing happened to y dog, my husband googled everything to ry and find someting that worked, My dog is white, found out from my sons vet that white and light colored dogs are pro to allergies, after trying all these home remidies my son told us to put her on Grain Free dog food, no rice, rice made our dog break out so bad she had lessions all over her, we give her Blue Boffolow (Spelt wrong) and she started clearing up witin a week, she still have a few lessions, heres the thing we go a little dog half poodle and half dauchsand and having a playmate believe it or not cured her the rest of the way, she has black skin from scar tissue and her hair wont grow back in those spots, but te rest of her body her hair came back, asso we were told that white and light collored dogs need sun screen when they are in the sun. My sons white pit bull, he's snow white had the same issues, "Grain Free" the one we get has fklaxseed which is wonderful even us, I take it, and it has sweet potatoes, We get it at petco, it's not cheap, but my dog is healthy and happy. 3 different vets and workers at petco all agreed that white and ligt colored dogs are pron to skin allergies. good luck. Jukie

Yep our yorkie has allergies too. He scratches his ears, gets ear infections, licks constantly at his paws, and gets an upset tummy. We do several things that keep it under control and don't break the bank. He is on Nutro lamb and rice (even treats). We do ear washes and drops. He gets a 1/4 of a Claritin each night to help too. It seemed as though once one thing started it affected all other symptoms too. Just keep trying different things till you find something that works. Sorry your buddy is going through that!

I have the same issue with my cat. I know the allergies with her are seasonal... she came to us as a rescued pet, with bald patches.... after months she started to fluff back up, but recently she's licked all the hair off her tail. It looks ridiculous! We tried everything to no avail. I wish you luck, I'll be watching your posts for inspiration.

We have a GSD cross dog that has food allergies. I noticed it when I switched to a less expensive food. I'm not sure exactly what the ingredient is that set her off, but she will start obsessively licking her feet (GSD are prone to allergies, I guess). Once I switched her back to the brand she had been on before, she went back to normal. I had thought it was beet pulp in the one brand, but I don't think that is it. When I've switched her food, I've had to be very careful to watch for the biting/licking of the paws.

Allergies to flea bites are pretty common in dogs.

Ask your vet for medication to manage the histamine reactions.

In theory, if it's food, an elimination diet could work.

Oh, I feel so bad for you. We have been dealing with this for years with one of our dogs. We spent the money for the allergy testing and it turns out she was allergic to everything they checked her for. And it's gotten worse as she gets older, particularly with the food. I don't even want to add up all the money we have spent over the years and nothing has really helped - most everything has been trial and error. I did find a line of products that we LOVE called Zymox. Check out their website - they carry a lot of great products for dogs with allergies. After continual frustration with food, we finally switched her to a raw food diet and that seems to be the only thing left that doesn't cause her problems.

My doggie had some too although it doesn't sound as sever as yours. The allergist recommended duck food and told me duck is one of the proteins dogs have shown the least amount of reactions to. I can't remember which one we use but it's duck and sweet potato and it's in a green bag with a wolf on the front. We saw great improvement after that. He'll still start itching and licking his feet which leads to the yeast infections but the vet gave us a medicated shampoo so at the first signs, we do that on his feet and it seems to nip it in the bud before things get bad now.

Our dog has such bad allergies, we had to go see a doggie dermatologist. She is allergic to five different trees, three different types of grass(highly allergic to bermuda, which is what we have), cats, house dust and something else that escapes me at the moment. Food is not an issue for our pup. Her allergies were causing staph infections, so that's why we went to the dermatologist, and you are right...it's pricey. Our dog gets allergy shots that help, but it doesn't stop the allergies entirely. Benedryl helps. A lot. We were told to give one pill for every 25 lbs. Fill a spray bottle with half water and half apple cider vinegar. Spray your dog down generously after each bath. He'll only smell like a pickle until he dries, then you won't notice it. The vinegar helps balance out the pH. Distraction helps too. We give our dog her cow bone or a raw hide smeared with some peanut butter to distract her from being itchy. FLea prevention is key!! If your dog has allergies, fleas will drive him mad!! Keep an eye out for yeast infections of the skin. You'll smell it. Our vet simply calls in a script for us, so we don't have to pay for an appointment.

Check out www.dinovite.com. It helped my dog with allergies.

I know you have him on lamb and rice food but see if you can find a fish and potato, venison and potato, duck and potato, rabbit and potato diet - Natural Balance makes a good one. Sometimes switching them to a diet with a novel protein (one they have never had before) can help immensely. Try an OTC human antihistamine that will help with the itching and inflammation. Your vet can give you a dosage for Benadryl - dogs need more than humans do. Bathe him in an antibacterial/antifungal/antihistamine shampoo 1-2 times per week. Leave it to soak for a good 15 minutes before rinsing. Limit the areas you walk him to keep exposure to allergens down. Do not feed him any treats or human food - feed him only the diet you have him on. Dogs can be allergic to some funny things. They can have allergies to stuff you clean with, laundry detergent, scents you use in the house. You will want to try feeding only that food for about 8 weeks before you get results. Verify with your Doctor you are giving the correct Fish Oil in the correct doses. Make sure it is Omega 6 fatty acids Fish Oil. Keep him on flea prevention. Some dogs have horrible allergies to flea bites. Be diligent in your protocol. Some dogs take a few weeks to get back to normal after an allergy flare up.

I have seen a dog test positive to human dander. Of course she also tested positive to cat dander, dog danger, flea bites, dust mites. Nearly positive on everything she was tested for. Took 4 months of allergy serum injections to get her controlled. And lots of baths and antihistamines. The dog might as well have lived in a bubble but her owners never faltered and she is doing great now.

I would make sure his food doesn't have corn or wheat in it. A lot of rice and lamb foods still have corn or wheat in them and I've been told that they are the common problem for dogs with allergies. My dog had the same problem and we changed his food to Solid Gold brand food and he hasn't had any issues. Good luck!

I'm guessing the very specific allergy testing is the intradermal skin testing (like skin prick testing in humans) and needs to be done under sedation. There is also serum (blood for IgE) testing and I don't see why your vet can't do this and send it to the lab.

I have also heard of treating with Benadryl and Prednisone (short term). The vet did a skin scraping??

I would try what you are doing and add what your veterinarian recommends before heading to the specialist. My pets are my babies but I'm a loon. I even took a pet mouse a few years ago to the vet for a skin issue and ended up making a very, very dilute solution of Ivermectin.

We went through many different kinds of food before finding the one that our dog was not allergic to. Also I bought children's Benedryl and would give it to her at night it seemed to help her until we found a food that didn't bother her.

I completely understand your circumstance, as we are going through the same problem with our lab. When we lived on the East Coast, my dog would suffer from bouts of itching and scratching a few times a year. She was treated with a heavy dose of antibiotics and prednisone which would treat her symptoms until the next season. Well, we moved to CA and our poor girl was itching and scratching all the time! The first vet we went to suggested a food elimination diet and allergy testing. In my heart I knew it wasn't the food (otherwise she would have had constant symptoms year around, not seasonally) but I was open to anything at this point.
We had her blood tested and it turns out she was allergic to all different types of trees, shrubs, grasses etc. Living in southern CA didn't help because something is always blooming, and it never gets "winter" here. Anyways, we had her on a steriod called Temeral P until we could get the allergy shots ordered. She did fine once we started giving her the prescribed allergy shots (works like a vaccine). We were told that it this type of treatment is really like hitting a moving target, so expect some setbacks.
The concentration of the allergy shots became too intense, and she was not responding so we stopped them and put her back on Temeral P, much to my dismay. The side effects of the steroid was just too much! She was not herself at all. Food obsessed, temperamental, and overall she just seemed depressed. Also, the long term side effects of Temeral P is not good either.
After not getting the answers I was looking for, we changed vets. The new vet suggested we contact the makers of the allergy medication for a revised injection schedule (the last one made their own schedule without contacting the manufacturer) and put her on "atopica" in the meantime. The new medication is super expensive, but we think it's worth it. No side effects, she's comfortable and her demeanor is back to her old self. This is a short term solution as we're waiting to get her back on the injection schedule. In the meantime she's happy and comfortable which in the end is the most important thing. ps...... bendaryl did not help us at all
I wish you all the best, hopefully you'll find the answers you're looking for. And remember if you don't like what you're hearing, it never hurts to get a second opinion- I'm so glad we did!

Try acupuncture. It stopped my asthma and helped my allergies and I'm sure it will help your dog too. My friends have used acupuncture on their dogs for several medical reasons. Good luck!