help with ichy skin

[terryo]

I have two little Chihuahua's and one has skin allergies, and all she does is scratch. The Vet put her on Temaril-P tablets. They help with the itching, but she is always starving, and gained too much weight. The Vet said that she has to come off them as they have steroids, which is not good for a long term use. He said she needs to go to a Dermatologist now. Any one know anything about this, or have any experience with something like this. I feel so bad for her.
She is the white one...Maggie May. Misha is the black and white one.

 

[Yvonne G]

I had a doberman who was deathly allergic to fleas. I told the vet he was crazy...my dogs don't have fleas! But all it took was ONE flea and this poor dog itched to death! She wore her front teeth down with all the skin biting she was doing. Like Leslie, at that time there were no great flea products like there are now...but once I allowed myself to believe the vet and got busy getting rid of the ONE flea, the dog was fine.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

I have a friend who's black lab mix has a skin allergy. She has taken her to a doggy dermatologist. Who began by placing the dog on two types of food. Sweet potatoes and boiled Chicken. nothing else. Well all it did was give her runny stools and she lost lots of weight-she was skinny to begin with. But the itching continued. She uses a flea treatment and the vet does not think it is flea allergy. They did do scrapings but didn't find anything. For now she is giving the dog Shots weekly which help control the itching. She has place her on a dog food that has no wheat and no corn and she is doing good on that she has even gained some weight back. She continues to do research through elimination and she said she will never give up, some day she is determined, she will find the reason her Zoë itches.
Good luck with your little one. They are both very cute.

 

[Jacqui]

Even with the flea items on the market, that one flea shows up, and always always finds it's way to the dog with the flea allergy. Once there, the flea has hours to do it's damage, before the flea products start to do their damage too. Still such an improvement over not having the products.

We currently have a white terrier with the problem. Makes it worse because fleas seem to like the white animals the best. The best thing is once you know the why (or whys), you can plan your "attack" before things get started and lessen the damage in the meantime. Never had a dog dermatologist (luckily we got/get control soon enough).

Years ago, my show springer became allergic to grass. That also makes life interesting.

We had the Prednizone also. Luckily only during the summer did we have major problems that required the meds.

 

[terryo]

Thank you al for the input. I think that before I go to the D. I am going to eliminate all dog food and doggie treats and just give her a little rice mixed with chopped meat. I have washed all the sheets (they sleep with me) and doggie beds with ivory for babies. I am going nuts with this. I have them both on flea medication year round, and I don't have any grass in my yard and that is where they go out. So I will have to start with the food and see what happens.

 

[Laura]

YOu can do blood work to see what they are allergic to. Different types of food, grasses, trees, animals, dust mites, humans etc.. Then either avoid what they are allergic to or give them injections. If its envormental or food, it can be very difficult to solve. If its food, they have to be a strict diet, it can take weeks to notice a difference and if you give them a doggie bone or they grab a table scrap, it has to start allover again.. Sometimes knowing where they breakout or itch, helps tell the Vet what they are allergic too. If they bite the area above thier tail, its fleas. A flea can bite them onthe nose and they will itch on thier butt.
Good luck!!

 

[Crazy1]

I spoke to my friend and I must confess, I did get some things a little wrong. She was told to feed her dog canned pumpkin and beans. they did do bloodwork but did not find what she was allergic to. She is on weekly injections which help a little with the itching and theirfore the scratching and is batherd in "Malaseb" shampoo which is prescribed by the vet. It helps were normal oatmeal shampoo doesn't.

 

[Sardinecan]

Very cute chihuahuas you got there. Poor thing she's so itchy. She does look like she has got redness around the eyes, muzzle & maybe in the ears (not clear in pic).

It is good to do a diet trial first before going for allergy testing. However if you are going to do a diet trial, you need to be feeding a novel protein & novel carbohydrate. The protein & carbo must be something that the dog has never eaten before. This way we can be sure that the dog will not be allergic to the diet trial food.

I don't know what types of meats you have in your area. Try something like rabbit or kangaroo, horse (if you can get some). Stay away from chicken, lamb, beef, eggs as these are the common proteins that dogs can be allergic to. You can use a carbo such as pumpkin or sweet potatoes. The ratio of protein to carbo is always 1:2. For your chihuahua, you can feed about 120grams of meat to 240 grams of carbo a day. Feed solely this diet for 2 months.

If the dog is still itchy in 2 months, chances are it is not food allergic. In that case you'll need to go get her allergy tested for dust mites, pollens fungal spores etc.

You can add omega 3 oils(fish oils) to the diet. Fatty acids do not affected the diet trial. 1000mg per 5kg will help a little to reduce skin inflammation.

I don't think your dog has flea bite allergy. However it is difficult to assess from the pics. Flea bite allergy dogs generally have hair loss on both sides of the flank & outer thighs & tail base area. Putting her on a good flea control would be good. Again I don't know what products you have there, but Frontline spoton, Revolution are 2 effective products.

 

[diggertort]

We have a five year old english bulldog who has allergies. She was breaking out all over her body from the allergies, I have no idea what she is allergic to. The vet said she was allergic to herself. In any case I have been giving her one capsule of fish oil and one loratadine. The fish oil helps with the itching and the allergy pill has relieved her rash, she even had red eyes from the allergy.

Research said it was okay to give chlortrimeton allergy pills but I happended to give her the loratadine pills. I don't know if there are any long term effects. So far so good. The research I did stated the fish oil was good.

Hope this helps. Our dog weighs about 55 lbs. I don't know how the weight of your dog just giving you a reference.

 

[terryo]

Thank you someone else tole me about the fish oil and I will look up loratadine pills to see what they are and if they can help. I just started them on a new dog food, so we'll see what happens next. They both have a Vet visit planned for next weeks.

 

[Candy]

Thank you al for the input. I think that before I go to the D. I am going to eliminate all dog food and doggie treats and just give her a little rice mixed with chopped meat. I have washed all the sheets (they sleep with me) and doggie beds with ivory for babies. I am going nuts with this. I have them both on flea medication year round, and I don't have any grass in my yard and that is where they go out. So I will have to start with the food and see what happens.

Hi Terry, I am new to this site as my son has just gotten a Cherryhead Tortoise for Christmas this year. Tortoise's I'm new at, dogs I'm not. About a year ago me and my sister put our dogs on the BARF diet. It's raw food. We found a vet that also believes that it helps with allergies in dogs. You can find it if you google it on your computer. My pug doesn't itch half as much as he used to and other people say it took their dogs itching away for good. Anyway it's worth reading about and my dogs love it and it's not processed like your comercial dog foods are and no preservatives. Anyway I hope you recieve this I noticed that this was posted in August. Candy

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Candy: Welcome to the forum!! I'm glad you posted the "Barf" idea. Thanks,

Yvonne

 

[terryo]

Thank you Candy. Since this post, I have tried the prescription dog food from the vet, and also only give her sweet potato treats and Benadryl 12 mg. at night and sometimes in the morning too. If I see her itching I put some cortisone cream where she is itching. Nothing has eliminated the scratching 100 percent. I will definitely look up the BARF diet. I am willing to try anything at this point. I feel so bad for her. She is so little. Thank you.
I am new at Tortoises too. I got my Cherry Head last year. I have had plenty of Boxies and Water Turtles, but no Tortoises, so am still learning. Thank you again.

 

[Meg90]

My mom had a doxie mix when I was a kid, and she would scratch herself on the face till she bled.

Finally, we realized that it was her food she was allergic too, more importantly, the wheat in it.

If wheat is one of the top ingredients in your food, switch to one without. Its a simple solution, and its funny that most vets don't catch it. (we even had her on pills to help with it, but after getting wheat free food and treats, she stopped scratching and we stopped uselessly medicating her.)

Check your food bag. Is wheat one of the first ingredients?

 

[JourneyTort]

I am new to torts but not dogs. I have to agree with the RAW diet or at the very least a food which does not contain any grain. You can also give your little guy a sardine a day to help with the itching. My friend's dog had skin issues and severe itching and after going back and forth to the vets and food changes she tried the sardine a night, it took a while for it to clear up but now her dog has had no more bouts of itchy, red inflamed skin and she gets her sardine a night every night. She also stays away from grain in her dog's diet.

Good luck,

 

[terryo]

Thanks for all the replies. I have since tried the "Wellness" food. So far they had .. Rice & Venison ..
Rice & Duck. It has been two days that she hasn't scratched at all. After two years of medication and vet visits. Miracals do happen. For a treat they only get the dried sweet potato, which they love. I have them both on the diet since one wouldn't eat without wanting what the other one had. I hope this does it.....so far so good.