Maisie is having a terrible time with her itchy coat.  She managed to bite off some fur today so it was back down the vets.  She has been on steroids but I was not happy with these - made her agitated and needing to wee all the time.  She has now been put on antibiotics and hibi scrub as all the scratching has made ehr sore and infected.  She is fed on naturediet in the evening and James Wellbeloved in morning and a little fruit and veg.  We have also tried malaseb shampoo and this works temporarily.  There is no evidence of fleas.  We also try to keep her regularly groomed.  The vet has recommended feeding her on only one food and one flavour until we have eliminated the problem if it is diet related.  We are also going to stop washing with biological washing powder.  We are cleaning our floors with a steamer at the moment to avoid any chemical contact. 

I would be grateful if anybody has any ideas as to how we stop this.  I have thought about raw feeding but am really panicky about bones and can't get my head around this. 

Thank you so much.

not used it myself have heard good report of this product from a person in my breed at his wits end. He is delighted with the results.

http://www.karenruggles.co.uk/ruggleit_pages/ruggleit_pdf/ruggleit_leaflet.pdf

Have you tried using Sudocrem on her sores? One of my lot dug up an ants nest a few months back and reacted really badly to it. She chewed herself to pieces. I was in absolute despair because I tried literally EVERYTHING. The sudocrem was the only thing that calmed it down. The problem with alot of the skin washes is they dry the skin out and remove alot of oils leading to sore dry skin etc. I used doreen paige witch hazel shampoo, followed by the honey and ginger conditioner which put the moisture back in, as both have fewer, if any, harsh chemicals. If it is food related then an elimination diet is a good way forward. Which james wellbeloved food is she on?

Daisy has been making herself really sore I would say for the last six months. It all started after she had her pups and was spayed. The lady who grooms her opened her own doggy salon so we started to go to her. She did work at My Pet Stop so a couple of things have changed. I am beside myself with worry. She also had a steroid injection but started weeing in the house which distressed her so much. any ideas would be appreciated. She is fed on Orijen.

She was on James Wellbeloved lamb and vegetables.  At the moment am giving her only Naturediet Turkey and rabbit (started tonight) as have loads of these in storage and vet said to stick to one flavour.  Thought I would avoid dried food for time being.  Like Daisy, Maisie was weeing and was up all night crying and getting in a panic because she wanted to get out (we have to let her out otherwise she goes out and barks).  She was also nervy and hyperactive. 

She is feeling very sorry for herself at the moment and earlier on I had to hold her because she was shaking. She is a sensitive little dog.  All she wants to do is cuddle all the time and she wasnt even bothered about trying to steal Billy's food.  Her sore patch looks really raw so we are keeping up the hibi scrub to stop any infection.  Poor Maisie :(

Have they tried a skin scrape and hair pluck to find out the cause. Shampoos etc just ease the symptoms and do not cure.

Poor girl. If they are really raw then yes, clean it with the hibiscrub and stick a thin layer of sudocrem on the top. It is basically Zinc powder and castor oil so works wonders on hotspots. I hope you get results with the food, even if it increases the reaction slighty and gives you some answers. It could be the washing powder, or possibly an allergy to HD mites? Just a tip, if you wash any dog bedding, make sure its done at a minimum 60*C as this kills any mites living on it.

I know how awful it is to see them go through it, I was wracking my brains for ages with my girl. It took weeks to get it cleared up as she reacts badly to steroids etc.

Gaby - In the case of my girl it wasnt an allergy as such, it was a skin problem so it did clear it up. I know shampoos etc dont cure the allergy but if it gives the dog some relief then it is worth it in my opinion.

How long has Maisie had an itchy problem?  Has your vet done a York Test yet?  Where is she the most itchy?

I have an itchy boy that I manage with a range of solutions, dependant on the severity and location.  I have strategies for dealing with all sorts of issues which I can tell you about if you think it might help.

In the meantime have you used Piriton?  Do check with your vet but it can be very effective for some dogs, calming the itch, scratch, itch cycle and giving time for other treatments to take effect.  Dermacton is another staple in my arsenal as is Ultrasalve from the same company.  These are good products to use in conjunction with vet treatment and I find that Dermacton in particular is excellent at re moisturing the skin after the drying effects of Hibiscrub.  Incidentally do make sure you use a very dilute solution of Hibiscrub - it's powerful stuff.

I also feed raw - I'm not sure yet how much difference it makes but I do feel better about giving him best chance to fight his allergies.  You can get a lot of minces with the bone included whilst you pluck up courage for something more substantial.

Incidentally I think my boy was affected by our christmas tree.  He had an obvious problem over christmas which stopped the day the tree got moved out.  I suspect it wasn't a coincidence and I wish I'd twigged it sooner (pardon the pun!) :)

The vet is doing tests on Monday mornng.  He is doing some research on it as well.  I just want to make sure that she is comfortable over the weekend.

Thank you for all your replies.  I shall definitely follow your advice.xxx

I had used Frontline on my dogs, treated the house and bathed them in dilute Hibiscrub but they were still scratching. No sign of fleas but luckily I know a vet, who I sometimes see at shows, and she suggested it might be mites. Got some Stronghold from my vets and it worked! They haven't been affected since September, so can only think it was mites.

I am having similar problems with my 1 year old staffie.  He has been like this for at least 6 months now.  He is currently on an elimination diet but have not seen any results so far and he's been on it since November.  The vet has said if it was food related we should have seen some improvement by now so we are now going for allergy testing. I have to wait at least 2 weeks now though to give time for the steroids to get out of his system.  The vet has suggested piriton, I have started giving him 2 a day 1 in the morning and one in the evening however he is still scratching. I think I may up the dose tomorrow if I don't see any improvement.  Sudocreme does seem to take the redness down so I would recommend using that.  I checked with my vet and he said I was ok to use it.

The vet has said as the food is not making any difference I can change him back on to regular food but I am not sure which to choose, any recommendations?  Used to be on proplan original, then salmon variety, but this made his coat really oily.  Need to buy something tomorrow as running a bit low now. 

Just in case anyone has any advice, we also have his brother, who has no problems with his skin!  The are like chalk and cheese though in almost every respect.

Julie

I dislike james well beloved ..I used it once in an emergency as I had run out of my usual food and was awaiting delivery (I use Arden Grange) I only fed JW for 3 or 4 days when one of my girls had blood in her p** she had also developed a rash on her belly ..I did not assciate the change of food as it was so fast ..I went to the vet ..she was more concerned about the rash than the blood in p** ..asked what food I was feeding when I said JW she shook her head and said stop it now the toileting problem and the rash were a reaction to the food she said she had seen it before with JW I had my delivery but was just using the JW up before I went back to AG I threw it away ... within days she was fine ....I would never buy it again for any of my dogs even though two of them were fine on it.

I would recommend Arden Grange or Naturediet.

I thought it might be worth mentioning that if the allergy is thought to be food related, please remember that James Wellbeloved / Arden Grange / Orijen etc are not prescription diets, and as such there is a possibility that the food could be contaminated with a different protein source during manufacture.

My last GSD had terrible allergies and was fed on Wafcol Fish and Corn. On one occasion she had a major flare up of symptoms, which coincided with my opening a new sack. When I rang Wafcol, I was told that it was quite possible for the Fish and Corn to contain traces of Chicken as both products were manufactured in the same piece of machinery.

My 3 year old male dog has chronic atopic dermatitis. After almost a year of his itching symptoms getting progressively worse - scratching all over his body, chewing his feet until they became infected, frantic rubbing at face and eyes etc. - and having had skin scrapes and been treated for various things he had a blood screen which showed he's highly allergic to house dust mites, food storage mites and two types of pollen. He started on injectable immunotherapy about 6 weeks ago, although it's early days yet to tell if it's going to work (it takes around 6 months for the effects to show). The other long-term treatment options we have are Atopica, which is an immunosuppressant drug, or long-term corticosteroids, both of which I'd like to avoid because of the potential side effects.

There are a few things I've been doing alongside the meds to help him which have been quite effective - he's on a half raw and half dry food diet and I soak the dry food thoroughly before giving it to him and wipe his face with a clean damp cloth afterwards. I also decant the food from the bag into an airtight container but bin the 'dregs' at the bottom as that is where most of the dust, and mites, collect. I may take him off dry food completely at some stage but at the moment this is working. He gets Opticrom eye drops administered daily which have greatly reduced his eye rubbing. For the pollen allergies I have started giving him a spoonful of locally produced honey every day. I bought Turtle mats to reduce dirt and dust coming into the house and I hoover and dust every day. All the dogs' blankets are boil washed regularly and their beds are put in the chest freezer once a month to kill mites. In the spring and summer when he suffers horribly from harvest mites - he literally eats his feet raw - I wash his feet and legs with Malaseb. These have all made a difference to his comfort levels so hopefully in conjunction with the immunotherapy it'll be able to keep his symptoms under control in the long term. I would highly recommend allergy screening if your dog's symptoms continue.

The results of the tests are back!  She is allergic to chicken, pork, beef, duck and cows milk!  So watch this space...  Thank you so much for all your help!

Not really read this thread, but that is a lot of foods to be allergic to.. Hope ths now will sort things out and help your doggy too..

I don't know if she can have rice but my dogs are on Healthy Paws dry food now and I find it excellent, even for the itchy boy I described above, he looks the best he ever has on it. It only comes in one flavour which is rabbit and brown rice and is completely natural with no additives, preservatives, by-products, wheat, dairy etc.

http://www.healthypaws.co.uk/

Glad youve got some answers.  Have you found a suitable food?That pretty much counts out a raw diet! If you havent take a look at fish 4 dogs. No cereals in that either.
Fingers crossed.

I bet you are glad you now know. Chicken can be a real problem as a huge amount of commercial diets contain poultry fat. I feed Fish 4 Dogs (both cod and salmon varieties) and they are both free from all the protein sources you have mentioned. Wafcol Fish and Corn didn't contain any Poultry fat but it is 3 years since I fed it so am not sure if it still the same, however Wafcol were one of the companies that couldn't guarantee that the food would not contain traces of poultry. Good luck in your search and I hope Maisie gets some relief from the itchies.

How much did your vet charge you for the York testing? Can vary quite a bit.

> The results of the tests are back!  She is allergic to chicken, pork, beef, duck and cows milk!

Glad you know whats going on now :)

> That pretty much counts out a raw diet!

Not necessarily. Lamb, turkey, rabbit or fish aren't on the list and at least with a raw diet you KNOW what is in it - even more important for a dog allergic to a lot of things. As has been mentioned, poultry fat is a common ingredient in complete foods so a very careful study of ingredient lists will be required if going the complete route. 

It's now called sensitest and it cost £300 but I've been in contact with Tesco and they think I can claim it back on the insurance.  I will keep you all posted as it may be of help to somebody having the same experience.  I am still adapting things at home though -changing to non bio washing tablets and using natural cleaners where possible.  This has given me a bit of a wake up call.  An also going to be more vigilant in adding salmon oil to her diet.  For the time being, I am sticking to JWB fish and rice as this seems to be doing the trick  - also weekly sardines/veg mix and Maisie's all time favourite as an occasional treat- salmon and sweet potato - she loves this!

Wow £300.00 pounds vets laughing all the way to the bank. Good job your insured.

Just thought I'd let you know Maisie seems to be OK now.  We are feeding her on JWB fish and rice for breakfast and Naturediet Lamb and Rice for dinner.  For treats, she has carrots or fish 4 dogs sea jerky.  The itching took a while to subside but Dermacton wash and spray made a major improvement.  Now she hardly scratches at all - just a quick scratch in the morning when she wakes up and that is it.  Have looked into JWB and Naturediet and both these foods are from one protein source.  Wish I had thought of doing this allergy test ages ago.  Thank you all again for all your help and advice.

Davina and MaisieXXX

Thanks for the update.  I'm glad you've found a strategy that is working for her.

If she has a scratch in the morning - have a think about her bed too.  If it's a soft bed then it may help to vacuum it daily and air it outside in good weather.  Even though Maisie may not have allergies to dust mites once a dog gets started on an itch scratch itch cycle then all sorts of things can make it worse!

A dilute soution of Hibiscrub to wash mud off after a walk is also a good precaution.

Just a thought! Were the bloods taken for the test 14 days after the last steroid was given?  If steriods were in the system the results will not be accurate.  You would expect a vet to know this but its worth checking.

Sounds like you have it under control now tho, well done. :-)

Yes.  She started her steroids after the test was done while we were waiting for the results.  Not even getting scratching in the morning now!