Had a phone call today from an owner of a bitch I bred.

After reocurring ear infections, she has now been allergy tested and shown positive for a house dust mite allergy.

The bitch had to have her ears cleaned out last week under sedation, obviously a distressing time for both dog and owner! I'm glad that at least a cause has been identified, and have had a look online for natural preventative remedies and treatments. They are going to change her food also for a grain free which I feel is a good move.

The following is what I've found, please feel free to comment especially if you have used any and can testify of their effectiveness. Please could you also tell me what was effective in prevention and treatment if your dog suffers from this allergy.

Preventative:
- Flaxseed oil/salmon oil, contains essential fatty acids and reduces the effect of allergic reactions

- Brew cup of black tea. Dilute with 2 cups water. Add to spray bottle. Mist interior of home after cleaning. Will kill dust mites (take care with light coloured fabrics!).

- Use a floor steamer

- Hoover rather than sweep floors & wipe surfaces rather than dust with dry cloth to "trap" dust rather than make it fly around

- Use vacuum with HEPA filter

- Switch to raw diet (this has been suggested although the owner's vet has said "no" to this)

- Clean ears with the following: 1/2 tsp tea tree oil to 1 oz olive oil or

- Cider/wine vinegar 1:4 water diluted

Treatment:

The following 3 x daily for 3 days (not sure if any or all of these should be given together, would obviously take advice from homeopath before giving advice)

- Belladonna 6c (for red sore ears)

- Pulsatilla 6c (for clingy, affectionate dogs) - incidentally the owner reports her bitch being very clingy atm

- Sillica 30c (for reocurring chronic ear infections)

- Sulphur 30c tablets

I'm sure this isn't exhaustive, please feel free to comment, good or bad

Thanks in advance...

my GSD'S bitch had many ear infections from 7 weeks until 7 months then we discovered she is also allergic to HDM's.  She was then put on a raw diet and the ear infections are a thing of the past.  Her coat dramatically improved and her 'doggy' smell went within 2/3 days.  She was put on a weekly injection of HDM'S allergens but after 18 months this proved not to be effective.  She has been on Atopica but it makes her sick so she is now on a low dose of Pred with 6 monthly bloods tests to check its not damaging her.  She is now 5 and all ok at the moment.  She spends most of her time on hard floors but does go on the carpeted areas which are regularly sprayed with a HDM killer. She did try a homeopathic combination but it didn't help her.  I can strongly advise a raw diet, it has helped her, we have worse days but she has never had any broken skin or bald patches.  I wish I could do more for her but it's under control, just wish we could say goodbye to the steroids but what else can we try.  Also tried nettle tea leaves but she wouldn't eat her meat that we added it to so stopped using it.

do you know why the vet has said no to raw or is it the often found vets sensitivites through lack of knowledge to raw ?
Personally if going to use homeopathic remedies I would go to a homeopath as they should be individual precribed for the dog. Forgive me if I am teaching you to suck eggs but for best effectiveness remedies need to be varied for the patient unlike conventional medicine ,herbal remedies are different. Obviously this will cost. I wouldnt buy over the counter homeopathic remedies for the reason I have stated not because they will do harm more because any good is less likely.

I found with Moose (same issue) that changing to a raw diet then ear cleaner and thornit kept her ears reasonably clean and free from infections .

Personally if going to use homeopathic remedies I would go to a homeopath

She was under a Homeo vet who worked alongside my vet but it didn't work.  I am not the sort of person to just give her a potion not knowing what I was doing!

With regards to raw, there are a lot of vets out there who don't like raw, fortunately my vet supports it and the results have been so obvious its hard not to be.

The vet had a list of "approved foods" and although I suggested either raw or grain free (suggested several brands) none of which were on their "approved" list, therefore were not recommended.

I have explained that the vets don't necessary have the collective knowledge which can be learned from people's personal experiences on forums such as this and she agreed I should post here asking for people's experiences.

I do think the natural or homeopathic route is always worth exploring as if it is effective, the dog hasn't been exposed to any more chemicals than is necessary. Personally with my own dogs I always now search for natural solutions, not always 100% effective in all cases but no harm trying.

Thanks for your replies, I gather this is a common problem, and is seen across a wide variety of breeds.

Tanya

no no barkingmad I wasnt implying that you were irrisponsible at all :0 ). What I meant was that although we can safely use remedies with complications like this, as the remedies are so individual , for the same conditions different remedies are used, a homeopath would be needed
apologies if offended you. Sounds like that route may not be the right one anyway

I would avoid Flaxseed/Linseed as the dog has to convert the ALA into DHA/EPA (if it can) which makes it an inefficient and expensive process.

I would give Fish Body Oil (does not have to be Salmon) with a high DHA/EPA content + Vitamin E
Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine
Freeze bedding or better still have waterproof bedding you can hose every day.

Although it is not natural, Indorex spray is very good for controlling dust mites

Thanks for that info Tohme, have taken note

itsadogslife - if the dogs owner cannot feed raw, or doesn't want to, then he/she might want to try freezing their kibble before feeding.

I have a friend that does this as she only feeds raw part time.  She also decants the kibble into a colander first to remove more of the loose 'dust' from the biscuit then stores the food in the freezer.  She keeps a two buckets in the freezer to ensure that she always has some that has been frozen for a minimum of 72 hours.

I have a dog with allergies (to grass and pollen) and swear by Hibiscrub - I know it's not a 'natural' remedy as such but it's brilliant at removing irritants from the coat.  My dog is washed off with a very dilute solution of hibiscrub after every walk.  On the days when we don't (if I underestimated the amount of pollen for instance) - then a reaction can be very noticeable.

I second the waterproof bedding advice.  In fact I think Tohme and I both have the same ones!   Tuffies - brilliant beds for itchy dogs :)

I believe they do use waterproof bedding, not Tuffies (I've got them too :)), think Country Dog.

Good idea about freezing kibble, and Hibiscrub, will definitely mention them too.

Thanks for your suggestions, I'm sure the owner will be able to get together a plan of action from the information given so far.