I have a 8 month lab who was taken to the vets this weekend due to having a red rash and puss like spots under his front leg and his belly.
The vet seems to think it is Atopic Dermatitis (AD), I was just wondering if any other person's dog has this and their experience with it?

Since we have had our puppy he has always been scratching away, sneezing a little and rubbing the sides of his face. The rash has only just begun, which I suspect is due to the pollen count.
We have also only fed him James Wellbeloved which I believe is Hypo allergenic food.

The vet has given him antibiotics to clear the rash, but would like to find out if this is just a one off or if it is AD.
She also gave us 2 leaflets for Royal Canin Anallergenic and Hypoallergenic, do you know if we would need to go on to one of those particular foods if he did have AD, as he is already on James Wellbeloved.

do you know if we would need to go on to one of those particular foods if he did have AD,

Vets get a commission for selling Royal Canin - may give you a hint for the answer to that.

Atopic Dermatitis is basically a skin reaction to an allergy. If it is AD then your pup will keep getting it until you find out what he is allergic to and eliminate it from around or in him.

One of the most likely culprits is pollens / dust mites / fleas / harvest mites / storage mites.  If you give him Piriton and see an improvement in the amount he scratches then it is likely to be a seasonal allergy like pollen.

If the culprit is something in his diet then the most likely culprit is going to be grains. There are some great grain-free foods out there. My little boy is allergic to chicken meal and other things that are commonly in a lot of foods and always seem to be in Science Plan or Royal Canin. I have him on Orijen Regional Red which works really well - although he has put some weight on with that food so I am adjusting the amounts.  The other one my boy did well on was Burns Venison & Brown Rice.

If you cant figure out what is causing the allergy at all then the vet can take some blood and run the York Allergy Tests which will give you a list of any and all things your dog is allergic to. This is great if it only comes up with one or two things (likely to be the case with a lab more than with my breed Westies) because you can immediately eliminate it. If it comes back with a long list of things your dog is intolerant to then you will still have to do a bit of detective work as the list wont tell you which of the things he is intolerant to is the actual one causing the skin reaction - but it will still be helpful. In the event that you cant eliminate whatever it is from your dogs surroundings or diet then you can then undergo a course of immunotherapy - which is a serum made specifically for your dogs allergy that is injected monthly to build up a resistance to that allergy over time. My girl was allergic to some common grasses and after 9 months of immunotherapy she hasn't had a skin reaction since - which is about 7 years clear since she had the immunotherapy when she was a pup.

Lots of dogs suffer with allergies - westies are very bad with it - its a hard thing to watch your dog scratching and inflaming his skin - but bare with it and you will find out what helps your dog in particular in the end.

Some supplements can help too - like Evening Primrose Oil - and Dermol o3 is a new one which seems to work really well.

Oh - and there is a cream that a lot of people dealing with the very worst dermatitis in my breed use - Dermacton - that can really help.

Unfortunately with atopic dermatitis you wont be sure that is what it is unless he has another bout after clearing up this first one.

Would u consider raw feeding ? A lot of dogs show amazing  improvements on raw but u need take it slowly one protein at a time just to make sure there isn't a protein he us allergic too don't be surprised if your vet isn't in agreement most arnt as they know  little about it except bad things and prefer to push kibble especially prescriptions diets
. Allergy tests are no t very reliable and elimination diets are the best waY to test for food allergies. Environmental allergies are more tricky and some respond to antihistamines some need immune therapy  or low dose steroid unless u are lucky to find out exactly what it is and can remove the allergen.another option is a holistic vet

Tinar - Thanks for your response, I feel a lot better now knowing what you have told me.

Furriefriends - I was thinking of changing to a raw diet, when I told this to my vet she wasn't at all pleased. She said that my dog could catch salmonella and other bacteria diseases. I would like to learn a lot more about the raw food as I know 2 dogs who are currently fed raw and they not only look amazing but they are in very good health

lol I expected that from your vet for the reasons I said. what they don't tell you is there is a risk of salmonella in particular from kibble !  normal kitchen hygiene is all you need and know you don't catch these things from the dog  in normal circumstances. Yes there are some dogs who become ill and are raw fed but its rarely the raw food unless people are feeding bad raw diets ie no understanding or research of what they are doing. examples can always be found for any situation . Anyway ignore the vets comments and have a look for yourself. If you are on fb there are number of good groups on there, barf diet chat being one, raw feeding uk, rawfeeding rebels are just a few. I am happy to help as I have been raw for 8 years now with three dogs and wouldn't go back you can pm me. If you arnt on fb there are lots of books you can get the dogs dinner being an excellent one its by ann ridyard. there are loads more.
good luck it is certainly worth doing  even if you don't cure everything you

Furriefriends - I was thinking of changing to a raw diet, when I told this to my vet she wasn't at all pleased. She said that my dog could catch salmonella and other bacteria diseases.

I have 25 dogs and 31 cats all fed raw -no salmonella. Thankfully I have a vet who thinks the way we feed our animals is great.

I tried James Wellbeloved in the past and I am not at all sure I'd believe the claim it is hypoallergenic -certainly I had to change from it as it did not suit a couple of my dogs at all.

> We have also only fed him James Wellbeloved which I believe is Hypo allergenic food.<br />

If you have him on James Wellbeloved puppy kibble Lamb flavour I would change since that contains sugar beet pulp which is quite a common ingredient for allergies - also, I have read in a few places that Lamb is also one of the most common foods that cause skin reactions. The least likely foods are usually- grain free- fish or game meats (in dry kibble foods - I have no idea about raw but can tell you that it is likely better as for example my boy is allergic to any kiblle with chicken or chicken meal in it but is absolutely fine with real chicken.)

As your pup has had their first reaction during summer/high pollens - I would start there - and look at anything new in the home such as cleaning products, air fresheners, washing powders, any change in wormers or flea treatments used etc etc (anything changed or introduced from around 3-4 weeks before he first started itching & right the way up to the day when the itching actually started (sometimes they can be exposed to something for a while before skin reacts, other times its almost instant). I would look at his diet once you rule out those things before trying a food elimination diet to find the culprit.

Good Luck - let us know how you get on.

Often dogs allergic to certain proteins when in kibble arnt when in raw. Chicken and beef being the two biggest allergy causing proteins I used lamb for my diet trials and after 6 weeks introduced chicken and oh boy did he get itchy.back on the lamb and was well except some environmental allergies. Ideally an elimination diet should be a protein that has been not eaten before is a novel protein. But I found that hard to find as I was also looking for something I could get bone meat and offal and at a price I could afford. Kangaroo and croc was a bit tricky

Often dogs allergic to certain proteins when in kibble arnt when in raw. Chicken and beef being the two biggest allergy causing proteins I used lamb for my diet trials and after 6 weeks introduced chicken and oh boy did he get itchy.back on the lamb and was well except some environmental allergies. Ideally an elimination diet should be a protein that has been not eaten before is a novel protein. But I found that hard to find as I was also looking for something I could get bone meat and offal and at a price I could afford. Kangaroo and croc was a bit tricky not sure about jwb but u do need a proper allergy free kibble if you are choosing to go that route and not raw and just for the 6 weeks if he improves you would know it's an allergy. Then the tricky bit is to fund out what to