Can anyone give me advice on anything I can do to help my pup who has a skin allergy. I have been using frontline cos the vet thinks its an allergy to fleas. Any suggestions on how I can stop the itching and the biting of his coat and skin would be a great help. I have been told that garlic cap may help

What is your dog allergic to?  Environmental or food?  If it is the latter you can remove the offending ingredient if it is the former it is more difficult to treat.  How do you know he has an allergy?

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Hi
It can be any number of reasons unfortunately and it can sometimes take quite a bit of time to pinpoint the exact cause - not to mention the expense :(
It can be a sensitivity to fleas, or housedust mites, grass pollens, tree pollens amongst others .
It can also be food related, inwhich case a food trial is required to see if it is or not OR it can be contact related - ie washing powders, cleaners you may use in the house or his kennel/run if he has one .........

Has your vet suggested an allergy test ? Or skin scrape ?
By the way when using frontline/stronghold you must ensure ALL animals within the household have this treatment too and not just the affected pup
Hope that gives you some ideas anyway :)

thanks for your help, the vet has not suggested any skin scraping or allergy test yet but I will mention it to him when we return on Friday.  

Make sure you are insured - its VERY expensive :rolleyes:

How old is pup by the way ??? I'm not sure whether they need to be a certain age to do allergy testing etc (as it requires shaving a large piece from their side.)

Thank goodness we have got insurance but we have to pay everything first and then claim it back spent a fortune already. He is 33 weeks old and he has already got a big bald patch on his side so I suppose they could do it there. I will let you know how I get along.

Blood testing for allergies obviously does involve this, a blood sample is taken and then sent away to Yorktest and the results sent back.

http://www.animal-allergy.com/vet-surgeons/who-yorktest.php4

Just wanted to add- if he is licking his paws you can try putting Sudocrem on to prevent infection.
It was recommended to me and it has proved to be a really effective and CHEAP treatment.
Of course this doesnt rectify the cause of the itching but it will help prevent any  infection :)

It sounds as tho it could be a "food" allergy,it rare to see a contact or inhalant allergy before the age of 1 year.
What are feeding him,it would be a great help if you could let us know??

christine

Hi Christine at the moment we are feeding him on the Burns diet. He has been on it for about 6 weeks cant say that the itching has stopped but he is enjoying it so I will continue with this for a while. Been on the net today and was advised to give garlic and starflower oil capsules so we are going to give them a go as well. Melanie

Hi Melanie
I know how you feel. I have a Bichon who also has an allergy to something, she has just had her first blood test, which cost £55, this only shows in what group she is allergic to e.g enviromental, food etc, they then have to test for the actual cause, which have been told will cost about £200. 

Some other things which have really helped my girl, is Oil of evening primrose, and alfalfa tablets, 2 a day. She also has 2 piriton a day, as advised by the vet, I know a lot of people that have used this and it does really help.

Obviously the best action is to have the allergy test though.

I'm unsure if you can claim this on insurance though, I didn't think they covered allergies????

Anyone know??

Hope that helps anyway :)

Jo

Insurance does cover allergy testing,but be sure to read the small print.
I agree with everything Jo has said,i would start supplementing with EPO,fish oil and alfalfa tablets,and go from there.
There are literally hundreds of natural treatments for dogs with allergies,you just need to do some research and find something that will work for you and your dog.
I was surprised to hear that you are feeding burns,i thought you were going to say,"i feed beta or bakers" or something like that,no offence to anyone that feeds these brands but i wouldnt reccomend them for a dog with skin problems.
We dont have Burns here in Australia YET,cant wait to try it,it will be here in a couple of months,but i'm sure i read that they have a food for dogs with allergies,maybe give them a call and ask,then let us know :)  Have you tried the fish or venison version yet?if not i would give them a try,or change your dog onto an equally good food which you re probaly loathed to do as she sounds as tho she is enjoying  burns,if she improves on another food then you will know it is an ingredient in burns :( if you are feeding the chicken version then i would swap to one of the above flavours. Like i said it is highly unusual for a dog to have environmental allergies who is under 1 year old,which makes me think it is the food.What treats do you give her??

christine

Don't think anyone has mentioned Shake and Vac, Ferbrezee (sp) washing powder etc. If it were mine I would be trying Piriton, ask your vet about trying that.

Yep Jackie is correct,it could be the washing powder you use,shake and vac causes big itchies in alot of dogs.I would keep everything as natural as possible in your house,i wash my dogs bedding with a natural detergent from the health food shop and try and keep your chemical cleaners down to a minimum.

christine

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me with regards to my itchy pup. Went to the vet on Friday he has suggested that we change his food to either fish or venison. He has also said if this does not work we will have to try the allergy test. Been given the pup starflower cap to see if they help also. Dont really mind paying money if we get a result. I do try to keep everything as natural as possible ie no shake and vac etc. The pup is 33 weeks old, with regards to the piriton can anyone suggest how many I should give. Thanks Melanie

Did it get worse after using the Frontline?  Just asking as I used Frontline spray on my Spanish once just to ensure that we got no fleas and he started scratching and lost his coat where I sprayed it.  Stopped using it and he's not had any problems since.

No not really we found he did stop itching a little bit after the frontline was put on

My adult bitch was on 3 tablets a day of piriton and she weighs about 18kg. Would not give that much without the vets say so but you could try 1 a day for a week to see if it helped and if it does then it would seem it is an allergy. Don't use the non drowsy tablets you need the original ones, but don't let your dog drive ;)

cheers Jackie i will try that. What make do you suggest