My Boxer (Brindle colour) is 16 months old and is suffering from a very unpleasant rash on his tummy. It first started in March 2004 when he was 11 months old and was immediately treated by our vet with a small course of Prednicare Steriods. Since then it has reappeared on a regular basis but always gone once he has been on Prednicare. Because of his size he should be on a dose of 15mg however it seemed to upset him so he has a much lower dose of 5mg administered at night where it is far more effective. Unfortunately it would appear that the rash is getting worse and the current dose of Prednicare less effective. As soon as the dose it stopped the rash reappears almost straight away.

I am concerned that a dog this young is having to rely on a long term course of steroids as I am aware of the side effects. I have just had him allergy tested which has identified that he is allergic to almost everything!!!! He has a variety of allergies to Grasses and Pollens which are in season for most of the summer. The allergy sensitivity result ranges from a 1-5 (1 being the lowest) and he only scores between a 1 and a 2 for Grasses and Pollens. He has a clear allergy to House Dust Mites which registers at 3 and he has a range of allergies and intollerences to most foods.

So far we have changed his food to Hills ZD Ultra which he loves and we know for a fact contains ingredients that he has no problems with. This has had an immediate effect on his overall look. He looks fantastic, shiny coat etc but the rash is still there. I have bought a deep cleaning system for the carpets and soft furninshings to help with dust mites.....we even have the house sprayed weekly with this new Fabreeze products that is suppose to reduced allergy reactions to Dust Mites by 75% and still the rash remains the same. The only thing I cannot do anything about is the Pollen and I am beggining to think that this is the issue. The rash is alot worse this week and this may have something to do with the fact that the weather has been particularly hot and the pollen count has been high.

I have tried a special shampoo from the vets and this has not worked. He sleeps in the kitchen and this has a tiled floor and he has vet bedding that is washed twice a week in a hypo allergenic detergent. I am considering booking him into see a skin specialist but felt it might be better to wait a month just to see if matters die down after the pollen season is over. At the moment he is still on the Prednicare otherwise he scratches so much he breaks the skin on his belly.

Does anyone else have any similar experiences they can share or any ideas on other things I could do to help.

Fabreeze is known to cause skin problems with dogs skin along with other household chemicals, so first thing is to stop using any of this type of product, and only was the dogs bedding in a non biological detergent. The other thing to ask is has your dog had an operation in the last few months?

I understand your point regarding the Fabreeze however we only tried it for a couple of weeks and as I mentioned in my post we now use a deep carpet cleaning machine as we get beteer results as I am also allergic to dust mites. His vet bedding is only washed in non biological detergent and the only operation he had was in December when he was castrated.

If the Hills contains ingredients that he has no problems with it should be easy to find a diet that contains the same ingredients for much less money. The HZ diet is a hydrolysed protein diet which "suspends" protein molecules (of foods that your dog may be ordinarily allergic to) so that they can not trigger an allergic response; hence its price!

As for pollens, you can get a very good treatment from a homoeopathic vet; it is possible to buy a mixed pollen remedy but a homoeopathic vet can get a remedy made specifically from the pollens your dog is allergic to.

Contact the http://www.bahvs.com/vetmfhom.htm

tohme
Thank you for your advice as it was an option that I was both unaware of and knew very little about. I am sure it is no surprise to learn that the fewer drugs my boy has to take the happier I will be so a homeopathic vet was an attractive option.

Thanks to your link I have spoken to our local practioner and as our vets are aware of his practice they are arranging to refer him as we speak. The practice manager was very helpful and was confident that they could help with his allergies once they have seen him  and reviewed his notes. Who knows whether they will but it beats banging your head against a brick wall, which through no fault of our vets, I felt like I was doing up until now.

Watch this space and thank you again.....