I have a 6 year old staffie girl who has had constant skin problems for years. It's gradully getting worse and worse - I've changed vets to boot as my last one wasn't that interested. We've had her tested for allergies ( to a degree the bills kept mounting and the insurance wouldnt cover it ) - blood tests and skin scrapes but they can't find out what it is.
She has dry scaly grey hard skin on her hindquarters, a bit on her head and looks like its starting to go on 2 places on her back. She loses all hair where this dry skin is.
Also related ( possibly ) are her feet - she gets really sore and inflamed between her 'toes' and makes it worse by worrying them - it gets so bad sometimes that she has even bitten off her pads.
We feed her dry hills diet lamb or chicken and rice which apparently is wheat and gluten free - the only advice the vet has come up with is to put her on steroids indefinitely - we did do this for a while and it works to a degree but I don't like to use them long term.
Any ideas people ?

Has she been tested for Malassezia?

Sorry had trouble logging in ! Back now tohme !
I'm not sure I'd have to check with the vet - all I know right now is they did some allergy testing, blood tests and skin scrapes. They said they probably wouldn't be able to find out what it is but that steroids are the best solution?

Steroids will suppress the symptoms but not cure the underlying cause.

If you pm me at some time with all the tests she has had and the results plus her diet I may be able to give you some things to try whilst she is on the steroids and which may assist in reducing the strength of the steroids if not get her off them completely.

However it will be a long term thing.

Steroids are great for short term alleviation however long term they have quite a lot of adverse side effects.

Obviously anything I suggest should first be discussed with your vet in case there are any contra indications.

HTH

Thanks for this - shall be up there this week so shall get everything off them and get back to you

Have you tried the new drug called Atopica (Cyclosporin)  Its quite expensive but if you are insured it might be worth a try!  Our dog is on them at the moment but it takes about 3 or 4 weeks to see any difference I am told.  Our vet says that is seems to work in a lot of cases so I am hoping that it works for our dog. 

I just found it surfing and no Im not insured ( but I dont care if it works! )
Did your dog have the grey skin thing going on and was it mainly at the back end of the dog ( most skin complaints seem to be up the front! )

No he mainly scratches his ears, although the vet says there is nothing wrong with his ears (no infection or anything) he does scratch other parts of his body as well.  I know there is someone on here that posted last week and she has had some good success with her golden retriever on atopica after nothing else worked, so it may be worth a try.  Our vet charged us £28 for 10 tablets but the good news is that when it starts working he can be weaned off them gradually and may just need one or two a week so it won't be quite as expensive then.  If you do a search on Atopica which I posted last week some time you will see what the other lady put about it.  It may be worth a try.  Atopica is available on the internet from animal medicines uk for £13.81 for 10 but you need a vets prescription to order it so I suppose it just depends on your vet.

Good luck anyway :-)

I don't want to get into the raw v complete food debate, but when my Dally had skin problems I was told by an experienced breeder to feed him only on raw meat and vegtables for six weeks.

I have to say it worked a treat, I couldn't get on with the chicken wings and bones, (worried me too much as he gulped them whole) so fed him on fresh mince from the chilled cabinet in the supermarket and vegtables I pulped in the foood processor.  I noticed it start to clear in two weeks.

It might be worth a try, I now feed complete, but have to be careful not to feed one with too many additives and colourings.

I was also going to suggest trying raw feed.Might be worth trying Quistel too?
Archer

:D Great minds :D  What is Quistel?

Quistel

Thanks.  Knew I had heard of it, but couldn't place it.  I was thinking 'dog' products.

If you click on the link then on the red 'quistel' button you will find the dog products :d
Archer

I thought I was doing the right thing with the dried food as its apparently got all the vitamins and stuff they need in it ( without the mess of normal food ) - I make sure its wheat and gluten free too - we changed her onto Eukanaba fish allergy food for a period as well but that didnt make any difference at all!
You say you put your dog on raw meat and veg for 6 weeks - did you go back to the 'normal' food from before after that or change it to a different one?

I waited until it cleared up completely, which was about six weeks to eight weeks.  I then put him back on normal complete food.  I wouldn't worry about the vitamins and stuff for that short period.  The meat and veg will give her some anyway.

It was trial and error with going back to the complete, Eukanaba and Hill's didn't suit him. I started off with Naturediet which is an additive free moist food, now I can feed him on either Royal Canin, Pro Plan or Nutro.  He is actually fed on Royal Canin now, only because my other dog looks so good on it.

But you must clear the problem up first before trying other foods, otherwise you won't know whether it is the food causing the problem.

You will only have to try it for a couple of weeks, if she shows signs of improvement then continue, if she isn't then I would say it will not work for her.

Thanks for this - thinking about it she did used to be on Nutro and never had any problems then ( duh just worked that one out ) can't remember why we went onto Hills but there must have been a reason at the time..............Shall try what you said and see how she goes - won't hurt any to give it a go and it's way way better than just pumping her full of steroids!
many thanks

Let me know how you get on, I would be interested in the result.

Our staffy had a feet issue- a change in diet has stopped it completely - and interestingly he was on Hills Science Plan before

I would (if this dog were mine).... put the dog on a proper raw diet (sorry, bones included, they are a necessary part of the diet)....

Just pick one meat source and one offal and one veg. Try that for six weeks. If the symptoms continue, change one of the three things -- carry on, eliminating foods as you go.

The other thing i would do, is go and see a homeopathic vet. I have a friend who is finally having some success in treating her English Setters 'itchies'.... something the breed are particularly prone to, with the help of a raw diet and a homeopathic vet.

Hth, Em