Hi,
My lurcher has a grass allergy and Ive started giving him piriton which is really helping.  The problem is that he had already scratched his eyes so much that they are red, scaly and he has itched the fur away.  The poor chap looks awful :(  I cant seem to find anything that is safe to use around the eye area to clear this problem up.  Would really welcome any advice on what to use.
Many thanks
Bex

Hi Bex,

You should really have a word with your vet to ask if he/she can prescribe something specific to alleviate the symptoms of each of the various problems around the eyes - I assume you are already taking veterinary advice on the usage and correct dosage of the Piriton?

The human eye bath "Optrex" is safe to bath the eye area with and should help soothe the actual eyes themselves from itching and pain caused by excessive rubbing/scratching, however this is unlikely to have any affect on the surrounding area  :(  He may need a topically applied antihystamine treatment around the damaged or broken / balding skin and is probably very distressed and uncomfortable so hopefully you will have him professionally attended to a.s.a.p.

Good luck, regards Teri :)

If your dog has beed DIAGNOSED with a grass allergy you may want to consider a homoeopathic route; Ainsworths and Helios do mixed pollen tablets that you can give to give symptomatic relief or if he has not been diagnosed the homeopath can devise a custom made treatment.

For eye relief both do euphrasia tinctures that are good for eyes; again this is something that can be taken internally too.

Alternatively Colloidal Silver available from Holland Barrett et al is totally safe around eyes.

HTH

Tohme,
Hope you don't mind me asking, but you seem to know quite a bit about homeopathic treatments.  My boy has been seeing a homeopathic vet for about three months now.  He started off with itching, due to grass pollens.  He's been on sulpher (did nothing), licopodeum (still nothing), and he's now on rumex, which doesn't seem to be helping either!  He's also been on Piriton, which was working to start with, but since the licopodeum, it's now having no effect.  He has, in the past week developed a brown staining and flakiness behind his withers and about half way along his spine and is v. sensitive to the touch in this area.  The rumex is supposed to be helping this, (started on Sat.), but nothing so far.  Am I expecting too much to soon?  I'm going to phone the homeopathic vet up again tomorrow, but nothing's working so far.  I find the only relief is to bathe him and keep his skin damp and cool (I'm using a specialised shampoo).  The last thing I want is for him to be on steroids, so would like to stick to the homeopathy, but don't want my boy to be suffering either.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sarah.

Hmmmm

Well the first thing to say is I am NOT a qualified homeopath, presumably your homeopathic vet is and a member of the BAHVS.

You don't mention how old your dog is.

How was the grass pollen allergy diagnosed?

What sort of diet is he on.

Has the vet seen your dog since it developed this staining and flakiness?

Has he been tested for any specific medical condition?

Properly used, when homoepathy is used constitutionally as opposed to symptomatically a remedy should start to take effect very quickly if the correct remedy has been chosen.  Sometimes a little juggling is required if there are other underlying issues that have not been considered/exposed.

Hi Tohme,
Thanks for your reply.
He's 15 months old.  His allergy was not specifically diagnosed, but due to the time of year, we thought that the grass pollen was probably the cause.  He's fed on Arden Grange, and has not been tested for anything medically.  He's been back to the vet since the staining and flaking has started, which is when she prescribed the rumex.
The vet is fully qualified, but I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing or if there was anything else I should be doing in the mean time. 

Sarah.

To ease the eye soak a teabag and then leave it to go cold, hold this over the eye, they love it and it really soothes the eye!

Then I would stay with the vet, Rumex (Dock) has various applications........