Hi
can anyone help me? I have been taking my dog to the vets for 6 months now with itchy sore patches on her skin.  Food allergies were diagnosed and we have tried every diet available (prescription only aswell) and nothing seems to help.  She gets bathed weekly in malaseb or selene and takes steroids daily 6mg of mendrone. We go along ok for a week or two but every time we try to reduce the steroids it all flairs up again (and sometimes even without reducing the steroids) and then its back on the antibiotics and up the dose of steroids again.  I just feel that nothing is getting us anywhere and wondered if anyone has any suggestions

If food allergies were truly diagnosed ( as opposed to guessed at) then the problem should have been eradicated by removing the offending items from the diet.

What ingredients is your dog allergic to, and who conducted the tests and was this done by blood tests, skin scrapes etc or another method.

You say you have tried every diet available but this sounds as though you have no idea WHAT your dog is allergic to as the vet has not done the correct diagnostic tests!

The blood tests infamously give misleading conclusions (due to them being same test for Humans :rolleyes:)
   I'd go for second opinion and skin scrape.
Poor you and Doggie, miserable for you both :( get a second opinion...
Good luck :)

the allergy tests were blood tests done by york labs.  Allergies identified were beef lamb chicken duck and white fish, eggs cheese and milk, wheat oats soya and rice, oh and i almosr forgot potatoes. We tried capolin and tapioca which worked quite well for about 6 weeks but then seemed to be reacting to this so we are using canine zd ultra allergenic at present which doesn't seem to be doing any good

My dog was diagnosed as having food allergies and was getting steadily worse with his scratching and making a right mess of his ears and near to his eyes.  He also scratched his elbows a lot and chewed his feet all the time.  My vet finally decided to do a blood test for sarcoptes and an ear scrape and the ear scrape showed nothing but the blood test came back positive for sarcoptic mange which is easily treated with stronghold.  He is like a different dog now and a hell of a lot happier.:-)

Well the ZD diet is specially formulated so that the protein molecules are "suspended" and should not trigger a response, hence its cost it is the only really TRULY hypoallergenic diet on the market.

Have you considered raw feeding, in some dogs, this does not trigger the issues that commercial food does.

Have you waited at least six weeks for this diet to work?

Have you had your dog tested also for environmental allergies?

Has the vet considered Malessezia (yeast overgrowth)?

The following may help to mitigate the allergic response:

Daily prebiotics, there are some that do not need refrigeration and are coated so that they work in the gut rather than get lost in the stomach, Healthspan do one.

A full spectrum digestive enzyme complex, this contains the digestive enzymes missing from dogs to enable a better breakdown and metabolisation of fats, cereals, proteins, sugars, dairy products etc.

Fish Body Oils, Eveing Primrose Oil and Vitamin E.

All of the above can work synergistically to help calm the skin.

In addition, internal and external application of Colloidal Silver and Aloe Vera Gel, can also be very useful.

Best of luck