help! im hoping someoe has gone thru what i am, and will have some new ideas! i have 2 bull terriers, bee is a six year old bitch, and banjo is her son and he is three. there is never anything wrong with bee, except that she likes farting, but banjo is just one big skin problem. since he was a pup he has had acne, id cysts, and various other stuff. usually a course of cephalexin sorts him out, but this time his feet have been v swollen, especially the underneath, between the pads, and nothing seems to be clearing it up. we have tried cephalexin, antirobe, metronidazole, had him on soloxine which is a thyroid drug, which can sometimes help with immune related things, he gets viacutin in his food, he also gets garlic, and fruit and veg in his food to boost his system, we have in the past tried referrals to homeopathic vets, he has been allergy tested, allergic to grass, dust mites, cats, so he has an allergy vaccine monthly, which cleared up his rhinitis,but no joy with his feet, we have washed his feet in epsom salts, hydrogen peroxide, potassium permangenate, various medicated shampoos, and were just about out of ideas. my medicine cupboard if full of remedies for the dogs, and none for us, and i feel desperately sory for him all of the time, as we cant go on long walks, or go where theres stones because he wont walk on them, and carrying a 35kg bully everywhere is not good for the back! so if anyone has any ideas at all, please post them, no matter how weird, ill try them! (he cant have steriods as when i reluctantly agreed to try them he got a hepatitis kinda thing which was not at all good!)

Been there done that!!!! My first Staff was Jake, he had a very, very similar history to yours, and I can sympathise with the frustration, and the costs, especially the allergy testing!!! I decided in the end to bin the cabinet full of drugs and went down my own route. I had previously kept a daily diary of everything Jake ate, weather, moods, everything for a year, so I had a very good Idea of what subtle differences foods, the biggest culprit, to avoid. From day one Jake was a very fussy eater, but he loved the new diet of shredded raw carrots and poached fish, Coley bought by the case from the local supermarket weekly. It used to take me forever to cook it and debone it! but he loved it, and after 3 and a half years of trying it was worth it. His ID cysts, feet, pink skin and pimply chin cleared up by @ 80%. I also treated him with Rhus Tox, Bryonia and Thuya. But Jake was never 100% right until a year later when after advice from a lady called Audrey Hubery (Nozac Staffords) saw him and said it was stress related, he could not live with the hustle and bustle of the three bitches. After loads of tears Jake was rehomed via Barbara Greens Staff rescue, shortly afterwards Jake was a happy skin free Stafford again.

Ged.

Hi, also been there done that! :)

I'm pretty amazed that your vet has had your bully on Soloxine for this complaint, I've checked and double checked and basically its not a drug as such, it is levothyroxine sodium which is a thyroxine replacemant for animals (and humans) which are thyroxine deficient. I was moved to action because I too am on thyroxine. Has the vet checked his thyroid levels??? without a blood test it would be inappropriate to give thyroxine as the levels in the blood have to be assessed regularly and doses adjusted accordingly.

Moving on to your poor dogs allergies, I do sympathise, it sounds so much like my last dogs probs. I found that the only thing that helped was to try him on different foods until we found a diet he improved on. Evening primrose capsules helped to some extent, his skin became less dry and less itchy. Tea tree cream rubbed into his feet and itchy bits also was found to be very soothing and as it tastes quite foul was useful in cutting down on the constant licking and nibbling. Unfortunately it will be trial and error for a while, the idea of using a diary was very useful as without it things can be very confusing, trying to remember whether things are better or worse after changing something and what is having an effect, it can all get a bit complicated. You could also investigate the Barf feeding method, (a search on this site alone will give you plenty of reading matter) as this seems to help in some cases. Hope this helps a little, I know how it can feel when it seems nothing is working and your dog feels so uncomfortable all the time.

Regards
Paule

thanks everyone but weve tried all of this stuff too. in response to thyriod query,he has been bs, and its worth noting to anyone else whose having skin problems that although blood results may not point 100% to hyper or hypothyriod, the tsh and t4 levels quite often do not rule it out, and weve used it on quite a few mysterious skin complaints, and theyve cleared up, 6 weeks is the test time to see if its working. also if your dog is overweight, despite all of your best efforts, get your vet to bs for thyriod, as it quite often only shows up this way. we used to use tea tree and aloe vera gel mixed for hot spots and that worked, but no luck with that on his feet either, the weird thing is he doesnt lick or bite at them, they dont seem to irritate him, and cant be itchy, just sore so he limps, not an easy thing to do on 4 feet. we also tried neem oil, and its good for lots of stuff, but it totally stinks...puts ye off a wee bit. actually after posting the first time, i looked at his feet and thought they were a bit better, but its maybe wishful thinking. one good thing is on all of this oils and supplements, his coats looking really good, hes perfect apart from the last few inches down to the floor.... maybe ill just have to amputate.... :->

Have you tried bathing with Witchhazel??? It is supposed to be excellent for toughening skin on feet for pewople, so might be wiorth a try. It is also great for stopping bleeding with cuts.