Meet Casey. He's a 5 year old Beagle with allergies.

Greeting ATS,

Here is my little buddy Casey:



He's a rescue from North Carolina. I brought him home about four years ago or so after he was neglected and abandoned. Now he's living the good life here in Philadelphia. There's only one thing that I can't seem to get a handle on and that is he has severe allergies.

I've ruled out a food allergy and after doing an allergy test I know that he's allergic to grass, mold and several types of tree pollens (basically all of outdoors). His allergies are not really seasonal as he tends to itch year round.

I know there are a couple of threads here pertaining to allergies in dogs but I've basically run through most, if not all of the suggestions. He was getting allergy shots for 18 months with no success. We've even tried a new vaccine called CADI (which is supposed to build up the dog's immune system to fight them) and that doesn't seem to help. We've done Apoquel, Temaril-P, and Benadryl/Claritin. We've tried multiple shampoos and sprays. The only thing that really seems to help is Prednisone...and I don't really want to keep him on that for the rest of his life.

Has anyone else gone through this and found something that works? I think I'll have to go out of the box for this one.

a reply to: RomaSempre

I had a rescue beagle some years back. Worst dog I've ever had. Virtually untrainable and would eat the asshole out of a whale with no regard to the fact that he wasn't big enough to consume it. He really reminded me of a cat.

Hope I'm not raining on your parade. I'm sure your puppy will turn out just fine.

a reply to: RomaSempre

Zzzzzaaaaaaawwwwwwww!!!!

How cute!

Sorry, beagles are one of my favorite dogs.

a reply to: RomaSempre



For Your pal Casey:

www.rover.com...

www.petcarerx.com...

My female Weim/Pit mix was itchy every time We went to the dog park.. It turned out She was getting reactions from the park's pond. It got to be such an issue She wouldn't laze about the pond. (She too is a dog We talked into moving in with Us and She would actually run/run which was fantastic because Her right side has had retarded growth...) Now I hose Her off and She hasn't scratched since the rinses began..

I hope Casey's treatment is as easy...

www.lifelinedogrescue.org... (We switched names from 'Marley' to 'Molly' but it doesn't really mater as She is now thiscloseto deaf...

Stay Hydrated...


Edit: I've also found a few drops of CBD Oil to also work wonders for Her... (Medical marihuana)

a reply to: JimNasium

the dog is so cute!, we have 2 dogs and 2 cats...the dachshund and chihuahua sleep in my daughters room, and one cat is mostly outside, he was a semiferal kitten when rescued and is the sweetest cat in the world....he only comes in if it is very cold or raining...and also sleeps in their room

anyway we noticed when we had that rainy stretch that the chihuahua was itching and her eye swelled up and was watering..we grind up half a benedril twice a day and do the eye drop....the weather got nice and the cat was totally outside and the allegy symptoms totally quickly disappeared......the dog is allergic to the cat!!!

wish I could think of something to help your dog, just had the funny story, but good luck!

a reply to: RomaSempre
Have you tried apple cider vinegar baths?

Works wonders on my cat/dog. The vinegar smell goes away quickly, soothes the skin and makes the coat soft and shiny.

Adorable dog!

My friend has a cat that used to get dry skin and scabs no matter what she tried. She started feeding it some seafood cat food with salmon and the cat cleared right up. Must be the fish oils that helped. I don't anything about dogs though. Sorry.

a reply to: RomaSempre

That is cool

It won't cure anything but Aloe Vera gel can be very soothing.

Have you tried using a standard run of the mill antihistamine?

a reply to: RomaSempre

Have you tried an holistic vet?
Mainstream medicine hasn't helped much so far, I'd give it a shot.

I had itches for years and finally found relief.
My chiropractor goes nutritional healing, and gave me some homeopathic drops for a mold allergy I have.
It works for people, why not dogs as well.

BTW, what a cure dog you have....get picture with him and his teddy bear

Thanks all for the suggestions. This month's CADI shot seems to be working a little bit though the run of the mill foods and meds don't work at all. I may try the apple cider vinegar and will definitely look into a holistic vet. (I should also have my house checked for mold).

BTW, here is Casey with his 'little sister' Carrie. They are both rescues and I'm lucky to have them.

a reply to: RomaSempre

sovaka, he said he tried benedryl , doesn't get any more basic than that, he also tried claritin (another antihistime)

romasempre...have you tried a good air filter that will take mold and pollens out of the air in your house?? I know the dog has to go outside sometimes but clean air in the house might help, and wipe him down when he comes back in??

a reply to: research100
My vet has ordered Benedryl on a number of occasions for my dogs, even as a a sleep aide when when itching and discomfort was causing them restless sleep. It worked wonders. I keep a stash on hand, the gels ones, the pink ones are messy to work with.

I adopted a sweet little pit bull that had some skin problems.

Folliculitis

I'd maybe try a new vet.

Diagnosis is simple

Folliculitis is relatively easy to identify just by looking at the skin. The challenge is determining why it is there. Thankfully, there are several quick and easy tests that can be used to find the particular cause of the folliculitis.

Skin scrape and hair plucking: Demodex can be identified via a skin scrape. A sample of the cells, hair and debris on the surface of the skin can be examined under the microscope to look for parasites. Hair can also be plucked to look for demodex mites clinging to the hair shafts.

Fungal culture: A fungal culture can be performed to identify dermatophytes. Again, this is a relatively easy and inexpensive test, although it does take up to seven to ten days to get full results.

Skin cytology: This is similar to a scrape but is done to determine the presence of bacterial infection. Unfortunately, this test does not specify what strain of bacteria is present.

Bacterial culture: If the condition is chronic or unresponsive to previous treatment, a bacterial culture may be necessary. While this test can be expensive, it is often needed to ensure that the treatment chosen works properly.

There are other causes, but here:

If allergies are suspected, the allergens need to be identified and avoided. For example, a common type of folliculitis occurs on the chin, and is referred to as “chin acne”. It can result from contact with certain types of plastic, so switching out plastic food and water bowls to glass or ceramic eliminates the problem. Other options for addressing allergies include diet changes. Talk to your veterinarian if you suspect your dog’s folliculitis is related to allergies.

I think holistic stuff is generally nonsense, but I give my Border Collie a fish oil capsule every night. He's shiny.

Don't get stuck in a vet rut. You may love your vet, but your vet may be terrible.

This is probably a bit of a long shot, particularly since you know your dog has actual allergies to things found in his environment.

But, he's a rescue dog and you don't know everything that might have happened to him before he came to you. Could any of the trouble be 'psychological'? Sorry, I can't think of a better word but he may have been traumatised enough to cause him to develop rashes and such.

And does he nibble at the affected areas, making them worse?

research100, I have an air purifier in my bedroom and another small unit in the living room that is specifically designed to remove mold spores. I just recently started wiping his paws when we come in from a walk so we'll see where that goes.

berenike, he does nibble and lick at his affected areas. I only know what the shelter in NC told me...and it's pretty sad: He was dropped off at a spay/neuter clinic by someone who gave a wrong phone number and drove off. They got him into a shelter and found he was infested with fleas. (Like he was kept in an unsanitary kennel). They also noticed that he didn't know what dog food was and could tell he was eating whatever scraps that were given to him or whatever he could find. He also tested positive for Lyme's.

I remember him starting to itch from the moment he got home. It could be psychological but I'm leaning towards legit allergies. In fact, he's my early warning system. When he starts really itching I know my own allergies will be flaring up in a week or so.

a reply to: RomaSempre

Poor little guy. It's heartbreaking to know the history of some rescue dogs.

I was wondering if you can deter him from licking and nibbling the sore areas to 'dry them up' a bit but that would probably mean him having to wear one of those large 'lamp shade' type contraptions round his neck.

I'm sorry I'm no help at all, I'd just hoped to offer new ideas that might have been worth investigating.

ETA - you say from the moment you got home he started to itch? That opens up some possibilities. Cleaning materials, for one.

I've got allergies, to practically everything actually, and it was so hard at the beginning to work out what was causing the problem. Because just about everything was a problem. I kept eliminating food from my diet and eventually realised I was allergic to my toothpaste too.

Finally, I had the mega revelation that my washing powder was causing me to cough and wheeze so badly. All the time I was heaving up my lungs I'd go into the bathroom to clean up afterwards and be exposed to that lovely toothpasty smell and bury my face in a clean towel reeking of washing powder

Now all my household linen and clothing gets about three rinse cycles in the washing machine.

Perhaps you could change his bedding and make sure it's all super rinsed?