Poor baby has always had allergy issues. Usually it is just her skin (dry, flakey, scabby and gross ) but from time to time it creates ear problems. I noticed that her ears were smelly a few weeks ago and took her in to have them checked. After cleaning them really well the vet put her on a medication to get them cleared up. It seemed to be working and then on Sunday morning her eyes started to swell. Within an hour we had her to the Emergency vet as they were pretty much swollen shut. They diagnosed her with allergies again...although to what, we do not know. Started her on topical steroids and sent her home. I had a follow up appt. scheduled for her ears on Tuesday and our vet said that her right ear had not cleared up. So we started her on an oral antibiotic and a different ear medicine. Continued with the steroids for the eye..although they were looking a little bit better on tuesday. This morning she woke up with a huge lump just below her right ear...the one that hadn't cleared up. I'm waiting to hear from the vet right now. He is in surgery and is going to call when he is done. I suspect that the lump is accumulated drainage from the ear as it seems to be very "fluidy". Fortunately, her eyes are looking MUCH better but I am still really worried about her.
If anyone has an allergic furkid I would love to know how your vet is handling it. I trust ours completely, but geez already....this has been going on for to long!
I don't know if this will help or not, but my friend's dog was hacing issues with allergies- biting and scratching his feet a lot. She switched him to Solid Gold dog food, which has no fillers, especially corn, and he is much better now. Her vet told her that corn used in dog food causes a lot of allergies.
Maybe you could try switching food?
Cookie seems to get some allergies for a couple of weeks in the spring, and I bought an oatmeal dog shampoo to bathe her in- it seems to soothe her skin.
Good Luck!
Milo is allergic to the world...I had his blood tested 2 years ago, and he is allergic to ALL grains, grasses, pork, turkey, lamb, legumes and white potatoes. As there is no kibble available w/o grain, he gets only the BARF (bones and raw food) diet now. We gave him shots for a year+, but then realized the medium for the injection serum is pork based!!!!!! The company who makes the antigens didn't bother to read his list. Twits. He still has occasional blistered, naked patches that drive him crazy. The holistic vet we go to has tried every homeopathic, and idiopathic possibility but oral steroids. Nothing works very well. Spray Benadryl is a last resort, but he's a pretty miserable pupper sometimes. Haven't given up yet but it's a dilemma.
My first Dachshund, Herschal, was deathly allergic to soy and corn, as soon as we changed food, he was fine.
The blood test is pricey, and not complete, but less than the scratch test that DeeDee got for Hallie. Depending on whether you want to afford testing, it's the best way to know for sure. I think we will have to test Milo with the scratch tests soon, as something is still getting him. Good Luck!
Rays to Buelah - poor baby girl...nothing worse than the itches..... let us know what the vet says -
I am glad Suzie wrote she's been through the mill with Milo and has learned more than she probably ever wanted to know about allergies. They can be a very frustrating thing.
In retrospect I guess Hallie is pretty lucky as she seems to be allergic only to grasses, trees and weeds (16 of them...but out of 64 tested for that's not bad). Her allergies are seasonal because of this. I have given her allergy shots every three weeks for the last 4 years, in fact she had one yesterday. I used to give them to her myself but I have no one to help me hold her and one day I hurt her (I still have daymares about that) so it's to the vet every 3 weeks.
I can't say how much they are helping because I don't know how she'd be without them. But her allergies are not horrible. In the winter, they are pretty much non existant (and I do remember her more itchy in our first winter). It's all a little spendy but that doesn't matter to me, it is most likely helping and doesn't hurt. Dogs with allergies do tend to get worst every year so I wanted to nip it in the bud as much as possible.
I don't know that much about food allergies though and Hallie never had the ear problems or swelling of poor Beulah. She just has itchy feet and she does dig at her ears in the summer some but so far hasn't gotten an infection. All year long she does rub her head on the carpet a lot.
The allergy shots work for some, don't work for others, but I know of a couple of dogs who were really bad and after a few years they took them off the shots and they had no more problems. One was also very allergic to oranges (they lived on a grove).
The challenge is that every dog is different and the allergy mix they are allergic to. It's tougher when there are both food and inhalant allergies because if you give them shots for inhalant you may not know it is working as they may still be itchy from food, etc. You just have to keep researching and trying things to see what will help, and try the more natural and safer things first.
How old is Beulah? Did you notice symptoms all this winter or are they just cropping up? If so it may be inhalant she is reacting to but I don't think those are the typical reactions to inhalant. One of Patty's boys is allergic to something outside and gets red bumps all over his tummy, more of a contact allergy.
It sure is nice to see you back on the board DeeDee!
Thanks to you and Suzie for the info.
Buelah will be four in September. The skin rash is really the only symptom that she has had in the past and typically that is during the summer. We have been able to control that pretty well up to this point.
I'm going to discuss the allergy testing with our vet this afternoon. He wants to see her at 5:30pm....love those evening hours!
We had actually talked about it a few years ago and decided to take a 'wait and see' attitude. Given this episode I think it might be time. The eyes REALLY scared me! I'll post later on how she does this evening with the swollen lump in her neck. Thanks again!
dermatologistn problems for about 5 years off & on finely as a last resort found a doggy dermatologest she said to give Cozmo a half of a Clarton pill I bought the Walgreens brand seems to have helped allot.
Papbouv
Checking in to see how Beulah is tonight. My Willy is allergic to anything green. When we were at the old house, he was confined to the deck unless I was taking him for a walk on a leash. Here at the new house, we have a 40 acre yard. Willy and Alex LOVE going outside and especially love walking on the trails in our woods. Last summer, which was our first summer here, I just kinda watched to see what would happen to Willy. He got a little red at first, but then it seemed to subside, almost as if he was becoming immune by being exposed to it more. We'll see what happens this summer.
I had heard that corn is a real irritant to a lot of dogs, and its in a lot of their foods as a filler. I have owned 6 doxies and have always fed Purina One dry kibble. My dogs love it. And they have all had beautiful shiney thick coats. The only other food I have tried was one put out by Amway which nearly killed my first doxie, Christopher. It clogged him up so bad that I thought he was dying. FINALY he pooped and was okay, and he was put back on his Purina One. The Nutro people actually told me that Purina One is the best "over the counter" type dog food that you can get anywhere like in grocery stores.
Willy was also prone to ear infections. I tried so many things for that, but what worked was dumping a half a capful of 70% rubbing alcohol in his ear and swishing it around, then blotting with a cotton ball. The rest would evaporate and would also dry out the ear which took care of the infection, which thrived in the moist environment in the ear.
Terri, please let us know how Buelah is doing.
Porky had a similar reaction after getting ear medication last summer. He has horrible allergies too. When I put the drops in his ear, he seemed to do fine for two days. The third day he got little bumps all over around his ears and eyes. I rushed him to the vet and they suspected it was a reaction to that medication. We switched medicines and he was just fine after that. I think it was Otomax that gave him the reaction. I have it with his records.