Anxious about Tasha: severe allergies (update post 16 with pic)

[K9soul]

Today she is still seeming okay comfort wise although she is still not completely back to herself. She still tries to rub her face but she is mostly leaving her face and feet alone and they are looking better. She still is not interested in playing and mostly wants to lay around.

However her ears still look red and the rash/hives whatever look worse to me. They look like tiny pimples and they cover her body, especially in the creases of her front and back legs. She does not seem particularly itchy with it so I am wondering if it is showing up more now that the scratching and swelling has stopped or if something else is going on? I am thinking of just running her in for a recheck tomorrow morning as soon as the vet's office opens, unless it looks to be fading or going away by then. Has anyone seen something like this before?



Still anxious and worried.

[chocolatepuppy]

I don't think my dogs ever had pimple type things like that. I would take her in to be safe, RB Mandy ended up with a skin infection once from her allergies. I know you're probably worried sick, but I'm sure they can get Tasha healed up.

[Giselle]

OH poor Tasha! To be honest, those look something like bed bug bites to me. I don't know if bed bugs attack pups the way they do us, but is there any old furniture that might host infestation?

Maybe she's going through adolescence Just kidding. I really hope Tasha gets better quickly, and maybe you could do a skin prick test just to clear away the muck!

[Freedom]

Looks like what Bobby had, as well. Related to the licking and scratching to do with the allergy. These photos are from back in Sept; this is all healed up now:




BTW, I was thinking about this last evening. If you really think this is due to the food switch, save the ingredients list from that food. Or look it up on line and print it out. (You want a hard copy, as they are always tinkering with the formulas, coming up with "new and improved" ones.)

You may never need it; or it may not be useful. But if you have it, you can look at; the first 3 ingredients (which make up most of the food), and at the list of preservatives and such (if any). It may give some indication what she is allergic TO. You may need this sometime in the future as a reference; then again, you may not. But what's one extra slip of paper in her file folder, right? Wouldn't hurt to also put in the same for the food which seems to be OK for her. You just never know what the pets are going to do to make us nuts in future! Just a thought, anyway.

[wolfsoul]

Poor Tasha!

It's too bad that the food switch and the leaf incedent all seemed to happen at the same time. I would place my bets on the leaves though. They say 85% of dog allergies are environmental. I don't know if I'd keep her on the prednione -- but I am not a fan of prednisone.

I'd put her back on her regular food, and see what you can do about cleaning up the leaves in your yard -- and maybe just limit backyard visits and take her pee in the front yard instead? Diphenhydramine is a component of heroin and can cause similar symptoms as the drug -- mostly it causes drowsiness though. It's least likely to cause anything in shampoo form, but to keep those chances low make sure she doesn't lick it.

We're treating a dog at work (with a terrible staff infection all over) by bathing her in vinegar, force drying her, and first spraying her with colloidal silver before rubbing tea tree oil and oil of oregano into her skin. It's working very well. She is also taking the oil of oregano orally, and the silver is being added to her water. It might be worth a try. My rat is itching himself raw (he has bald patches and scabs all over his body -- I believe the mold in my house is the culprit), and since I started bathing him with my own mixture of shampoos (oatmeal, peppermint, mango, papaya, coconut, lavendar, aloe, comfrey, callendula, etc) every day, and adding colloidal silver to his water, he has really improved.

Good luck with Tasha, keep us updated on her improvement.

[cassiesmom]

Dear Tasha, how is your skin today? I hope you are feeling better and not as itchy. Thinking of you! -- elyse

[anna_66]

Poor Tasha, and Poor You!

I'm just now seeing this so it's nice to hear that she's feeling at least a little better. I hope this moring she's doing fine.
Just breaks your heart to see them not feeling good doesn't it?

Lots of hugs and prayers headed your way Jess.

[K9soul]

I meant to update this last night but ended up having to get my car to the shop ... yes when it rains it pours and I'm tired of it pouring on me.

Anyway, the rash/hives are really fading now. I did take her for a recheck yesterday morning and the vet said they would probably be gone in a couple more days. She still likes to rub her face more than usual but it could be the healing whisker area is itchy or just the healing rash. Her ears are still a bit red and moist but the vet said they don't seem to be infected right now. He did give me some medicine for them to stop a yeast infection since that is somewhat common with an allergy flare. She seems a bit mellow and subdued but I guess that could be the prednisone.

I am not too worried about her being on the prednisone temporarily. She has never been treated with it in her life and this is only a short burst treatment to get her over her reaction. I just didn't have time or inclination to look into alternatives because she was at the point of just writhing and moaning in misery, trembling so hard her teeth were chattering, her skin hot and swollen. I think she really needed the steroid to stop the acute progression of the reaction. If this is to be a more chronic situation with her (I'm praying with all my heart it is not) I will be looking into more holistic and alternative measures. I just have never seen such a quickly progressing and intense reaction.

Thank you so much for all your support and words of advice and insight. It has really helped me a great deal.

ETA: I have never heard of diphenhydramine being a derivative of heroin. Heroin is an opiate and diphenhydramine is an antihistamine. The most common trade name for it is Benadryl, but it is also in Unasom and Nytol (sleeping pills). They would not sell an opiate over the counter and in Children's form I don't believe. I have given her Benadryl too but it was ineffective. The shampoo was mostly to help give some topical relief for the rash/hives.

[pitc9]

I'm SO glad to hear she's doing better!!

[chocolatepuppy]

Glad to hear Tasha is doing better.

[dukedogsmom]

I'm so glad she's improving! I hope she'll be back to her old self in no time. I'm sorry about your car. You are right about the rain. I hope my surprise will bring you a little sunshine and I hope your rain goes away.

[ramanth]

Poor Tasha. Those photos are reminiscent of what Kia will go through throughout the winter (and why her ears are floppy). It's so painful and heartbreaking to see them like this. I hope you find something to ease Tasha's itchiness. *hugs*

[sammy101]

Kodie had those "pimples" for a while until we realized that it was food AND flea allergies so we had to do some changes with both of those.
He hasn't had them since we've changed his food and gotten rid of the fleas 100%.

Glad to hear Tasha is improving!

[Curiousdish]

Read on one of the other posts here, re: prednisone......
My Casey was given prednisone and that ruined the adrenal glands on his kidneys giving him Cushings Disease! Nasty stuff

the rash on the back looks quite like when my Digby used to get inflamed hair follicles. Antibiotic helped along with a creme that had topical steroid to settle the itching.

the underside looks quite like what I experienced recently with Scrappy....
after extensive testing allergies were suspected. Yes most times environmental allergies are the culprit but in Scrappy's case it turns out she has a grain allergy..........Wheat ( which makes the eyes run). On the vets recommendation I switched her food to ORIJEN which is mainly meat, fish, vegetables and potato.............

Happy to say that she is feeling much better and her temperment is amazing....she is more sociable as she used to snarl at everyone and was grumpy...........

Anyhow, stay off the steroid tablets......
In humans it can create Diabetes, Cushings Disease and in some cases even blindness............Our illnesses are not much different to animal ailments...

Give Orijen food a try........

Good luck to you and hope your pet is getting better.....

PS....one other thing.......have you changed any laundry detergent, used any carpet cleaners or freshners? that could be an irritant......

Even the lady in the Pet Store who is very knowledgeable said if eyes are runny its a wheat allergy.........

Oh, Also one other thing.....Scrappy would lose an awful lot of hair continually to the point of a couple times totally lost all hair on her ears and underside.............since switching food.....her hair has grown back and shedding stopped........vet confirmed allergy to grains......

Today she is still seeming okay comfort wise although she is still not completely back to herself. She still tries to rub her face but she is mostly leaving her face and feet alone and they are looking better. She still is not interested in playing and mostly wants to lay around.

However her ears still look red and the rash/hives whatever look worse to me. They look like tiny pimples and they cover her body, especially in the creases of her front and back legs. She does not seem particularly itchy with it so I am wondering if it is showing up more now that the scratching and swelling has stopped or if something else is going on? I am thinking of just running her in for a recheck tomorrow morning as soon as the vet's office opens, unless it looks to be fading or going away by then. Has anyone seen something like this before?



Still anxious and worried.

[K9soul]

Thanks for your concern, but I feel the short course of steroid was best for her while she was having such a horribly acute reaction to the point she was at risk of her wounds developing infection. She was on a short burst of low dose steroid every 48 hrs, only 4 mg. The awful things you hear of on pred are generally with long-term and constant use and usually higher doses as well. I am sure Tash will be fine.