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

[Vela]

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......

She's giving one short burst of steroid to get over this incident, the dog is not chronically allergic. She eats raw food and a no grain diet 99% of the time. The only reason the dog was given a different food is because K9 just moved tto a new location and had not been able to find the store that sold EVO yet.

Steroids are generally not harmful in short bursts for a single incident. Yes long term use CAN cause issues, but she will be just fine on this one dose. She has no underlying health issues and is a very healthy dog. K9 has a strong medical background so she is quite familiar with the use of steroids.

Also, my dogs have runny eyes....but they don't ever eat wheat or grain of any sort. They are on a raw diet or EVO for kibble, no grain at all. So runny eyes is not just a wheat allergy. They also have no allergies to the environment so it's not that either.

[dragondawg]

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.

You are correct when you say diphenhydramine has no chemical relationship to herioin. If you do a search on a combination of the two words you'll come up with Cheese - latest fad in the illicit drug market is to apparently mix the two.

There is no need to worry about short term Prednisone treatment. If the dog has been on Prednisone for a week or more then it should be gradually withdrawn to give the dog's body a chance to crank up its own corticosteroid production again. Ask your Vet for a withdrawal schedule. Usually it's just a simple step down in dosage by 50% every few days.

Presumably your Vet gave you an antibiotic such as Cephalexin or Clavamox to eliminate the skin infection associated with the allergy.

Hydroxyzine prescribed by a Vet is usually more effective than Benedryl for suppressing the anti-histamine. Although continued need for an anti-histamine to keep the symptoms under control usually indicates exposure is continuous. Histamine release is about the first event in an allergic reaction. If after you stop giving an anti-histamine the allergy comes back, you'll know the environmental antigen causing the allergy is still present.

It's not uncommon for puppies to have allergic reations to leaf mold this time of year. My previous dog always had paw chewing this time of year, but nothing as severe as your dog experienced. If your dog is primarly an indoor puppy, then you need to think if you recently bought a different room refreshener, or started using a new cleaner in the bathroom or kitchen. Simple compounds like formaldehyde in Lysol can cause allergic reactions. Think of anything that might be new in the dog's environment. You might want to take advantage of this opportunity to shampoo your carpets to cut down on dust mites, or some other item in the carpet that the dog may be reacting to.

If all else fails ask for a referral to a doggy dermatologist. Besides allergies there are other skin disorders such as Pemphigus which is an autoimmune disease. If after withdrawing from all medications it immediately flairs back up, then you'll need a specialist.

[shais_mom]

I'm not a fan of steroids either but sometimes there is no other 'help' left. A short burst like Tasha got - should be fine, she's otherwise healthy...

[Curiousdish]

I'm glad to hear she'll be fine..........

My friend Leanne has a dog with severe allergies and her vet instructed her to give Scooby one Benadryl allergy tablet daily........his eyes get so red and swollen.........but they determined it was the spray used on lawns.........

Casey was an isolated case of just one treatment.....but I guess that's the luck of the draw!

Keep up the good care and Scrappy and Daisy send licks!

[pitc9]

How's Tasha doing??

[Kfamr]

I'm just now seeing this thread for the first time, I'm sorry.

I hope Tasha is feeling better these days. Poor itchy girl! Give her some gentle hugs from me.

[K9soul]

Sorry I have not answered before now. She is starting day 3 after being tapered off the pred and seems ok. Her hair has mostly all grown back already, the scabs fell off her whiskers and the rash is completely gone. Her ears look better as well. If she keeps doing well and has no more problems I am pretty settled on the food as the culprit.

She does seem to have lost some weight the past 2-3 weeks though so I am increasing her meals a bit..

[cassiesmom]

Oh, Tasha, I am so glad to read that you're better! I don't guess you will be eating that particular food again, though. *pet *pet *pet

[Freedom]

Please deliver some pets, hugs and loving from me!