Allergy testing

[.sarah]

If they are older ceramic where the pores are getting course instead of like fired new, they are in the same category as plastic. I highly recommend you switch to stainless steel bowls because they never deteriorate and hold in bacteria. Non stainless bowls are like a very worn cutting board. They look clean but if you look under a microscope you would cringe even after washing it!

They are new, not even 6 months old, and some are brand new. And most of the time I don't use a bowl because I feed raw and just hand her the food. I only use a bowl when I need to feed organs, so I'll pick up a couple stainless for her soon.

My Golden boy, Dusty, has allergies. He was blood tested and came back confirmed to be allergic to 48 different environmental things, including Sugar Maple and Ash trees. Both of those trees make up the majority of the trees in our 3/4 acre back yard! In order for blood tests to be more accurate, the dog should be off all prednisone or topical cortizone creams and sprays for at least 6 weeks. As a precaution, I had him off all meds for the most accurate test possible. Since he was never itch free and was miserable unless there was snow on the ground, it took me almost 10 months before I could have him tested once I decided to go through with testing. When the ground was covered in snow was the only time he would be 100% clear.

I wish I had known that before we did the testing today. She had cortisone spray prescribed about a month ago and was on it for about 2 weeks. We had the blood drawn this morning though.

Over the years, I learned a lot to try to help him. First, I bought a standing booster bath so I wouldn't have to bend down all the time to bath him. That was more for me than him! Then I would rinse him off everytime he came in from outside. I use a Melaluca Anti Fungal shampoo the vet prescribed (it's wonderful and 100% better than oatmeal shampoos I tried) and would use that every other day on his paws and under belly. Basically it was the areas that were exposed the most to the ground. Every week or so he gets a complete bath! I can smell when he needs a bath as he got an odor about him from the reaction to the outside allergens. This helped some but not completely.

I have thought about bathing her more frequently too. She seems better after baths. We already have a booster bath ... isn't it wonderful?!?!

I also switched him to Innova Evo dog food which is grain free. While it was never determined he was allergic to specific foods, he did much better on a grain free food. Innova Evo is the closest thing you can feed your dog without actually going to a raw diet. Both of these things helped him immensely and I continue to do them to this day although it didn't help 100%.

All of my dogs are already on raw food

Thank you for your reply, it was very informative. I can't wait to see what the test shows. It'll be about 10 days before we get the results though.

[Dixieland Dancer]

Please keep us posted!

[ParNone]

Boy, I tell ya the allergy thing sucketh. Poor Maddie and I struggled with hers most of her life. We tried everything from prednisone to antihistamines to allergy shots. All with limited success. The prednisone gave her the greatest relief of those options, but the side effects are bad.

Ultimately the things that worked best for us, was changing her diet, giving her a bath every week and spraying her body down with something the vet gave us that worked really wonderful (For the life of me I can't remember the name of it right now though, but when I get home from work, I'll see if I still have a bottle of it in the cabinet).

She was never totally itch free though, even with all that work. That's one of the first things I asked Oz and Gull's breeders about, was whether they had any skin issues in their lines. It's something I don't want anymore of my puppers to have to go through, cuz they're so miserable.

Par...

[Scooby4]

I adopted my dog Scooby from the dog pound years ago. Shortly after adopting him I found he has an allergy to almost everything! He's allergic to fleas. I started giving him brewer's yeast when I discovered he is allergic to yeast!
Scooby recently had a bacterial ear infection that moved to the rest of his body. It made his hair fall out in clumps. It was small patches so it was hard to tell what was going on at first and it appeared almost overnight. The bacteria from his ears had moved to the rest of his body making "scabs". Those scabs would "burst" and the hair would fall out. The vet put him on antibiotics for several weeks and gave me an ear rinse/ear antibiotic treatment to do. He's gotten better.
Scooby has to take benadryl on a somewhat regular basis. I don't give it to him everyday but on occassions of "breakouts". He's already up to one pill and he's only 35lbs! Usually, I have to take him to the vet for a full dose of antihistimines for his outbreaks.
I am afraid the worst has already happened to Scooby as a result of his allergies. I think he may have had a "stroke" due to an undiagnosed fever from an possible flea reaction. We never knew the exact cause. So it is important to always keep an eye out for signs of allergic reactions. Scooby's skin turns "pink" and he scratches on anything and everything. He also will feel extremely "warm" to the the touch.
Shampoo's have had a limited effect on Scooby. I do try to use "soothing" shampoos. However, I tend to really just hose him off with plain water in between baths or exposure to other animals. He's got to use frontline to keep the fleas off of him. One bite and we are at the vets office!
I hope the allergy testing helps. I wish I had found out with Scooby. Unfornately, it has been with trial and error with is allergies.

[Cincy'sMom]

Cincy was allergy tested (blood test) about 2 years ago, and now gets immunotherapy shots every 2 weeks. Her allergies are dust mites, so she gets worse in the winter. She still stuggles that time of year, and we use a small amount of prednisone to control the bad times (2.5 - 5 mg per day).

Sadie has been fighting ear infections off and on her whole life. She also seems to be licking at her paws more andmore, so I made her an appointment for tomorrow evening to ahve her allergy tested as well.

[.sarah]

Thanks for the replies everyone. These results can't come fast enough!

She's just miserable. The vet prescribed some Hydroxyzine as needed and of course we've been using them for the maximum amount. She's still itching a lot though, but they have made her a little bit better. She's getting a bath tonight, and it looks like it's going to be a weekly thing. Good thing I have a booster bath or my back would seriously suffer!!

[Dixieland Dancer]

She's just miserable. The vet prescribed some Hydroxyzine as needed and of course we've been using them for the maximum amount. She's still itching a lot though, but they have made her a little bit better. She's getting a bath tonight, and it looks like it's going to be a weekly thing. Good thing I have a booster bath or my back would seriously suffer!!

I'm surprised your vet doesn't have her on prednisone if she is that miserable. Prednisone actually shuts down their adrenal system so they don't feel all itchy. While it's not the solution long term, it does help for a flare up.

As for the baths, make sure you get a good anti fungal shampoo that also conditions and moisturizes since you will be giving so many baths. Dusty actually gets a bath every weekend and several paw and belly rinses throughout the week (even if he's not muddy). I like to rinse the environmental spores of what he is allergic too off of him before they work their way into his coat and down to his skin level. I use Melaluca (tea oil). In addition he gets quality food (INNOVA EVO - grain free) that contains the omega fatty acids and he also gets 3V caps (fish oil). Even though he gets many baths, his coat is not dried out!

Dusty is responding wonderful to his allergy shots. This is the first time April has come where he has not had chewed up paws and hocks! I hope you have as much success!

[elizabethann]

Thanks for the replies everyone. These results can't come fast enough!

She's just miserable. The vet prescribed some Hydroxyzine as needed and of course we've been using them for the maximum amount. She's still itching a lot though, but they have made her a little bit better. She's getting a bath tonight, and it looks like it's going to be a weekly thing. Good thing I have a booster bath or my back would seriously suffer!!

This is freaky. I just posted about Fenway coming back from the Vet and how the Vet has put him on HYDROXYZINE. Did you vet recommend bathing in AVENO OATMEAL? It's for humans but the oatmeal supposedly helps with the itching. I haven't tried it on Fenway yet. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get him to take these pills. Good luck.