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Originally Posted by Ellie May  Vet can't diagnose environmental allergies just by an exam. Might be time to move on to someone that will serious look into this... Chewing feet for hours is extreme and it's a major quality of life issue.
You can give an antihistamine, but it's not effective for all dogs and isn't going to do much of anything for food allergies. You'll have to find out if it's food, environment, or fleas. The management of each is different.
Skin allergy testing followed by allergy shots or even Atopica would be a good idea if environmental (sometimes the testing is skipped and a trial of Atopica is done).
Any fleas around there?
Less likely is food allergies, but still very possible. You can do an elimination diet. I would not add products in with ingredients that could make things worse.
Steroids work very well for allergies. Long-term, they aren't a great idea, but sometimes for short-term they are needed. He is in an itch cycle. He chews because he's itchy and then chews more because he made himself more itchy, etc., etc. This can usually be broken with a steroid injection (you'll have to talk to your vet about whether or not this is right for your pup. this is what I choose for my pup when she is like that. it just isn't fair to her to let it go on). However, that only lasts for a few hours to a few weeks (depending on which one used). You can also get some to give orally. Sometimes it settles things down for longer. Just depends. This isn't something done by itself. It should be paired with testing and/or elimination diet and/or a safer drug so it doesn't have to be used long-term. Also though, dogs have to be off of steroids for a few weeks before environmental allergy testing can be done.
It sounds like it's time for a new vet unless they offered to go further if the Benadryl didn't work. |
Well he doesn’t chew on his feet, he licks them. He just gets in a trance sometimes and licks. I wouldn’t say it was for hours. I do have some antihistamine for him, I have gave it to him. I just don’t want to give it to him all the time. I would like to try something more “natural” I have a hard time giving him a pill like that daily.
Peanut has been on K-9 Advantix since he was old enough to have it on him. He has never had a flea or tick. Peanut has never in his life be as itchy as he has been, it started in Summer. It seems once I put his advantix on it helps for a little bit, also when DH does the treatment for the bugs in the grass I notice he isn’t as itchy, then once it starts to wear off he gets itchy again. I am going to start on the food- I also just started giving him wet food, I started with blue buffalo- 20 mins later he broke out in a rash and was itchy and red. I then switched him to Wellness. I have to give him a little something to eat in the morning or he will get sick in the middle of the day. He doesn’t eat his dry food in the morning so that’s the only thing he will eat…