Hi, I'm sorry you are going through this allergy problem. None of us want to see our babies suffer. My yorkie, Bo is only 6 months old so if he has allergies they haven't shown up yet. But my 8 year old Schnauzer, Woody has really suffered with allergies over the last 4 or 5 years, chewing on his sides till he made a mohawk, chewing on his feet, waking up in the middle of the night chewing, scratching his ears till the skin is now permanantly black and thickened, and rubbing against the furniture till his back would be raw and bleeding. As you can imagine, this drove us insane. We went thru the whole cycle of changing food, changing shampoo, taking Dove bar soap to the groomers to wash him with and telling them absolutely no scented spray, steroid shots, putting shirts on him, putting a big "lampshade collar" thing on him so her can't get to his back to chew, giving him Benedryl, giving him Elevil (anti-anxiety med), some other concoction the vet came up with to try to calm him, stomach medicine (cause he would also throw up a lot), antiacids (maybe the hair he was eating upset his stomach, who knows). Believe me, my vet and I have wracked our brains trying to come up with a solution. Nothing seemed to get him comforable at all. A steroid shot would work but only for about 1 - 2 months and he'd start all over again. And the vet said eventually they will stop working and this also damages a dog's health. It's been really really bad with him.
So, here's where we are now...In December we got Bo, to see if possibly a companion (even though I'm home all day most days) to romp with would make a difference. At first we were afraid we had made a huge mistake. Bo loved Woody but not the other way around. After about 2 months and Bo's persistence, Woody was finally won over. They play everyday now. And Woody will allow Bo to nap beside him. I know this has helped Woody get his mind off himself.
In January, I started home cooking all of Woody's meals. Just went cold turkey on this new diet that the vet recommended. It consists of cooked white fish, white potatoes and sweet potatoes (no skin on the potatoes). 1/2 fish, the other 1/2 potatoes in the same portion size that I had been feeding his kibble. It took about 2 months to see any change at all but the vet was reassuring me to give it time. So I was persistent. Woody had been overweight and lost back down to his ideal weight. That was good but he kept losing weight to the point where I had to do something different. The cooked ingredients were too hard to measure.
So, my vet told me of a web site for Flint River Ranch home baked dog food that was exactly the same ingredients as what I was feeding him, fish and potatoes, no preservatives or fillers. I switched to that 2 weeks ago so we'll see if it works out OK. So far, so good. After the switch to this diet his itching has been reduced by about 2/3 to a bearable level for us and for him. He will never be a pretty dog again and his hair doesn't grow back on his back very well anymore. But he's a good dog. The vet has told us that if he didn't have such a sweet personality things might have ended up differently, that many people she knows would have just had him put to sleep. My family would never do that as long as there was some way to give him a good life, something else to try. I've never had allergy testing done on him. Don't have facilities nearby to do that. Don't really think shots would work, but who knows?
Right now with Spring and grass mowing and pollen season it will be more of a challenge. He's back on Benedryl.
I wish I could give you a better report. I think Woody is 100% better than he was at Christmas time, but he's not cured. He enjoys family life and enjoys Bo. He hates to be outside. It seems to make him feel bad so he does his business and I bring him back in. As of now I do recommend the fish and potato diet. It's been easy on his system and he likes it.
Woody gets no treats other than raw green beans. He no longer goes to the groomer. The vet trims his nails, plucks the hair out of his ears, and takes care of the anal glands for me for about $10. I I keep his back trimmed down close so the difference on the sides isn't so obvious. I bought a grooming kit at Walmart. I wash him with Dove bar soap. I could not find one commercial dog shampoo that didn't make his skin more red and itchy!
This has to be the longest post in history. I appologize. I hope your baby's problems are not as extreme as Woody's have been and I can only pray that Bo doesn't have allergies. Right now Bo is on Authority Lamb and Rice Puppy formula. If he shows signs of allergies I will switch him to the Flint River Ranch food as well. The fish and potato diet doesn't come in a puppy formula as yet. Here's the link to Flint River web site:
http://www.flintriver.com/Default.htm Two things: I do not recommend switching your dog to this diet unless you OK it with your vet first.
Woody is a Schnauzer, not a Yorkie. I don't have any reason to think that it wouldn't work for a Yorkie, but I have to add that warning for your dog's sake. The other is, any change in food must be done gradually (although my vet OK'ed the cold turkey switch to the home-cooked diet) and keep
close tabs on his weight. Yorkies tend to be picky eaters. Hope some of my sad convoluted story helps. We still love Woody and don't regret having him. Bo has been great for him and a very welcome addition to our family. Good luck!
Here's a pic of my two babies. I love them dearly!!