Allergy Questions
 

My sister's yorkie Ada is VERY miserable with itchy allergies right now.

We are in Michigan so experiance all 4 seasons. With summer being called "allergy season"

Ada does not itch in the winter. Just the summer

I know this is gonna sound stupid but we are at our witts end trying to help this baby stop itching!!

Does this necessarily mean her allergies are seasonal? I dont understand her vet trying to switch her to Science Diet if her allergies are seasonal???? He says 90% of allergies are to foods so why does this only happen in the Summer? if its food wouldnt it be year round or am i missing something??? Any help is appreciated.

Well I know two dogs who are allergic to grass and another who is allergic to fleas. I guess both of them suffer the itchies more in the warm weather...fleas are present and they're outside more often. The grass allergy dogs are given children's benedryl to help with the itching.

I had a cat who was highly sensitive to fleas...and I mean ONE flea would have him scratching himself literally raw.

Only other "summer" thing I can think of....do they ever treat their grass with any product? Weed killer, fertilizer, bug killer?

My Addison only itches in the summer time here in Texas. This was the first year she started though. Initaly she had a shot for immediate relief and was fine for about a month, she started itching again and is on a pill. Our vet thinks she will only have to be on meds during the "allergy season". Lets hope so.
She eats Natures Variety kibble, and canned, and we only use Zukes treats and bully sticks ect.
I hope to find a way for her to be itch free without being on medication, there are a few products to help that we use

Itchin' for Relief

Dog Skin Care: Derm Caps Skin & Coat Supplements for Dogs

John Paul Pet Grooming Products - Shampoo and oatmeal conditioner.

I hope you can find some relief for your baby!

I think they are trying to set up the big allergy test and get specialist involved....what i dont get is why switch her to science diet if the allergies are seasonal??

Im new to allergies but I wanna learn about them as I noticed Diggy and Bella itching more and more lately. I also hear allergies develop around 2-3 yrs of age is this true???

what shampoo is recommended for this?

Is Science Diet proven to be any help for allergies or is this something the vet pushes for financial reasons?

Mozart's Itch
 

My Mozart has lived with the itchy allergy since he was about 4 years old. He is now 11 years old. It is also seasonal for him, but we live in Louisiana, so the summers are long. He has had the shots, but I have heard they can shorten their life span....so no more shots for him. He has been on Hydroxyzine and on Prednisone. After all of these years, I finally found a vet who just suggested Benadryl. He is 12 lbs and take a half of a tablet in the morning and at night as needed for itching. I have also limited his wheat intake. This has worked the best after all of these years. Hope this helps.

yes anything helps :) I am going to share all info with her and hopefully able to help Ada stop itching as much! thanks so much :)

Hmm, first she might want to find a new vet.
If it is specifically in the summer and it has happened before and went away during the winter it is probably seasonal.

Oatmeal shampoo is good for allergies.
I think Cranberry Fields makes one for dogs.

She can take drugs but that wouldn't be too healthy.
If it gets to the point where it is a quality of life issue and nothing else is helping though, I would give the drugs because it just wouldn't be fair not to.

As far as Sci. Diet, it may be a financial thing with the vet or maybe he/she just doesn't know what they are doing. It is hard to say. But if the allergies go away during the winter and the pup is eating the same food, it wouldn't make any sense to go to a prescription diet.

Hi diggy4, I have an itchy dog too, seems it could be seasonal also. I had one vet change her to science diet prescription (for allergies) It needs 3 months to show any food allergies. I was confused but I complied because I wanted to help her.( they wanted to rule out food, I get it now) She showed no change after 4 months on the food.. I now have her on a limited ingredient diet by Wellness (duck & potato) and she is still itchy, so I think it's safe to rule out food allergies. As to your question, I don't think they push it for greed in this case I would like to believe they just want to rule out any food allergies. The science diet it broken down so much that the body doesn't recognize it and it doesn't react to it. Another vet treated my dog for mange to rule that out as well. Mange can often mimic allergies. However we still have no answer as to what is causing the problem. We have tried sooo many things and we have good days and we have really bad days. My search goes on.. I'm hoping when the winter comes we find relief. Trixie has lost a lot of hair through all this and she is sad on the bad days. We do our best everyday to make her comfortable, It's really hard and frustrating to say the least.. I love her to death and it can get on my nerves to see her bite herself raw, I could only imagine how she feels. Probably like a bad case of poison ivy to us:(. I wish them luck.

Totally agree. Putting Ada on Science Diet, which is usually chock full of FOOD ALLERGENS will only exacerbate her situation. I would recommend that Ada get on the best possible diet she can, to help boost her own immune system (meaning, the best diet her owner is willing to do).

The pet nutritionist we worked w/ for Marcel recommends ProAller and Notatum for allergies (askariel.com), but I don't know if that's an option for Ada. If it is a grass allergy, spraying their paws and/or wearing booties can help.

Personally, if I was working with a vet who thought my dog's 3-mths-a-year allergies were food related, you can be SURE I'd be switching vets real quick. I'm pretty appalled that he's calling this a food allergy. Please. :rolleyes:

I have to agree with Willie's Mom..I'm on my third vet now and when you don't have experience with this sort of thing you just go along with the vets hoping they know what they are talking about.. I have found that many of them DO NOT...Thank God for this site it has helped me so much or at least has given me options to research on my own.. I don't medicate my children so I don't want to medicate my dog. (although like Ellie May said for quality of life only..) A question to willie's mom: would you recommend raw to help with airborne or seasonal allergies??:confused: Would it help for the immune system?

My vet said most allergies are NOT food related. Codie's allergies are better since he's been on a raw diet but not completely gone (they were totally gone but came back -- they seem to be seasonal). So during the bad months, Codiegoes for cortozone shots whenever he needs them (every 2 weeks or so).

I really do love feeding raw, and that is what I feed bc I think it offers them the meat, along with its natural enzymes, in its more natural state.

But, I think feeding a premium diet (raw, homecooked) can really help the immune system in that it frees up the system from fighting all the OTHER crap, like additives and free radicals and fillers and etcetera. So, not only do you boost the whole body by offering great, absorbable nutrition - but you also free the body from having to deal with a bunch of garbage, ya know?

At the same time, raw or homecooked isn't for everyone - for a lot of reasons, so even getting the pups on a good premium combo of kibble and canned is an excellent place to be :D.

we know ALL about seasonal allergies.. as much as i hate winter.. i love it because Layla doesn't itch! I use benedryl as needed (usually once a month.. because it makes her puke.... but what doesn't make Layla puke) I have found that because i am able to eliminate her food allergies by homecooking, her seasonal allergies aren't compounded by the food allergies and seem less severe.

I have to completely agree with what's already been said. I, personally, would never feed my babies any of the prescription foods they sell at the vet's office. They are all filled with crap and I don't know why nutrition and food analysis doesn't appear to be part of a vet's schooling!!!!!

I definitely think that feeding a premium food or raw would boost the immune system. If it is seasonal allergies, keeping her inside except for brief outside visits to ptty (if she doesn't use wee-wee pads) and wiping her paws and underbelly after each outside visit should also help. Eliminating chemical cleaning supplies in the home makes a huge difference as well.

Jodie -- Excellent advice about wiping the paws. My vet told me to do the same thing. We actually soak Codie's paws for 15 mins twice a day. I do it in the morning after breakfast and in the evening after dinner.