Luma's allergy battle.
 

Deep sigh...well, I hesitate to post about Luma's health here because I really am doing all I can afford to do, but I need advice. This has been going on far too long. As long as we've had her.

Today I came home from work and Luma had blood all over her. Huge deep gashes half scabbed over above her eyes, and then I was inspecting her...my heart sank when I saw tons of scabs and blood on the corners of her lips under her mustache. Her ear is bloody deep inside, too. She's been scratching to death and it's worse than ever.

Here's the thing though, I thought she was improving. I've switched her food COUNTLESS times...put her on Nature's Variety with this oil I put on her kibble, its helped tremendously and she finally stopped biting at her legs and scratching herself. Until today. Nothing changed...still eating the same food...she has been indoors because we have to limit her time outside in the grass.

I still have no idea what her issue is. She had tons of tiny scabs on her belly and legs and those went away. Now she's scratching around her mouth and eyes til it bleeds. It looks like she got in a fight with some rabid dog or something. My heart is breaking for my little girl. I feel like a failure for not figuring out the source of her skin issues. :( I know it bothers her. I've been training her not to scratch, and she is getting good...she stops herself without me correcting her, but she'll start whining because she wants to scratch so badly.

I think I need to find a dermatologist. I'm willing to travel to Houston if I need to, but I know the A&M vet school is very good too, and right down the street. I don't know if allergy testing is worth it, I have brought her to our vet and they did a scrape to see if its not her food, but an infection or parasites and she is flea free, no demodex, no mange, no ear infection...shes been on antibiotics a couple times and it did not effect her skin at all. I've tried different shampoos, I rinse her three or four times to be sure there is no residue causing irritations. I dont know if its her food, or something outside....even when we keep her cooped up for weeks nothing helps, and then she's sad about staying in all the time. I'm about at my wit's ends and I know Luma is miserable. I want to help her. What can I do?

Could I put socks on her 24/7? I would never do something like try to have her declawed. Would socks keep her from scratching? I know that doesnt solve the real problem but I want to do anything possible to help her.

Grain Free Canine Caviar

There are some testimonials On their Facebook page that are absolutely amazing

We also switched grain free (California Natural) and it truly helped Sophia's skin issues.

We also tried 1/4 tablet of zyrtec once a day. It didn't help Sophia, but it might help Luma.

I'm so sorry you have to go through this, dog allergies are SO frustrating for them and for us. It's so hard to pinpoint the actual problem :(.

:thumbup: Amen! Peanut was soo bad too, itchy all the time, licking, hot spots- tried him on CC - everything got better! His skin looks great, eyes clear, coat is super shiny, no hot spots!!

I'm sorry your poor little Luma is having trouble- I know from experience how hard it is to deal with!! Hopefully she gets better soon!

Here is a photo of one of the testimonials:
I have photos of Riley's tummy before and after CC....
After Just a few days and it is unbelievable.... already clear...
He has energy of a puppy again. He's been eating it four months now!!
It Is Amazing!!!!

Taycie has horrible food allergies. Using an RX diet is when she was finally able to get some relief.

I read to rule out food allergies you should feed duck/ or venison!

I started Pnut on Open Sky- I am 100% happy with what I am seeing- I dont have to give him an allergy pill anymore!!

What type of bowls does she eat and drink from?

Food allergies are fairly rare in dogs...meat allergies, that is. But definitely take her off grain!

Zeus was really bad when I adopted him and immediately set him on a raw diet. He's beautiful.

And then seasons changed and found out he's allergic to one of our local trees. It's been an awful season. It doesn't sound like poor Luma is seasonal, but another YTer here (nanahas3) recommended this conditioner yesterday and I went out and bought it. I bathed him a couple of hours ago and he hasn't scratched once. I'm stunned. It's "Itch Relief Conditioner" by GNC Pets at PetSmart.

So that may help until her body flushes out all the nasty grain...

Shes been on grain free food for about eight months. So....yeah.
Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers soul, she didn't like the food
Taste of the wild, she did amazing but then Diamond had recalls
Fromm Gold puppy, only food she ever had with grain and we switched within a week and threw the bag away.
Acana Pacifica she bit herself a lot.

Nature's Variety Instinct kibble with freeze dried raw bits is what she's currently on.

She has ceramic bowls. Before we brought her home I painted them myself and had them glazed and fired. It's the only bowls she's ever eaten from.

Definitely not grain!

It could also be a detergent allergy. Is she scratching/gnawing her back at all?

No not at her back, just her mouth, eyes, and ears. I've got her a bully to try to keep her mind oft things. She only gets bullies on rare occasions so she's happy atm.

I am so sorry bout poor Luma that sounds terrible. I do think she needs vet help because that sounds just miserable. There was an allergy thing where they would send blood off and test for many many different allergies and then you would get a serum and have to do shots every two weeks or so I can remember what it is called but I would talk to your vet about it. Some one else posted about a conditioner GNC makes that they sell at petsmart that is for itching and that might help in the mean time. I will keep Luma in my prayers.

We do what we can. Just get back to the fet tomorrow.

This is what I would do in this case (I'm not a vet just for the record ;) - my dog does have severe allergies though):

Envir. allergies are much more common than food. It souds like itis food or food or envir. here though. Yes, shots/atopica/a derm should all be consider. But right now if youaretapped out, I'd go with the immediate relief/cheap route.

Steroid injection tos get her over this hump.
Steroids orally or awhile until you can sort out the situation (pred is fery cheap).
Rx hydrolyzed food with no treats, edible chews, or oral heartworm meds forat least two to three monts.
Save moey for the next step.

I woud not spend moey on socks in lieu of steroids.
I would not teach her ntto scratch when a ten cent pill coud alleviate the itch.
There are many foods marketed for allergies. Soe work for some dogs and not others. Lrx foods are the most likely o cut the itch across the board. To avoid pouring more money into different otc diets, I'd go straight to the hydrolyzed vet diets now. Probably the best to soend on now since she is suffering and thee foods are most likely to work.
Then after things improve you could go to another iet if you wanted.
I think Synotic has been d/c, but if your vet still has some that can work fery well for itchy ears.

Been there - minus scabs and bloody face. Ellie gets itchy paws, jaws, and ears tat he breaks open. Recurrent yeast in them too. then she has many intestial issues. A hydrolyzed rx diet keeps her fairly stable. She chews her lil paws for an hour a day otherwise.

Bullies are not a novel protein and will likely ake things worse. Flavorless (original) Nylabones or nothing, imo.

My phones about to die but I wanted to thank you all for your input and well wishes. I'll hopefully talk to her vet again soon and see if they can refer her to a dermatologist.

Carmen check this out its what I was talking about Home

JMHO, but I would change out her food bowls (in case any glaze is breaking down), and try using Revolution on her at least one month to see if there's any improvement. I had to put a cone on Tink, her ears were so scabby and thickened when we first got her. My vet even chastised me for doing that till he took it off and saw how badly she was scratching herself up. I imagine the scabs were pulling on the skin causing itching too, and then she was on antibiotics for any secondary bacterial infections from all her sores. It took almost 3-4 months before I could take her cone off.

oh Carmen, my heart goes out to you. wish I had answers, but I wanted to know I am thinking about you and little Luma

I've dealt w/ allergies big time. They're awful. In the majority of cases, a person will go to their general Vet again and again and again (like I did) - DON'T do it. Instead, go asap to a Vet Derm - you will be amazed and relieved that someone can deal with the case easily and with so much expertise.

If you can't get to a Derm asap, I'd get a steroid inj asap until you can get her to the Derm. When itching is this bad *and* when it's breaking the skin - then you really need to treat the symptom (itching) treated asap; otherwise, you have an even higher risk of skin infection (which you already have).

It's doubtful that it's from food, but an allergy type diet may help support her. But I wouldn't mess w/ diet until you see a Derm. Bullies, btw, will have all sorts of chems on them - so I'm not sure that's a great treat for her right now; I understand the distraction element though.

Longterm is like what Crystal said - Steroids, Temaril P, Atopica, allergy testing/shots.

Most important right now, imho, is a Vet Derm and getting her asap relief.

Hang in there, it's tough.

How is Luma doing?

Sorry for no update, I've been really busy with work, sending my GE box, little Lilo's passing happened, tc.

Shes on a steroid and antibiotics and we are setting up an appointment with a great derm vet to discuss allergy tests. I'm trying hard to keep her from scratching and it seems to have calmed down. I gave her a bath and used the GNC shampoo someone mentioned on here and it hasn't aggravated it nor helped clear it up. I'm keeping her food the same for now but I ordered the canine caviar and will gradually switch. Thank you guys for the opinions and suggestions! She's in good spirits.

I feed Great Life Grain & Potato Free Salmon. They also have a product
that I purchased just to have it in my medicine cabinet. Its called
Oxy-Doc. Go to their website and check out conditions that this
helps and treats. www.greatlife4pets.com
They also have grain free buffalo, and grain free chicken I think. Emy
loves the salmon, I also supplement it with Sojos Grain Free Fruit & Vegetables. I put a pinch over her kibble, and she cleans it up everytime.

Sorry little Luma is suffering through this. Since you are in "I'll try anything" mode I would change food dishes to stainless steel. They are not expensive. Try to find ones NOT made in China. They are out there you just have to look.
Good luck and keep us updated.

Another idea. This may be just hype but what about Dinovite? The ads say it relieves itching and stinky ears and skin. You could goggle it.

Wow Amazing... I have 2 that suffer from allergies, its too bad there isn't some sort of drops you can put on their food that would have the same effect.

Make sure you update us with how the appointment goes. I hope the derm can help Luma.

I hope you find a solution. I can imagine how it feels to see your baby suffering and not know what to do after you've tried many things.

Moo has had, what I thought was, allergies since she was a puppy and she is now 5. I've had her tested, switched foods more times than I care to mention, home cooked and just about everything else I could think of.

She had off and on ear infections as a puppy that were treated with antibiotics...unsuccessfully. No one ever told me about the yeast problems that can cause and how it can spread and live in their system for years doing all kinds of nasty things.

Grains in food and also potatoes, turn to starch in their system and that turns to sugars that feed the yeast...she scratches her ears and face, licks her feet, rear, belly area...furniture, carpet and her sister's back as long as she will sit still for it. She will break out in pimple like things that break open, spread and turn to scabs.

No matter what dry food I feed her she gets itchy...whether it's grain free or not.

I was doing a little research last week and came across a lot of information regarding yeast and it got my brain clicking...so, this is what we are doing and what is working for Moo right now...

I feed her Nature's Variety frozen raw food or, once in a while, their canned foods...they are grain free. I also give her a (GOOD) probiotic with her meals and she drinks distilled water with about a capful of Apple Cider Vinegar in it.

This has helped her almost immediately...she has really slowed down the licking and scratching and she looks 'good'. We have only been doing this for a few days but I know it will take a while to get the overgrowth of yeast out of her system.

If you decide to try this please speak to your vet and see what probiotic they recommend. Personally, I would not use one from the shelf...according to my vet and the owner of our local health food store a good probiotic needs to be refrigerated.

I don't know if this will work for Luma but I know this routine is helping Moo.