Help with hypoallergenic diet suggestions
 

Hi everybody!
My little guy Joe has always had some skin issue or other since we took him in. I've done my best to keep up with it, but it just keeps coming back : \ Either his fur will become super greasy and smelly and full of dandruff, or he'll chew at his paws until they're red, or he'll lose fur around his armpits and legpits, or his ears will be gross, or any combination. I'm a Veterinary Assistant so I've tried him out on the diets from my work (Medi-Cal Hypoallergenic, Hills d/d salmon and potato, z/d ultra), as well a couple others from the pet stores (mostly that my mom has bought- Orijen, Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish, and maybe another one or two I can't remember). Some of these seemed to reduce but not eliminate the problem, some made no difference whatsoever, some seemed to make him even itchier. I thought, maybe it's not a protein, maybe it's the grain. So, I tried a grain-free diet- Blue Buffalo Freedom- and not only did he continue chewing at his paws and losing hair in his armpits and legpits, but I looked in his ears yesterday as part of my regular Joe maintenance, and holy Lord! I'd just cleaned and plucked them recently, but it looked like I'd never touched them, and there was a pus-like discharge in one of them. I brought him right up to my boss, who prescribed Cephalexin, Vanectyl-P, and Surolan- Joe had these before last November, and cleared up nicely for a while (He had a blood test at that time- T4 and everything else was good).
So, before I consider environmental allergens, what are my options? Has anyone else had luck with any particular diets? I've checked Pet Food Advisor, but I want to hear some personal experience first before I make a decision. Thank you! :)

I wouldn't follow the advice of pet food advisor -- he's a dentist -- for humans.
Have you tried Purina HA? A couple of us with allergic dogs use that with good results. We also home cook. My dog eats a vegetarian diet and as crazy as that sounds for a dog, she can't eat grains or meats very well nor can she do fish.

Your other option is to request a consultation from a veterinary nutritionist. I have used Dr Rebecca Remillard for the last five years on all of my dogs for varying issues and find her to be the best. Her website is PetDiets - VNC putting your pet's health first .. for more than 20 yrs!

Also, many of us have our dogs on meds for allergies. I've used cyclosporine since 2005 for my dog who is almost 14. She uses it currently as Atopica for cats in a minimal dose. A newer medication is Apoquel.

I bet joe has both food and enviro issues like many of us deal with.

Has he had a skin scrape w/cytology to determine if it's bacterial, fungal or yeast, etc.? It sounds like seborrhea, it can be caused by enviro allergies (but there's many other underlying medical reasons, so that needs to be ruled out).
I have one that suffers seasonally (pollen is really high right now here, I'm suffering too). She was on temaril p last year, but this year, I just gave her benadryl tablets & it seemed to help some. She also had numerous skin scrapings & it always came back as bacterial yeast. She's also a paw licker & smells like funky fritos, that's the yeasty smell. She also gets yeasty ears. I always wash her paws & bum area after daily walks & give her a bath twice a week when she has a flare up, also clean her ears. She's also on a good digestive enzyme w/probiotics. Grain free diet, no potatoes bc that's sugary food for the yeast, she's on a 100% premade raw diet (but it does have some fruits & veggies).

Food is only 9-10% cause of allergies in dogs...most of the time, it's enviro allergies. A good coconut based cleanser is good, if it's seborrhea, something w/salicylic acid will help.

Great advice !

Here's a link w/ great info in the YT Library: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...tart-here.html

Thanks for responding!
I haven't done a scraping yet, but the medications helped a lot last time, so I'm going to see what happens after this. And thanks for the link, Mimimomo!

As mimimomo said, allergies most of the time are environmental. I suggest you get a blood test done for environmental allergies.

Better to find the cause first before trying solutions. Good luck!

Yeah I should see what kind of a deal my boss can give me lol...