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Old 03-13-2007, 10:23 AM   #1
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Default skin problems... advice please

Chloe has the worse skin problems. She is ALWAYS itching. She had a staph infection a few months ago from scratching sores on herself. She has bald spots, and her skin is all red. We have tried almost everything. Benadryl twice a day, baths in shampoo thats suppose to reduce itching (the vet sold us), getting her long pretty hair chopped off so that she wont be so hot, allergy shots (but Im afraid this will cause long term liver damage, so I try not to do it much), and we just switched her food this week to duck and potato for allergies. Nothing seems to help. The only thing we really haven't tried is getting her tested for allergies. And we can't afford that because the vet said it would be $150.00 for the tests, then $300.00 the first month for the medicine and about $150.00 each month after that. And we just can't afford it. We have 4 animals. We have over $1,000.00 on our carecredit card to pay off that we used on them, a baby on the way, and in the process of moving. So, if anyone else had any suggestions of things that we can do.. then please let me know. I hate that she has to be so miserable all of the time.
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Old 03-13-2007, 10:27 AM   #2
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Poor thing. I hope the food works out for her. I'm sure it will take some time of eating it to kick in.
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Old 03-13-2007, 11:01 AM   #3
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Try the chicken and rice formula from Canidae. It is also for
allergies. It takes at least a couple of days or a week I would
guess to see a difference. I feel bad for both of you.
Hope the poor baby gets better. Remember when you change
food treats should be taken away also. You don't know whats
in the treats as well. Find a food that works then add one treat
at a time. Make sure there is no wheat, corn, soy or preservatives
in them. BEtter yet, take off all dog food and give him boiled chicken
and rice, add carrotts or greenbeans. It really sounds like food allergies.
This will do the trick. There are several receipes on here you can use.
Clean his body out first before adding anything else. Chicken and rice
and veggies should help alot. Some could also be allergic to chicken.
It's still worth a try before you go to testing.
Good luck
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Old 03-13-2007, 11:03 AM   #4
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Just think of how much money the Vet. would lose if you solved the problem yourself. Yes, it's an allergy. Take her off of ALL dog food and give her rice with free range ground beef for at least a month. (free range meat is very critical here because it has no chemicals or hormones added.) Stop all medicated shampoos, that I'm sure were not cheap either. Only bath her in Dr. Broner's pure castile liquid soap. Don't give anything else at all to her to eat. NOTHING. You can however give her a little 1 or 2 inch thick femur bone to chew on, but be sure to cut off all the outside meats and take out the marrow from the inside. In a month if she is clearing up, you can then try about one teaspoon of another food or diary group a day for three days to see if that will be ok. ALWAYS do one new food at a time for three days. This way you will be able to tell what she is allergic to.
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Old 03-14-2007, 07:25 AM   #5
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I agree with Yorkiedaze. She is allergic to something and you need to figure out what it is. How long have you had her on the allergy formula food? Is it Natural Balance brand? Or exactly what brand are you feeding her? MANY MANY dogs are allergic to corn, soy, barley, wheat, rye, dairy, and beef. If the food you are feeding contains ANY of these ingredients, you need to switch ASAP. If you have had her on a food in the past that contains any of these ingredients, it is quite possible that she has developed secondary allergies to other ingredients in the food...i.e. Chicken, lamb, or rice. The best advice I can give is to get her on a food that has COMPLETELY different ingredients than the foods you have fed in the past...completely different protein and carb sources. Natural Balance makes the best allergy formulas. If you are not already on one of those, I would change to one of those. I would suggest keeping her on that for at least 4-6 weeks to see if she clears up. If she doesn't then you can try homemade. It may not be her food at all that she's allergic to....it could be your carpets, your laundry detergent, air freshener, grass, dust, pollen. ect.. I would keep her on the allergy formula food and be aware of the times that her allergies flare up. Is it after she comes in from outside? Is it after she's been rolling around in the carpet? If you cannot get an allergy test done, then it will take some diligence on your part to figure out what she is allergic to, but it can be done. Best of luck. Please keep us updated.

Last edited by RLC12345678; 03-14-2007 at 07:28 AM.
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Old 03-14-2007, 09:32 AM   #6
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I would not feed any type of dog food. Look at the labels. After the first so called "food" groups that are "supposidly" put in there, which is a big joke, look at all the rest of the ingredients. LOADED in chemicles we can't even pronounce. Since the dog food companies are NOT government regulated, they can and do put whatever they want into this horrible mess! All diseased lab and farm animals, and euthanized animal go into those boiling pots. This process does NOT kill those chemicles, and they are just made into more animal food, so the process just keeps getting re-cycled over and over. Totally loaded in things that cause major health problems including cancer. There is no way whatsoever you can narrow down the causes of allergies in dog food. There are just too many horrible ingredients in it and who knows what they "don't" list!! For this reason, it's best to just feed a very healthy "real" food diet. You can then safely find out if there are any allergies to any of these food groups.
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Old 03-14-2007, 10:07 AM   #7
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For this reason, it's best to just feed a very healthy "real" food diet. You can then safely find out if there are any allergies to any of these food groups.

So, what is the diet you recommend? Also, I believe you've talked about castile soap. Where can that be found?
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Old 03-14-2007, 07:29 PM   #8
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Thank you everyone for your suggestions. She was eating purina, but we switched her to Natural Balance Sunday Duck and Potato. I heard that was the best for them. We just moved in with my mom Saturday also till we can get our other house, so I was hoping the change in environment would help also. I really don't think shes allergic to grass. For months, I wouldn't take her outside (I just let her potty on a puppy pad) because I was afraid it would make her skin worse. The only thing I can think of is the food.. so I'm going to try everyones suggestions and try out different foods until I find one that helps. She doesn't seem to be responding to anything else. Do they have testing just for food allergies? I could probably afford to get that done if it was just for that.
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Old 03-14-2007, 09:16 PM   #9
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I bought some Dermatabs at Petsmart and give my babygirl 1/2 tab a day. She loooves them, they are chewable and like a treat to her. She has had itching problems from food since day 1, but Dermatabs replace omega fatty acids that are missing in most foods and that seems to calm her skin down. In fact from day 1 we noticed a difference in the scratching. It also makes her hair shiny and healthy. Most beef based food has too much aracadonic acid and that causes the PH balance in their skin (same thing goes for us for that matter) to get out of whack. So the omegas counteract the arachadonic acid. The Dermatabs are not expensive as I recall either.
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Old 03-14-2007, 09:48 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by krystenah View Post
Chloe has the worse skin problems. She is ALWAYS itching. She had a staph infection a few months ago from scratching sores on herself. She has bald spots, and her skin is all red. We have tried almost everything. Benadryl twice a day, baths in shampoo thats suppose to reduce itching (the vet sold us), getting her long pretty hair chopped off so that she wont be so hot, allergy shots (but Im afraid this will cause long term liver damage, so I try not to do it much), and we just switched her food this week to duck and potato for allergies. Nothing seems to help. The only thing we really haven't tried is getting her tested for allergies. And we can't afford that because the vet said it would be $150.00 for the tests, then $300.00 the first month for the medicine and about $150.00 each month after that. And we just can't afford it. We have 4 animals. We have over $1,000.00 on our carecredit card to pay off that we used on them, a baby on the way, and in the process of moving. So, if anyone else had any suggestions of things that we can do.. then please let me know. I hate that she has to be so miserable all of the time.
First of all I'm so sorry! I've been through the same thing and I know it's so hard to see your baby itching so much...

Good move on changing the food to Natural Balance Duck & Potato! Give it time to work. It took about a month for the change of food started to make a difference.

Jazzie's doctor wanted us to start on allergy shots but we wanted to try a natural approach before we had to. We gave it 2 months and are so happy to say, we now just give her antihesthemine on occasion when the pollens are high. We did have her tested for allergies and found out she's allergic to Cats, dust mites and seasonal pollens so we knew how to help her. Ripped out the carpet, got hypo-allergenic bedding and switched her diet.

To help ease the itching during the transition, I gave Jazzie a bath twice a week just until her skin mostly cleared up. Use the coolest water temp as you can without making her uncomfortable. I used the medicated shampoo from the vet ONLY on the areas where she had skin problems (mostly tummy, arm pits, and private parts) and used Oatmeal shampoo elsewhere. Finished with just a bit of conditioner. It takes longer but blow dry at the warm & cool setting - don't use high.

Make sure even her treats are wheat & corn free and if she is getting any dairy products - stop! No cheese, yogurt, milk, cottage cheese etc.

Add vegetable that are high in anti-oxidents to help her body heal faster.

I hope the itchies stops soon!
Good Luck!
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Old 03-15-2007, 10:46 AM   #11
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Give the hypoallergenic food time to work. Like Dan+Corrine said, it will take at least a month to start working. GIve it time and GOOD LUCK! Pleaes keep us updated!
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Old 03-15-2007, 11:05 AM   #12
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We had all of her pretty hair cut off today and the groomer gave her a bath in anti-itch medicine.

I didn't know that dogs could be allergic to cats.

If the food doesn't help in a month, I'm going to talk to my husband about having her tested for allergies... we probably couldn't afford the medicine, but atleast we would know what shes allergic to and could make some changes.

I just don't want to resort to the allergy shots, because I know they can cause liver damage.

I will keep everyone posted, thanks again!
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Old 03-16-2007, 01:49 PM   #13
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Went to the vet today to get vaccines on my other yorkie. It was a new vet. She told me that the test isn't that reliable.. and I should just keep her on this allergy food for 3-4 months and try them out that way. She also gave me oral steroids so its not as harmful to her.
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Old 03-19-2007, 06:37 AM   #14
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Went to the vet today to get vaccines on my other yorkie. It was a new vet. She told me that the test isn't that reliable.. and I should just keep her on this allergy food for 3-4 months and try them out that way. She also gave me oral steroids so its not as harmful to her.
I would hold off on the steroids until you give the food time to work. The oral steroids can also be harmful. Hopefully the food will work and you won't have to give her ANY medication.
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Old 03-20-2007, 12:07 AM   #15
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I know.. I am just trying to help her stop scratching so bad right now though. She only gave us a few... told us to start off 2 a day, then 1 a day, then reduce it to every other day and then get her off of them.
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