Hives/Allergies - Here we go again!

[KristinMarie]

Hi! So glad your bully is doing better! I've been dealing with hives on and off for the last year. We are in the middle of a hive outbreak now. Woke up yesterday with the swollen face and hives on his legs and tummy. We just finished a round of steroid/antihistimine treatment (14 days) 2 days ago - so it is def not under control. We have done skin scrapings looking for demodex mange (since he had this about 4 months ago quite badly and had to be treated with the Mitaban dips 3 times that are super toxic!). No demodex mange mites found in the last 3 scrapings over the last 1.5 months.

We are now wondering if it is food and/or mites. This is our new plan that the vet and I came up with. We are on a sensitive food prescription diet (hypoallergenic). No treats, or any other food allowed. Could be 4 weeks before we know if the food he was on was the problem (he was eating the Royal Canon bully food). We are also on oral antihistimine for another 14 days (3 x per day). And we are starting Revolution (used for flea, tick, mites control). It could be another type of mite that is causing the problem that isn't showing up on the skin scraping. He had to have a blood test to make sure no heart worm before we filled his prescription for the Revolution.

So far so good. We are +1 day on food and meds. Revolution will arrive in the mail on Tuesday (petmeds.com) and we will watch and see. No hives today and his skin actually feels really soft and clean. So, maybe the special food is starting to help.

I'll keep you all posted! Good thing our bullies are so darn cute and sweet and we are good mommies and daddies - cause they sure keep us worried and these vet bills are so darn expensive!!!
Happy Halloween everyone.

 

[2BullyMama]

So sorry you are going through this.... seriously, ask the vet to do a full blood screen allergy test. because everything you are doing is good, but it may be environmental and you will not know it without the test results. also, we had Banks on the RC Bulldog - only to find out she was allergic to chicken and our boy was allergic to rice... two of the top ingredients in dog food.

Banks has a round of hives almost every year -- still no clue on the exact cause, but the test did tell us she is allergic to pretty much everything green... trees, grass, weeds, molds, etc, etc

 

[Vicaroo1000]

Poor Rocco! I feel for you!

 

[Davidh]

Poor Rocco, hope he gets better soon. We had our dogs on RC bulldog a long time ago and took them off it after they were on it for about 8 months, because they started to itch and turned red on it. After several foods later, we now feed FROMM, and so far so good.

 

[cowsmom]

aw i sure hope things get better now. sarah has had hives on and off for like 2 weeks. im pretty sure its environemental. no swelling or anything just a few hives here and there. good luck

 

[KristinMarie]

thanks for the advice on the allergy screen. My vet doesn't test for allergies and recommends I see a vet dermatologist. They take 6 weeks to get an appt around here (Seattle) so I'm still waiting. Meanwhile I'm trying my best to manage his symptoms. It's interesting that I see so many similar symptoms on this site for other bullies. I'm so thankful to have this site as a resource to help in making decisions about Rocco's care.

His new food is HILLS Prescription diet d/d, skin support. Venison and potato. He loves it! Also - he has only been on it for 2 days but his coat is so soft and glossy. I'll keep you all posted on his progress.
Thanks so much for sending Rocco your good thoughts.

Have a great evening.
Rocco's momma (Kristin)

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I'm sorry..I have no advice for you..just hoping you can find the answer!

 

[BruceP]

Good to hear your baby is doing better today... We can pray that it is a food issue and that a food change is the answer.