NEED ALLERGY HELP! Don't know what to do....

[Meggs19]

Hello all,

I have posted a couple times about Tonka's bad environmental allergy issues and I honestly don't know what to do at this point to help him. I feel like I have reached a dead end. All of his allergies seem to be environmental--outdoor causes. Changing foods provided no allergy relief and no new symptoms either. We made no changes to anything we used/did indoors. He is 9 months old now and had no issues up until a couple months ago when they came on all of a sudden. I am thinking they started due to the early thaw in our weather and the beginnings of issues with pollens/molds etc.

He has very itchy eyes/face. He never itches his paws or anywhere else, just the eyes for the most part. He also sneezes and has a runny nose sometimes too. A lot like human symptoms in fact! He will itch is face until it's pink and raw/bleeding a little around the eyes/nose rope or very pink. The biggest issue is that he keeps scratching his cornea accidentally. Today is the FOURTH time he has scratched inside his eye accidentally because they itch so bad. We have an antibiotic that we put in his eye for a few days when he does this that our vet gave us after the first time he did this.

We have tried THREE different allergy meds thus far. He was on a prescription antihistamine from the vet, then benadryl, and now he is on 3 zyrtec per day plus a fish oil (1000 mg.) supplement that our vet said can help with the immune system boost. He still scratched his eye today though despite this treatment. I am very afraid he will cause permanent damage one day or cause scar tissue to build up. Plus, the poor little guy is so itchy and miserable. He tries to rub his eyes on the carpet and grass outside sometimes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I might do next? Do they make eye drops for relief from itchy eyes or is there another allergy med. that you have had success with? I guess I could go back to our vet and try a new one. Should I maybe try a new vet to get another opinion? I feel helpless!! I am open to any suggestions! Thanks!

 

[ChanelnBrutus]

Oh poor baby! I feel your pain and frustration not knowing what you can do to help. Sometimes its hard to control what we dont know. I would get an allergy test done to know what it is. It could be something that can be avoided or something not...Maybe wiping with baby wipes everytime he goes outside! I know the allergies are bad everywhere! I never had allergies in my life until this year! Its crazy bad! There are others that know alot more and give more input ! I hope everything gets better and you find the fix! to your baby!

 

[cowsmom]

im at a loss as to what to do except get an allergy test to see whats causing it. we have another member whose dog has awful allergy issues outside and her vet gave her some stuff maybe she can help. [MENTION=900]KMARINO[/MENTION] what did you do to help vegas with his allergies on his face? im surprised they cant give him drops to help that. maybe another vet opinion is needed. i would get an allergy test as fast as i could even though they dont recommend it till they are a year old. maybe wipe his face after he comes in from the outside and his paws and body. is he worse after being outside or is it just all the time with the itching? how often do you bath. maybe bathing more often might help. im sure someone will be along soon to help. could still be a food issue to. maybe a bland diet to see if it helps. is your food grain or grain free? most do better with grain free.

 

[TessaAndSamson]

The only allergy medicine that seems to help Samson with those issues is atarax, it's by prescription only from the vet. I'm curious as to what foods you have tried.......

Ok I went back and looked at some of your old threads. Natural Balance Sweet Potato and fish worked GREAT for my Samson for a number of years, in my opinion it is a good choice but not all foods work well with all bullys. What food did you change to and how long did you wait to see a change before you decided it didn't help? It can take up to a month easily to see a change with a new food. I really like Nature's Variety Instinct Salmon too. I just recently switched to TOTW pacific stream and Samson is doing great on that. Didn't seem to be a popular choice among bully owners here BUT my mother-in-law had great success controlling her labs allergies when she switched to it so I thought I would try it too. Almost 6 months later Samson is still going great on it.

I have been thru this stuff, it was all trial and error because at the time I wasn't lucky enough to have this place to come to. Anyway even though what may work for one bullys won't for another I just try to share our story in hopes that it can help someone else. So bottom line food is super important for Samson, must be grain free and fish based (I think salmon is best). Adding salmon oil to his food has worked wonders! And as far as antihistamines, we have tried several and atarax works the best by far. My vet said just like with humans, one antihistamine works great for one person and won't help another person at all! As for wrinkle care (which you mentioned on another thread not here, just wanted to throw it out there LOL) neo-predef powder works wonders on Samson when he has irritated wrinkles.

Good luck, I know this stuff can be so hard!

 

[bullmama]

I would go to the vet and get a steroid shot, to see if this relieves your baby for a few weeks. At 9 months he is likely too young to get tested and get accurate results, but it may be worth just doing it and repeating in 6 months. Once you get the test in 6 months, they can make a syrum that you give them as shots. It is a long process and it is not guaranteed to work. But you can go down that road when the time comes.

I would also get anti fungal anti bacterial shampoo.... I am in love with this stuff, it has made the itchies all but disappear here. I have not even given anyone any benedryl this season at all.

It is called Pharmaseb shampoo, from your vet (or you may have to call around several vets to find one that carries that particular one).

Remember if you do get steriod shot and it works, it is meant for temporary relief and not for long term usage, and cannot be given within 30 days of the allergy blood test. Keep us posted, I do hope we can help your baby!

 

[kazzy220]

You poor thing ... yes I would get an allergy test done. We have a member here in England who has found somebody who will do an allergy test for us over here in USA too. I am wondering if that would work on a young pup too ... [MENTION=2242]karenben[/MENTION] do you know if there is an age limit for the hair test you have posted about??

 

[Meggs19]

Thank you so much for the suggestions! We actually did have Tonka allergy tested about a month ago and the results were pretty minimal...nothing of extreme significance. The two highest items were molds and dust mites but even those numbers weren't that high. The food allergy numbers were all very low so the test didn't really tell us much. Our vet also told us it was fine for Tonka to be on Benadryl when he had the test done too so maybe that affected the results. I was very frustrated the test didn't turn up more but maybe when he is a little older it can.

Tonka is now on the Fromm Beef Fritatta and stools and everything have been solid and fine. I would say he has been on this food alone (without the natural balance mixed in) for a few weeks now. I really don't know if it's the food since he has been on grain free for a long time and he only seems to itch the eyes/sneeze and sniffle with no paw licking or skin fold infections etc. which makes me think it's environmental. I see him wake up with a runny nose and sneeze sometimes but it does seem to get worse after he goes outside. Especially during the times he scratches his cornea. After work his eye was looking pink but semi-normal and I took him out for a short walk and when we came back inside his eye looked swollen and lazy and like he was trying to shut it. It had suddenly become all irritated again.

I wish I knew for sure I could rule the food out...it just seems to be environmental to me. His eyes seem constantly itchy and his nose very runny. I think we will see about getting a better shampoo and trying a new allergy medicine for him and hopefully that will help. How would I know if I need to switch foods again? This is so hard and frustrating!!

 

[cowsmom]

well does sound environmental more so than food. maybe try another antihistamine. i just would think there are drops for allergies that could help. i would talk to the vet again i think. my bostons eyes are awful and he looks like hes got a cherry eye tonight grrr. so its bad out there. my other boston had a runny eye and irritation this am but it went away. maybe wipe his face when he comes in to get anything off that might be there. ive wipes my boston from head to toe with baby wipes when he came in and was sneezing it stopped. well wishes for you and yes ive heard benadryl will mess a test up.

 

[kazzy220]

I agree ... it really does seem to be environmental. I know that [MENTION=900]KMARINO[/MENTION] has battled for so long with Vegas for exactly the same reasons and has FINALLY started to win the battle. She doesn't have access to the internet for the moment but I've tagged her in the hope that she can help you when she does get back to EBN!!!!

In the meantime I would try to keep him inside as much as you can, just going out for potty time. Then I would give him a full body wipe down as soon as he comes inside with some sensitive baby wipes and see how that helps!!! There are some people on here who even put little socks on their bullys when they go outside and then take them off as soon as they get inside. I am impressed that they get their bullys to keep the socks on ... I know all of mine would rip them off but it seems to work for a lot of our members.

 

[karenben]

You poor thing ... yes I would get an allergy test done. We have a member here in England who has found somebody who will do an allergy test for us over here in USA too. I am wondering if that would work on a young pup too ... @karenben do you know if there is an age limit for the hair test you have posted about??

not as far as i know ,but the test is so cheap and very very reliable ,karen

 

[karenben]

i think dust mites are 1 of the worst as you just cannot clear them altogether ,ive pulled all the carpets up !!,but we are doing a lot of decorating and taking a wall down so im wxpecting more symptoms but up to now annie is doing not bad,karen

 

[GRACIE11]

Hope you get this all figured out..it's hard to watch them suffer. [MENTION=4292]Cooper11[/MENTION] has lots of problems with hers too. He's 8 months and I know she has some type of eye drops for him. She lives on this site so I'm sure it won't be long and she will let you know about the eye drops.

 

[Fontanafox]

My Wilson has bad allergies right now. Itchy eyes and itchy paws. When I walk him I wipe his face with a warm lightly soapy (mild dog shampoo) washcloth and clean goopies away from his eyes with wet cotton balls, then dry. He has an ointment called Optimmune that is for a problem eye that gets ulcers easily and the other eye I just use moisturizing eye drops (artificial tears) or moisturizing eye drops called "Blink"...and yes his eyes are red and itchy and he rubs his face against the crate and anything else but if I keep up the routine he finds temporary relief. He's on Benadryl and I give him flaxseed oil capsules because fish oil makes him throwup. He also gets probiotics and is on a grain free food and he has been allergy tested so I know what he can't eat. I've changed all my cleaning and laundry supplies to dye and perfume free products. Environmental allergies are a pain but they we've been managing for the last 3 1/2 years. Right now it's the paws that are the hardest since he loves his walks and my bulldog is big with big bear paws and I wash them a lot. Hope you can find a regime of care that helps Tonka with his allergies. I also have a Boston Terrier/French Bulldog mix who has itchy eyes and I have to keep them clean too or he'll be naughty and scratch them with his back feet!

 

[Vicaroo1000]

Great advice here. We're all suffering with this, I think. I've had to give benedryl just about every day; we spend a lot of time outside and it's been warm and sunny here for once. It rained yesterday and this morning, both dogs tummy's are bump free. I know it's not food, shampoo, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, softener, etc. because, like FontanaFox, I went thru all that too. Process of elimination.

Keep up the good fight. Spring can't last forever!

 

[Meggs19]

[MENTION=4292]Cooper11[/MENTION], any word on the eye drops you use? I would love to know! My vet recommended using just a simple saline solution to help cleanse and soothe but is there something you have found to work better?