Allergies and food choice

[spoonerr]

Hello out there! First time poster.

I've had Dexter for about two months, and when we got him, he was eating ProPac dog food and his poops were just fine. After about a week, he developed a serious rash on his stomach, and I took him to the vet. They treated him for allergies with a steroid treatment and told us to change his dog food to Blue Buffalo. After he was off his meds, he got the most severe case of diarrhea I've ever encountered and back to the vet we went. Another round of anti-biotics and now he's eating yogurt with every meal - but then, right after we go to the vet, he starts getting another skin rash, this time on the back of his neck going all the way down to his tail. Another vet visit to put him back on medication and they insist it's from the carrots we give him at treats. So now we're only feeding him the blue buffalo with yogurt, no additions, and he's starting to break out again - we've treated for fleas!

It's easy to see I'm at the end of my rope, any advice on diet or possibly other allergy treatment suggestions would be SO helpful. I really want to help him.

 

[Lokismom]

What brand blue buffalo are you feeding? We have determined that our bully has a problem with chicken and grains.

 

[Pati Robins]

Hmm first i would advise your vet to run an allergy tests to check what he's allergic to as then he can give him a monthly jab against the allergies
Maybe it is diary (yogurt) have you tried to feed him only dry food? I see that loads of members here feed fromm or change the flavour of the food -ruling out food allergy was the first thing i done with my girl xx
Another question when was the last time your dog was flead? -im asking as one of my friends dogs got allergic reaction following a flea treatment
Steroids in the long run are not very good for your dog, but im sure that your vet already told you ;-)
Also bathing in medicated shampoos or oatmeal shampoo seem to calm their itchy skin
Im sorry im
Not much help ,hopefully other members will be able to advise you

 

[Lokismom]

Also have you changed anything detergents or shampoos? Some bullies like ours have very sensitive skin.

 

[spoonerr]

Hi there, it's the Blue Buffalo Salmon blend. I'm thinking he might be allergic to the chicken meal? We've been giving him oatmeal baths twice a week, and we haven't changed any of our detergents. Maybe I should get a nicer fabric detergent?

I'll ask my vet about testing for allergies. I think that might just have to be the next step. Also, I was wondering, maybe it's the carpeting? We moved into a new place in order to adopt him and the carpets were brand new. Maybe he's allergic to them? I don't know.

 

[TessaAndSamson]

Hi there, it's the Blue Buffalo Salmon blend. I'm thinking he might be allergic to the chicken meal? We've been giving him oatmeal baths twice a week, and we haven't changed any of our detergents. Maybe I should get a nicer fabric detergent?

I'll ask my vet about testing for allergies. I think that might just have to be the next step. Also, I was wondering, maybe it's the carpeting? We moved into a new place in order to adopt him and the carpets were brand new. Maybe he's allergic to them? I don't know.

I know my dog Samson has always had HORRIBLE reactions to chicken and any type of poultry. Natural Balance's LID salmon & sweet potato is chicken and grain free, so is the Nature's Variety Instinct salmon formula. My Samson has always done really well on both. My suggestion is when you are trying to figure out what food works, be patient, give it time (can take over a month to see if a food works) and don't give any treats while trying a new food, if you want to give him a treat use a piece of kibble for a treat. That way you aren't guessing whether it's the food giving him issues or this treat or that treat. With stomach upsets, a bland diet (equal parts boiled hamburger or chicken breast and white rice with some cottage cheese) and some plain pedialyte does wonders. For the shampoo, I suggest getting something free of soap and fragrance. The oatmeal shampoo may have oatmeal which they say calms the skin but the soap and fragrance in it will irritate/dry out the skin. I like the Tropiclean brand hypoallergenic shampoo, it's all natural, soap and fragrance free. For skin infections, dermabenss is an awesome shampoo. As for laundry detergent, I have never seen my detergent choices have an impact on my Samson however they do offer the fragrance & dye free detergents which would help if it is that. And it's not just the pricey lines of detergent that offer that, I know Sun offers one like that and that's one of the cheaper laudry detergents. Finally, there is one member here who's bully has had an issue with carpet [MENTION=900]KMARINO[/MENTION] so I guess that is a possibility.

Adding an antihistamine can also be very helpful, however just as with people, one antihistamine may work for one but not another. Like alot of bullys see a benefit with benedryl but not my Samson. BUT our vet prescribed the antihistamine atarax and that helps Samson alot.

I am not an expert by any means but this comes from 7.5 years of experience, trail and error on my part. The last 8 months have been particularly tough, Samson is going through alot with allergy issues right now. We were just at the dermatologist and we discussed allergy testing as an option. It's really expensive, it can easily take up to a year to see results and it really only helps 60% of pups that do it. I'm not trying to deter you from that option because it does work for some but just something you should be aware of.

 

[Pati Robins]

Agree with Samson mum i forgot to add that jab not always work but at least you know what your dog is allergic to
There are two basic types of allergy testing. The most common is a blood test and other type of testing is intradermal skin testing.i think blood testing is cheaper -and if your dog is insured it will be covered (the testing) we weren't insured at the time (i mean we where but allergy came within first 14 days of having insurance so we weren't covered) it is something worth looking into also if you "shop around" you find the big difference in testing prices our vet tried to charge us triple the amount compared to other vet for the same test

 

[sheshistory]

Gah! Great advice from Tessa!

Can I ask how old your bully is? You say you've had him 2 months but is he a puppy or an adult bully?

Allergies are the pits but I hope you read the great article we have on allergies that really can give you a good starting point to unraveling the mystery! (You can access the article here: http://www.englishbulldognews.com/c...llergies-Information-Treatment-and-Prevention )

 

[spoonerr]

Thank you SO much for this heartfelt and complete response. I'll explore your suggestions with my vet and hopefully Dexter will be on the road to health soon!

Dexter is two years old, he's such a doll (when he wants to be, that is) and I really hope we can resolve his allergy problems. It breaks my heart to see how miserable he gets.

 

[2BullyMama]

Thank you SO much for this heartfelt and complete response. I'll explore your suggestions with my vet and hopefully Dexter will be on the road to health soon!

Dexter is two years old, he's such a doll (when he wants to be, that is) and I really hope we can resolve his allergy problems. It breaks my heart to see how miserable he gets.

At two years old it seems that is when most allergies show their ugly heads. read the article and see what can help you. We all have varying issue with allergies with our bully babies. My girl can not have chicken or salmon, my boy could not have any dairy or rice... It is a long road, but I can tell you the monthly shots did nothing for either of my babies. I went the long road of trial and error after getting the full blood creek test results - they are not 100% accurate but ir gave me a great guideline.

best of luck and please keep us posted

 

[Davidh]

The flea medication can cause a sever reaction, that's why ew don't do it, but we use Sentinel for heartworms and it works for fleas too, so we don't have a flea problem.

 

[Daphnee]

Sounds like for sure it's the food. Unless people have proof otherwise, allergy testing is only at best about 30% accurate / effective. We have had to go through all of the Natural Balance protein list, and have been on California Natural for the last year or so. Moving forward, once you get a food that settles good, see what is not in it, and try changing proteins every year or so to help prevent allergy development. Good luck, hang in there, don't give up. These are truly the best dogs..

 

[Texas Carol]

Great advice from all Oatmeal anything, shampoos, etc can cause allergic
reactions from dogs allergic to grains. Also, flea treatments can also be the culprit.
My advice is try these changes suggested and give it a couple months, if still having
problems maybe allergy tests then. Let us know...GOD bless!

 

[cowsmom]

thats the thing with bullies it could be anything from grass outside to food to the dog bed they lay on to fleas. easiest thing to check is the food. change it to something else and see what happens. i find the thing with bullies is to find a protein that works then go from there. there are many limited ingredient foods you can try. natures variety has several proteins as does nutrisource pure vita. zignature has a few and fromm has the pork n peas now. chicken is not a bad protein for bullies unless they are allergic to it. sarah can only have chicken and turkey as all other proteins so far have been problems so it just depends on the bully. also most do better with no grains but not all. duoxo ps shampoo is wonderful for skin issues and can be ordered at amazon or entirelypets where i get mine from. if the rash is itchy you can put hydrocortisone cream on it and i found powder made it feel much less itchy. benadryl is good to help. you can try some vit c or perhaps a probiotic if the yogurt doesnt work out. check to see when he is the worst with the rash. is it after eating is it after going outside and so on.