URGENT!!! REALLY BAD SKIN ALLERGIES - WHAT CAN IT BE?!
- Jul 28, 2011
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to EBN..... Jessica has you covered. The only thing I suggest on top of what she has mentioned is to maybe limit baths to once a month.... just wipe him with a cool wash cloth after coming in from being outside, paws, belly, face --- too much bathing will remove natural oils from the skin/fur and can make the issue worse. Try that along with a new food... also try if possible to get something with no WHITE potato or at least have them way down on the ingredient list -- they can add to the yeast issues.
[MENTION=13133]TyTysmom[/MENTION] beat me to it with Honest Kitchen... I would honestly give the Preference base mix a try and puree some garbanzo beans to mix in instead of animal protein for a few weeks and then slowly start trying different animal proteins to see what works and what doesn't. This is what we had to do with my girl and while it is a long process it has given us some wonderful information as with mine it isn't so much the what but more the how often and how much each time.
My Brutus had to be on the Royal Canin Prescription Hydrolized Hypoallergenic food because he is so allergic to everything else that he would vomit, have interdigital cysts, and chronic ear infections. He was on this food for about 2 1/2 yrs until I discovered The Honest Kitchen from another member here who feeds it. It is a prepared dehydrated raw food and it has been the answer to my prayers. Brutus does not have one issue since starting this miracle food and he has dropped 10lbs which has the vet over the moon! I feed him the Duck protein because he is so allergic to other proteins. The vet recommended sticking with what is called a novel protein which you can google to get more info on. You can google THK to get more info, but I swear by it.
so sorry you are going through this as well. My 8yr old Priya has been to 2 specialists, has lost 85%of her fur, has scabs all over and we still have no answers and have run out of money for now to do more testing. 2 things that seem to be helping a lil are she only eats raw rabbit, no treats, no bones, nothing but rabbit, and then iodine baths. Hopefully soon we will be seeing another vet 4 hrs away who can hopefully do something to help Priya. Its just awful to see our lil smooshed stinky bullies so uncomfortable and not be able to do anything...
Rabbit is a novel protein, I mentioned these in my post. They are wonderful for bullies with allergies.
Thanks so much for recommending rabbit - I will switch the Turkey to rabbit to see if it helps. I really hope this works everything is so expensive
At one point, I had over 6 bags of different kibbles. I know the feeling, once we switched to raw, I donated them all, and gave 2 to a local member here
The food can be expensive but so are the vet billsThanks so much for recommending rabbit - I will switch the Turkey to rabbit to see if it helps. I really hope this works everything is so expensive
You can look up novel proteins. Off the top of my head, i can remember duck, rabbit, buffalo, some fish(i cant remember what kind)....there are more. Raw is the best way to avoid allergy problems. Brutus is soo allergic, I did not even realize to what extent. The vet said I couldn't use Sentinel for heart worm protection because it is cured in beef, which most treats are also. Even if they don't list beef as an ingredient, they are still cured that way. I tried every brand and type of food out there. Allergies are such a pain to deal with.nycbullymama
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- Dec 22, 2012
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For food, I would give it 30 days for each new protein you try.
You can also try the commercial ones available but generally those aren't recommended here as they are most definitely not the best foods. But that's also exactly what makes them hypoallergenic. They're generally soy based formulas that are hydrolyzed- meaning, broken down to their amino acids so the body doesn't even recognize what they are, hence no allergic reaction. At least that's how it was explained to me.
There's no testing for food allergies. I mean the labs will do it, but they'll tell you that the gold standard is an elimination diet. Our dermatologist didn't even test for it.
Food is all trial and error. But if you tried most proteins and he still has allergy symptoms, you can try a true elimination diet. You can speak with your vet about that. But in essence, you start by feeding one protein and adding things if you don't see a reaction.
It could very well be environmental. One of mine seems to have seasonal allergies. We put him on Apoquel and that's offered a lot of relief.
My other one has year round allergies. We did allergy testing and it turns out he's allergic to trees, grass, dust mites.. a ton of things actually. We put him on immunotherapy and it kicked it after about 8-9 months. But this season has been so terrible, we added Apoquel for him as well. I'm all about allergy testing. It doesn't hurt and can save you money in the long run if you're able to avoid the allergen.
Meanwhile, I learned here to wipe them down after they've been outdoors. You'd be surprised how much relief he may get if you're just on top of keeping dust, pollen, whatnot off him.
Good luck and keep us updated.
You can also try the commercial ones available but generally those aren't recommended here as they are most definitely not the best foods. But that's also exactly what makes them hypoallergenic. They're generally soy based formulas that are hydrolyzed- meaning, broken down to their amino acids so the body doesn't even recognize what they are, hence no allergic reaction. At least that's how it was explained to me.
There's no testing for food allergies. I mean the labs will do it, but they'll tell you that the gold standard is an elimination diet. Our dermatologist didn't even test for it.
Food is all trial and error. But if you tried most proteins and he still has allergy symptoms, you can try a true elimination diet. You can speak with your vet about that. But in essence, you start by feeding one protein and adding things if you don't see a reaction.
It could very well be environmental. One of mine seems to have seasonal allergies. We put him on Apoquel and that's offered a lot of relief.
My other one has year round allergies. We did allergy testing and it turns out he's allergic to trees, grass, dust mites.. a ton of things actually. We put him on immunotherapy and it kicked it after about 8-9 months. But this season has been so terrible, we added Apoquel for him as well. I'm all about allergy testing. It doesn't hurt and can save you money in the long run if you're able to avoid the allergen.
Meanwhile, I learned here to wipe them down after they've been outdoors. You'd be surprised how much relief he may get if you're just on top of keeping dust, pollen, whatnot off him.
Good luck and keep us updated.
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rramos
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Hi ladies!!!
So now I seem to have another problem. Rocky does not want to eat his food. He hasn't liked the Duck so I've tried Rabbit and Turkey and still nothing. I've mixed Peanut Butter, Coconut oil and pumpkin and he just eats a couple of bites and leaves the rest. I know he is hungry because he ate my mothers dog food by mistake when we left it on the floor. He refuses to eat the Natures Variety limited ingredient. Its been 4 days now since he has had 2 full meals. I am very concerned any advise? Thanks!
So now I seem to have another problem. Rocky does not want to eat his food. He hasn't liked the Duck so I've tried Rabbit and Turkey and still nothing. I've mixed Peanut Butter, Coconut oil and pumpkin and he just eats a couple of bites and leaves the rest. I know he is hungry because he ate my mothers dog food by mistake when we left it on the floor. He refuses to eat the Natures Variety limited ingredient. Its been 4 days now since he has had 2 full meals. I am very concerned any advise? Thanks!
May be too many switches all at once making him not want it. I would go bland for a few days - boiled hamburger/rice, and let his belly settle - then you can slowly switch him back to his kibble. Did you research any raw options? Stella & Chewy's - Nature's Variety Raw, or The Honest Kitchen?
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rramos
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Yes makes sense I have been switching him a lot. OK I will try rice and hamburger see how that goes. I also made an appointment to finally get him tested in 2 weeks. I haven't searched for raw diets yet because I want to see if what he is eating now works. I just find Raw food so expensive
nycbullymama
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- Dec 22, 2012
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A bulldog will never starve himself. If you did a slow switch, and now he's not eating- just take the bowl away, and give it to him again at the next feeding time. If he's hungry enough, he'll eat. If not, take it away again and he'll eat the next day. I can promise you he will definitely eat once he gets hungry enough.
But I would stop switching foods.
But I would stop switching foods.
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