african allergy

[rob hewitson]

 

hi from africa

the ancestral home of all our beautifull dogs

i cant believe our farm  braks have travelled so far and wide

brak is jargon over here for the  mongrels that  frequent most farmyards

im not sure if  its english or afrikaans

actually i guess its only the top class aristocrat farm dogs that can afford to fly to the states or to russia

that russian beaut aint no brak

where did you get him from valeria  if you still here

and how is the allergy two years later

i joined this site hoping to find lots of allergy threads

valerias  2010  thread is all i see

our much loved zahrah has pink skin between the toes is worst

then the back of her paws

under her armpits gets quite bad

and the soft tummy skin also gets a pink rash which comes and goes

the vet says allergy and we trying a few things

id love to hear from someone else whos had this pink skin thing

at present it doesnt seem to worry her but ive caught her nibbling the paws so im sure its itchy

we petrified it escalates

has anyone had something similar

rob

[Lisa Tiro]

Hi,

My Bella had a skin issue. I think it was a yeast problem. I have heard that putting them on a RAW diet and no grains should help. It is probably caused from the food she eats. That is only my opinion. My new pup who is 9 months old is now on a raw diet and thriving. Good luck!

~Lisa

[rob hewitson]

Tks lisa the vet put her on two months prescription diet to see if it was food related no change but i am going raw to beef up the immune system cant see any other way to go except treat the symptoms

[Lee May]

Rob don't forget to add pure salmon oil or a fish base kibble. Good luck man.

[rob hewitson]

hi

im doing all that  and she doesnt seem to be sufferring

but the pink tummy comes and goes

and  today the back has taken a turn

her  back is a mass of little hard pimples

i still havent heard from anyone who has solved the prob

what happenned to valleria skin prob

help

rob

[Carrie Kruczek]

My boy was struggling with skin problems, tummy had red patches, patches on flanks that would lose hair.  The vet throught it looked like a staph infection (he could not do any scrapings as my dog is unapproachable by strangers).  The vet put him on a course of antibiotics and his skin is finally healing.

[James Dillon]

Hi Rob,

A couple possibilities come to mind.  It is possible you are dealing with a food allergy (I assume your vet has done a skin scrape and you are using external parasite prevention).  There are several prescription diets for this that include hydrolyzed proteins.  A novel protein diet may also be a possibility (duck, venison, etc).  There are many formulations available for this as well.  

Another possibility is that your dog suffers from Atopy.  There is a good drug out on the market called "Atopica" which your vet may be able to prescribe for treatment.

The third route is to do skin allergy testing followed by a series of injections.  

I can't really say what the best route would be to go or recommend a treatment since I haven't examined your animal (I'm a vet) but I thought I'd drop some info your way.  Skin allergy problems can be a long term and frustrating thing some times.  Best of luck to you and your vet in getting it under control.

Jamie

[rob hewitson]

 

Thanx jamie  and carrie

yes we have been there etc

atopy doesnt ring a bell

but we had a scinscrape

and she doesnt have fleas

although i  recenly found three  ticks on her

i didnt mention this to my vet

is it relavent ?

then  we thought  diet so he prescribes a prescription diet for eight weeks and it didnt go away so we have to believe its not food

then a few weeks later this latest flare up

we always watch the red tummy and paws so  didnt  worry about her back

then suddenly her  whole back is covered with hard little bumps that i assume are infection cause  we got antibiotics and cortosone to take

when it settles again we going to try daily allergex and aditional cortosone when needed

but i see this sallergy as a death sentence if one cant cure it the dog gets worse and  worse  till its quality of life deteriorates and she starts suffering

and thent what

luckily my vet made one comment that might save her

he said inland these  allergies are rare and we could always move to the transvaal

or more likely  find a transvaal home for her

at the moment shes still a happy friendly protective perfect boerboel and much loved family member

and my surfing buddy

so im praying for a reprieve

rob

[James Dillon]

Hey Rob,

As you are finding out, skin problems can be very complicated and frustrating and dogs are allergic to a lot of things besides their food.  Here is a link to some info about atopy.

http://rottweilerhealth.org/pdfs/march_derm_hiller_02.pdf

The link is from some rottweiler site but the article was done by Ohio State University.  They have done some really good work in this area and a board certified canine dermatologist I heard give a lecture recently at Southeast Veterinary Conference talked about using the "Ohio State Protocol" which is a combo of Atopica and Ketoconazole if I remember correctly.

Best of luck to you and your vet!

Jamie

[Lisa Tiro]

Rob, I don't know if you use flea and tick prevention like Frontline etc., but if you do maybe you should eliminate that to see if that is the cause of the allergy. I refuse to use it anymore on my animals. My first bb got AIHA after putting Frontline on her. It could just be a coincidence but something triggered her immune system to go haywire and we never found the cause. Then my new bb got terrible runs after being treated 3 months in a row. I stopped using it and he has been fine ever since. Just a thought.

~Lisa

[rob hewitson]

Hi there
tks lisa  no  i dont use any flea stuff
i give half a tsp of garlic paste every meal which  works for me
shes has  no fleas and they instantly move in when i stop
so i hope shes not  allergic to that
my biggest fear is our wooden deck which spends her life on
it gets painted every year with wood preserative im sure it could  cause an allergic reaction with someone
thanks james for the article
ill  discuss it with my vet
could i ask you if there are any signs that deinitely point to this
or any signs that definitely exclude it
like she isnt scratching or licking much
a few times we caught her nibling and licking her paws
it didnt appear that serious then
and now the cortosone appears to be keeping her cumfy
thanks for your help
id really like to beat this  thing
rob

[Nilda Brumley]

Hi-Rob. My boy, has had a seasonal skin allergy. While we don't have a definitive cause yet, I've been keeping him bathed in Zymox shampoo &, leave in conditioner. It's a huge help with the itching &, hair loss. Also, we've been fighting a chronic ear infection for the last 3 yrs. We've done laser treatments, ear wash, drops....still no end. Although, it's done alot for his comfort. Hope you find something that helps you with your problem.