Update: The itchy dog with skin allergies - Page 2

LOL....and my dog would never put up with booties on his feet unless I were to keep his Comfy Cone on him at the same time.  :)

I found the link to the article, but Dr. Becker also has a video series where she talks about foot soaks.  But here is the link to the article:  http://www.atyourbarkincall.com/article22.html 

Basically, she attributes itchy paws to yeast overgrowth.  So she recommends lots of foot soaks of the following:  1 gallon of water, 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of peroxide.  Pat the paws dry but do not rinse.  The solution will get into all the little crevices of the paws and with continual use, kill the yeast that's living in the crevices of the toes and nail beds of the paws.

Hope it helps your dog, Spooks. :)

Hi Zenit2010,

Sorry for the late response.  I feed my dogs Fromm Whitefish and Potato.

Hi Jyl,

Thanks for the heads up on the flax seed.  Going to have to do more research.

I was told the exact opposite.  I was told the Flax ALA Omega 3 will convert to EPA and DHA in healthy humans and pets.

What I've seen in as early as the 2 weeks of use seems to support that (shiny thick coat, great skin, healthy stool, better movement, histamine suppression).  Even my groomer commented that my dog shed less and took longer to dry because of the amount of coat he now has.

But, I do recognize that not everything works for everyone. 

Sonia

Flint River ranch has something called Essential Greens;  mostly Omega's, no Flax (as my sammie girl has never been able to take any type Flax, oil, seed or otherwise, starts itching within hours after taking it).  So this is just a multi-green Omega/Algae/ a few other ingredient supplement I started sprinkling a small amount on my older boys dinner, needs to be refrigerated after opening.  I felt he needed to build or rebuild the immune system after being attacked by dogs 2 separate times;  really depleted not only his personality but his whole being.  :(

Haven't given it steadily long enough to really say whether it has helped but will continue to give to him and let you all know in about a month.  I want to say I "THINK" it may be helping him but will know more a little later.  There are a few other ingredients in formula but so far nothing has cropped up negatively. 

Food for thought  Nan

Ingredients are posted  on Flint River Ranch site under Essential Greens.  good luck...

I will again recommend Nzymes.  I cannot tell you how many grooming clients that I have had that kept complaining of these "allergies" month after month and would not take my recommendation to start their dog on the healthy skin kit by Nzymes only to have them finally start the program and be amazed by the results and wish they had done it way sooner. 

Zenit:  Thanks for your info as I agree with most all you posted.

We all learned that   potatoes and sweet potatoes are good fiber but sugar content adds to the list of problematic if a dog is a yeasty dog..

YES do the vinegar /water solution...HUMANS are using \vinegar now for everything...Even in our dogs ears, the cleaning solution now has vinegar instead of harsh alcohol etc.

VInegar is a PH raiser for Alkaline not acidic...acidic stage in dogs and humans is the keeper of most problems...FINDING the answer is always good to share with us..everyone can use it for their research..Allergies are a huge problem to tackle..I err onthe side of all  holistic..aids and ingredients..>If it comes from the earth , it is there for a purpose... Flax seed is good for some but not for all.

Just like a cucumber is very hard to digest for a lot of people but the mega amounts of vitamins in a cucumber are tremendous..Kwi has tons but not all people can tolerate those veggies or fruit.

Flax seed is known now to not be digestable   Probiotics with long list of them in the tab is very  important to go back and balance the gut of the dog,

thanks again for sharing

all of you'

YR

Hi K9GSD78.  I'm sorry...I forgot to include that I did look into NZymes.  I know you've said you've seen great success, but I still don't know that my dog's specific skin issues are similar to the testimonials I saw on their website.   I opted to not order for a few reasons.  First, their supplements include a lot of ingredients I am not familiar with and I'm still trying to understand how they might help my dog's specific problems like the Ox-E-Drops and Black Leaf Tincture.  In addition, the soybean sprouts in their Sprouted Granules concern me somewhat since soy was present in his last food and some dogs cannot tolerate soy.  Their Bac-Pak Plus microbials plus enzymes contains flaxseed and I am concerned that flax is not a good idea for my dog.  So, it just didn't seem right for my specific situation.

Has anybody else tried NZymes for their dog and can share their results?

On a separate note...I got an email today from the boarding kennel that I use for my dog.  They were sending the reminder notice that my dog is due for all his vaccines before he can stay there again.  After a moment of panic, I called them to ask whether they grant exemptions and exceptions to the vaccines.  They are familiar with my dog's health problems, and they said: "No problem...provide a note from the vet and we accept titers too."   And they also suggested that I talk directly to our local animal control to see if AC would accept titers for rabies as well (although I am not hopeful about that).  I've always been very happy with the care they have provided my dog when he boards at this kennel. I'm even more impressed now that they are open to reasonable points of view.

WOW  Kudo's to them for accepting exceptions.  If you check Jean Dodds website she does explain what to do about those exceptions, even rabies.  And rabies may be temporary, but none the less for now since you are clearing up this dog and have documentation, it too should help.   Good luck  Nan

i had a dog that would chew spots in his fur, i changed his food to Precise Holistic, we feed grain and gluten free foods with raw chicken and beef. It is amazing no itching, scratching , so thats my opinion. hope it helps

We have a dog with environmental allergies that is prone to yeast infections.  Switching to a potato free food helps (we feed Nutrisca).    I also add fish oil, kefir ( for probiotics), and turmeric daily.    No yeast infections or trips to the vet for allergies in over 8 months now.   In the past, we had to go to the vet every 2 months for those problems.

2nd Update:

I just figured I would tack it on to this one since a paper trail is a good thing for anyone else who is dealing with an itchy dog.

Shortly after this post where I thought he wasn't getting worse after weaning him off the prednisone, the itching started to really increase dramatically on a daily basis.  Antihistamines were no help at all.

I have come to the conclusion that it is not food allergies.  I've already detailed the food and supplements on the first post of this thread.  No one is sneaking him any treats.  Definitely I think he is sensitive to chicken and perhaps lamp and beef.  But it's not the reason for this horrific itchiness that consumes him.  

It has to be the environment that triggers the itchiness in his skin.  But I cannot change his environment - we are not moving from our home.

So, my vet offered to do the allergy testing for $300 for the blood panel to see what allergens come up.  We could then try the desensitization shots.  Of course, all the literature on this plan indicates a possible 60% success rate and it could be for the life of the dog.  Meanwhile I would need to think about how to make him comfortable since leaving him itching and scratching 24/7 is cruel to say the least.

After doing some more research on Atopica, I decided that for $300, it is a better use of the money to purchase the medicine and see if it will bring him some relief and a better quality of life.

We are now on day 15 of the medicine and it's working!!!  My dog is almost normal.  He has had no side effects of vomiting or diarrhea.  He is on 150 mg daily right now.  I give him the pills two hours after his morning meal.  Since the pills are meant to be swallowed whole and they are large, I put them in a pill pocket and use his food drive with some obedience exercises and he swallows the pills very quickly.  To help with possible stomach upset, I have been freezing the pills for about 15 minutes before giving the pills to him.  He has not had a problem.  After the first 7 days, I started to see a daily improvement with reduced itchiness and less scratching on his part.

He is much more relaxed in the house.  He is very energetic during playing and training outside.  He is eating normally.  And the best thing is that we went back to our club and had fun with bite work.  :)

My biggest worry, of course, is that he will have to take Atopica for the rest of his life.  Hopefully after the first 30 days, we can reduce the medicine to every other day for the next 30 days.  Then the goal will be to reduce the medicine further to just what he needs to be comfortable.