Skin issues... - Page 5

Allergies in dogs are rarely caused by food. At least 75% are inhalation allergies and/or the result of fleas. The only way to know is to have the dog skin tested and then desensitized using a custom blended allergen. This works for about 70% of allergic dogs although it can take up to a year. Steroids will relieve the symptoms, but they are not for long time use and are not curative. Desenstiizing is the only way to go if a dog proves to  have inhalation allergies.

Trying an elimination diet is the only way to prove a food allergy. You must make a homemade diet and control everything that goes into the dog's body, There are many recipes for eliminatioon diets on the net. The main objective is the dog must have nothing to eat in addition to what is in the maintenence diet -  no treats, no flavored chews, nada. It sounds like 4 pack has a good start in that direction as she is not feeding a commercial diet. Personally, I'd much rather have a dog with inhalation allergies than food allergies.

Dogs with inhalation allergies are immune cripples and should not be bred since they will produce more of the same. Seems to me that allergies in GSD's are very common which might be due to using effected dogs for breeding and/or continuing to use dogs that have already produced progeny with inhalation allergies .

I've got some of that Missing Link.  Around the time I started giving it to my dogs, that's when I think that Chaos started getting his hot spots, plus I had changed their food on them!  I stopped giving them the missing link, thinking that it might be part of the problem.  Was I wrong?

Every experienced person I talk to believe food allergies are pretty rare. I am also inclined to think my dog isn't allergic to chicken. Maybe some weird ingredient in his last kibble, but not the RAW chicken. He has been eatting it for quite some time now. Does anyone have experience in the way food allergies start? Or are they always there and we just don't see the signs at first? Would we see issues in a pup from the get go or do allergies take time to build up? I'd like to hear what theories we have out there.

The vet touched on the possabilty of an allergy but we will move onto that later if the medications do not clear up the problem. One step at a time.

Does anyone have experience in the way food allergies start?

The most common cause for producing food allergies occurs after a bout of severe diarrhea in which much of the intestinal mucosa is sloughed. This allows the ingesta to be absorbed directly across the intestinal wall and into the blood stream. The immune system recognizes this matter as "foreign" and creates antibodies to initiate a cascade of immune reactions.

For this reason, when introducing food after diarrhea, it is important to feed a single source of carbohydrate (usually, cooked white rice) and a single source of protein (low fat cottage cheese) to avoid creating multple antibodies.

In day-to-day life, food allergies are best avoided by feeding on a rotational basis rather than always feeding the same diet.

Hmm well I do this rotating actually. Though for other reasons than allergies. I wanted my dogs to have a well rounded diet, so for a few weeks feed chicken and chicken organs, switch to beef for a couple and then to pork or something else. My thought was, "would they get enough nutrients from the same protein sorce day in and day out"? I thought far enough ahead not to mix meats, incase something happened like allergies or diarrhea, I wouldn't know what sorce caused it.

Have you tried washing with comfrey???

My dog is prone to hot spots and itching and I wash with comfrey and it clears up really fast, just get some leaves (I guess dried will work, I use fesh leaves) and make an infusion with hot water to get the good extract out, wait for it to cool and wash over the itchy area.

might help, won't do any harm either - it is natrual and a very good healing plant.

4 pack, dogs can develop allergies at any time in their lives and it's not unusual for an allergic dog to react to different allergens as he/she ages. My first GSD was atopic when he was only 10 weeks old and it was a downhill slide from there.

Louise has told you about the likely start of food allergies and all I'd add to her information is that food allergies seldom respond to steroids so that would be another clue that food might be the culprit. Dogs will not react to allergens the first time they are exposed to them and some take a long time to react to the same pollen, grass, flea bites, or food that they have been exposed to for years with no ill effects. Some dogs with inhalation allergies suffer seasonally and clear up afer the first killing frost whole others scratch 12 months out of the year. Food allergies will be evident as long as the dog is eating the offending food.

I don't think I'd be too worried about allergies in Baden just yet, but it never hurts to learn what you can in the meantime.  You might want to ask his breeder if he/she has produced any dogs with allergies or similar skin problems. Sometimes breeders  can give better advice than vets