Allergies! HELP! - Page 2

This is interesting. There seem to be quite a lot of posts recently concernng skin disorders and the general opinion on this board nearly always seems to be food allergy, though I am not sure how much evidence there is for this. I have been going through something like this with a 15 month old. It started when he was about 9 months, he had a fungus infection on his belly and under his armpits, this was treated with nizoral for 10 days and he recovered. A few months later he started to get red itchy ptches and lost a lot of the hair on his tail and thighs, this happened very quickly, and it looked just like the photo here, lots of small red spots, but with no obvious pus. Tests came back negative for fungus and the vet diagnosed a staph infection. We put this down to stress and getting wet with urine as he had just been to a show, it was a very long journey back and the car broke down, he had peed in the crate etc.... He was put on antibiotics and the redness cleared up quite quickly. The vet also prescribed a supplement that contains omega 3 and 6 and other minerals specifically for skin conditions, to help increase the skin's defenses and resistance to bacteria, fungi etc. He is still taking this. This started about 2 months ago and although the hair has now regrown on the tail and thighs, he still has red inflamed skin under his arms, and just today I saw that on his belly he has some round red patches, about the size of a 10c coin - fungus again??? He has been sleeping inside lately, incase the wood shavings in the kennels irritated him. Anyway, he obivously has sensitive skin. Could this be food allergy? He has always had Royal Canin, occasionally with cooked meat, chicken, liver, veg etc as extras. Apart from these problems he has always had a beautiful thick shiny coat. And if it is a food allergy, how do you begin to decide what ingredient he might be allergic to and what other type of food to try?

The skin is the largest organ the dog has and diagnosing the exact cause of a skin issue is difficult.  If you believe this to be a food allergy then I suggest ditching bagged food, cooked food, vegetables, etc. and go with a raw meat he's not had - called a novel protein.  Raw rabbit, turkey, beef, venison, etc.

Vets will strongly suggest that you buy the food THEY are selling so THEY get the profit from the sale.  You know, those prescription dog foods that have hyperinflated prices.

Typically it's not the meat in the food that the dogs are allergic to, it's the fillers.  As the fillers become more expensive, as do the meat, the dog food companies are putting cheaper and less appetizing fillers in the dog food to keep their profit margins.  I recently read where it's been suggested that Ethanol waste be added to dog food.  That's simply asinine.

Chicken is the meat most often associated with allergies.  The reason this is is because chicken is the most common ingredient whether it be chicken or chicken meal or chicken this or chicken that.  Over exposure like this can lead to an allergy

By being on a single protein it's easier to determine what might be causing the issue. 

With all of that said, know the presentation of allergies is the body's way of demonstrating deeper issues with the immune system.  Repairing the damaged immune system is key to the resolution of allergy-type symptoms. 

Good luck!

Thanks, in fact my vet has said we need to boost his immune system, hence the supplement he is taking. I am not sure how else I can help to do this. I cannot really feed raw, I did try this once for a while, but ended up too worried about the quality of the meat here and possible parasites. I also do not have a lot of choice of prepared foods, but could look for one that does not contain chicken, or I could try cooked meat...in the meantime treat the symptoms I suppose...