Atopic Dog - Page 1

 I have a 2 GSDs and used to live in London up to a year ago, when we moved out to the country as we thought it would be great for the dogs. One problem, Arnie my 5 year old male suffered from the most awful allergies last May / June and tests found him to be allergic to multiple grasses, pollens, house mites etc and he was classified as truly atopic. He has been on imnutherapy since then which we thought was working well untill a couple of weeks ago when he started itching and is as bad as he was last year before the treatment. Questions I have are:
Is it worth continuing with the imnutherapy or just using anti histamines when needed?
Is there any other treatment that could control this such as homeopathic?
Any help gratefully received as it must be hell for him. I can supply his pedigree lines if you think this could be passed down.

There are many things you can do, immunotherapy is not always 100% successful for all dogs. The homeopathic route is certainly one to try as you can have a bespoke remedy made.  You will never get a cure but it should be managed better.

there are also supplements that you can try to help reduce the inflammation etc.

Vitamin C for example is a natural anti histamine

Fish body oils are a natural anti inflammatory

Vitamin E is a great anti oxidant

Garlic can help as can alfalfa and kelp

The BAHVS site will direct you to a homeopathic/holistic vet near to you.

BiCom worked wonders for my girl....  It seems truly strange to try, but I would do it again if I needed to with another dog.

Darcy

What are you feeding? A diet without grains of any kind may be helpful but it takes a while to  see results. by next spring he may not show any allergy symptoms.

I switched my very allergic dog to Orijen in March 2007 and have seen no allergy symptoms this year. He did have onesevere ear infection very early this spring but after several flushings with dilute vinegar we have cured that one.

We chose not to go with allergy testingand desensitising injections because we weren't convinced of the efficacy of that approach. Last year we treated with oral antihistamines on an as-needed basis.

There is a "newer" product on the market called Atopica (cyclosporine), which works very very well for those severely allergic dogs.   It's very expensive.  Usually the dogs start out on it daily and then their dosing can be reduced to every other day or every third day kinda thing.  Then when it's a "bad" time of year for them, they can be upped again.  Initially when we had gotten the product in, we were skeptical, especially with the price.  And now we are surprised at how many clients are using it, despite the price.   It's also being used for dogs with perianal fistulas too with some success, they don't completely subside, but if taken off of it, people definitely notice that it gets worse off of it. 

How long has the dog been on immunotherapy?

1 of my dogs was on Atopica for 9mth, in that time he has developed muscle wastage, constantly hungry, severly underweight even though he eats more than he should plus it never fully stopped his problems, he only developed new ones. It may relieve symptoms in some dogs but does not cure the underlying problem.

You might want tp try some Quercetin. It's a bioflavonoid you can get at most health food stores. Bioflavenoids generally fall into the won't hurt might help category. They specifically have found that Quercetin reduces the inflamation of the mast cells ( skin cells) and it is recommended for people allergy control. Usually comes combined with Bromelain which is an anti inflammatory and pain reliever. I have used it to reduce minor itching and to help with generalized skin problems my dwarf has.

I personally can not speak to this but I have seen several folks post that a raw diet made all the difference for their dogs with Allergies. Good luck.

I know my dog did well with going on a RAW diet, or at least go to foods that are human grade. Your choice if you cook or not. I know most people say allergies are not usually food related but they are immune system related and getting the immune system strong will help. I believe there are alot of hidden ingredients and chemicals in commercial dog foods that can cause this problem. Also the imune system can sometimes handle a few allergens but when it gets bombarded in the spring with pollens etc. it can overload. So eliminating some of the sources helps too. Another thing that helps is a cool bath and some diluted tea tree oil as a rinse every week or so. Hope that helps.

Actually thanks trailrider for reminding me re baths. What worked for my dwarf and his skin yuckies was baths with either tea ( regular tea NOT tea tree oil) or T-Gel ( a sulpher and tar based shampoo). You can also get a special oatmeal bath from the vet.

Nemo also gets on  a daily basis 1000 mg fish oil, 400 mg natural vit e and 50-75 mg of COq10 ( for all over support but if I miss it the skin shows it). In addition he gets 1-2x a week 25-50 mg zinc and 200mcg selenium both of which are specific for skin issues. Finally he gets ester c and a multiple vitamin B on an occassional basis also.

You may want to have your dog's thryoid test ( get the TSH test) . He might be borderline and thryoid definitely can affect the skin and itching.  Finally whatever you feed him you might want to try a short course of very light supplementation with pancreatic enzymes to make sure he is getting all he can from the food. You have to be careful with these however. Too much will cause diarehha.

Thanks for all of the helpful replies and advice.  In answer to some of the questions:

• He has been on imunotherapy almost a year now.
• I feed him Arden Grange lamb and rice
• I will try some of the suggestions raised by you, not sure about Atopica if it causes side affects mentioned by Wildmoor.  I don't think that risk is worth it, likewise with steroid shots.