Flea Allergies!! Anyone know of a Natural Remedy?? - Page 1

I'm looking for a natural remedy for Flea Allergies.  Anyone have any input?  I do not want to subject my dog to any cortizone or steriod injections.   

 How about getting rid of the fleas to start with? This means on the dog and in the house and in the yard etc. No fleas, no problem.

The fleas are gone, but his skin is still irritated!  He's been on K9 Advantix, just cause the fleas are gone does not mean his skin is better!  K9 Advantix does not treat flea allergies.  It kills fleas.  Once I get his skin better then there will be no problem!     

Try Emu Oil, a little goes a long way.

Apple Cider Vinegar is supposed to help. This was is being discussed on another thread (urine burns on lawn) Snijper69 kindly posted this link which is very interesting reading. http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/acvfordogs.html

First make sure his system is supported with a high quality diet. I would try to incorporate at least some raw once a day ( my grocery has frozen chicken quarters for 62c/lb ). You may want to temporarily dust his food with some Viocase to make sure he's getting all the benefits from it. You may be able to find someone to share a bit with you since it's very expensive and only sold in larger quantities.  Has he been checked for pancreatic insufficency and thyroid (the TSH Michigan test only)? Both of these can also cause severe skin problems. Vets are very quick to attribute skin problems to flea bite allergy and not look further. I would first try some fish oil supplements since they are anti-inflammatory. Start with 1 pill 1000 mg. If he will tolerate it ( may cause looseness in stool) can try increasing dose to 1 am and 1 pm. Zinc and selenium are both good for skin and hair BUT you have to be very CAREFUL with these two as you can OD with them and it will be toxic.  What I do is give them about every third day intially but working backwards to once a week.  Please check with others re the dosage given the size/age of your dog etc. ( Zinc usually comes in 25 and 50 mg;Selenium in 200 mcg. My rule of thumb is always to start small and slow). Also don't forget some Ester C. Again dosage will be dependent as tolerated because can cause looseness of stool.

Finally you may want to try a bioflavenoid called Quercetin.  It is being recommended for human allergies. What it specifically does is reduce inflammation in the skin's mast cells. I can not recommend a dose - don't know. If you have a specialty health food store in town ( not a chain) they should be able to help you with information. I believe tho that this falls into the category of might help won't hurt and if it does you can play around with different dosages. ( Have often thought we need to try this with dogs that get mast cell tumours which are common in GSDs and ultimately fatal.)

Supplements take time to work (weeks sometimes months)  and a normal occurence is for the skin to get worse before it gets better. Keep in mind that the skin is the largest organ of the body and it is one of the ways our body gets rid of toxic substances so often in a flare it has to "spit" out all the bad gunk before it starts to heal. I think you are wise to avoid the cortisone and steroid injections if at all possible. They just seem to set up a spiral of bacterial and fungal infections followed by a new flare followed by ... ad infinitum.  While waiting for diet and supplements to work you may want to use small does of benedryl to help him thru the worst itching. Also your vet can provide you with a soothing oatmeal bath or I suggest you brew some strong sun tea and bath him with that ( old time remedy - works great).  I never remember whether it's baking soda(I think so) or baking powder but one of those works as a soothing skin relief also - perhaps other board members know the correct one.  Finally I have also used T-Gel a commercial human shampoo that is sulfer and tar based. It also brings relief.  Just be careful and do not over bathe him as that can cause it's own set of problems. Also based on some of the recent threads re flea/tick control products it sounds like they bring their own skin issues.  Can you use other methods to control the fleas so that you can eliminate the possiblity that the topical solution is part of the problem? Good luck let us know how it goes.

Wow!! Thanks for the great info, we have an appt on Friday for the vet.  I will definately get him checked and start from there.  I have tried anti itch & medicated shampoos but they only give temporary relief.  So thank you for the post.

I posted this earlier but it seems to have been deleted. GOKW?????

You may want to check out http://www.springtimeinc.com/  they have great products including something called Bug OFF Garlic.  I have never used it but they have a loyal following.  Certainly falls into the won't hurt might help category. I love their tonic blend both for myself and the dogs and buy it when I can afford it ( wh/ is not right now unfortunately). I have two bone on bone knees and it makes a big difference plus gives me energy.  They also have a powdered form of Vit C which makes it easy to put in food.  Many of the "horse" products offer a smaller container for dogs.   Great company to deal with and the owner has a gordeous sable GSD ( I suspect Timo lines from the look of him).

You may want to try some CoQ10 also (30,50 or 75 mg). While it is known more as a heart and general systemic support I have found with Nemo ( dwarf pictured to the right) that when I run out of the Coq10 his skin will start to flare.

Good luck with your guy and please do keep us appraised of his progress. 

PS if you use the benedyrl to ease the itch I would suggest getting the kind with no dyes etc.  Also the tea (this is regular Salada / Red Rose/Lipton) does soothe and heal at the same time.  I know some folks have also used tea tree oil which is a totally different creature but I found it smelly and messy.

PPS if you do decide to try a temporary dusting of the viocase to increase availability of nutrients make sure you use the powder not a pill. The pill is too hard to control the dosage and too much causes as many problems as too little. PM if you need help in getting some of the viocase.