Allergies... - Page 1

Hey, I was wondering if you guys have any advice on allergies?

My moms Golden is just miserable. She looks horrible. Every time she sheds, its like shes allergic to herself. She gets hotspots, starts to chew and itch. It gets to the point that her whole body shakes because she itches so much and she sort of bumbles along. She is 11 years old (born 4/18/2000), but these allergies have just cropped up the last few years. She has never been spayed, nor had pups. She is not my dog and does not live with me... but I do see her about once a week (sometimes more), and I cannot stand seeing her like this. We got her when my parents were still together, and I have grown up with the dog... when her coat is full, she is perfectly happy and healthy... she only gets this way when she sheds. The have been giving her oatmeal baths.

Do any of you have any suggestions as to what I could do/give her to help her out?

 

There could be several things going on with this old gal...if her allergies are limited to spring and fall, then chances are she has inhalent allergies that are triggered by pollens and mold spores that circulate in the air at those times of the year.  You could have her treated with shots to desensitize her to those things, but that might be hard on an older dog and not all dogs respond so as to get relief from the allegic reaction. 

Tell us more about what happens when she has this problem: does she lick, chew and scratch at her paws, face, ears, and belly? Or does she just get hot spots on her back and over her hips, at the base of her tail and on her sides? 

Is your Mom brushing her daily as soon as shedding season starts, or does she tend to wait until the dog's coat really starts coming out in clumps on it's own?  If it's the latter, the problem may be related to the old, dead undercoat, accompanying dander and sebaceaous secretions not permitting the skin to 'breathe'. 

Has the old girl been examined by her vet when she develops this problem? If so, what instructions were given for treating the condition?  Was it responsive to prednisone? Does she have any other health issues, such as low thyroid?

Given that you say the trouble starts when she sheds, I take it that this isn't a year-round thing, but is instead seasonal? Spring and fall?

Once you can supply all this info, it might be easier to figure out what's going on, and what might help this old trooper. :)

Allergies, especially ones affecting the skin, are a difficult puzzle to solve, especially since they tend to be cumulative: the allergic response starts with one allergen but is very mild, but then the dog becomes sensitive to something else, too, which causes the allergic response to become much more serious, which can then make the dog more susceptible to becoming sensitive to yet something *else* it's exposed to....there's a reason why veterinary dermatology specialists are not found on every corner in every town.  It's a very tough and frustrating specialty.

She can have benadryl for the itching, I had a female gsd that was allergic to fleas, one bite and she was doing the same thing, and she also had an affinity for eating live wasps which caused her mouth to swell, we gave her one 25mg tab of benadryl in the morning and at night when her skin was bugging her, it really helped.  I don't know if the dose is the same but I would think goldens are fairly close weight wise to what Lady was.

Ditto to what Hexe and Donnerstorm said. The only thing I could add would be that even with other allergies besides food, changing food can often help because a food that isn't causing low-grade inflammation allows the immune system to function better. Most of the immune system is centered in the gut, so when you have a healthy gut, you often find other nagging little problems can disappear.

If she were mine, I'd treat her symptoms immediately because she's surely miserable. But then I'd analyze what she eats and see where there is room for improvement. I'd put her on wild salmon oil and vitamin e, and also get her a GOOD quality probiotic to get her gut back in order. These simple things were what helped my old APBT who had (literally) HOLES in her neck anywhere metal touched her.

Benadryl helps a lot if it is seasonal allergies.  This web site has information on what dosage to give to a dog depending on weight:  http://www.benadrylfordogs.org/ .

Here is an article that may be helpful! It's written by Holistic Veterinarian Dr. Karen Becker.http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/09/15/help-your-dog-overcome-these-common-allergies.aspx 
Hope it helps some!
Debby

I got to thinking after I posted. I had a friend who had a lab who started having skin problems loosing hair in spots etc. They did all the skin scrapes and tests they could think of turns out the dog was allergic to the floor cleaners she was using.  When your moms dog sheds it has less hair to shield it from the floor, so if nothing else seems to pan out it's something to consider.  My friend ended up getting an all natural floor cleaner from a health food store, and after she moped she would go back over the floor a couple times with just clean water to make sure it was pretty much off the floor, and sometimes she would just mop with vinegar and water, that helped her lab she never had a problem after.

They are not the best owners in the world.

They have taken her to the vet before, and the vet would give her a shot which would help for a couple of days. She'd also get this anti-itch spray for her hotspots which would help if they remembered to put it on. Mom will brush her about once every other day, after she really starts shedding... when the clumps start falling out. Right now she has no undercoat. Her top coat is very thin, dry and rough. The only 'thick' fur she has is on her neck - she barely has any feathering on her tail or belly. Very pitiful looking.

Normally she wears a harness when she's outside, but they've had to switch to a collar because she has sores on her side and the base of her neck/shoulder. She chews her feet/legs and her butt... really anywhere she can reach. Her face has sores from her scratching... shes such a sweet dog, but you just don't even want to pet her because she feels so gross.... but I do because she is just miserable, poor thing. :(

Like I said, its just when she sheds, and shes a weird shedder. She'll blow coat in the dead of winter, or the middle of spring... you just never know. (I know they do twice a year, but....) Last time she was shedding was in January, and she did the same thing.

The only other health issues I can think of would be that her ear kinda crumpled up last year (she got really big.... bubbles, would be a good word, and they shriveled her ears), plus she gets ear infections. Oh, and when she was a puppy she had something wrong with her eye to where it turned her eye blue, and shes got a bunch of scar tissue in it.... but her sight is fine. That hasn't been a problem since though. Plus she REEKS

Shes been on Science Diet since she was a pup.... they tried to switch her to Ol' Roy, but she did HORRIBLE on it (surprise, surprise), and as soon as she went back to SD she was normal again so shes been on it since.

When I was there last night she was rollling on her back and MY GOD you should see her poor tummy! Around her legs, her skin is black (and its not dirt because I tried to wipe it off), and her underside up onto her sides looks like its just covered in a rash. But oh "Its just because shes pulling her fur out - you should tell her to quit!" -.-

I don't know how they can see her like that every day. I see her for ten minutes and it makes me want to cry.

They give her Benadryl every now and then but mom says it doesn't help so they quit.

Last time she started chewing, was because of fleas. And it REALLY pissed me off because they're like "Oh, you should bring Chey (my cat) over so Laura (half sister) can play with her." So I did. (Chey loves going for rides in the car) And that night I was petting Jewel and a flea jumped on me. I told them she had fleas and they proceeded to LAUGH about it and say things to Jewel  like "How's my little fleabag?" I told them if Chey gets fleas I was never bringing her over again, nor would I be coming over, and we left right afterwards. Chey got a bath as soon as we got home, I took a shower, did laundry, and she got a shot of Revolution, and luckily never got them.
But poor Jewel tore all of her fur out, had huge gashes and sores, an\d it ultimately took me threatening to report them to Animal Control to get them to take care of her.

DJC - thanks for the link - I'll check it out!
Jenni - I will pick some of that up then... is there a good probiotic you suggest?
Donner - I don't think they clean their floors with special cleaner.... they just vaccuum and sweep, as far as I know. I've wondered in the past if it had something to do with the chemicals their apartment guys put on the grass, but they only do that once a year.

That is horrible!! You mentioned ear infections.  I had a gsd that was allergic to corn the allergy showed up when she was about a yr old, she would get ear infections and itchy.  I didn't mean special cleaners my friend was using the regular lysol etc to mop with and that was what was bothering her.  Although it doesn't sound like if it is the cleaners they are going to be willing to go through any extra effort to make her more comftorable.  Could also be an allergy to fleas, if the cat has them you know the dog has them, as well as the carpet etc.  Sounds like you are in a pretty tough situation. sorry.

A-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-righty, then.  Awful coat. Funky ears, leading to a hemotoma (that 'bubble' thing you described). Has a funky odor about her, which is most likely from excess sebum production by the skin as it tries to cope with the scratching; could also be indicative of a secondary staph infection establishing--depends on the smell, as each smells different but neither are pleasant. The 'blue eye' thing is a reaction to a componant in the distemper vaccines that occurs in some pups, so that's probably unrelated.

Based on what you've described, don't think this is just seasonal inhalent allergy then, as much as it is not-doing-well-on-what-she's-being-fed, and then possibly some environmental allergens piling on top.  Not getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids, and very well may be sensitized to the something in the feed to boot. The Benedryl isn't going to help if part or all of the problem is caused by what she's eating...and even a steroid injection (prednisone, which is most likely what the vet gave her) isn't going to be able to overcome something the dog's being fed every day.  Additionally, ideally, she'd have an exam and some bloodwork run by the vet to rule out both hypothyroidism and Cushing's disease...

For what they pay for Science Diet, they could be giving her something that would suit her needs better, IMO.  While I'm of the opinion that a healthy dog with a normal immune system should be able to eat corn or soybean products without it causing an allergic response, the fact is that there are a legion of dogs that ARE sensitive to those ingredients, and other dogs that can't abide other food items.  I'm betting that she'd do much better on a feed that doesn't have soybean or corn, given how she responded when they tried to feed her Ol' Roy.  If your Mom lives near a Costco, their Kirkland brand dry food is pretty damn good, and extremely competitively priced--I think it's probably even less expensive than Science Diet (sadly, I am Costco-deprived, as there are none in my area). 

The supplements Jenni mentions may be helpful as well, but if they'll do NOTHING else, they need to at minimum make a change in food and get her started on *any* brand of fish oil capsules (1000 to 1500 mg twice daily) to kick up the Omega 3 FA's.  She also probably needs more than just an oatmeal shampoo; she needs to be bathed with a shampoo that will not only soothe the skin, but will also remove any excess sebum and help control its production. A check with a local groomer or with the vet should direct you to the right shampoo formula for the old girl's issues.

If they resist doing anything, remind them that in most states, failure to provide adequate medical care IS a crime...and not treating this poor dog's skin condition and keeping it controlled is failure to provide adequate medical care.

Would it be possible for you take her home with you for a while, to get her started on recovering?

Oh, and one more question: does anyone in the household smoke? 'Cause that is also high on the list of allergens, both as a primary cause and as a secondary one.

Please keep in touch and give updates on how the old girl's faring.