S/O - Itchy Puppy

[AlmiraGulch]

My olde english bulldogge bulldog puppy has itchy skin. It's a hallmark of the breed. He eats skin/coat puppy food, and gets a daily dose of omega-3. This has really helped his itchiness, and he's very shiny! :)

 

He still does have a few bad patches, though, and he chews at them. I have tried oatmeal baths and Benadryl, but I think maybe something topical to relieve the itch would keep him from chewing/licking it long enough for him to heal.

 

Someone (Liz in CA?) recommended coconut oil on the area for immediate relief, and I think I may try that. Does anyone else have other suggestions? Picture of one of one of the affected areas below (sorry for the blur...wiggly puppy). He has one more just like it.

 

Edited September 20, 2012 by QValencia

[Dory]

I would change his dog food. I'm guessing he has some food sensitivities, or perhaps some mild allergies to something he's coming in contact with in his environment. I have a pit bull here who has problems with his skin like that. He cannot have anything with beef, chicken, or pork. Many of the dog foods on the market have chicken oil or by products somewhere in their list of ingredients. Blue Buffalo Lamb and rice is one of the few so far that I've found that doesn't. His skin clears up fairly well on that one. I also feed him a mostly raw diet now as I can control what he's eating better that way. I keep a lot of the other dogs on the Blue Buffalo so that if he does get into their food, he at least won't be breaking out. I have also noticed that every once in awhile when we are traveling, he will have a mild break out. I'm still trying to pin point if it's a stress thing or an environmental thing in those instances.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Dory

[AlmiraGulch]

Good advice!

 

I'm actually in the process of trying new foods now. I've read that grain-free is often very good for dogs, but now that you mention the meats I'm sort of confused. I supposed I'll just have to try until I find something that works for him.

[Pawz4me]

Allergies in dogs can be very complicated.

 

A lot of people will jump right on the food allergy bandwagon. And it's true that food can be a problem. But inhalant allergies and flea bite allergies are much, much more common and, unfortunately, much harder to deal with. Right now in the southeast ragweed is a BIG problem.

 

Most dogs who have allergies are allergic to multiple things. My 12-yo dog tested allergic to 37 things when he was about a year and a half old. My vet said he'd never tested a dog who turned out to be allergic to less than 20 things. Of course only the dogs with really bad allergies usually get tested, so yours may only be allergic to a handful of things. But the moral of the story is that it's unlikely to be just one or two triggers.

 

From that picture I'd hazard a guess that your guy may have a secondary bacterial infection going on. It's a vicious cycle -- the dog gets itchy from allergies and scratches/licks/chews. That damages the skin and allows bacteria that normally live on the skin to "take over." The bacterial infection makes the dog even more itchy and he scratches/licks/chews even more. If he were mine, I'd take him into the vet just in case he needs some antibiotics.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Pawz4me

[AlmiraGulch]

Allergies in dogs can be very complicated.

 

A lot of people will jump right on the food allergy bandwagon. And it's true that food can be a problem. But inhalant allergies and flea bite allergies are much, much more common and, unfortunately, much harder to deal with. Right now in the southeast ragweed is a BIG problem.

 

Most dogs who have allergies are allergic to multiple things. My 12-yo dog tested allergic to 37 things when he was about a year and a half old. My vet said he'd never tested a dog who turned out to be allergic to less than 20 things. Of course only the dogs with really bad allergies usually get tested, so yours may only be allergic to a handful of things. But the moral of the story is that it's unlikely to be just one or two triggers.

 

From that picture I'd hazard a guess that your guy may have a secondary bacterial infection going on. It's a vicious cycle -- the dog gets itchy from allergies and scratches/licks/chews. That damages the skin and allows bacteria that normally live on the skin to "take over." The bacterial infection makes the dog even more itchy and he scratches/licks/chews even more. If he were mine, I'd take him into the vet just in case he needs some antibiotics.

 

This is great information. Thank you! I hadn't considered a bacterial infection. I'll get him to the vet.

[gingersmom]

My vet has a bulldog puppy (about a year old) that has such severe allergies. She got it from clients who couldn't afford the vet bills. She said she obviously gets the medicine cheaper but that it is still out of control.

 

I would definitely get your dog into a vet. I had a dog with horrible allergies. Changing food did nothing. I paid for allergy testing which just revealed he was allergic to just about everything on the planet (seriously). I paid thousands to a vet specialist who tried to come up with allergy shots that would work for him. A year later and several thousand dollars later I gave up and just went with daily oral medicine.

 

Good luck!

[AlmiraGulch]

My vet has a bulldog puppy (about a year old) that has such severe allergies. She got it from clients who couldn't afford the vet bills. She said she obviously gets the medicine cheaper but that it is still out of control.

 

I would definitely get your dog into a vet. I had a dog with horrible allergies. Changing food did nothing. I paid for allergy testing which just revealed he was allergic to just about everything on the planet (seriously). I paid thousands to a vet specialist who tried to come up with allergy shots that would work for him. A year later and several thousand dollars later I gave up and just went with daily oral medicine.

 

Good luck!

 

Ugh.

 

Luckily the Olde English breed doesn't have most of the health problems of the English. Still, they aren't immune. Looks like allergy tests may be in our near future. Time to make the appointment......

[Joker]

My doggy had skin problems and spots like that. He's on grain free food, and he takes a medication, Atopica, every other day. It's the only thing that's helped. Before we tried the Rx, we were at the vet's often to get steroids because his spots would get infected. :glare: Good luck!

[KungFuPanda]

My dog has seasonal allergies. They're kicking in NOW. I have to get him in before he scratches his skin off. He's 6 and didn't show symptoms until last year.

 

They put him on prednisone and something else for a fairly short time. It took care of the problem and the rest of the year was fine. They said I could give him Benadryl. One of my students is a vet who just went to a conference a few weeks ago. The newest finding is that Benadryl doesnt really help the allergy. It just knocks the dog out and since he doesn't scratch while sleeping it might benefit a bit that way.

[Pawz4me]

The newest finding is that Benadryl doesnt really help the allergy. It just knocks the dog out and since he doesn't scratch while sleeping it might benefit a bit that way.

 

I don't doubt that finding.

 

Cases in point -- I suspect my one-year old Shih Tzu has a mild ragweed allergy. Benadryl has seemed to help him. His allergy symptoms are so mild that I wouldn't doubt the Benadryl works mainly by making him sleepy. OTOH, my 12-yo Brittany, the allergy king I posted about above who's been tested and was on shots for almost ten years -- Before the shots no antihistamine we tried--and we tried several in very high doses per the vet's direction--gave him enough relief from the severe itching that he (or anyone in the room with him) could sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. My guess is that the antihistamines didn't help much at all to relieve his itchiness, and he was so miserable and uncomfortable that even with the sedation effect of the antihistamines he couldn't sleep much.