Allergies in dogs?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Is it worth it to try to narrow down what the allergy is?  Environment vs food?  Anyone do a food trial?  Treatment:  Apoquel vs some injection that I think starts with a C?  

[Jean in Newcastle]

Cytopoint is the name of the injection 

[Pawz4me]

I've done a food allergy elimination diet. It's tedious but do-able if you and everyone in the house is on board and very diligent.

What about testing and desensitization shots? I did that with a previous dog and it worked very well. He went from having chronic ear and skin infections to being almost symptom free within a couple of months of starting desensitization shots.

[Jean in Newcastle]

4 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I've done a food allergy elimination diet. It's tedious but do-able if you and everyone in the house is on board and very diligent.

What about testing and desensitization shots? I did that with a previous dog and it worked very well. He went from having chronic ear and skin infections to being almost symptom free within a couple of months of starting desensitization shots.

Vet talked about that but said that it only works in about 40% of cases?  

[MercyA]

Yes, I've done food trials. I agree with Pawz--it's tedious. It did give our dog quite a bit of relief when we found a food to which he didn't react.

If I had it to do over with him, I would have just gone with the blood testing right away. Here's an article about different types of allergy testing in dogs, the blood test in particular: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/rast-testing-in-dogs#:~:text=What is RAST testing%3F,of inhalant allergy) in dogs.

We didn't do skin testing on my dog because he was so very reactive to everything.

He also had allergy desensitization shots for dust mite allergy and a few grasses, which gave him additional relief.

[Shoeless]

I would try to sort out whether the allergy is food vs environmental vs both.  If it's food, then you switch to hypoallergenic foods and the problem is mostly solved. Do you or your vet have an idea of whether the issue is food or environment?

My dog has grass allergies (ugh), and I have to say that the Apoquel has been amazing. It's expensive, but it helps him so much.  

[Ausmumof3]

Grain free food helped a bit with our staffy although I’m not sure if there might be some other health concerns with that.

[MercyA]

12 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Grain free food helped a bit with our staffy although I’m not sure if there might be some other health concerns with that.

Yes, lots of good info here: dcmdogfood.com/taurine-dcm-faq/

My dog was allergic to corn and wheat and it did help him to switch to a sweet potato based diet, but now I would probably try something like oats instead.

[Pawz4me]

15 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Vet talked about that but said that it only works in about 40% of cases?  

It's been a long time and I've forgotten the exact statistics that were current back then. But yes--it doesn't work for all dogs. But when it works it can work really, really well.

 

12 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

I would try to sort out whether the allergy is food vs environmental vs both.  If it's food, then you switch to hypoallergenic foods and the problem is mostly solved. Do you or your vet have an idea of whether the issue is food or environment?

My dog has grass allergies (ugh), and I have to say that the Apoquel has been amazing. It's expensive, but it helps him so much.  

It can be really difficult to sort it out, though. Like I said before, doing a food allergy elimination diet can be really tedious. And timing can impact the results you think you see. Like now, when fall allergies are a thing -- You could start a food allergy elimination diet tomorrow and in a few weeks see improvement and think "Wow, it's something I've been feeding him/her" when in reality maybe it's because there was a hard frost that killed off the ragweed or other environmental thing(s) that the dog was reacting to, and you just thought it was food. Most allergic dogs are reacting to multiple things. Our previous dog tested as allergic to around 40 different things.

[ktgrok]

Environmental allergies are WAY more common than food allergies, but a diet high in fatty acids will help the skin barrier so food can effect the allergies from that standpoint. 

As for if I did testing it would depend on how severe it was I suppose. We did apoquel a few months of the year when it is bad, and then this year didn't have to do it at all after starting him on thyroid meds. His results are just borderline as needing meds, but since it helps his skin, helps his weight, etc we treat him. 

[Shoeless]

A food trial can be tedious, but it's also the easiest and cheapest in some ways. You can start a food trial today and not have to wait for allergy testing through a specialist.  Often once you tackle the "main" allergen, the lesser allergens are not as troublesome to the pet. 

For my dog, he was chewing his feet and sometimes getting staph lesions on his abdomen where he came in contact with the grass. We could have done a food trial, but since the issue was more localized, the odds were in favor of environmental allergen vs food. 

[kristin0713]

1 hour ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Is it worth it to try to narrow down what the allergy is?  Environment vs food?  Anyone do a food trial?  Treatment:  Apoquel vs some injection that I think starts with a C?  

I think this really depends on how uncomfortable the dog is. My dog seems to have environmental/seasonal allergies and she definitely reacts to fragrances so we use hypoallergenic shampoo or one with itch relief. That seems to alleviate most of the scratching that I notice this time of year. In her case, it’s just not bad enough to go through elimination diets or shots or meds. If she were gnawing off her feet or getting infections or just seemed miserable, I would pursue it. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Juliet gnaws on her feet. She’s on the same food that she did fine with on previous years. Whenever I try to stop the Apoquel she starts gnawing and scratching. My main concern with Apoquel (which has been working well) is that it is an immunosuppressant. 

[Pen]

Mine has several allergies.

Did not do testing but have done foods eliminating and observation. I try to avoid what I can of known triggers. And he had Quercitin (and omega 3 fatty acids and cod liver oil) before it became a thing for CV19 .

His worst allergy is flea bite. But corn, soy, chicken, and some plants are also problems. He also has trouble with the current smoke from fires, dust, fragrances and possibly cat dander .  

 

I have a green tea, salt water, iodine foot and belly spray that seems to help.   He tends to get contact allergy problems where he’s furless like tummy, nipples, feet. 

 

[Pen]

I use a slightly different recipe than this:

https://youtu.be/8YK-RW5SUOg

https://youtu.be/8YK-RW5SUOg

 

and I have it in a spray bottle rather than trying to use it as a soak .  I keep it refrigerated between use

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Pen

[wonderchica]

My dog is a terrible paw licker and our next stop was Apoquel. I’ve been giving her these supplements for about a month and they’ve made a big difference. A lot of reviewers said either the Apoquel quit working for their dogs and this stuff was better or they were able to come off it after starting these. I have no idea why they work but they seem to for my dog.

https://zestypaws.com/products/allergy-immune-soft-chews-for-dogs

[ktgrok]

10 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Juliet gnaws on her feet. She’s on the same food that she did fine with on previous years. Whenever I try to stop the Apoquel she starts gnawing and scratching. My main concern with Apoquel (which has been working well) is that it is an immunosuppressant. 

Yup. I don't like it, but it was the least of the bad options. 

You can try wiping/rinsing feet twice a day, or using a chlorhexidine/ketoconazole wipe on the feet, fi it is just there. 

[I talk to the trees]

We had a foot chewer (my avatar) and the vet determined that it was a combination of seasonal allergies and habit/anxiety. She put him on hydroxyzine (I think I spelled that correctly) as soon as the chewing behavior started in the spring and fall, and it worked beautifully. I don’t know if that’s an option for you. Can a pro (Katie? Paws?) chime in, please?

[Pawz4me]

57 minutes ago, I talk to the trees said:

We had a foot chewer (my avatar) and the vet determined that it was a combination of seasonal allergies and habit/anxiety. She put him on hydroxyzine (I think I spelled that correctly) as soon as the chewing behavior started in the spring and fall, and it worked beautifully. I don’t know if that’s an option for you. Can a pro (Katie? Paws?) chime in, please?

A lot of times paw licking/chewing starts due to allergies and then becomes a habit. It can also be solely an anxiety/OCD thing or even boredom. I always consider the anxiety/OCD/bored possibility in dogs who don’t have any other allergy symptoms (excessive itching or face rubbing, red skin, etc.). 

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

A lot of times paw licking/chewing starts due to allergies and then becomes a habit. It can also be solely an anxiety/OCD thing or even boredom. I always consider the anxiety/OCD/bored possibility in dogs who don’t have any other allergy symptoms (excessive itching or face rubbing, red skin, etc.). 

But a habit wouldn’t only start up when I take her off of Apoquel, would it?  

[Pawz4me]

6 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

But a habit wouldn’t only start up when I take her off of Apoquel, would it?  

No, not likely.