Do Your Dogs Have Allergies

[Dookiebutt]

Do any of you have dogs with allergies? My lab gets allergies every summer and scratches the fur off his feet and around his eyes. He looks like ****. Any thoughts on giving him some relief?

And no, it's not fleas either.

[countrymama]

my mom had a mini beagle that had skin allergies that they discovered was from the food he ate. she had to buy lamb & rice food other wise he looked like he had mange, almost...really dandruffy skin and flaking all over...scratched all the time too...but the food finally fixed it...

[ArkansasHunter]

My Lab died of old age 3 month's ago and yes we from time to time took him to the Vet for cortazone shot's due to itching and matting eyes.
He had allergies to something...A.H

[dceptiv240]

i had a great dane, doberman, rottweiler mix that had an allergy to fleas poor guy that was an itchy dog!

i called him my great rott-dober-dane! his name was Cody! i miss him!

[wirehunt]

Only allergy my mutts have is their allergic to listening to me when we're hunting ..

[Johnny_Revolver]

Late summer could be a clue, watch out he doesn`t roll on a freshly mown lawn, it`ll make them itch like crazy. See if you can find a dog shampoo (ch) that contains tee tree oil, that works a treat.

[Upland Idaho]

Cortizone and Lamb based dog food. The Lamb formula was designed to resolve some allergy issues. Also Wheat is a bad deal. Cut your dog off of all bread type table scraps and try to keep his diet very controlled for a couple months to see if that helps the issue. My girlfriends dog was nearly bald from scratching a couple years back and she limited his diet to raw food, no table scraps and he is one big fluff-ball now. He was allergic to the wheat is what we think.

[Beer Forever]

My dogs don't, but I sure do.

[ArkansasHunter]

I wished i could of read these post years ago, the lamb food and mowed grass and shampoo makes sense. Some summers my dog looked like he had the mange but he didn't...A.H

[Scot Van]

My lab has severe allergies, Dookie, and his symptoms matched those of your pooch exactly. He scratched until there was no hair! And the skin was all scaley.

His issues are diet related. We tried lamb and rice, venison and millet...even salmon and sweet potato foods...they all eventually resulted in the same thing. No disrespect to anything anyone else has told you but, this problem is probably because your dog is allergic to the meat based protiens in most dog foods (the wheat thing is a good lead, too...what follows will take care of that). That's right, a dog that is allergic to meat. Mine eats a veggie formula that is easy to get because apparently, this isn't all that uncommon.

Here is a good opportunity to test to see if that is his issue!!! You can get Nature's Recipe at Petco or Petsmart. Look for the Vegetarian Formula and get your dog on it for a month (it isn't more expensive than any other good brand of dog food). If the nasty issues subside, you've got your answer. I'm betting he'll feel better after a week and the histamines in his system subside.

A little Benadryl works wonders at first, but I emphasize LITTLE...you'll have a snoring pooch instead of a bird dog!

PS: My wife is a vet and says this it is fine to give a 100lb lab half a Benadryl before getting active. She's also cool with what I've just written here, so try it!!!

[Dookiebutt]

Scot, we were giving him up to five bendryl twice per day. It helped, but didn't stop it. He has minor, almost undectectible symptoms year round. They explode in July. He looks like **** and must be miserable. We are trying allergy shots now. I have no opinion yet. I am certainly willing to try the veggie food. It won't be that much of a stretch. My wife feeds them carrots, apples, brocolli, etc. They love it as much as any other treat.

[troy2000]

Years ago, a girlfriend of mine had a Doberman with lick granulomas on her front ankles. She kept them raw and bleeding. We tried everything the vets told us, including cones on her head, this med and that one, even Ace bandaging them and covering them with Tabasco Sauce.

That certainly didn't work; she developed a taste for Tabasco. She 'd hang around sucking and licking those bandages a little at a time until all the sauce was gone; then she'd peel the Ace bandages off and go back to destroying her ankles.

Finally we took her to a new vet who said, "she has a dust-mite allergy." We went, "huh? How would that make her just lick those two spots?" He said, "trust me," gave her ONE shot of something, and she never licked her ankles again. They healed right up.