Another $200 & the vet still doesn't know what to do....

[justdog]

My 5 year old pit J.D. has been having hte same problem with his feet off and on for about a year now. He has licked between the toes on 3 of his four paws until they are bloody and raw. We have tried several doses of anitbiotics, prednisone, benadryl, anti-anxiety meds etc. Even if his paws clear up it seems that he goes right back to licking them again and they soon return to the same state they were in. The vet seems to think it may be an allergy issue, but no matter what course of medication we take he continues to lick his feet. Has anyone encountered the same or similar problem??

[moto1320]

Allergies can cause hot spots, feet chewing, etc. It can also be simple as food, what's the diet like. There are some folks here who have dogs with serious food allergies.

[gooeydog]

Could be allergies, or even a yeast infection (or a combination of the two). I think the vet can do a culture to rule out the latter, and an allergy test or trying different foods should help determine if its allergies.

[barbponys]

One of my boxers had a yeast infection on his feet, it was pretty disgusting. Took a while of daily treatments to clear it up.

It does sound like allergies though. You might try one of the limited ingredient diets, wish there was a duck and oat diet instead of potato but that seems like a good place to start. I would avoid any of the common grains if I was in your place, rice, corn, wheat, soy, perhaps even barley. Duck and potato diets are available through Natural Balance, or Simply Natural. If you can get it the Simply Natural is the better of the two. I believe the cost is about the same, maybe a buck difference. Good luck.

Pat

[justdog]

For the last 6 months I have had him on Royal Canin Mature 26 for large breeds and before that Nutro. To rule out a food allergy what steps should I take? When I switched him to the Royal Canin I didn't notice a difference in his licking for the better or worse, it just stayed the same. As of today we have him on 1 week of prednisone and then an antibiotic for a month. The scrape they did of his nail bed tested negative for yeast.

[moto1320]

In a perfect world one of the high end foods listed in the diet threads would be good for many reasons. I used to feed Nutro. Cheaper a food is the more grains and the grains can cause problems. I feed Innova now, Wellness is good, Solid Gold, Canidae are all good choices. Some have to feed raw to avoid outbreaks. Trial and error...

[phez718]

Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato is great with allergenic dogs you can look up the ingredients on http://www.OldMotherHubbard.com

[mnp13]

For the last 6 months I have had him on Royal Canin Mature 26 for large breeds and before that Nutro. To rule out a food allergy what steps should I take? When I switched him to the Royal Canin I didn't notice a difference in his licking for the better or worse, it just stayed the same. As of today we have him on 1 week of prednisone and then an antibiotic for a month. The scrape they did of his nail bed tested negative for yeast.

Connor was a train wreck when I started fostering him. I would stop feeding commercial food all together for a few weeks. To get his allergies in check (and for other reasons as well) we went to a bland diet - rice and meat. It was not all that expensive and you can cook enough for a week in about an hour. Ground beef and rice or chicken and rice.

If you can get him 'evened out' on that diet you will have a base line to try food from. If he has a bad reaction you can always go right back to the bland.

Michelle

[SKoth]

I would agree trying to switch his food to a fish and potato or one of the IVD foods like rabbit, venison etc. Other than that if you vet isn't figuring it out I would ask for a dermatology specialist referal. That's their gig and if anyone can figure it out they can! Good Luck!

[barbponys]

I don't agree with the use of rice. It's one of the huge culprits of allergies. If you must use grain with meat try oatmeal, NOT the instant stuff. It's been stripped of all it's benefits and is pure sugar. If you want to feed dry food use one of the duck and potato formulas by Natural Balance or Simply Natural. A lot of the venison formulas use rice.

I would take him off dry food all together as well. It sounds like he has a lot going on and getting his system back in balance will help. If you are getting the blood titer allergy test done you might want to consider having the advanced one done, they check for the more obscure types of allergies with that one too. I finally had to do that with my pug cuz his allergies had morphed into a monster. Good luck.

Pat

[justdog]

Thank you all for all your help. This has been the most useful site, I wish that I had found it months ago.
I have thought that maybe it was a boredom issue as he does most of his licking while I am at work but we tried him on an anti-anxiety medication and that still didn't work. I m leaning more toward a food or airborne allergy. The Canidae dog food, will that be ok to try or should I try something more bland?

[CinderDee]

I have exactly the same issue with my dog. The vet said that it is allergies and put him on antibiotics, ear drops and Hydroxyzine HCL.
He had really improved, but now his feet are getting infected again.

I tried the Wellness fish & potato, Solid Gold Holistique and a few others with no noticeable improvement. I am now feeding him a venison & rice food, but he doesn't seem to be any better.

I think my next step is the allergy testing.

I wouldn't use Canidae at this point. Why don't you try a duck/potato or something of that nature. Also, why don't you ask your vet for some of the Hydroxyzine HCL or Pamoate. It does help.

Good luck!
If you find something that helps please let me know.

Dee

[moto1320]

Canidae is great, if that doesn't work you can always try the Wellness fish and Sweet Potato. I have always used rice and chicken to even out tummy problems before easing into a more compex diet and would lean toward Michelle's advice.

Though, I have never had a dog with a food allergy and Pat does know her stuff on diet fo sho. At least if you want to try the rice and chicken or beef you don't have to worry about it causing the runs, and can switch to kibble. Be prepared that whenever going to a different food, especially a hotter food like the better brands are, your pup may have loose stools for a little while. Good luck.

[justdog]

Thanks Dee. I am so glad that there are other dog owners with the same problems. This thing with J.D.'s feet seems like such an ongoing battle and no one I knew with dogs had ever experienced anything like it. I will try the duck and potato. Right now I have him on antibiotics and prednisone so for the time being it is starting to clear up, but I know as soon as he gets off the meds he'll be right back to chewing his feet. I really appreciate everyone's help.

Tanya

[CinderDee]

I have to veer off topic for a sec.

Littlefoot, you have the best avatars!


Dee