Dogs and allergies

[hyperbole]

I've mentioned before that Poplin has a nasty habit of chewing all the fur off of his hind legs.. Some of you thought it might be allergies and suggested benedryl. I gave him a pill with peanut butter a couple times but it didn't seem to help that much. Anyone try Sudafed? Any luck with that? He doesn't have fleas, so I'm not sure what else it could be....

[mountain5]

Nope, don't do sudafed (pseudoephedrine hydrochloride). That's people only medicine! Something you can try is available at PetCo called "Allercaine". It contains Lidocaine with is a pretty good topical anesthetic and a chemical called "Bitteran" (sp?) which tastes like absolute crap to dogs. I accidently got some on my hands right before diving into some barbecue and thought I was gonna hurl . It should help keep those hotspots under control. Good luck!!

[hyperbole]

I tried the allercain and straight biocain and Poplin just laps that poop right up like it was yogurt.



He's losing more and more hair from his hind legs every day.

[mountain5]

Damn that's a bummer. What have you tried other than the meds you mentioned? Have you looked at non-parasitic sources of reaction (stuff other than flea/tick/mite)? Hope I'm not beating a dead horse here.

[mnp13]

I gave him a pill with peanut butter a couple times but it didn't seem to help that much.

'A' pill? Benedryl has a much milder effect on dogs than humans. Try at least three with each meal to start. Connor weighs about 55 pounds and he gets 6 a day, three with each meal. We have given him up to 6 at a time (as directed by his vet).

Up the dose and give it a few days to work. Generic Benedryl is very inexpensive, about $6 for 250 pills.

Michelle

[hyperbole]

I gave him a pill with peanut butter a couple times but it didn't seem to help that much.

'A' pill? Benedryl has a much milder effect on dogs than humans. Try at least three with each meal to start. Connor weighs about 55 pounds and he gets 6 a day, three with each meal. We have given him up to 6 at a time (as directed by his vet).

Up the dose and give it a few days to work. Generic Benedryl is very inexpensive, about $6 for 250 pills.

oh, I had no idea he needed that many pills...

Where do you get 250 pills of the stuff for $6?!?!? Sign me up!

[damienApbt]

hey hyper try switching to wellness fish and sweet potato. thats what i did and rod's skin problems have decreased tremenously. i dont have to give him benedryl that much any more. it might just be in my case but its worth the try.

[mnp13]

Where do you get 250 pills of the stuff for $6?!?!? Sign me up!

BJ's or Sam's club. It is slightly more expensive at drug stores, but not much more. You have to go generic.

[Jeff]

hey hyper try switching to wellness fish and sweet potato. thats what i did and rod's skin problems have decreased tremenously. i dont have to give him benedryl that much any more. it might just be in my case but its worth the try.

Ah yes, the stinky Wellnes fish and sweet potato. Man that stuff smells horrible
I cant remember but I thought you also give Rod the DermCaps ES. Des suffers from allergies too, and they kicked up real bad a month or two ago.
Hyperjoga, have you tried a fatty acid supplement? I give Dex DermCaps ES and it has def. helped him.

[damienApbt]

I cant remember but I thought you also give Rod the DermCaps ES. Des suffers from allergies too, and they kicked up real bad a month or two ago.
Hyperjoga, have you tried a fatty acid supplement? I give Dex DermCaps ES and it has def. helped him.

i dont even have to give him derm caps any more, wellness Fish SP really has been taking care of him. granted i still may have to start giving him the derm caps soon though, you never do know.

[Anshey]

Angel, my 2 year old suffers with allergies. My vet recommended Chicken Soup for the dog lovers soul and within 6 months her skin has totally cleared up and she is no longer taking Derm caps or Benadryl.

[hyperbole]

Well I got 100 generic Benadryl pills for $9 at a department store yesterday. We'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work, I'll try the switching from Canidae to the Wellness food... How long did it take for you to notice a difference in Rod's skin?

I give him a bit of Flax oil with his dinner once every three days or so (or whenever I remember to, hahaha)... Should I give him more? Will too much of this stuff hurt him?

It's definitely both legs, and I reeeeeally doubt he's got any kind of hip injury at this point... He's about as rough & tumble as they come.

[Demo Dick]

Too much flax will likely cause some loose stools and excessive fat storage, but it won't cause any real harm.

Demo Dick

[damienApbt]

it took a while to ease him off the crap i was feeding him before but as soon as he was only having the wellness, i noticed after he finished the first bag and when the season change hit. he's usually a mess with allergies at this point. i noticed a change in his skin right away, as far as the flakiness goes.

derm caps are pretty cheap and you can order them online. your only supposed to give one cap per every 50 lbs. i found the caps more beneficial than pouring that nastey crap on his food.

[Laurier]

Hyper- Have you ever taken him to the vet to determine the type of allergy causing this? Food, inhalant, etc.?

Buster has terrible inhalant allergies, but instead of getting a runny nose and itchy eyes like us humans get it affects his skin, specifically his belly. It gets super red with bumps and very itchy. I just adopted him at the end of last summer so his allergies would act up but they never got to bad, the vet reccomended 50mg of Benadryl 3 times a day. All through the winter his allergies were fine, then a couple of months ago his skin broke out very badly, I took him to the vet and they gave him a steroid shot and perscribed atarax, an antihistamine. The shot cleared it up completely. The atarax prevented him from breaking out again.

A good way for you to determine the type of allergy causing this is whether its year round or just during certain seasons. If its just during the summer it could be a flea allergy or an inhalant allergy (pollen), if its year round its probably a food allergy or an allergy to something in your home.

I would suggest taking Poplin to the vet to have it checked out