Interesting thing my vet told us tonight about dogs and allergies.

[msdoolittle]

Lol, whoa! Well, I wouldn't call the vet an idiot, but I would take an opinion from a canine allergist in higher regards in that department. Every dog is different, so yes, there will be some allergic to grain, certain types of meats/proteins, as well as inhaled/environmental allergies. When I worked for a vet, we had a great many dogs who were allergic to inhaled allergies (dust mites, pollens, etc), and we also had several who could not tolerate any grains, beef, or chicken products. But, percentage-wise? I don't know, because often unforunately, even though a dog may have skin issues, many people just will NOT buy the better dog food, no matter what your suggestion is. So, maybe some of the dogs with chronic skin issues DO have a food allergy, but you wouldn't know because the owner would rather stick with Ol' Roy.

Yes, Benedryl is typically prescribed as 1mg per pound. Would cold knock out a human, but dogs are typically unaffected by this dosage.

And, yes, to test them out on food allergies is time consuming. You usually put them on a new diet for about 8 weeks to see if there is any improvement. Allergen testing can also be expensive (i.e. inhaled/environmental allergens). I always felt so bad for the dogs when they were in pollen season and had to come and get their allergy injections!

 

[pardygwyn]

The first question that popped into my head was "does the vet sell food?" Most offices do, and usually those foods have all the preservatives, meat "products" and grains you want to avoid. It wouldn't make sense for the office to sell something the vet won't advocate, so of COURSE all grains are fine!

Sweeping generalizations aside, my vet advocates a raw diet, never charges more than $150 for a spaying no matter how messy, and I love him. And of course, he's semi-retired now.

 

[breezy]

Maybe your vet sees mostly non food allergy related issues but I can assure you that food allergies are extremely common. I am a professional groomer who sees allergy related issues on a daily basis. Hot spots can be caused by allergies as well as be bacterial in nature or hormonal too. When we see allergy dogs our recommendation is to try them on a salmon and sweet potato diet. Salmon has a better essential fatty acid base than lamb does and weirdly rice is also a frequent allergen. As a simple home remedy to help supplement what the vet is doing for those ears, try adding 100 drops of good quality lavender essential oil to a regular bottle of witchhazel. Shake very hard and use this mix on a cotton ball to clean the ears each time before adding new medicine. The lavender will help speed the healing and soothe the ear plus its very antibacterial. You can add 25 drops to this mix of tea tree oil to help with the yeasty beasty the poor pooch is breeding. The whole allergy thing sucks. Im sorry your having to deal with it. From my own experience dealing with it I find that benedryl has always been a useless drug. My vet gave me a drug called temeril-p. Costs us 24 bucks for 30 pills but 30 pills equals 60 days treatment so really affordable.Works far better than benedryl as an anti itch med and altho is has a tiny amount of steroid in it we havent seen any steroid like symptoms from the dog that takes it daily. We started out giving her a lot but tapered th dose down as you would for a steroid. She now takes 1/2 pill er day to control her itching. She only weighs 40 pounds as opposed to your big poch but still the principle remains the same taper down to find the lowest maintenance dose. If you bathe her to give her topical relief look for products with pramoxine. Its a topical anesthetic and will give her a few hours of itch relief if you follow the directions exactly.
Best wishes and good luck

 

[chickerdoodle]

I worked two years with a board certified veterinary dermatologist and we saw LOTS of food allergies. We also saw LOTS of seasonal allergies too. I have seen many dogs improve with diet changes so I am a bit surprised at what this vet said. It is not that hard to try to diagnosis a food allergy by choosing a common grain or a protein to eliminate. Corn, wheat, glutens, beef and dairy are common allergens. Most supermarket pet diets have too many by-products and grains to try for this. There are some dogs with unusual food allergies and that can be tough to figure out but why not try to see if a different non grain food helps if it may decrease the drugs he needs? There are several diets on the market you can try although with a St. Bernard it may be a bigger price than with a chihuahua. I feel its better than just medicating willy nilly. Benadryl is fine to give but since the dog has yeast you should try to find out the allergen and starting with food is the easiest route to take to start. A fairly well tolerated food to start is a fish and sweet potato. There is EVO which has no grains and they have a fish one now too. That doesn't mean that diet will be the magic one but a good place to start. The lamb diet rarely helps anymore so I wouldn't start with that one. Talk to a good pet supply to see if they carry such a diet or perhaps that vet does carry a prescription diet suitable. They do use meds for yeast if it overwhelms the dog and there are shampoos as well. In the end you may need to find out what his seasonal allergies are as they can make him (and therefore you) miserable. Allergies are tough but can be helped--you just need to find someone who will.

 

[redhen]

I asked her what to feed him..she said shes not a raw fan..( Again..

.)..but that any name brand feed would be fine for him..hes on Purina one lamb and rice now... but she told me to put him back on large breed food... *now i was told by a breeder to NOT feed the giant breeds large breed food..because it can mess up their growth..they can grow too fast for their joints/bones..or something..) sigh... confusion..
but since he is 2 1/2 i think hes done growing..i can feed him large breed again?...
I was thinking of trying that diamond brand food at TSC? or neutro? What do ya'll think...

 

[TipsyDog]

I too must strongly disagree with your vet!!!

My dog has been suffering with hot spots, ears, endless scratching, etc. I switched all his food to grain free (Taste of the Wild worked well) and within TWO DAYS he improved 95%!!! I gave him benadryl for a couple of weeks after I switched his food and I washed him twice a week with Selsun Blue too. It all helped and now he seems like a new person, errr dog.

All my dogs are now grain free and no one stinks, farts or itchs themselves much anymore. <Now thinking of putting DH on grain free diet too!>

 

[breezy]

Large or giant breed diets are designed to SLOW down the groth rate so the puppies dont have such rapid growth that they get damage ....Your getting a lot of bad or conflicting advice from the people around you and must be so tired of that find a good online dog group and see if you can get help advice that is less contradictory

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:
Nutro is a half-decent food. Not the best, but not the worst. I personally like Innova EVO (as Chickerdoodle mentioned), Eukanuba and Solid Gold (which I use). Even if seasonal allergies are more common than food allergies..food allergies are still fairly common. My vet said that corn is fine as long as the dog doesn't have allergies to it. My cat went in for bad food allergies and she gave him Royal Canin Rabbit and Green Peas and within days we say a difference! If your dog is on a good quality lamb and rice, he is already on a common food allergy rood.

As for Benadryl...I asked my vet about an alternative since my dog (40 lbs) had to take it too often ( they said 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours!). My vet said get Alavert or Claritin (both are Loratadine 10 mg pills). 5 mg for her size, so 20 mg for a dog 160 lbs. It lasts 24 hrs! 2 pills once a day is MUCH easier than 6 pills twice a day!

You may want to ask your vet if it is an option.

Also, second opinions never hurt. I know VCA has a good reputation, but the VCA in my area is horrible. Another vet in the area may agree to see your dog (now that he is treated already) for just the office visit fee. If it is the same answer, than you may feel more confident that it is a seasonal allergy.

 

[maplesky7]

ha ha tipsydog.... no farts and no smellies? woo hooo!

 

[ams3651]

my dog is allergic to corn and I can tell you that is very common. I can tell when I have to buy grocery store food because I cant get to the pet store. She scratches a lot and....