Itchy Face

[Hollis]

Hi all! <waves>

 

Greta has an itchy face. Sometimes her neck. But no where else. She actually scratched herself a couple of times from the scratching and she can get her toes under her lips to seemingly scratch her gums! If she has allergies, wouldnt the itchy be everywhere instead of localized? She gets a benadryl per vet with meals, but I dont think its helping. If anything her itchies have got worse. Not constant. Not at any particular time. Its just when she scratches she SCRATCHES!

 

If I change food for her, what would be the best? I know I would have to start eliminating foods and reintroducing. I'm almost wondering if I should attempt the raw cubes just for her? Then its just one food source?

 

arrgggh.... we've been lucky. 8 years and 5 greys and first possible allergy issue.

 

All advice appreciated! TIA!

[XTRAWLD]

Kasey's allergies were localized to his face, predominantly ears, but he'd scratch his muzzle with his back claws so hard drawing blood and scabbing.

 

Going through allergies is a pain (no pun intended), and takes a lot of trial and error. I could write a book. It might not just be food, could be environmental. Greta had a trigger that just set her off, and it's hard to narrow down exactly which one was the cause.

 

For starters, you could do a blood test to determine what she is allergic to, but the results aren't as accurate as a skin test. We never got to the skin test stage because Kasey could not stay off prednisone long enough to be able TO test. We used prednisone to control his allergies. Now years later, he is nearly allergy free after being being moved to raw food.

 

If I knew how much of a difference it would make, I would have turned to raw the moment it started happening, but I understand this isn't a change everyone is willing to make/take.

 

Keep us posted.

[Hollis]

What about treats? How did you handle that?

[Hollis]

Picked up raw patties (beef) from store. $4.95 a lb. Greta is 60ish lbs. I was told a lb a day. Can't afford it. They said I could do 1/2 lb day patties and 1/2 lb day duck necks. This will still be difficult. Also that I could supplement with sweet potato.

 

Does pricing and amount sound right? They said beef had the least amount of allergens. If I go to local butcher and get the end scrap, does that work?

 

And what do I do about treats?

 

She doesn't constantly itch. Am I over thinking this? I've always bought lamb food. Maybe switching to dry duck or turkey or salmon?

 

 

Ackk. Too much for my pea brain.

[Guest k9soul]

When one of my girls started with allergies a few years ago she mostly scratched and rubbed at her face and ears. At one point she even made her muzzle bleed where her whiskers are. I changed foods and other things around but it made no difference. Finally took her in and the vet felt it was environmental allergies because it was fall and he sees a lot of it. Turns out that is what it was. Now every fall she gets one allergy shot to tide her through until the cold snaps/freezes and then she seems to do fine for the rest of the time.

[tbhounds]

Change your antihistamine -I don't find Benadryl to be very effective with allergies--allergic reaction like a bee sting yes, but not environmental allergies. Dogs can use Zyrtec, Claritin, Allegra...... I'm using Zyrtec with my allergy boy right now and it's working very well. He a big boy and I'm giving him two 10mg tablets once a day but, the dosage and frequency can can tweaked for each individual. Just remember when buying an antihistamine for your pet--no decongestant ("D") added :-)

[Hollis]

Hunh. Thanks. I'll try that.

 

Lol. Poor Bean couldn't quite figure out what the heck was in her bowl tonight! She ate it but sure didn't seem happy about it. I guess it takes getting used to.

Generic Loradatine ok?

Loratadine.

[tbhounds]

Hunh. Thanks. I'll try that.

Lol. Poor Bean couldn't quite figure out what the heck was in her bowl tonight! She ate it but sure didn't seem happy about it. I guess it takes getting used to. Generic Loradatine ok? Loratadine.

Absolutely! 10mgs in the am and 5mgs in the pm worked for us.

[Hollis]

Thank you so much! Will start in the am!

[GeorgeofNE]

I don't know why everyone assumes FOOD allergies. It is that time of year--fall allergy season. Sounds like a pollen allergy to me. That isn't NEARLY enough Benedryl, and if your vet thinks it is, you need a new vet.

 

Dogs can take two Benedryl up to three times a day.

 

George has allergies every August - Sept. Benedryl keeps them in check, but I do have to keep up with the pills.

[tbhounds]

I don't know why everyone assumes FOOD allergies. It is that time of year--fall allergy season. Sounds like a pollen allergy to me. That isn't NEARLY enough Benedryl, and if your vet thinks it is, you need a new vet.

 

Dogs can take two Benedryl up to three times a day.

 

George has allergies every August - Sept. Benedryl keeps them in check, but I do have to keep up with the pills.

Actually the true dose of Benadryl is 1mg/lb up to every 8 hours. So, an average 75lb hound can take 3 25mg tablets 3 times a day.

Still believe that other antihistamines over Benadryl control environmental allergies better than Benadryl. Chlortrimeton, Claritin, Allegra, Zyrtec......

[XTRAWLD]

Re: Treats. You just don't give any - but this takes weeks, even months for it to clear the system, and you need to have great willpower. You have to narrow down the food they are allergic to first. And then you try to add things back in to see what they get a reaction from. You start with as bland and basic as a diet as you can. Once the itching or breakouts stop, you can graduate to a different food, or a food with more ingredients. Kasey was off the charts with chicken, so we had to avoid any kibble that had any flavouring of that whatsoever. Very difficult. You learn how to be a good ingredient reader....... The fun thing about that, he no longer has an allergy to chicken, because it's fed raw! They handle it differently.

 

The reason why it's easy to assume food allergies is because something can be done about it. The owner has control about the food intake. There is very little control an owner has environmentally, aside from vacuuming and doing laundry constantly, (and in my case sometimes that would worsen the problem - he was allergic to dust and even laundry detergent) but that won't resolve going pee in the grass if they are allergic to grass (as Kasey was), etc. Giving Benadryl for environmental allergies is fine, but it may not resolve the problem - and that's when you know it's more than that.

Edited October 30, 2013 by XTRAWLD

[Guest Rhea]

I'm thinking Dane might be having some environmental allergies too. It's a bit different here season-wise, but we're sort of in the second 'blooming' season. He's been itching at the corners of his eyes so much that there's been some bleeding/scabbing there too. Is the dosing for claratin or zyrtec the same as with benedryl?

[tbhounds]

Dosing is different--the Claritin dose for an ave hound is 10mgs am and 5 mgs pm. Zyrtec doses can vary-I'm giving my guy 10mgs am and 10mgs pm but, he's a big guy