Allergies

[Hubcitypam]

When Comfort arrived he had (and still has) pink edges to his eyes. Since he has been here he has bothered his tail to the point of hair loss, has had some hair loss on his neck and almost compulsively licked his chest.

We went to Dr. Nelson (our non hunky but closer vet) yesterday. He said it was allergies and gave us Hydroxyzine which he said was better than Benedryl for skin allergies. He said with food allergies ears are usually involved. Comfie is also on fish oil now.

Experiences?

[Guest kkaiser104]

Teddi has skin allergies (Winchester does too, but a much milder case). Teddi was on loratadine (generic claratin), fish oil, vitamin E capsules, and I used hydrocortison on his skin. It took a few months but he's looking great now. He even got his hair back on his butt! I was able to stop loratadine during the cold season, but still give Vit. E and fish oil daily to both pups. Good luck!

Edited December 11, 2013 by kkaiser104

[Remolacha]

Fletcher had seasonal/environmental allergies. We were never able to pin all of them down, but since at least some were obviously environmental, meaning we were stuck with them, we just treated. My vet suggested Zyrtec (cetirizine hcl) instead of Benedryl, and it worked well for him. The Costco brand was pretty cheap.

[Guest Ariley]

Hope it's ok if I revive an old topic-

 

For the last 2 days Nixie has been sneezing a lot more than usual and seems to have a slightly drippy nose and occasional congested-sounding snuffling. She also has a little thinness and in the fur on the backs of her ears. She doesn't seen uncomfortable and I haven't seen any scratching or excessive licking.

 

Does this just sound like garden variety allergies? I can't pinpoint any changes in her environment.

 

Of course, I try to start with simple/safe/general remedies before advancing to specific/expensive/invasive contingencies, so is there any first step remedies you folks would recommend?

 

From reading above, it sounds like allergy meds for people work well for greys. Should I add a clariten or zyrtec to her food and see if that helps?

[Hubcitypam]

Barkley has been having terrible allergies and neither benadryl or an allergy shot has touched them. My vet gave the OK for clariten or zytec with a children's dose as he is only around 25 pounds. clariten hasn't worked so we're off to try zytec. Dr. Josh said all three of the above work though different channels

[tbhounds]

The only antihistamine that really helps my allergy boy is Allegra. I'm not sure how you would dose a 25lb dog though. One thing to know is neither Zyrtec, Claritin or Allegra seem to have any side effects unlike Benadryl like can make them sleepy. Don't be surprised if the dosage seems high--just for example my Stan's dermatologist prescribed 360mgs of Allegra twice daily (he's 80lbs)--that's 4 times the amount a human would take.

[GeorgeofNE]

To Ariley:

 

No, that does not sound like allergies, and you should not just assume it is and medicate the dog on your own. She should be seen by the vet. Once you've ruled out other things (could be something like a foreign body up her nose, for example), then it MIGHT be appropriate to try an antihistamine, but please don't ever medicate a dog with a new health issue based on what other people on an internet board are using on their dog!

[Guest Ariley]

Good point, GeorgeofNE. I suppose I was thinking of it from a human perspective (I hate going the the doctor just to be told I have a cold, and I should just keep taking the over the counter meds I'm already taking, or worse, given antibiotics I don't need), but I'm certainly no diagnostician when it comes to pets.

[Hubcitypam]

tbhounds - Thanks - both my vets said it takes at least twice as much antihistamine in dogs than in people. I'll ask about Allegra. The itchy scratchy licking paws show is getting old.

 

I believe the use of OTC antihistamines in dogs is well documented and falls in the "can't hurt might help" category.

[ramonaghan]

Hope it's ok if I revive an old topic-

 

For the last 2 days Nixie has been sneezing a lot more than usual and seems to have a slightly drippy nose and occasional congested-sounding snuffling. She also has a little thinness and in the fur on the backs of her ears. She doesn't seen uncomfortable and I haven't seen any scratching or excessive licking.

 

Does this just sound like garden variety allergies? I can't pinpoint any changes in her environment.

 

Of course, I try to start with simple/safe/general remedies before advancing to specific/expensive/invasive contingencies, so is there any first step remedies you folks would recommend?

 

From reading above, it sounds like allergy meds for people work well for greys. Should I add a clariten or zyrtec to her food and see if that helps?

 

I have given Sweep generic Zyrtec with success. She seems to do fine with the regular human dose, so while she could have more safely, there's no need here. With any of the aforementioned allergy meds, just be sure not to use the "D" (e.g., Allegra-D) variety. Good luck!

[tbhounds]

tbhounds - Thanks - both my vets said it takes at least twice as much antihistamine in dogs than in people. I'll ask about Allegra. The itchy scratchy licking paws show is getting old.

 

I believe the use of OTC antihistamines in dogs is well documented and falls in the "can't hurt might help" category.

 

Agreed-antihistamines are a rather benign thing to try. I would also bathe him frequently--I can begin to tell you how benefical bathing is for Stan. The dermatologist has me bathing him every 3 days during flairs. I use a soap free oatmeal and aloe shampoo. The bathing removes the topical allergens -aka pollen, dust, mold..... It's a wise tail that you can overdue bathing--just need to use the appropriate shampoo. Thank goodness Stan's good for tubbies :-)

[Gryffenne]

both my vets said it takes at least twice as much antihistamine in dogs than in people.

I remember when our vet up north suggested Benadryl for Sammi. Our children went to the same parochial school and we were chatting outside while waiting to pick them up. When he suggested 2x the adult dose, I was stunned! He laughed at the look on my face and said, "Don't worry, it doesn't have the same knock-out effect on dogs as it does on humans." I look at Sammi, who was roached in the backseat of my car, all 4 paws in the air, head hanging off of the seat and tongue hanging out. I think she was even drooling. I looked back at him and said deadpan, "How would you even tell?"