Any insight on dog skin allergies?

[elysian]

Lilo is my eight year old Chow-GSD mix. Both Chows and GSDs are prone to skin allergies but this past year has been horrible for Lilo. Two months ago she not only had it with the skin irritation but she also had a wicked inner ear infection. One month's worth of prednisone and Keflex and the ears and skin seemed to clear up- but the skin rash and itching came back last week with a vengeance. I took her back to the Vet Tuesday and her ears were OK (thankfully!) but the Vet put her on another course of Keflex and prednisone (higher doses this time) to clear up the butt crusties and hopefully prevent another inner ear infection. We also got a special shampoo from the Vet (Chlorhexidine 4%) to wash her completely and to spot wash the crusty areas every day to try to help dry them out and heal them up. As much as she hates being bathed, and with the cold weather, I hesitate to wash her entire body more often than every week or two. It's frustrating because we really try to take good care of our dogs.

All of our dogs are on a corn-free diet (Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice,) are parasite free (we treat all the girls with Frontline and Heartgard) and are primarily indoor dogs. The only environmental thing I can think of this time of year- because there's no pollen in Central Ohio in winter- is that my "better half" is an incorrigible smoker and he smokes in the house. The other two dogs can't stand cig smoke and they go in the other room when Mr. Chimney lights up, but Lilo sticks around him even when he's smoking.

Any suggestions? The current wisdom that I've been able to glean so far on dogs' skin allergies is not terribly encouraging. 72427

[Sparko]

There are vets that specialize in pets with allergies. I had my dog tested and they did a complete allergy test on him to find out what he was allergic to. Then I just made sure he didn't have access to it (maple trees would you believe it?) and he got better.

[elysian]

That sounds like my next step. I can have this done for her at Ohio State. Our Vet suspects grass allergy (good luck keeping her out of grass) but I truly would like to know exactly what's going on. Prednisone is fairly safe to use in dogs at low doses as long as they get time off of it, and it does work, but I would love to find a solution that doesn't involve steroids. She is not getting any younger and the risks of prednisone increase with age. The shampoo helps to get the allergens off of the skin so I may have to work on her general loathing of water and being wet.

[Sparko]

boots for the grass!

72462

[elysian]

Either that or a t-shirt. She loves to lie down and/or roll in it.

[DesertBerean]

elysian!!! Hi! hug hug kiss kiss!

[elysian]

Yes, I'm back. I'm amazed anyone remembers me as long as I've been gone. Just wonder if it's "good memorable" or "bad memorable." :)
Miss Lilo is getting much, much better since starting her course of Keflex and prednisone last Tuesday. The bad thing is the sneaking suspicion that the crud will come right back once she's back off the meds.

[Catholicity]

Coming from a holistic vet we used to see. There is a Special type of food available at Kroger and Whole Foods in the refrigerator thats additive free, grain free (dogs are not made to eat rice or any kind of grain or by product) You can also try giving them a raw chicken breast (yes with the bone) NOT COOKED the bone will splinter in the colon if its cooked, if its raw it will not. They are able to digest valuable and needed minerals such as calcium in raw bone and marrow. (dogs in the wild eat raw bone and meat) You can also try feeding them an omega 3 6 and 9 complete fatty acid fish oil. caplet. It helps with the irritated skin. Check with a good vet before changing food and always gradually introduce new food with old food, but I would not hesititate to add less of a grain/meat by product diet with more of a meat based diet especially for allergy prone dogs and mkae mr chimney go outside, not only is it better for you, but dogs exposed to cigarrette smoke have a greater risk of allergies, cancerous tumors heart failure and arthritis.

[Sparko]

er "dogs in the wild" doesn't really make sense, cath. Dogs are domesticated wolves and were never meant to be "wild" - they are pets and worker animals and have been since men began breeding them.

They are also omnivorous.

http://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/carnivore-or-omnivore-adult-dog.html

and you should NEVER give your dog bones, not even raw ones. And especially not raw chicken which can contain salmonella. and chicken bones are sharp and can cut a dog's mouth, esophagus or stomach.