Allergy medicine help? (vet issues)

We discovered Bart is allergic to something here. I can't get a vet to actually do allergy testing on him. :( There is not an allergy specialist on the island. One comes every 6 months or so from California. This started last May after living in our current house for 7 months with no problems. I then noticed his paws were very red. Took him to our regular vet and she said skin allergies are very common here in dogs that are brought here from the main land. She said something like 7 out of 10 develop skin allergies.

She put him on 50mg of Atopica daily. He did great on it, up until the past few weeks, I've noticed his paws are starting to get red again, and the pad on his paw is kind of like white/scabbed over... Now, I pay about $90 a month for this medicine, and my regular vet is out of town until next week. The vet filling in (which I only met once and didn't really care for her and how she treated me/Homer in the past)... said that I should just continue with it, because it's working fine for all these other months he's been on it, but she can't really judge what or how bad his case is since she didn't see them to begin with. i tried showing her a picture I had on my phone and she said she can't see anything in the pic in comparison to him now. He's only got a few more days of medicine left, and I'm torn if I should continue, or wait it out until my regular vet comes back?

Any other medicines that he can take? I've never had a pug/dog with allergies before, so this is a whole new world to me!

Well, a few things come to mind:

Did you ever locate what the actual allergen is? Have you changed his food? Is there something outside that is seasonal and he could be getting a higher dose of it now, as opposed to other times of the year?

I would shop around for a new vet / second opinion. Someone that knows pugs, preferably. Not that your regular vet is wrong, but a second opinion can be very helpful.

I would rather find the allergen and eliminate it, then treat long term atopica, if you don't have to.

But, none of mine have any bad allergies. There are some ladies here that are experts. Hopefully, they will chime in.

Topical allergies when you don't have a nearby specialist are the worst.

Really I know nothing about the flora over there it does sound like it may be plant based, perhaps someone else will have some suggestions. Maybe some diet changes to help boost his immune system?
In the meantime, do you think maybe protective bootees when he goes outside will help??? How long does your posting there last?

Sending puggy vibes that you can sort this for him - cuddles for Bart.

DOH! It has just registered...7 out of 10 imported dogs get this allergy? And no-one has researched why?
Can you measure the ph levels in the soil over there, I have the vaguest feeling that it might be something to do with volcanically active residue...

I personally think it's the grass here. We have 2 really odd types of grass here.. and it's mixed all throughout our yard. Because we lived in another house for a while, and Bart had no problems there. And this grass is different. If it's tree/plant based it's blowing into our yard. We don't have any trees/plants/flowers in our yard.

I've called around to several other vets in the area and they all tell me the same thing.. I think I'm going to wait it out until my regular vet comes back from vacation. I've tried the booties and baby socks and he freaks out when I put them on him, I try to wipe his feet down as soon as he comes inside.

We've technically got a year & half left here. But I'm almost positive me & the pugs are going to move to PA either in Dec or April. Hubby will be deploying and I don't want to stay here, the pugs are having a really difficult time with the heat/humidity as well as Bart's skin problems. Right now, it's not seeming to bother him. He doesn't ever really lick his paws (he did this a LOT before the Atopica), but I don't want it to get to that point again.

Would your vet be able to do a blood draw for you and send it to a lab stateside that does do allergy testing? There's two that my vet has worked with and one is one that we used for our lab Gunner,when he was still alive. I know that you can tell them the area you live in and they can test for environmental things such as grass,trees,plants,etc. Our dog was allergic to many things and also had many sensitivities that came up too on the test results. Let me know if you'd like the names for the labs.

Trish

I'd definitely get in to see the vet you like when she gets back. In the meantime you can try 1/2 to 1 25 mg benedryl every 8 hours. It is ok to take with the atopica. Also wash his feet off when he comes in. And a bath a couple times a week with an allergy shampoo will help. Good luck.

I'm not a big fan of the allergy testing. Izzy's just came back that she was allergic to everything. Might want to try an "allergy" dog food if you haven't already also.

He's not enjoying the feet washing every time he comes back inside.. he gives me the stink eye. lol... and I've been giving him 1 25mg Benadryl and have an appointment for next week when our regular vet comes back. And I'm going to let her know what her fill in vet said.

I'll see about the blood work for allergy testing, but she kind of had the same thought as others... Many allergy tests come back with a lot of things or sensitivity to things, so it will be kind of hard to eliminate everything. I've tried different food with him, and haven't seen any changes. I switched him from nutro lamb & rice to natural balance L.I.D Sweet potato & duck.

Are you using any supplements to help boost his immune system? That might also be something to look into to help fight off the allergy flare ups. When we got our results back for Gunner,it was easy to work with what foods to give him,tear up the carpeting(allergic to the glue)but the grasses were hard,so he did end up having to get allergy shots for awhile.
As a person that does suffer from allergies(am allergic to dog saliva and 30+ other things )it's hard seeing our beloved pets go through this. I hope Bart starts to feel better soon. At least he's giving you the stink eye,so he still is being sassy,which is always a good sign.

Take care,
Trish

oh he's still full of attitude and attention whore (hubby calls him that, because if he sees me petting one of the other 2, he'll come running over and plow then off my lap, or squeeze in between me & them)...

What kind of supplements can you give dogs? (I've never really thought about supplements for dogs before!)

Fish oil is a good one, in fact that's the first thing the vet had me give Izzy when she starting showing allergy symptoms. And keep trying different foods, I went through 5 before I got to one that worked for Izzy (NB Duck and potato).

Knowing a bit about Bart's history, I doubt that it is a food allergy. This started when you moved to the island, right? To me that signifies environmental. I'm also not a big fan of allergy testing. Some people say that they are only about 50% accurate, so that's paying a lot of money for an iffy result. Kimmy had it done and it did identify several environmental allergies, including some trees and grasses but needles to combat these allergies didn't help (her major problem was grains). To me it sounds like you are fighting a losing battle as long as you live where you're living and the good news is that you will be leaving before too long. In the meantime, I'd keep up with the Atopica and do the benadryl when things get really rough. I'd wean off the Atopica once you get back to the mainland and see how he does.

Supplements to boost the immune system - a good probiotic or non-fat plain yogurt. And Vitamin B. And if you're going to use fish oil, I'd supplement with Vitamin E. although I prefer coconut oil (which should be fairly easy to get where you are).

Good luck.

S