Allergies - HELP!

The pollen around here is terrible right now. I remember at this time every year, Gracie seems to get watery eyes and her wrinkle seems to get "gunky" much more quickly then normal. This year is no different, however, it seems a tad worse. She is itching like crazy. I've checked her 4 times for fleas and haven't found anything. She's on flea meds too but I still checked. So, I'm guessing it has to be the pollen. I don't know what else it could be. I've been giving her Benadryl twice a day and it seems to help but I was looking at her last night and right at her arm pits, it's pink and there is a small area that seems to be getting raw. I feel terrible for her. I took a warm wash cloth last night and wiped her down after she came inside. I don't know if that helps or not. I haven't been letting her sit outside and we have the A/C on so she (or Erik, who is also highly affected by all the pollen) doesn't have to be breathing it in. We gave them both baths on Sunday. I feel bad about her itching all the time. Does anyone have any recommendations on whether or not there is anything else I can do for her? We have a vet appointment tomorrow night for their yearly but I don't want to give her any shots if I don't have too.

Darci - I don't have any advice for you other than what you're doing. Wipe them down when they come in, benadryl, and baths. They may require a stronger allergy med until the pollen dies down a bit, but hopefully the vet can help you find one that will work.

Bella is my allergy pug. Benedryl helps some of the time, but not all. If she is still itchy I have a prescription of Temaril P that I give her. I give her a whole pill once a day to get it into her system (2-3 days) and then once it seems to be helping I give a half once a day and then a half every 2-3 days. It works well for her.

I have always used benedryl. Also, I got some hydrocortizone cream at Petco that I apply topically for a few days, and that seems to help. I also to the wipe down thing.

I'll tell ya - my dogs love to get benedryl, because I give it in peanut butter. I think they look for ways to break out in the itchies. Haha.

I'd go up to 3 benedryl per day or 1/2 tavist 2 times per day. We are starting with tree pollen here and I just had Izzy at the vet Saturday. She is also doing a 10 day dose of Temaril P. And lots of baths. Even if she doesn't go outside, people track in the allergens on their shoes.

You're probably already doing this but make sure she's on a good oil. I had Izzy on fish oil for the last 5 years and she became allergic so I switched to coconut oil. Makes a big difference.

LisaIzzyAggy wrote:
You're probably already doing this but make sure she's on a good oil. I had Izzy on fish oil for the last 5 years and she became allergic so I switched to coconut oil. Makes a big difference.

How did you know she became allergic? When I switched the girls over to raw, I was giving them fish oil every day and Gracie's wrinkle became yucky so I bumped it down to 3 times a week and she's been fine since.

Sometimes environmental allergies can tip the scales and show up symptoms when there are already food allergies as well. It's called the "itch threshold". If you can clear up the food allergies, then the symptoms often go away even though the dog is still prone to environmental allergies. Make sense? What are you feeding?

GracieNEmma wrote:

LisaIzzyAggy wrote:
You're probably already doing this but make sure she's on a good oil. I had Izzy on fish oil for the last 5 years and she became allergic so I switched to coconut oil. Makes a big difference.

How did you know she became allergic? When I switched the girls over to raw, I was giving them fish oil every day and Gracie's wrinkle became yucky so I bumped it down to 3 times a week and she's been fine since.

If was just a fluke, we spent 5 days at my parents over thanksgiving and I forgot Izzy's fish oil. I noticed that her tummy was looking better. Then when we got home and I started giving it to her again the bumps came back. I didn't think much of it until I mentioned it to my vet and she suggested she had become allergic. DUH! Sure enough when I took her off the fish oil and put her on coconut oil it was like a miracle. At least for about 6 weeks until the tree pollen started to come out. But I was able to take her off Atopica for awhile which I was thrilled about. I'm just starting to get her going on it again for the Spring.

The NB Duck & Potato has salmon oil in it also but it doesn't seem to bother her much. I'm considering switching to something else next time we need food.

pugpillow wrote:Sometimes environmental allergies can tip the scales and show up symptoms when there are already food allergies as well. It's called the "itch threshold". If you can clear up the food allergies, then the symptoms often go away even though the dog is still prone to environmental allergies. Make sense? What are you feeding?

My vet says the exact same thing.

I feed them raw. They've been on this diet for close to 6 years now. I know things can change but I don't think it's the food but you never know. Our vet appt is tonight so hopefully he'll give us some answers. I feel bad for her.

Lisa - Thanks for that info. I guess once the pollen dies down and she's still itching, I'll just have to start eliminating things but her itching started last week, which is when the pollen really started getting high. It's 11.7 on a scale of 12 right now. It's terrible. I hope that's all it is.....

Oh sorry, I forgot you were feeding raw.

Last week I got a foster girl (Tina) in who has been struggling with allergies for a long time and has been in a cone 24/7 for over a year. She has been on several supposed hypoallergenic kibbles and a long list of medications with no luck. For the last few days I have been experimenting with several protein sources and, between vomiting and scratching, she seems to be able to tolerate only raw turkey. She's been cone and scratch-free for 36 hours (paws crossed and touch wood). So I'm even more convinced in the benefit of an elimination diet now.

Darci:
Don't know if this is helpful at all, but both Tank and Theo will react to salmon oil. I switched them over to herring oil and it made a huge difference. Neither can do coconut oil, unfortunately.

northernwitch wrote:Darci:
Don't know if this is helpful at all, but both Tank and Theo will react to salmon oil. I switched them over to herring oil and it made a huge difference. Neither can do coconut oil, unfortunately.

I'll have to check and see exactly what fish is in the oil I give them. I just get the Fish Oil capsules from Walgreens or CVS. I also read online that there is a natural Witch Hazel and Aloe that you can use so I went and got some at lunch and put some on her belly. She seemed to have liked it as she didn't move while I was rubbing it on her. I'm just trying to weigh things out. My sister said allergy testing is not cheap so I'm hoping I can figure it out on my own. Paws crossed. It's crazy that it just happened all of a sudden. Thank you to all of you that have responded so far with suggestions, I really do appreciate it.

P.S. Those that have dealt with allergies before, whether it be food, etc....did it just pop up over night? I always hear these horror stories about allergies and pugs and was always so grateful that both my girls didn't have the problem. I hope it's temporary. Thanks again everyone!

GracieNEmma wrote: My sister said allergy testing is not cheap so I'm hoping I can figure it out on my own. Paws crossed. It's crazy that it just happened all of a sudden.

It is pretty expensive and it doesn't work for food allergies and is iffy for environmental allergies.

GracieNEmma wrote:P.S. Those that have dealt with allergies before, whether it be food, etc....did it just pop up over night?

I think food allergies generally appear around the age of two - seems to be when the dog's immune system develops an intolerance. Not sure how scientific this is, though.

Zoe is now suffering from allergies. I don't have any and my doggie is licking her paws raw. I feel so guilty!

we started with benedryl, but it didn't help completely so now we're on zyrtek. been on it for 4 days and that's when the licking started. should I go back to benedryl?

I've been bugging my vet so much with this stuff, I thought I'd throw it out to you all.

Mel wrote:Zoe is now suffering from allergies. I don't have any and my doggie is licking her paws raw. I feel so guilty!

we started with benedryl, but it didn't help completely so now we're on zyrtek. been on it for 4 days and that's when the licking started. should I go back to benedryl?

I've been bugging my vet so much with this stuff, I thought I'd throw it out to you all.

Have you determined what she is allergic too? It's better to eliminate the cause than treat the symptoms if you can.

Both Theo and Tank have/had seasonal allergies. Benadryl only did so much for them. Theo was on Vanectyl-P for a while, but I switched him to a regular strength Reactine a day and one benadryl at night and that helped. Tank remains on a low dose of prednisolone (1 mg) and when his seasonal allergies kick in, he gets that every day, otherwise he gets it every 2nd or 3rd day. We're pretty sure that his adrenals are ruined from the massive doses of pred he was on for the years before he came to me so he will always be on a low of pred.

I have also found that applying damp decaffeinated green tea bags has helped with itchy spots. My homeo vet suggested this and it's worked for Tank. One the really bad days when he's super itchy (these are very rare now), I soak him in a green tea bath.

I should add that if you're feeding kibble--even high quality kibble--and your dog has seasonal allergies, many of the plant ingredients in good grain free kibble will elicit an allergic response. Because of Tank's MANY plant allergies, kibble is out for him as the better kibbles are loaded with things like calendula, chamomile, burdock, chicory etc. All good ingredients, except if you have a "hay fever" dog like Tank.

northernwitch wrote:Both Theo and Tank have/had seasonal allergies. Benadryl only did so much for them. Theo was on Vanectyl-P for a while, but I switched him to a regular strength Reactine a day and one benadryl at night and that helped. Tank remains on a low dose of prednisolone (1 mg) and when his seasonal allergies kick in, he gets that every day, otherwise he gets it every 2nd or 3rd day. We're pretty sure that his adrenals are ruined from the massive doses of pred he was on for the years before he came to me so he will always be on a low of pred.

I have also found that applying damp decaffeinated green tea bags has helped with itchy spots. My homeo vet suggested this and it's worked for Tank. One the really bad days when he's super itchy (these are very rare now), I soak him in a green tea bath.

Blanche, do you just hold the tea bag against the spots? Sophie has gotten tons better since we got rid of the grass but has one spot left that seems to bother her. I'm going to try the tea bag. Now, getting her to stand still for that might be another matter...