Dog with allergies

A question about : Dog with allergies

Our dog is suffering repeated bouts of chewing his paws. After nearly 3 years of trips to the vets, courses of steriods, elimination diets and costly blood allergy testing it still keeps flaring up. The elimination diet suggested that maize/corn was a trigger so we have avoided anything containing that, and the blood tests suggested various grasses, which we have also avoided.

Each time it flares up the vet keeps pushing to put him on Atopica or regular injections that are supposed to be tailored to whatever is causing his allergic reactions. I've looked into both avenues and only hear stories from both owners and vets who said they would avoid either avenue as the results are often short lived and the long term side effects are pretty nasty. One vet suggested that despite the side effects of steriods you are better with several small courses of steriods in a year than the Atopica or injections as long term side effects of those two are much worse.

Last time I spoke to the vet I said that I would prefer to find out for definate what is causing the flare ups than jump in with both feet and put him on costly and nasty meds, but he said it wasnt worth finding out - this upset me and made me feel he was more concerned about income than my dog's health.

I just don't know what to do. I'd like to speak with someone who is specialised in allergies/dermatology who isnt interested in the big bucks the pills and injections but how to I find such a person?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best answers:

• Vets are definitely more concerned with profit than pet well being.
  [/SweepingGeneralisation]
  What foods have you tried? What are you feeding now?
• He is currently on Penlan Farm chicken & rice sachets, with a bit of Burns chicken and rice biscuits thrown in (he refuses to eat dried alone). Also used James Wellbeloved Turkey & Vegetable kibble which he enjoys but won't eat dried - fussy thing!!
  I wonder if the rice or chicken is now causing issues but I've searched for a rice / corn / chicken free wet food and cannot find anything.
  I know I don't have to agree to anything, but obviously I dont want my poor boy to suffer either.
• Did he suffer the same problems on any other foods though?
• Have you been referred to a specialist vet hospital yet? IIWY, that's the first thing that I'd be asking my vet to do. If you think about it, your local vets are just like a GP, they see lots of cases but don't tend to have the facilities or knowledge to deal with anything intractable and/or out of the ordinary. That's not a criticism btw just the way things are.
  Do a bit of research online and find out which vet schools/centres have dermalogical/allergen specialists and ask for a referral - be warned though that they won't be cheap and that you'll probably have to travel but it's probably the only way you'll find out what your dog is reacting to and how best to manage him.
• Teddy, my cavalier, started chewing his sides and tummy several years ago. Steroids cleared him up, but as soon as the course finished he was back to chewing.
  Blood tests suggested a dust mite allergy , but the vet suspected something else , too, as using mite killer spray, regular hovering, baths etc made no difference.
  He suggested Atopica, warning that it can cause sickness for the first few weeks, but he symptoms do wear off, but added that his first ever patient on it, was very sick at first, but was now much better and down to a weekly maintenance dose, a couple of years on.
  Teddy has been on a maintenance dose (they take it every day, then every 6 days, down to one per week) for several years, with no side effects (he is slightly sick , perhaps once every few weeks, but this may be just him).
  He does still scratch and nibble his feet , especially since his coat thinned after castration and has flare ups, especially from September to February, but he doesn't make himself scabby and sore. I agree with the vet, that quite a lot is down to habit too, as 'leads' , 'dinner', 'biscuit' or something else interesting soon distracts him.
  I did wonder, when he wasn't 'cured' if it was working, but a once forgot his tablet two weeks running and saw the difference. We had to increase his dose for a while to catch up back to where he was.
  One of my vets has one of her dogs on it and mentioned that her husband messed up her dog's dose and he had a relapse, too.
  Atopica is quite expensive, especially for a larger dog, but Teddy only has one tablet a week and I buy online.
  My vet said that the allergy jabs are hit and miss, if you aren't exactly sure what the cause is, so a dust mite one would not help Teddy.
• Hi
  My old boy had many allergies, he had steroids for a while but due to an ulcer he had to stop.
  I moved him onto Atopica which he had for many many years with no side effects. Although on quite a high dose to start with, and occasionally an increase depending on the time of year, he did very happily on a maintenance dose. My vets were really understanding and let me change doses as needed, as I could see when he needed more and vice versa when he needed less.
  It really was a saviour drug for him, without it he would have chewed himself to bits.
  All drugs come with risks, I understand you will be concerned but not all dogs react badly.
  One option you could look at is a vet skin specialist (is it still dermatology when referring to animals?) who could do a patch test and really identify the triggers.
  If you can find someone near you, give them a buzz as not all need a referral and go from there.
  I have every sympathy and hope you can get it sorted :-)
• When my dog first came to me as a foster dog (I've adopted him now as sadly his family weren't able to take him back) he was in a terrible way with skin allergies and the most dreadful sores from biting his paws and tail and was on steroids.
  Although I do wonder if it may have been stress contributing to it.
  He was on Arden Grange Hypoallergenic chicken and rice food although I changed to Burns for a while but what I found to be really helpful was Yumega Plus oil - he is now sore free and has been for a very long time.
  He still has a runny nose a lot of the time though.
  https://www.lintbells.com/products/yumega-plus
• If the dog's allergy is not food related (Teddy's isn't; we had the trials) changing the diet won't help.
  My vet is also understanding, as he does me an online prescription for the allowed three months, but at full dose, knowing that what I get will last for a year of maintenance with flare time topups.
  Unless a dog is terminally ill, most vets will only allow two courses at most, because they really do have bad side effects if used for long spells.
• Our dog used to chew his paws sometimes after getting back from a walk (stinging nettles? thistles? sweet chestnut cases?). He used to make them hot and sore, but was good at obeying our "gently..." and leaving them alone. Holding a damp cloth wrung out in iced water against each paw helped take the heat off & soothe them.
  I know if your dog has allergies, it's different, but maybe this'll be little extra help if he's extra distressed about his sore paws.
• Atopica was a miracle drug for my allergic boy. He was on it until the end of his days and it changed his life (and mine).
• Have you tried something as simple as Piriton?
  Can be effective against a wide range of allergies, it's cheap & available over the counter, has few side effects when given at the correct dose.
  It may or may not work but for a few quid I'd say it was worth a try.
• My b1tch has a whole raft of allergies, hot spots, chewing, itching, yucky ears...We used steroids to get her most recent flare up under control, then moved her onto antihistamines. In the meantime, I bought Derm Opt shampoo and put her on Orijen fish. All her problems have cleared up and she's been off the steroids and antihistamines for as long as she's been on the Orijen.
• Zara has now been put on Apoquel
  Initially for the first 2 week 1.5 tablet (16mg tablets)twice per day then if it helps and she stays on it will be less as maintenance dose.
  She chews her paws when it is wet outside, red raw between her pads. She also "rides her bum" when out (wormed up to date, no issues with anal glands) and after about a year or a bit more of this, her vet (lucky we do have a specialist dermatologist where we go) put her on Apoquel.
  I hope it helps as nothing else did so far... sighhhh
  If anyone can recommend a dermatologist referral place in London - would be grateful.
  By the way, I paid Ј110.00 for 2 weeks supply of the tablets. Found them on animed and vet uk at Ј2.99 per tablet (at 3 per day now that would be Ј9.00 per day so ... very expensive) but both animed and veuk have "out of stock" on those.... Apparently there is shortage. Hmmm
  Statement of availability
  Interesting
  Comparison of Atopica and Apoquel
• There are plenty of different foods available now that do not contain corn, rice etc. If you go on the allaboutdogfood website and select grain free you will get dozens of choices. One of my dogs has IBD, grains, turkey and beef set it off aswell as any dry food so he has a selection of high quality wet food which is usually lily's kitchen, wainwrights, simpsons etc. My other 3 dogs are on canagen which is also grain free. Bulk fillers, grains, additives etc are often causes of itchy skin in dogs.
  If your vet doesnt think its worth finding out the real problem then I would suggest you change vets. Any decent vet will care about the health of the animal, not just his profit margin