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Allergies or not?

This forum is for dog lovers seeking everyday advice and suggestions on health-related issues. Remember, however, that advice on a public forum simply can't be a substitute for proper medical attention. Only your vet can say assuredly what is best for your dog.

  
Zane

Slobber that- only a mother- can love!!		 
 
Barked: Mon Jan 7, '13 11:39am PST 
A little back history first..

Zane is a 2 1/2 year old Saint Bernard. He was fed raw from 8 weeks up until he was a year and a half old. He was using Chicken as his predominant source of protein. After a while( A year old) he started itching like crazy, sores started showing up and scabs started forming etc..So we decided to switch to kibble and we went with TOTW's Sierra Mountain Canine as it contains NO chicken or poultry for that matter, as we were wanting to rule out a chicken allergy.

It helped for the first 8 weeks or so, and then he was back to itching, not as bad...but he has hair loss(slight) itching to the extent of bleeding sores and scabs again. He has sensitive area's on his sides that he itches, especially when you touch him. He also licks and chews his feet constantly.

I'm starting to wonder if this is either another allergy on top of a chicken allergy, or if it was never a chicken allergy to begin with and maybe it is something Environmental? We use both topical flea stuff (petarmor) and diatamacious(sp) Earth. He is bathed with an oatmeal bath twice a month, and does get shaved during the summer as it gets over 100 degrees here.

I don't know how else to rule out allergies besides a skin test, so any information would be great. He has a vet's appointment to test for mange next week.
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Kloppers

1229827		 
 
Barked: Mon Jan 7, '13 6:19pm PST 
My Saint Bella has really bad food and environmental allergies, and my previous Saint did as well. Bella is allergic to a lot of food sources, we are actually in the process of switching to raw. When Bella is having food allergy issues she chews on her front feet, and is also itchy. We did not do allergy testing, as they were quoting us 400 and Bella had many health issues that includes quarterly bloodwork that runs 200 and has to see a cardiologist every6 months. I chose to do food trials and it went well until recently and we have pretty much ran out of kibble to feed her. Is there a reason you didn't just try a different raw meat like beef, venison, duck? Kibble has so many components to it, I find it really hard to pinpoint one allergy, I am hoping to open up food choices with Bella by being able to test them one by one.

We always stuck with one food for 4-6 wks unless things were so bad we couldn't continue. We ended up feeding NVI Salmon, but because it was one of the only foods she could eat ..I think we fed it too long and she started to develop an allergy to some of the ingredients (peas).

Bella's toenails get infected if she licks her feet...so when she is having a flare up she has to stay with me 24/7. She goes everywhere with me and I leash her at night( she sleeps next to the bed)...she doesn't lick if I am there to stop her. I do clean her feet and apply some neopredef powder if she has sores.
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Precious- Pearl

PROUD TO BE- PRETTY		 
 
Barked: Mon Jan 7, '13 6:22pm PST 
yes it can be an environmentally allergy to grass,fleas,dust,cat dander,an allergy test works well on the environmental.also try probiotics and enzymes for dogs.
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Member Since
05/23/2011		 
 
Barked: Tue Jan 8, '13 2:47pm PST 
Since Zane did stop itching for 8 weeks, my thoughts are that it was indeed food allergies. If it was environmental wouldn't at least some the the itching have continued during that period? I knew early on our Miniature Schnauzer was allergic go chicken, so stayed away from any kibble that contained chicken. But, tried countless other kibble with other proteins . Still she itched. Finally, I tried feeding a homecooked food. (Raw is not on option here). Most of her scratching stopped. It has now been months since we put away the kibble.
I also, think I would go back to the raw or a basic homecooked for a few weeks. Try lamb, or beef or a whitefish along with just vegetables. See what results from that method. After that, think I would consult the vet

Hope you can ring out the problem
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Zane

Slobber that- only a mother- can love!!		 
 
Barked: Tue Jan 8, '13 3:39pm PST 
Guest member- He is already on lamb, he is on a 100% chicken free TOTW kibble and has been for a year or so now, and he still continues to itch and chew. I won't do home cooked meals honestly, per my research before switching to raw feeding had shown that home cooked dogs need a lot of supplements, and I got through A LOT of fish oil capsules and vitamins as it is, Zane weighs in at 205lbs.

Bella(?)- My other Saint had allergies as well, but his were pretty easy to diagnose and get control of once we did find out what it was. Loki had an allergy to fleas and it would take 1 flea bite and he would itch, bleed, scab and break out into hives, it was crucial that I made sure he didn't get fleas.

Everyone else- I am taking Zane in to have a skin scrape done, my vet is going to test for both demo and sarcoptic mange before we do any allergy testing. He is also going to test his thyroid as well. I NEED to find out what the cause is before the 17th of this month, I have Envy(My boston puppy) coming home then, and I would hate her to get mange if that's what it really is.

I will keep everyone updated on this topic. Thank you so much for the replies.
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