I have a Samoyed mix with some sort of allergy. It started with licking her front paws, but has blown up into scratching the backs of both her front legs until they are almost bleeding. This is amazing, since she has her winter coat.
While cleaning her poop, I’ve noticed her hair in the feces for about the last four months. We had the floors professionally washed by a company that’s supposed to be very dog friendly. We are now in the process of installing travertine floors (not related to the dog possibly being allergic to something in the carpet), but the dog is still scratching.
She has moved on the scratching the sort-of arm pit area of the front legs. This is EXTREMELY loud! She wakes us up each night doing this. We are currently giving her Benedryl, but I’m really concerned that all it’s doing is turning her into zombie dog.
The last time we went to the vet, she gave us a spray that must have hurt like a sumbitch, because the dog won’t come near me when I have a bottle in my hand that looks anything like that spray bottle. The allergist looks to charge between $700 - $1,100 for steroid treatments.
Yes, change her food. Some dogs can’t eat lamb and others can’t eat chicken. I’ve had dogs that get the exact symptoms and as soon as I switched food things settled down. It does take a week or so but you will see a difference if that is the problem. It is also much cheaper than shots.
What brand food do you use? Get high quality food, not grocery store food.
We have a Cairn Terrier who chews his haunches down to the skin. Your dog may have either food or flea allergies, but without testing ($$$) you don’t know. Try:
What Jen said about food. Get away from gluten/grain based food. What we use is a sweet potato/duck blend.
Keep your dog and yard/house treated for fleas.
Give your dog a Benadryl (what our vet recommended) 2-3 times/day.
My Golden had terrible hot spot problems. He would chew himself raw. It was horrible. The food change, recommended by our vet, is what fixed it. Flea allergies is a good guess as well. Treating her for both would be a good idea. Get the fea meds from your vet. Don’t bother with stuff you can get at Petsmart.
We use California Natural Low Fat Lamb and Rice. Low Fat because they don’t need the extra calories. It is what the vet said to use for senior dogs.
Our cats we feed Solid Gold.
It is expensive but in the long run it is much healthier and less expensive than allergy shots
True food allergies in dogs are a lot rarer than you might think. They are, however, fairly easy to rule out, so definitely try that.
Other things to consider (some of which would be more common than food allergens)…
Have you had her thyroid checked? Hair loss and skin conditions that LOOK like allergies can also be a sign of hypothyroidism.
Contact dermatitis is another–something she has walked on or in, or comes in contact with could be irritating her. Salt on t he walks, fertilizer, carpet cleaner, laundry detergent on yoru/her bedding.
Sarcoptic mange is another (SCABIES!) or another parasite could cause excessive licking. (If she is a puppy, it could be demodetic, too, I guess…)
Bacterial or fungal (yeast) infections should also be considered.
I’d say get a good diagnosis on what the problem is, then go from there. I’d really hate to put my dog on steroids when an antibiotic or antifungal, diet change, or thyroid meds could fix the problem.
My lab had similar symptoms. A $5 round of prednisone stopped the symptoms, then an antihistamine whenever the symptoms reappear. My vet explained that it doesn’t take much to make a dog chew itself silly.
Food allergies are a real problem too. My lab’s symptoms occurred when we where demolishing a part of the house and redoing the kitchen. I think it was chemically induced. Good luck.
Our female Weim has a list of allergies as long as my arm. She was miserable all spring/summer when all of the mold, pollen, etc. started to reappear - red, irritated belly, hair loss on her legs, etc. Lots of licking, paw chewing and general misery. Really exacerbated her bladder control problems as well. We did benadryl - which helped a bit, but made her more thirsty - drank more water and laid around tuckered out from the med’s = more pee in the house. We took her to an allergy specialist and they came up with a ton of positives (as in, she’s positively allergic to…). She’s been on a monthly injection that really helped. They can only include so many allergens in the serum, so they took the ones that scored highest in allergic reaction and put them in. Just checked her stuff - it’s called “Allercept” and it includes 12 allergens - all plants. I give her 1cc sub-q 1X/month and it’s really helped her have a better life. Hope something like this can help your girl.
If I remember correctly, the initial trip to the allergist was about $200, and the serum is about $100 for a 5 cc vial (which lasts 5 months @ 1 cc/mo).
My lab has been through the whole testing/shot routine. If you go this route ask the vet to show you how to give your pup the shots yourself. Syringes are available at most drug stores and even Walmart and it’s much easier and cheaper than a monthly vet visit.
