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?itchy Skin/allergy Or Both


BANDAR
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Hi Guys,

I would really appreciate some advice regarding my 12 month old ridgie bitch who about 6 weeks ago developed what I thought was a hot spot. Vet put her on Keflex and I bathed it and applied betadine as directed.

This "hot spot" remained clean and dry but other small sores started to appear, again to vet who said she was having a hormonal reaction. Was advised to stop all dry food and commence her on a diet of tuna (which she had already been getting) chicken and rice.

No better so back to vet who examined her for fleas (no sign of them) and did a skin scraping for possible mites, and no sign of mites either. Now have started washing her in Melaseb ( hope spelling is correct) every three days.

It gets hot up this way but she spends most of the day inside in the air con, is on frontline every month for flea's and is hydrobathed every three weeks. I have not had any problems with her skin until this and my other 2 dogs are fine with no sign of allergies or irritation.

The truth is she is looking worse rather than better and I am now at a loss as to what to try next. Thanks in advance for all advice.

Cheers

Bandar :mad

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Sorry to hear about your girl and you have eliminated the number 1 reason for itchy skin, fleas

Hotspots are caused by the dog chewing and scracthing, which eventually breaks the skin and the wound gets infected, eliminating the reasons why they are chewing will eliminate the hot spots.

the number one reason for scratching and chewing is fleas, the second food allergies, than enviroment (plants, dusts, pollens) so we start with the basics and work our way up.

If your chicken mince is not a pure meat, some will put fillers, such as bread to make it heavier.

All of mine bar my boy and a baby are on pure chicken mince and they are doing great, my boy is doing much better on Advance Chicken and Rice for adults, the chicken mince does not agree with him as well.

I have also great success with Vets All Natural dog food, have you tried that?

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Hi Holly,

Thanks so much for your thoughts, yes the chicken mince is fresh with no extra's but no have not tried either Vets all natural dog food or the advance chicken and rice. Which would you suggest I try first???

If I eliminate fleas and food allergy then you mentioned dust, plants and the like ... what do I do about them?? :mad

What do you think of the Malaseb wash?? Is it alright to use all the time or just for a short period??

Sorry for all the questions but the vet seems unsure and my poor dog looks so horrible. To my mind it must be very uncomfortable for her as well, all that itching and chewing.

thanks

Bandar :(

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Hi Bandar

there are no easy solutions with allergies, the only bit of advice I found helpful was start off iwth basic ingredients and slowly, over a few days, add another, if you find your dog chewing, gunky eyes or that horrible yeasty skin infection return, note that food and never feed again.

I would try the Vets All Natural first, seeing as you only have one dog, GSD owners have reported wonderful results. Avoid red meat at all costs, if you can get turkey necks etc, these are wonderful and do not seem to have as much hormones in them as chicken mince.

I will post more information tomorrow for you, Maleseb is great, Condees Crystals is another fav. it is cheap and a few crystals in the bath water, soaking the dog, brings a lot of relief.

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Hi Holly,

Thankyou will wait for more info from you and in the meantime will try and get a photo of my poor babies back end so you can see what I am dealing with.

Off today to get some of the Vets all natural food and give that a go, this morning she is looking about the same.

Cheers

Bandar :mad

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Hi Bandar

did you manage to get the V.A.N?

With this dog below we had great results with pure chicken backs, minced, rice and vegies. I was using Maleseb baths every third day, as he had developed a secondary skin infection, due to his previous owners neglect as well as Surlan for an ear infection, also bought on by the allergies.

With him it was one step forward, two steps back. others I know of, used his diet and then they started on V.A.N and found it wonderful. So I hope that you have great results too.

I have another dog that does not go well on chicken mince BARF, I don't use C.M because it is cheaper, I found Lugar would chew himself senseless, an hour after eating red meat. the other dog is doing better on Advance. He has to remain in peak working condition too, found mince made him flabby and I am loathed at this stage to try V.A.N, maybe in a few months once our activities have dropped off and if he has a set back it will not matter.

I also find Condees Crystal baths great for soaking the dog, but wear gloves for it will turn everything orange, lol.

I have all my bitches on pure chicken mince, vegies and Omega Oils and they are of excellent weight and have nice shiney coats and clear eyes.

Oh, by the way, my first chicken mince wholesaler, was putting bread into the mince to "thicken it' which made Lugar chew himself, I also foudn Leonards mince was not a pure source either, as I would occassionally find bread crumbs etc and with food allergies, unless you know, exactly, what you are feedin you could be making your pet sicker rather than healthier, so make sure the meat supplier does not use additivies.

I look forward to your photos

post-22-1101886837.jpg

Edited by holly
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Our Gracie the tib developed skin allergy/hotspots for the first time when she came from Canberra to Qld.

First time....it was awful....just like your dog...an absolute mess around base of tail.

Eventually with vet help we've gotten the condition in control.

These are things I learned...& what I've done.

1. The vet said the chewing of the hotspot breaks the skin...& then the bacteria which lives on the skin normally, gets inside. And then there's an infection. This is when it went into a horrible mess.

So at that stage, the vet gave her a course of antibiotics. If this has not been done for your dog, ask your vet. It helped Gracie out of that 'real mess' stage.

2. From then on, we had to lessen her chances of getting hotspots (which are allergies) or to stop them getting out of control.

Flea control....found Advantage spot best, rather than Frontline.

Chewing...if she started chewing at herself , I had to give her antihistamines....the vet said Polaramine (up to 4 a day). Check that with your own vet.

Controlling a hotspot...as soon as a spot started to appear, I had to cut the hair away from it. And I had to put the very lightest layer of Betadine on it. And not to smear it on...because that just upset the skin cells on the surface. But to dab it on ever so gently.

Shampoo...I didn't over-bath her. Used Episoothe Shampoo (by Virbac) available from vet.

Diet...she was given lean chicken, vegetables basmati rice (low starch), with Supercoat Lite dry food (has no preservatives & colouring). Often added a can of tuna in springwater to her dinner.

Every day some Melrose Cold Pressed Flaxseed (Linseed) Oil was put on her food (from health food shops or some pharmacies....from fridge cabinet).

Environment....I kept her as cool as could be in the hear. And I put fresh, clean cotton cot sheets on her bed.

I continue with all this....& she's now going brilliantly this summer. Our vet is delighted with her.

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UMMM i dont meen to sound like an idiot(but i probably do so who cares :confused: )but when this all started did you think about Mozzies?or sandflies constant licking of mozzie bites can cause seriouse infections..i have also found that a swim at the beach or saltwater baths regulary do wonders that medicated creams dont do.. :confused:

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The "main" cause for hot spots is fleas. Another cause for hot spots is when the dog is wet (not being dried properly after a bath).

We find Mylanta works well on hot spots, it dries them out pretty quick.

If you've got the diet sorted out and you're bathing her in medicated shampoo another couple of possibilities to look at could be:-

* thyroid

* hormones (is she coming into season)

* some dogs have an allergy to a certain bush/tree/plant/grass in the yard. This can make them itch and scratch and lead to a hot spot.

* over-washing can irritate the skin

Apart from the OAB's, did your vet prescribe a very low dose of steroid?

Good Luck,

Elise

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Hi Workndog

that photo was taken 2 weeks after he came here, he looked a lot worse on day one and was down to 26kg, at the time of the photo he was on double his daily ration to get his emanicipated condition changed.

The owner said that by me taking him back, saved him the money in euthanasia. If you would have seen this dog as a baby, he was the biggest in the litter, fat and healthy and to see the dog that return, I had to use all my strength not to abuse the owner.

When he came back, he stunk, even thou the owner had said he just bathed him, his chewing had bought on a yeast infection under the skin, he had no incissors, they were all worn away and he was only 14 months old, I could not even read his ear tatoo, his ears were full of crust.

My heart cried at the sight and took him straight to my vet, I honestly didn't think that there was much hope for him, but we got him back to excellent health, he even got an excellent hip and elbow score.

My vet first suggested Eukanuba FP, but at $120 per 18 kg bag and he was on 2kg of food a day, it would have broken my budget so my vet devised a BARF diet that did the trick, as you can see, Vets All Natural was not around back then, or not well known.

He is now a much loved pet of friends, who love him to bits, he also has a super character and some of the natural things he does, are truely amazing. His owners felt sorry for him occassionally, with "his plain diet" and would feed him things, eg; sausages at BBQ's they have learnt that this dog can no longer tolerate any additivies, he will have relapses.

Edited by holly
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Hi Sermonsta

you are not sounding like an idiot, enviromental triggers are the next step, which is the hardest to elimate.

My vet stated that 75% of allergies is bought on by fleas, 15 - 25% by diet, enviroment can be another, but unless you have your dog in a sterile enviroment or find a competent canine skin specialist that can do all the allergy tests, it is harder to find which are the source, so we start with the basics and build our way up the ladder of knonw allergens.

Sandflies can be nasty, using non carcinogentic dips, such as Asontul can help, I have been using Frontline and also have commenced Asuntol dips, to see if this helps.

Lugar was on Frontline and Advantage, we rotate the drugs so the immunities in the nasties do not build up, he was also Asuntol dipped, his was caused mainly bought on by food, his owner believed that good animal husbandry was Pal, he didn't control the fleas and the first time the vet saw him, it was my vet, he prescribed Frontline to kill the fleas, this owner was too cheap to spend the money and didn't buy it, his words were "I bought a purebred dog, I didn't expect to have to spend money on IT to keep IT healthy" I kid you not!!

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Hi Guys,

Thank you Mita and Elise for your advice I am learning a great deal from everyone. Holly I couldn't find the dry foods you mentioned so have continued on the chicken mince, rice and vegies with flaxseed oil and tuna to try and put in some oils to her coat.

This morning she is looking the same but no worse which is a blessing for her and me. Her coat is looking quite dry and this does concern me a little, thanks Sirmonsta for the tip on mozzies and sandflies, I have not seen any sign of bites but will keep checking just in case.

I am having a hell of a time trying to reduce these photos and attach them, not very good at that sort of thing LOL.

Will get hubby to give it a go for me tonight, I really want you guys to see what I am dealing with and it might give a better idea of her condition.

Holly your poor boy looked just dreadful in the first photo and wonderful in the second, what a difference you made to him.

Thanks again guys you are really great with this sort of thing. :thumbsup:

Cheers

Bandar

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We are having an itchy episode at the moment too. No fleas. Itchy around genitals and abdomen - vet suspects conctact allergy (environment - probably the hardest to fix). The mozzies are really bad where I live and I think that could be contributing. First it was mainly Diesel, but now Zoe is scratching too. They are both on Frontline and no sign of fleas. Off for a bath soon - was going to do it today as I have the day off but trust it to be the first overcast and cool day! If only I'd had yesterday off instead . . .

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Godzy who skin used to be on hot spot for the past few years until last summer and a change of diet had removed that problem.

yesterday evening I came home and he is covered in red spots all over his body but he is not scratching it looks like it is heat rasch so I gave him anithistame tablets.

It seems as my housemate was home he follwed him around and stayed with him in his hot room instead of the cool of the airconditioned room.

Also rubbed on aleo vera and placed some in this liittle babies bath just incase he needs to cool down.

post-22-1101943847.jpg

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I have noticed almost the same thing with my puppy. She's got Frontline on but is still scratching and I couldn't figure out why. There were no sign of fleas and there's nothing that she eats that she could be allergic to.

Then the answer dawned on me. She likes hiding under bushes and trees etc. When we humans are gardening, we often get twigs etc sticking into your skin, and the same thing was happening to Jasmine. Its not a true allergy to the plants, just that something has pushed against her skin and made it a bit sore and itchy for a couple of days.

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hi, have you tried any herbal remedies? red clover tea cools the system or

oat milk

1 cup raw rolled oats

1 Ltr cold water refridgerate 2 hours

give liquid to drink

also try apple cider vinegar as a rinse after washing & in drinking water with some organic honey, make sure the apple cider vinegar is natural, raw, unpasteurized dark golden variety of acv that has that cloudy "stringy" things floating in it. Called "Mother of vinegar" they contain the bulk of the healing nutrients. Don't buy distilled, light amber or white vinegar. They are for cleaning.

Good luck

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