Allergy advice

[rebecca23]

Hi everyone!
Jake is 2 and has had some allergies since he was a puppy. I soon realized he was allergic to grains and that manifested itself as a nasty ear and paw yeast infection. Since he's been off the grains we haven't had much trouble until a few months ago. He started having some diarrhea and vomiting and got very itchy feet and was also scratching his face a lot.

The vet has put him on a special ultra low allergen food- Z/D made of hydrolyzed proteins and he's been on an antibiotic (foot infection has developed from all his scratching), he was on a 2 week trial of anti-histamine (hydralazine) with no success and is now on benadryl for another 2 week trial. The vet says I should try him on the Z/D food for 3 months to see if it relieves his symptoms and if it doesn't work we'll try him on a totally new protein source like kangaroo. If that doesn't work she'll figure it's seasonal allergies and not food related. He's been on the food for a month and a half and I don't really see much improvement. I'm still having to leave the cone on him most of the time, otherwise he chews his feet off.

I hate having him in the cone all the time and I hate that he's uncomfortable. 3 months on a food seems like a really long time to me. Shouldn't we know by now that it's not working?? I'm not sure whether to keep going on this course or what else to try. Any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

-Rebecca and an itchy Jake

[carmiesmommy]

I know you posted some time ago and you have not received any replies. I would suggest you take your dog to a dermatologist. They are specialists dealing with skin and ear issues. They might be able to get to the root of the problem much faster. Hope things have cleared up.

[rebecca23]

Thanks for the reply. Jake and I have been through a lot. He's just finishing a course of steroids that has been a wonderful break for us both. I've just switched his food to something that I hope is going to work better for him. I will look into a pet dermatologist. I'm not sure there's one in our area. Thanks for the advice though!
-Rebecca

[kasia]

so glad to hear that jake has had a bit of a break from the itchies. but as you know, steroids are not for long term (the dog's immune system gets compromised which is then even more susceptible to allergies, creating a vicious cycle).

have you considered raw diet? i'm thinking specifically of doing an elimination diet where you only feed one protein at a time, to decide whether there are any food allergies besides grain? there are lots of threads on the elimination diet in the raw diet section. feeding raw seems to be helpful to a lot of dogs with skin issues. mine really improved after i switched him. if you're nervous about raw, you might want to consider those dehydrated foods (still just meat, bone and organ but dried).

he of course may be allergic to non-meat things like mites etc, - i hope the dermatologist will help. good luck, and let us know how he's doing. kasia