[i love remy]

Do a lot of you have dogs that are being treated for environmental allergies? Last spring and summer, Bella had horrible allergies, and almost everything outside made her break out in hives or made her so itchy that she often got secondary skin infections. Every time we took her to the vet, she was given a Diphenhydramine and steroid injection. Her allergies aren't nearly as bad right now (at least not yet), but I want to explore different treatment options in case her allergies do flair up again, and I'm leaning more toward homeopathic. She's being transitioned to Nature's Variety Lamb Meal and Oatmeal kibble right now, and she gets Missing Link supplement every day. Would anyone like to share their experiences with allergic dogs?

 

[Bremner53]

pm'd you

 

[i love remy]

Thanks, Meagan.

 

[cfhoftampa]

my vet recomended we give Scarlet one 10mg clariton once a day for allergies. We have not started it yet because of other meds she is on but he said it was ok and should help her.

 

[i love remy]

Claritin...interesting. That's what I take. Bella's vet doesn't want to put her on antihistimines until she has a whole series of allergy tests. I'm sure the vet just wants our money, so she's not being liberal with tips on how we can help Bella's allergies at home.

 

[mom to many]

Our vet also had my first AB on Claritin as well. he only had trouble in Spring and summer, so we definitely thought it had to do with pollen...most likely grass pollens. One of my daycare clients is a vet (that's handy!!) and she said unless a dog is having severe issues with allergies and something like Claritin or Benadryl isn't helping, then she'll recommend testing.

I can't remember the dosage we gave my first AB of the Claritin...I can ask the vet who's children I watch if you'd like!

 

[i love remy]

Our vet also had my first AB on Claritin as well. he only had trouble in Spring and summer, so we definitely thought it had to do with pollen...most likely grass pollens. One of my daycare clients is a vet (that's handy!!) and she said unless a dog is having severe issues with allergies and something like Claritin or Benadryl isn't helping, then she'll recommend testing.

I can't remember the dosage we gave Rudy (my first AB) of the Claritin...I can ask the vet who's children I watch if you'd like!

That'd be great! Bella weighs about 65lbs. if dosage is based on body weight.

 

[mom to many]

Our vet also had my first AB on Claritin as well. he only had trouble in Spring and summer, so we definitely thought it had to do with pollen...most likely grass pollens. One of my daycare clients is a vet (that's handy!!) and she said unless a dog is having severe issues with allergies and something like Claritin or Benadryl isn't helping, then she'll recommend testing.

I can't remember the dosage we gave Rudy (my first AB) of the Claritin...I can ask the vet who's children I watch if you'd like!

That'd be great! Bella weighs about 65lbs. if dosage is based on body weight.

I'll ask her tomorrow morning and let you know!

 

[i love remy]

Thank you very much!

 

[cfhoftampa]

Our vet also had my first AB on Claritin as well. he only had trouble in Spring and summer, so we definitely thought it had to do with pollen...most likely grass pollens. One of my daycare clients is a vet (that's handy!!) and she said unless a dog is having severe issues with allergies and something like Claritin or Benadryl isn't helping, then she'll recommend testing.

I can't remember the dosage we gave Rudy (my first AB) of the Claritin...I can ask the vet who's children I watch if you'd like!

That'd be great! Bella weighs about 65lbs. if dosage is based on body weight.

Scarlet weighs 65 lb and vet said 10 mg would be her does. He said make sure its the regular Claritin...not the D. Scarlet too has problems spring and summer...she gets itchy red eyes and itchy feet.

 

[augrad]

You probably already know this, but diphenhydramine is just Benadryl. So if your vet decides to take that route again, it may be cheaper to get it over the counter. 1 mg per pound (which would be enough to knock one of us on our @$$ until next week, by the way).

 

[carson]

yep, Benedryl is what my vet told me to get for Petey. He's very allergic to bees and last year he got stung. I took him to the vet who charged me $65 for an antihystamine shot but my horse vet told me I got ripped off and should just go to the drug store so I'm armed and ready!!

 

[i love remy]

You probably already know this, but diphenhydramine is just Benadryl. So if your vet decides to take that route again, it may be cheaper to get it over the counter. 1 mg per pound (which would be enough to knock one of us on our @$$ until next week, by the way).

Yeah, I know. When she was getting hives last year, we were giving her the recommended dosage of Benadryl, but to no avail. A Benadryl and steroid injection was the only thing that worked. She's a lot more responsive to Benadryl this year, but I want to work on allergy prevention rather than treatment of symptoms that I'm sure make her feel miserable.

 

[i love remy]

Scarlet weighs 65 lb and vet said 10 mg would be her does. He said make sure its the regular Claritin...not the D. Scarlet too has problems spring and summer...she gets itchy red eyes and itchy feet.

She sounds a lot like Bella. Bella gets very itchy paws (in between her toes), a rash on her belly, and bumps down her back. She's only had hives once this spring, and it was really mild compared to what she had last year. Allergies suck!!

 

[Care]

The only thing allergy testing is going to do is help you to know what to keep Bella away from. We had Spooky tested and man she was allergic to everything. I'm pretty sure there were some things not on the testing list too, that I put in my own list of things. Spooky was allergic to grass, trees, different weeds and flowers, dust mites, mold, fleas, + +...... She also had food allergies.

It took us years to come up with the most natural way of helping her. Spooky had dermatitis so she would get little zit looking bumps that always got infected along with hives, hot spots, and lose a lot of her hair. Not to mention she would smell really bad and have the worst dry skin. If she got really, really bad we would give her Vanectyl-P which is a antihistamine and prednisolone combo. We tried not to give her the medication unless she needed it. For the average flare up we would try to boost her immune system (I make my own supplement), keep her away from certain things, put booties on her, and bath her twice a week with Nizoral. When you know what the allergies are (which you can usually figure out yourself by following patters and keeping a journal) you can do certain things to help. Like for Spooky we let her outside before the grass was cut and tried to keep her in (with doors and windows closed) for a few hours after. When we did let her out we were very carefull to make sure she didn't eat grass or other weeds, and I would bring blankets outside for her to lay on or get her to play on the patio or deck. We didn't let her in the basement certain times of the year, I never used dryer sheets for their blankets or stuff, tried to vaccum a lot (and vaccum an wash their bedding), I make a natural flea repellent and we tried to keep her away from dogs who we weren't sure didn't have fleas (all it took was one bite), etc......

Some people find that a raw diet helps a great deal. Although it doesn't help all dogs. We didn't keep Spooky on a raw diet because she could only have very expensive meat sources. At the time I wasn't a savvy meat shopper and didn't have a computer to help me locate deals. If I had it to do over with the knowledge I have now I would have kept her on raw.

The diet Bella is on now is a great food, so if you're keeping her on kibble that one should be no problem.

 

[i love remy]

Thank you for taking the time to type all of that out, Care! It was very useful. I know for sure that Bella is allergic to grass, and I'm also assuming that she's allergic to trees, bushes, flowers, weeds, etc. I have no idea if she's allergic to fleas or not because she's never had them. I don't think she's sensitive to detergent or fabric softener sheets, but she's a dog....she can probably live without super soft bedding. Thanks again!

 

[HausMommy]

This thread makes me thankful Haus doesn't have any allergies that we know of yet. Although, I'm sure they are to come. :?

 

[i love remy]

This thread makes me thankful Haus doesn't have any allergies that we know of yet. Although, I'm sure they are to come. :?

Allergies are the pits (no pun intended! ha!) It's frustrating because they're not like a normal illness that just gets better. Allergens are all over the place! Bella is doing so much better this year than she was last year, though, so I'm hoping her immune system will do most of the work for us. Remy hasn't shown one sign of allergies yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed with him, too.

 

[augrad]

Yes, I can attest to that. Allergies suck! And short of living in a bubble, it's not like you can avoid all of the allergens.

I have my bio. mother to thank for this. [email protected] faulty genes........ :wink: