Allergy Issues

[Claudia Pranica]

Help! Our 2 year old Goldendoodle has major allergy issues. He's licked all the fur off his front legs even after being on allergy meds. I've had to keep a cone on him to try and stop the cycle. His thyroid has been checked and is fine. No mites and no fleas. No food allergies either. Has anyone else experienced this with their furry family member and if so has anything worked?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, lots of us here have dogs with allergies, which is not surprising, because Labs are the #2 breed affected by Atopic Dermatitis (true allergies), and Golden Retrievers are also over-represented. The best advice I can give you is to consult a veterinary dermatology specialist to have testing done and get a real treatment plan in place. This gets worse as the dog gets older, so early treatment is important. 

Some information: 

Basic Facts About Allergies In Dogs (and how to keep them comfortable) 

And specialist locator for the American College of Veterinary Dermatologists:

https://www.acvd.org/tools/locator/locator.asp?ids=16_Find_Dermatol...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh and the answer to your question "has anything worked?", my guy has been on immunotherapy treatment since 2008 and it's worked beautifully. He has no symptoms at all, and since immunotherapy doesn't involve drugs, no side effects either. :) 

But the earlier you start it, the better your chances of success. 

[Claudia Pranica]

Thank you for your response. Our next step is making an appointment with a doggie dermatologist.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm glad. 

[Richard Crowe]

By all means, see a dermatologist.  General practice vets are often not as familiar with skin conditions as are specialists. Our Maltese Rescue California has used the services of a doggie dermatologist quite often since many of our rescue dogs arrive with skin conditions of one type or another.

Recently, Ella came to us with an awful skin condition (I won't post her arrival pictures because they are too gross).  She had been seen by a general practice vet who prescribed an antibiotic and prednisone.  Ella's ears were red and swollen and her rump was devoid of hair and black from rubbing on the ground due to itching.

The dermatologist said that the antibiotic he previous vet had prescribed was wrong for Ella's condition and the level of prednisone was too low.  She also said that Ella had a severe allergy and that she had some secondary skin infection. The dermatologist said that most doggie allergies are NOT TO GRAIN.  Rather, most dog's who have allergies are sensitive to MEAT PRODUCTS such as beef, chicken and pork.

She put Ella on a prescription canned diet and a new antibiotic.  She also changed the dosage of prednisone. 

Ella is through with the prednisone and finished with the antibiotics,  Her ears are no longer red and swollen and her rump is beginning to grow hair.

Best of all, this happy girl has been adopted by a family that lives near the dermatologist and who is willing to feed Ella the prescription diet.  She will be seen as a follow-up by the dermatologist who will try to find a meat product to which Ella is not allergic.  First try will be duck but, Ella is happy and not scratching

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks for posting Ella's story.  We took our Springer to the vet dermatologist too.  It turns out that not only was the antibiotic from the regular vet not the correct one, it was prescribed for too short a time, and our Springer was allergic to the prednisone!  We spent much less than you would think for a specialist.