Question

[Tracy L Boring]

I have an appointment on Friday to take our two year old doodle in for a check up.  Three weeks ago I took him to the puppy park, and I changed his food.  I noticed when I got home that his back thigh area and the base of his tail were red.  He kept chewing on the area, so I put cream on it and some pants.  

He is still on a lamb base food that I put him on three weeks ago.  The area will heal up, and I take the pants off, and he begins to chew at the back thigh area and the base of the tail.  He threw up his food today within a couple of minutes of eating it.  He is running around and playing, so I don't suspect that he feels bad.  I have never had issues with him like this before.  

I did a full body check a minute ago, and notice what looks like three bite marks on his belly.  He is on a flea treatment that he has been on since he was fourteen weeks old.  I don't know if this sounds like flea, or food allergy or what.  Any ideas?  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's not from the food. It wouldn't happen that fast after a food change. Just out of curiosity, what was he eating before, and what did you change to?

The vomiting seems unrelated to me. Vomiting after eating is not that uncommon, and itf it's a one-time thing, I wouldn't worry about it.

I also doubt that it's a flea allergy, the symptoms don't fit, and again, it wouldn't happen that fast. Allergies take time to develop. You wouldn't have a reaction until the second exposure, which would mean he'd have to have had fleas before. And you can see fleas and flea dirt very easily. The areas around the neck and head are usually affected.

It sounds to me like poison ivy or some other contact dermatitis. The areas in question would correspond to his ahving backed into or sat in a patch of poison ivy or other plant that causes a histamine reaction. Have you tried giving him an antihistamine?

 I personally would have taken the dog in to the vet before now; I hate to think about him itching and suffering like that even until Friday. Can you move his appointment up and get him in sooner?

 

[Tracy L Boring]

Karen,

Thanks for getting back to  me.  I have not tried an antihistamine.  He started the itching right after leaving the puppy park. I called the veterinary, and she has been on maternity leave, so she had me come in and pick up a cream.  She starts back Friday.   I put the cream on, and he does not itch at all.  Not one tiny bit.  The area heals up, and the redness goes away. I stop the cream and the itchy comes back immediately.  As soon as I see him itch, I start the cream again.  Since the incident, he has only itched three times, but those three times he seems to irritate the area.  I put in a call to the ground keeper at the puppy park about three weeks ago, and he just called me back.  He said they sprayed the puppy park one or two days before I took my dogs.  The ground keeper also said that on the small dog side, which the doodle with the itchy was on, has what looks like may be some kind of ivy. He stopped short of saying poison ivy.   He said he has had hundreds of calls.   It seems like many doggies have come down with itchy. I contacted my Veterinary at home a minute ago, and she said in light of all of this, to take him to the emergency veterinary.  Not really an emergency, but she said not to wait until Friday.  Thanks again.