Floyd has allergies

[Karina, Wass and Floyd]

It's seems like it has been one thing after another for Floyd. He had an
upper respiratory infection about a month ago and now he's got airborne
allergies aka atopic dermatitis. He's scratching at his belly a lot,
the fur on all 4 paws is deep red, and he bites at the base of his tail.
Our vet told me that he's too young for food allergies and put him on
anti-histamine's which seem to help a little but he's still scratching
his belly like crazy and his paws just a little less than before. I'm
concerned that he may not be too young for food allergies and that is
more the cause and that we are feeding him something that is causing
this.

She recommended a topical steroid spray to help relieve him of his
itchiness since the pills don't seem to be working alone. I've been
hesitant on giving him a steroid even if it's topical because he's so
young and because it's a steroid. I think I'm going to go ahead and use
it though to at least help the itching until I can find a better
solution. Our vet also recommended giving him baths more often, like
once a week which we have done twice now with hypoallergenic shampoo with
colloidal oatmeal (Earth Bath) and it seems to help at first but he starts to scratch
20 minutes later.

Has anyone here dealt with allergies in their pups, especially so young?
Floyd is just over 6 months now. I have an appointment with a holistic
vet on Wednesday to get her opinion on other options. I'm just wondering if anyone has had a 6 month old puppy with allergies and what they did to help the itching.

[Tammy & Gracie]

Move your discussion to this group. You will find out anything you need about allergies. Karen will carefully explain why food allergies are very unlikely. My Gracie has had these issues since she was around 10 months old. We treat with evening primrose oil, salmon oil and homecooked food. She still has to go on antihistimines occasionally for a short time (seasonally in fall). But has not required steriods but about 10 days once yearly to keep everything under control.. Hang in there, you will find the right mix of treatments.
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/atopicdermatitissupportgroup

[Karina, Wass and Floyd]

Thank you very much for the discussion group suggestion. I was about to check and see if anything like this existed!

[Louise and Toby]

Our boy Toby is four and just recently had an episode of itching sides and bare belly. He was licking and going nuts. The vet suggested washing the area with a mild soap, give antihistamine and a topical over the counter steroid 1% cream to the area and to walk him for 20 minutes or so so that he wouldn't lick it off. We did this just once and he was cured! I hope it is a temporary thing for your pup as well.