Itching out of control

[Niki & Jasper]

Hi everyone,

So Jasper is now 8 months old and has always been somewhat of an 'itchy' doodle I guess. but lately, it has been the worst I have seen. He is constantly itching, biting, and licking himself - wakes up several times in the night, stops while we're on a walk, etc. I have already taken him to the vet a couple times regarding this and have not really been that satisfied with the answer. The vet claims that it is a food allergy and I stop giving Jasper things such as cream cheese, yogurt, and peanut butter as it is probably one of those...

I live in Toronto and it is Winter here now and I am not sure how common environmental allergies are at this time. I vacuum and dust religiously, as it does get quite dusty here in the Winter, and I wash his bed and my sheets weekly. A few days ago I also bathed him with TropiClean OxyMed shampoo (I looked for Douxo but could not find it online anywhere that ships to Canada for a price cheaper than 2x the cost of the bottle), left it on for 10 minutes and then rinsed. It didn't have any effect on soothing him at all. I recently switched all his food and treats to grain free (about 3 weeks ago - Acana Pacifica), and I know it takes time but I havent even seen a slight improvement since doing this. He was previously on Acana puppy. For the past 2 months he has also been getting 1 500mg pill of EPO oil, and occasionally 1 10mg pill of Claritin - his coat has definitely improved since taking the EPO, but I have not noticed any change with the scratching. The Claritin also does not help as much as I thought/hoped. Should I increase the doses? Is Claritin something that I can give everyday? I brush him daily and wipe him down after spending time outside, but nothing seems to be helping. 

I am so frustrated, I just do not know what to do to help reduce the scratching. Over the past 2 weeks it is the worse I have ever seen - he has gotten to the point where chunks of his fur are falling out. On all other counts, he is healthy and I have not noticed any unusual behaviour or anything that should concern me.  I am taking him to another vet in a few days to see what they say, but I wanted to ask if anyone had any thoughts/ideas ANYTHING that may be helpful. It honestly breaks my heart to see my little guy so uncomfortable all the time. 

Thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hmmm. Well, we have 90 members in the Atopy Support Group, and nobody's specialist has ever mentioned using pills for immunotherapy. I do an awful lot of research on it, and I've never heard of it either. There is some hokum thing with sublingual sprays or something, but to my knowledge, you can't do desensitization treatments with pills. Also, how was she tested? It should have been a skin test under anesthetic.

Is the specialist ACVD certified? Here's their website, you can look it up: https://www.acvd.org/

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Yes, she was tested, skin patch, local anesthetic.

I will pass this on to my daughter.

Thanks, Karen.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, the testing that JD had, and the other dogs in the AD group was not a skin patch or local anesthetic, they were sedated and the testing involved shaving a large area and injecting dozens of allergens. There's a link with photos in this discussion. I've been researching the allergen specific immunotherapy treatments, and there is nothing about pills other than a generic pill for general grass allergies. When you do the skin testing, they determine exactly which grasses, mites, pollens, etc a dog is allergic to and then formulate a serum with those antigens, and it can be adjusted over time; for example, JD needed more of the ragweed antigen added. I don;t see how they could do that with a pill. Also, the initial phase of the treatment calls for three or four concentrations of the serum, so you get a whole little kit with 3 or 4 vials and a fairly complicated injection schedule. You actually have a chart with the day and the amount for the first few weeks: day 1, 1 cc vial 1, day 3, 2 cc vial 1, day 10, 3 cc vial 2, etc. I also don;t see how you could do that with a pill. In the AD group, people actually posted photos of their dog's test results and their immunotherapy charts.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a photo of one of Ann's dogs induction schedules:

Here's a test result sheet:

Here's JD after his testing:

And here's a link to the discussion about it:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/all-about-allergies
All of this is pretty standard treatment for Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. If you google it, or google allergen specific immunotherapy in dogs, you'll see this over and over again. So whatever treatment Lily is getting, it doesn't sound like standard immunotherapy.

[Niki & Jasper]

What an adorable picture! I hope that Lily finds some relief soon though with the immunotherapy. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Love the photo.

[Niki & Jasper]

I forgot to add, when I run my fingers down Jasper's lower back, it is very sensitive for him and he arches his back and moves away from my hand. I remember reading something about when dog's are sensitive around that area that it is related to allergies - I can't remember exactly.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Supposedly, when you run your hand along their side, down lower, closer to the belly, if the flesh ripples, it's a sign of allergies, but I don't think there's any scientific evidence to back that up.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Lily does this on her back as well, as I said, she does not like being petted, I can however grab her smoosh face and kiss her right on the lips - and I do! LOL

[Niki & Jasper]

UPDATE:

I just couldn't stand to see Jasper itch as much as he was doing, so I brought him into a different vet. This was the first vet (out of 3) that said it was likely not food allergies as they are not very common, so so far off to a good start. She agreed that Claritin is more effective than Benadryl when I told her that I had been giving him Claritin instead, and she also approved of the EPO tablets. She found 1 flea on his body even though he is on Advantage multi - I have examined his skin several times and even the vet I took him to previously did not see any fleas. She said that the flea is probably contributing to some of the itchiness, but the majority of it is caused by environmental allergies. Here in Toronto we have had drastic changes of weather, where one day it will be snowing and temperature in the negatives, and the next day raining with warmer temperatures. She said this has most likely been making it worse, and his itchiness will hopefully subside when the temperature gets a lot colder and we have some frost. She gave him one Capstar tablet for the flea, and gave me Chlorpheniramine to give to Jasper daily to help with the scratching. She also suggested I give him an Omega 3 supplement + the EPO. What do you guys think?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think you found yourself a great new vet. Excellent advice.

Flea allergy dermatitis is the most common kind of allergy in dogs, and the flea bite could definitely have been contributing to his general itchiness. 

Chlorpheniramine is Chlor-trimeton, which is another antihistamine often recommended by veterinary dermatologists. In the future, you can probably buy it cheaper at the drugstore, depending on the dose.

You can give omega 3 fatty acid supplements in the form of fish oil; what you want is EPA and DHA specifically, so use a product made from fish and not from flax or other plants. start with lower doses, as it causes diarrhea in some dogs. JD gets diarrhea from fish oil, but the EPO doesn't have the same effect, which is why his dermatologist recommended it. The Nature Made Omega 3 minis are a good choice of fish oil supplement.

Please keep us posted, I think you will see some improvement in Jasper's itching within a week or two. And stay with this vet!

[Ben & Amos Zeeman]

My Amos's nose was getting dry and raw and he was itching his feet. (though later I found out he had cut his foot)
I took him to the vet, and the vet prescribed a high dose of fresh fish oil. He told me that the omega-3 additives in the food were not as good and to always use fresh.

He gave me some high potency rather expensive fish oil pills and told me to give them to him daily.
I poke a hole in the capsule and drizzle it over his food.
Because what he gave me was so expensive, I found out how strong it was and found the best alternative. Be careful and read labels closely. Cosco fish oil capsules work well, but are labeled sneaky. They say 1000mg, but if you look closely, it has 300mg omega-3. I give him 3 a day. All at once, so that's 900mg omega-3/day. He's 57lbs. His nose cleared up right away and he doesn't seem to itch as much. The difference was strong enough, I have not needed to give him allergy medicine at all. Bonus, he loves the taste of the fish oil, and it perfectly natural and healthy with no drowsy side effects!