Labradoodle & Goldendoodle Forum
So Meg and I are in Georgia at my daughter's house and she and my daughter's lab are getting along great. I discovered that Meg has no aggression issues, they do pretty well equal together although Stevie is a bit stunned that suddenly he has to share Granny...
I noticed Meg not leaving her paws alone so I took a close look and in only a day and a half they were an angry looking mess, the pretty black paws were swollen underneath and angry red showing through. I took her to my daughter's vet and he looked in her ears first and said "I am betting allergies", this is a first for us. After checking her over and exclaiming over her paws he gave her a shot and some tablets to take for 10 days. Without testing her I am guessing the pine needles, that Georgia has abundantly, is the culprit. She is turning it around rapidly now that she got meds but I am wondering what I do from now on for visits? Would I keep her on something like Benadryl when we visit? I will also be talking with our own vet when we get home. I really don't want to pay that high a vet bill if there is something we can do to avoid the issue, this has not happened at home. Any insight would be appreciated.
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It's doubtful that the pine needles are the cause. It's some kind of pollen that is most likely causing the allergy symptoms, and that means it has to be something that is currently pollinating. At this time of year, that's usually weeds, most commonly ragweed but there are others, too. It's the proteins from the pollens which are inhaled that cause the histamine response in the blood stream that causes the symptoms. It may be some type of plant that doesn't grow in your area.
You can enter your DD's zipcode on the pollen.com website and see if the pollen levels in that area are high right now, and which particular pollens predominate. Knowing which they are won't help much, though, because pollens travel 400 miles on the air, so it's impossible to avoid them.
The vet almost certainly gave her steroids, which work very quickly to stop the immune response. If so, you may want to give her pepcid or zantac (a generic is fine), as steroids can be very hard on the stomach mucosa.
Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do about this short of the steroids in future years. Most of us whose dogs have inhalant allergies use fatty acid supplements in the form of fish oil or evening primrose oil throughout the year, along with antihistamines for flares. Benadryl is not your best choice, the second generation antihistamines like Zyrtec and Claritin work better for most of our dogs and do not cause drowsiness. You could try starting those meds a couple of weeks before visiting your DD, as they are not going to do much once a flare has started. We also do things like wiping the dogs down every time they come in from outside, bathing them frequently, washing their bedding, keeping windows closed, changing air filters frequently, etc. but all that may not be practical when you are visiting in someone else's home. Basically, you want to eliminate as much of the pollen from her indoor environment as possible.
There are also OTC anti-itch sprays you can purchase to use on her feet; again, this has to be done at the very first sign of licking or biting to be effective. Once it's gotten to the point Meg's are now, the sprays won't help.
At least we know that it has nothing to do with food, so you will at least be spared any advice or recommendations on that, lol.
I'm thinking that Meg must have been starting this flare on the driving trip to Judy's DD's home, because it's doubtful that her paws got this bad in just a day and a half. It would be hard to say at what point in the trip they encountered whatever pollens are probably causing this.
If Meg spent any time alone chewing on those paws, they can easily be red and raw pretty quickly. I had to give Ollie an antifungal a month or so ago because he paw chewing had gotten that bad. I groomed him on a Sunday night and his paws were fine. I caught him licking the following Tuesday morning (he created a giant wet spot on his bed from all his slobber) and when I checked, both his front paws were raw and red. He must've been working on them while I was at work on Monday because the poor guy was a mess. I now do paw checks a couple times a week just to keep an eye on things.
It could be that she was working on them in the back of the car instead of sleeping as much as I thought she was back there. A couple of months back she had a spot on her right front leg that she wouldn't leave alone and she enlarged it in no time at all. Regular paw checks are in our future.
Also try to keep the paws dry. Trim away any pad hair and wipe the area down with Chlorhexedrine (spelling?). You can get it at any drugstore in the first aid section.
Good advice!
Lots of good information that I intend to store, I knew I would get answers here. She was bathed on Friday and we always have the hair trimmed under her paws, it does not appear to be overly shaved and the vet made no comment about that. She was pretty typical Saturday and we loaded up and headed out in the afternoon, I wanted to make it an overnight trip with a hotel so I could see how she handled that.(she was a champ) I did not see any signs at any spot that I let her out to relieve herself that indicated they had sprayed chemicals (my first thought when I saw her pads), my daughter has pine trees, oak trees (acorns everywhere) she carries the acorns around and spits them out like they are a ball I am suppose to play with and then most of the yard that she plays in is concrete/flagstone. I also thought possible cleaning chemicals on the hotel carpet.
It's generally not something they are coming into physical contact with that is causing the issue; it's something that is gets into the bloodstream via ingesting or inhaling it that causes a histamine response. (Yes, there is such a thing as contact allergies, but they are very, very rare in dogs). So it's most likely not anything that Meg has walked on but rather something she is breathing that caused the reaction. She is licking and biting her paws because in dogs, there are a lot of histamine receptors in the feet, so that's the area that generally itches the most when there is an allergic reaction. You want to keep the feet clean and dry to remove any pollens that the dog has picked up while outdoors, the same reason for wiping them down all over; so that they don't bring them into the house where they will continue to be inhaled.
While chemicals can be inhaled, and may cause health issues, they generally do not produce the antibodies that are formed in true allergies, and that trigger the histamine response.
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