allergy?what to do

emae · Post by **emae** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:43 am

Hi--

Our 16 wk old gwp pup itches like crazy on his chest and has rash. The vet said to give him benadryl and if that doesn't treat it, then to bring him in to give a stronger steroid shot. My question is: Could this be just a simple change in diet to alleviate this problem or is it longterm treatment.

The benadryl seems to give him relief for a couple days but comes right back. Haven't taken him in for any steroid shots yet. He is eating Purina Puppy Complete Nutrition formula.

Thanks for any info.

ckfowler · Post by **ckfowler** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:27 pm

Some excellent info on http://www.gundogdoc.com/ that indicates food may be an issue.

sudiegirl · Post by **sudiegirl** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:19 pm

there are many things a puppy can get that will make him itch. it could be a food allergy, or a flea allergy, or shampoo left on his skin, or a mosquito bite, or mange (2 types actually). but we made the foolish mistake of listening to an incompetent vet that misdiagnosed a mild case of demodectic mange as a "food allergy," and multiple steroid treatments, antibiotics, expensive anti-allergy foods, dips, stupid shampoos, $1000.00, and one very bald, stinky, and itchy dog later, had no choice but to leave the only vet in town and drive hours away to the other vet only to discover that a simple (and inexpensive)dose of ivermec daily could have treated our dog's problem. i am not saying that he is NOT allergic to his food, but i would stay off the steroids until you find out for sure. does the rash appear only on his chest? is it on his legs or inside of his ears or on top of his head? was the rash present for a while before it started itching, or did you only notice it when he started scratching? has your vet suggested a skin scrape? before your run down the food allergy lane and start giving the pup steroids and special diets, i would find out for SURE that it is not mange (as steroids lower the immune system and let the demodex mites go wild) so you dont end up with a bigger problem than you should have.

emae · Post by **emae** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:28 pm

Its only on his chest and only when he starts scratching it alot. I'm not excited to race off to the vet and get steroid shots or do anything drastic. Unfortunately, it sounds like this isn't a cut and dry thing to diagnos but we are hoping its the season here in s.texas. Theres tons and tons of bugs out, along w/all sorts of pollens/molds in the air, so who really knows. Are steroid shots are for mange specifically? What is Ivermac anyway? Thanks for the reply

sudiegirl · Post by **sudiegirl** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:58 pm

no no, steroids should NOT be used to treat mange (unless you want it to get worse). ivermec is a medicine typically used for cattle and pigs, but some breeders use it orally as a heartworm/many other worms preventative (it is one of the medicines found in heartguard in very small doses), and a vet could give you the proper doseage of the proper TYPE (there are like 4 different ones i think) if that was what he or she determined your pup needed. (though from the way you are describing the rash, it does not sound like he has demodex mites anyway) some vets even treat for BOTH types of mange with ivermec for a couple of weeks before determining that it is an allergy and going on to other types of treatment. i am not saying it is NOT a food allergy, i was just saying there are many other things that can cause itchy rashes... and giving you some food for thought and some questions to ask your vet assuming that this thing does not go away on its own (and hopefully it will). either way... GOOD LUCK!!

snips · Post by **snips** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:05 am

I have some young Wirehairs in here now that have some skin problems. The vet told the owner to give them some Saflower oil in their feed. I trained their dam tho, and she had problems also. This must be an allergy, but must be genetic also.