My friend's American Pit/Bull Terrier mix has been having severe allergy problems for most of his life and it is driving her crazy.
His entire body is covered in itchy little red spots that he scratches at, then they get scabby. He, also, has minor leakages and discharges that may or may not be related.
He is young, otherwise healthy, and has a great demeanor. He is free from fleas and ticks. His home is pest free, too. He is watched carefully and does not seem to be eating anything from the yard or neighborhood.
She has tried changing everything he eats to "hypo-allergenic" including snacks. He is improved but it is coming back again.
Pale skinned, he is very sensitive to sun light. His nose gets burned and the red spots show clearly all over his pale skin.
Any suggestions are welcome. $400 a vet visit, and very expensive food and medicine are not solving the problem only treating it.
Answers:
To solve the problem you must try to eliminate the allergen. The fastest, most straight-forward way to find out exactly what his problem is is to have a complete allergy panel blood test run. This is expensive, but it is an investment. It will list every food ingredient, mold, and common plant life in your area that the dog is allergic to, and to what degree.
Hypoallergenic foods are limited ingredient, but he can be allergic to any one of the ingredients in the food as well, and also to environmental allergens. The key is to find out exactly what works as far as ingredients, and also to find out if antihistamines help (antihistamines will reduce symptoms of allergic reactions to things in the air, or in contact, but have minimal effect on food reactions).
Once she finds the right food and the right drug treatment combination (if necessary) he should be a normal doggie again. There are, of course, exceptions. Some dogs are so sensitive they do require expensive therapy for the rest of their lifetimes, cyclosporine is commonly used as a non-steroidal immune suppressant to control severe allergies. Hopefully your friend will not need this help, but it is available if she does.
Have you ever had him get an allergy test? The vet can take blood and run a test that will show you what he is most allergic to. It's expensive but it situations like this it could help a lot.
Well this is coming from my personal experience some dogs, especially, pit bull terriers and bull terriers have very sensitive skin. My dog has very dry skin and i have to give her baths with oatmeal shampoo. Just like people dogs skin can dry out and become very red, irritated and itchy from over exposure to the sun and giving your dog to many baths. If your friend is bathing her dog every day or every other day tell her to lay off for a little while. No sprays so anything wet on the dogs skin, and see if that helps any at all. Applying like a type of Vaseline to his skin might help, it will act like a protective barrier of his sensitive skin.
I have had some pretty severe issues with my girl's skin and the link below has been a god-send to me!! Its full of information and home remedies. Try going there and do some reading. Click the link below and then scroll down the page to the index and choose a topic like skin conditions. good luck.
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