I have recently had a bit of an epiphany in regards to allergies and my dogs.
My PRT bitch has allergies. Her main culprit is fleas. I do everything I can, but I live in the deep south and fleas are there. I have brought fleas home from dog shows this summer. She is also sensitive to many of the topical flea meds. But with most flea treatments, the flea has to bite the dog to die. It is the bite that she is allergic to. And I really cringe at putting chemicals in and on my dogs. But I do it anyway, because they cannot be miserable either. I had to pull her from a dog show and mark her as abscent because 3 days before a cluster show in less than 1 hour, she ate a hole in her hair and chewed her back and looked horrible. She created a giant hotspot. I was not going to put that in front of a judge.
So my point to this is I was talking to another breeder friend about allergies. He says he would never breed a dog with allergies because allergies is an autoimmune deficiency and we as a dog show breeder and enthusiast will do what it takes for our dogs, but many pet people are not willing to work so hard for 'just a pet'. There are exceptions such as yourself, but we know not everyone is like that.
But a light went off in my head "autoimmune deficiency". DING! In that second my mind went to zinc. I did some homework that night because I could not get it out of my head. I figured it would not hurt. Allergies, itchy skin, goopy ears, red feet are an overgrowth of yeast in the body.
I put my bitch on a limited ingredient diet. Some say grain free, but I have different opinions on grain free food. So I went with limited ingredient. I added to her food Probiotics Max. That will help push the yeast out of the body. I know it will have a final burst and get worse then start getting better. I also added (my bitch is only 13lbs) a half a zinc pill 2 times a day. I get the zinc at dollar general, it is 3 or 4 dollars for 100 pills. Then lastly, on top of the chemical flea treatments, I began to spray her once a day with essential oils as my imaginary "flea forcefield" for her.
Within 2 days, she started growing hair. This bitch has always had a bit of a thin coat. I always considered her coat one of her faults. She started growing hair. Then her entire coat thickened all over her body and she grew an undercoat. That bitch had hair so thin that when she was wet, she looked bald, you could see thru her hair. (she is white). Now, she has a beautiful coat and a very respected judge (this one is loved or hated) even commented to us what a beautiful coat she had. She even grew in the undercoat she was supposed to have, but did not have before.
So something in what I did was working. My older boy started licking his feet and digging his ears. He started that off and on a few years ago. I gave him zinc, it cleared up.
Cookies to you if you read all this. I thought I would share my more recent experience. Now all my show dogs are on zinc. I find cuts heal faster and rubbed off hair comes in faster.
:cheers: