red itchy feet

[roni]

I have had Rookie on Atopica for almost a year now (which is almost his entire life). Everyone agrees that he has allergies but it seems to be getting worse. Is the allergy season just now at it's peak? I try to keep him inside but he loves to go out and play with his neighbor buddy. I have a pool outside for him to jump in cool off. He has been throwing up this morning and I am very worried about him. Over the winter he was fine...no problems at all and now all of a sudden it hit him hard. I just feel so bad for the little guy. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Athe]

A friend of mine whose White Boxer suffers allergies switched her dog to California Natural dog food with great success. Her Boxer is allergic to grass, mold, most foods...I some times thing the dog is even allergic to air! California Natural is a very basic food and is good for a dog with allergies who can't handle a big amount of ingredients. Since the body doesn't have so much to deal with this will allow you to strengthen the immune system.
Another good food to try is EVO (you can rotate, first feed California Naturals for a simple food), EVO has no grains, grains in dog foods or too many carb's can cause an over reaction to the immune system. With one of my Newf's which suffered from Aural lick dermatitis, I took her off all grains and Carbs and she did wonderfully after that and her paws healed up nicely.

I would also try to build up the dogs immune system by giving immune enhancing mushrooms like Shittake, Maitake and Reiska. Discuss these mushrooms with a holistic vet first to make sure your dog doesn't take a reaction. I myself add these mushrooms into my dogs raw food diet with great success. Garlic cloves is also good as an anti bacterial and anti fungal and builds the immune system. Give in moderation.
You might want to look into adding Astragalus to the dogs diet to help build up the immune system. I never advise a person or dog with allergies to take Echinacea as this can over stimulate the allergy response.
Try to add more omega 3 fatty acids into the dogs diet as well, including sardines, salmon, flax oil/crushed seed, and hemp oil. I would also try giving more raw foods with natural digestive enzymes instead of only feeding killed and over processed kibbles and canned dog foods all the time. Only feed organic foods as the body won't have to deal with all the toxins with mass produced livestock and produce.

If I were you I would also order a few holistic health care books to help you with your dogs diet.
Here is a page where you can order books
http://www.sitstay.com/store/books/diet1.shtml
The books I enjoy and own are: All you ever wanted to know about herbs for pets, The complete Holistic book, Healing Pets with Natures miracle cures.
I really love the Natures miracle book, there is some fantastic ideas in this book for allergies, Cancer etc.
Good luck

 

[Debi]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same 'red, itchy feet'...but my poor Addie suffered from just that...and RED between her 'toes'. FLAMING red..poor baby. And, she licked all the time, cause I'm sure it was so irritating for her. I changed her diet..I feed both dogs Innova (sp?)...but alot of raw...chicken wings with ground up carrots, apples, potatoes, garlic, yogurt. I must say.......all irritation is gone. Meanwhile..BACK THEN, my poor baby was only relieved by Benedryl. They also get alot of ground turkey..a splash of olive oil...eggs. I have a routine that seems to work for them. Hope your pup feels better soon.

 

[Debi]

also...I put Neosporin between her 'toes' to help....I have no clue if it really did help .....but she is better all the same.

 

[roni]

Thank you so much for all of the info guys! I have had Rookie on Merrick dog food. From what I understand it is supposed to be all natural and good for him. I think I am going to change his food and start all over. I know for sure that I am going to order some books to help me. I talked to my vet (poor guy...he trys hard but he doesn't h ave a clue either) he wants to give Rookie a shot (steroid) to make him more comfortable. Should I do that? I have always heard that steroids are bad. I can't believe that he was fine over the winter and now it's back again. Could it be the grass, pollen, mold...etc? Should I try booties on the feet? Poor little baby...he just hurts. He sits back on his butt and uses his back feet to scratch the front feet. Sometimes I think he is way too smart! Thanks again!

 

[Renee750il]

You're exactly right to want to stay away from the steroids if at all possible. They can have some hairy side effects - including tumor growth.

Do try the California Natural for a few weeks, then you can start adding some raw into Rookie's diet one thing at a time. If he starts to itch, remove the last thing you added to his diet. Let us know how Rookie fares

 

[roni]

ok...I think we have finally figured out what is Rookie's problem. He has allergies (inhalant). I took him to the vet after work yesterday because he had a sore under his arm pit. It looked so painful...I felt so sorry for the little guy. It tested positive to yeast so now he is on three different medicines. 1. Atopica 2. Ketoconazole and 3. is some kind of antibiotic for his skin infection. When I rescued him last year (about this time) he was just 7 - 8 weeks old and had the worst rash on his tummy. Real red and scally. We went through everything from dipping him in this horrible smelling stuff to changing his diet. We finally think we figured it out to be the heat combined with the grass and pollen. Renee - have you heard of anything liike that? The vet did give him a shot also (because he was itching so bad). Poor guy!

 

[Mordy]

roni, do you have access to a holistic vet who practices homeopathy?

with these allopathic treatments your vet is giving (antibiotics, the shot might have been prednisone) i very much doubt you are going to get things under control, because they only try to suppress the symptoms but do not work on curing the underlying problem.

you have been around the circle once already between when you adopted the dog and the second outbreak now, the sooner you go deeper to address underlying health concerns, the better for the dog and the less money spent on vet bills for you.

 

[Renee750il]

Mordy's right, of course. The antibiotics are going to exacerbate the yeast problem, which in turn is going to make the itching and sores worse. The shot was likely prednisone - and the potential side effects aren't good.

The best way to address allergies is with his diet. It's very important to address the underlying yeast problem also. Unless you get the yeast taken care of this is going to be an ongoing problem.

I'm betting Mordy can give you good advice on the yeast. Linda Arndt has some good articles on it on her site (www.greatdanelady.com) as well.

 

[gapeach]

Poor Rookie, give him kisses from us