savingdogs
Queen Filksinger
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2009
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- 5,478
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- 221
Well you are getting lots of good advice here, so I don't have much to add and I certainly would not disagree with anything said here, except to detract what I myself said about the benadryl not being helpful, now that you have described it further, I would certainly keep the dog on Benadryl during this season when she is so flared up. All this feet-chewing points to environmental allergies if you went by my personal experience which is, of course, anecdotal but I've taken care of a lot of dogs. hee hee
I do think that you ought to try ONE solution at a time. If you bombard the dog with everything at one time you won't know what was helpful. Make ONE change a week and observe symptoms. If not, next year you will not know what helped, you will only know that doing it all helped.
A lot of those dog food brands suggested are frankly pretty expensive, having an allergy dog can be a very expensive project especially sampling dog food brands. In my work in dog rescue, I have often received as donations multiple bags of very expensive dog food from people who were on a quest to find the right food for their dog. Most people had tried only a few days worth and then gave up. While I appreciate the donations of quality food for the fosters, the poor folks should have stuck with the same one for awhile in order to tell if it works, allergies take a while to process through their system.
I agree with Natural Balance being an excellent brand to try, and I've had good luck with the duck and potato and venison and potato. I would make sure the protein source is not chicken and the food does not contain corn because corn and chicken seem to be the biggest culprits with the dogs I've known.
I agree a "boxer" person would have the best suggestions for you on that, there are breed tendencies (such as I've known several golden retrievers allergic to chicken as well). Those "alternate" protein sources like venison and duck are real pricey however, if you are a homesteader I'd be thinking about making my own food for the dog if I were you, namely, something like rabbit if I wanted to make the dog more affordable and you obviously love it very much. If I had an allergy dog to feed for the rest of its life I'd work toward raising meat for it myself.
Vets also have a food called Z/D by Hills Diet and it is processed to be totally non-allergenic. It is extremely expensive however but you could use it to figure out if diet is the issue at all by feeding it for awhile. If your dog has environmental allergies, not food allergies, then trying different foods could be a very expensive proposition based on those "food donations" for the fosters that I've told you about.
You were up front in the beginning that finances are a concern is why I keep bringing up price. I had a lovely foster dog I would have kept myself but I knew I could not afford to feed a dog that has to eat like that.
I do think that you ought to try ONE solution at a time. If you bombard the dog with everything at one time you won't know what was helpful. Make ONE change a week and observe symptoms. If not, next year you will not know what helped, you will only know that doing it all helped.
A lot of those dog food brands suggested are frankly pretty expensive, having an allergy dog can be a very expensive project especially sampling dog food brands. In my work in dog rescue, I have often received as donations multiple bags of very expensive dog food from people who were on a quest to find the right food for their dog. Most people had tried only a few days worth and then gave up. While I appreciate the donations of quality food for the fosters, the poor folks should have stuck with the same one for awhile in order to tell if it works, allergies take a while to process through their system.
I agree with Natural Balance being an excellent brand to try, and I've had good luck with the duck and potato and venison and potato. I would make sure the protein source is not chicken and the food does not contain corn because corn and chicken seem to be the biggest culprits with the dogs I've known.
I agree a "boxer" person would have the best suggestions for you on that, there are breed tendencies (such as I've known several golden retrievers allergic to chicken as well). Those "alternate" protein sources like venison and duck are real pricey however, if you are a homesteader I'd be thinking about making my own food for the dog if I were you, namely, something like rabbit if I wanted to make the dog more affordable and you obviously love it very much. If I had an allergy dog to feed for the rest of its life I'd work toward raising meat for it myself.
Vets also have a food called Z/D by Hills Diet and it is processed to be totally non-allergenic. It is extremely expensive however but you could use it to figure out if diet is the issue at all by feeding it for awhile. If your dog has environmental allergies, not food allergies, then trying different foods could be a very expensive proposition based on those "food donations" for the fosters that I've told you about.
You were up front in the beginning that finances are a concern is why I keep bringing up price. I had a lovely foster dog I would have kept myself but I knew I could not afford to feed a dog that has to eat like that.
Her ears seem to be getting better. I don't think she'll ever NOT scratch at them, mainly because she's slightly mental 
but she's not scratching at them as much. Here's what I've been doing. She's still on Benadryl a couple of times a day - thank goodness that she is great at taking medicine. Then, I'm putting Zymox in her ears - my sister sent it to me. The redness has gone done, ears are still a little scaly, but she's only been on it since Friday. Bonus, she's not as red between her toes and I haven't noticed her chewing at those as much, either.
Our house was built in 1903 and we've slowly been remodeling and updating aka insulating! 
We only have 3 rooms left to go. My brother and BIL and husband spent all weekend tearing out the walls of the bathroom and the guest room/craft room. Started with drywall, then a layer of plaster and lath - nasty stuff. Then, to add insult to injury, ANOTHER layer of plaster and lath!!!!! 
SERIOUSLY????? Oh, and then blown insulation in the interior walls and the ceiling... So, after 2 long days of destruction, we were finally down to the studs. To top it off, the AC went out - thought that the power company had cycled the AC, nope. Then thought maybe BIL tripped a breaker while working on electric, nope. Luckily, it was a quick service call - but my BIL and brother just about died in there on Monday when the house got up to 83 degrees. It was 90 here on Monday with like 90% humidity - horrible. As of this morning, electric is done, HVAC venting is done, and plumbing will be done this morning, walls have insulation hung, closet wall is built and in place. This was all done with great patience from my BIL in that he hasn't killed my husband for changing his mind about 20 times on where he wanted stuff. 
Finally, told him to stop asking my husband and ask me, and then hubby could only be mad at me.
holy moly! Good thing I've been working for my Dad, because everything is going towards construction. Even picked up paint chips the other day, so getting a headstart thinking about that.
darling husband INSULATED the wall of an interior closet! 
Double ugh. Glad that no one is going to be able to hear anything in the CLOSET! 
today, I got his car and he has the Jeep. First irritating thing, went to go somewhere with the kids and the keys aren't in it, he grabbed both sets. Then, I look at the tires because they look funny. Gee, that would be because they are BALD!!!! And I'm not just talking a little worn, I'm talking steel poking through. I know better than to think my husband does any kind of car maintenance, but for CRIPES SAKE! So, ordered 4 new tires for Friday morning. 
