My wonderful dog Toby has allergies.
The vet said before that the only reason she can attribute to his symptoms is allergies.
Toby has certain places on his body that get very red and itchy. These spots are under his chin on his neck, and in his arm (leg) pits. His eyes also puff up and get itchy. He will rub his face against the floor to scratch them.
The spot on his neck even gets so bad that he loses hair there and sometimes will bleed.
I have tried bathing him with medicated shampoos, cleaning the spots everyday, putting lotions on them, and cleaning and trimming his nails so he's not scratching himself with dirty nails.
We have even considered giving him benadyl or allergy eye drops to see if that helps.
Sometimes it gets better for a week or so, but then gets bad again. All of these symptoms have gotten worse since we moved here. I can only assume that is because he has a much larger yard to run around in so he spends more time outside. He is also exposed to a bigger variety of flora and allergens than he was before.
The last time we took him to the vet she gave us a spray to put on the itchy spots, which Toby hated.
I think we will be taking him back to the vet soon. We are seeing signs of spring here wich are probably making his allergies even worse. I worry about him.
Okay, this was probably a strange thing to blog about, but it was on my mind. If anyone has any suggestions about how to relieve my poor dog of his itchy rashes I am very open to new ideas.
I also wondered the other day while I was talking to Chris about possible options: What do you do if you have an allergic reaction to benadryl?
3 comments:
I am sorry for Toby! Can you put human creams on him? It actually sounds a lot like Exzema that my boys suffer badly from. I ask about the creams because Eucerin cream helps a lot, so does Aquafor. Just a suggestion..You might want to get a second opinion from the new vet there too, one of our dogs suffered from arthritis, and they had medicine for that. It would make sence that they would have an allergy medication for dogs. Good luck!!
Della, I found this info about giving your dog benadryl. I hope it helps.--Liz
Antihistamines
Antihistamines can be used with relative safety in dogs. About one third of owners report success with them. The major drawback, as with people, is sedation. Dr. Ackerman recommends that a minimum of three different types of antihistamines be tried before owners give up on this therapy. According to Dr. Johnson, the most common problem with this type of treatment is that owners give the drugs at doses that are too low. Check with your vet on correct dosing. Examples of antihistamines commonly used for dogs include: Tavist, Benadryl, Chlortrimeton, Atarax and Seldane. Personally, I have seen the best results with Atarax.
Thanks for your help guys. I know it was a silly thing to blog about, but I appreciate the concern and suggestions.
I kind of figure that most human medications and creams were tested on animals first so they are probably safe on dogs right?
I'll try your suggestions.
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