Since we moved to Indiana in 2008, Emmett has struggled with seasonal allergies. (Apparently, dog allergies are exceedingly common here, as are people allergies, which I’m experiencing for the first time in my life!)
Emmett breaks out into a purple and black rash and scratches and licks like crazy. We use different lotions and anti-itch sprays, which usually help, but mostly it’s giving him lots of baths to keep the pollen off of his skin. If it gets really bad, a couple Benadryl do the trick. In summary: His allergies are a pain, but they are manageable.
What we’ve been facing with Cooper has been totally different. On and off since December, his symptoms have included: upset stomach, itchiness, fur loss, upset stomach, more fur loss, “puppy pimples,” and even more upset stomach. Plus, it started in December – one of the few allergen-free months of the year – so it never occurred to us that his issues were an allergy.
Lately, he’s been eating grass like it’s his job, and licking and scratching himself nonstop. Then on Saturday, Cooper pooped blood.
Luckily, our vet’s office has limited hours on Saturdays, so we were able to beg for secure their last opening of the day.
Because our fabulous vet moved away (sniff, sniff), for all of our recent appointments, we’ve been bounced around from temp vets to new hires. We ended up with someone new on Saturday who did a pretty thorough exam, then she asked for a few minutes to read through his chart. She came back a few minutes later and said, basically, all of his issues are chronic.
The likely culprit?
A food allergy. Probably beef or chicken. (I guess because those are common dog allergies?)
Anyway, we’re on a 10-day regimen to clear up his stomach problems (bland diet, antibiotics because of the bleeding) and a dewormer in case it’s whipworms, which wouldn’t show up in his poop sample. They also did a blood test, but we haven’t gotten those results back yet.
After the stomach situation has resolved, we’re starting a hypoallergic trial. He’s going to be on a duck and potato diet for 8 to 10 weeks. We got this list of things he can’t have during the trial. In addition to all food other than duck or potato, the prohibited list includes:
- plastic water or food dishes
- rawhides, bones, bully sticks, etc.
- rubber/plastic toys
- tennis balls
- nyla bones
So that prevents us from using the Kong to coerce him into his crate (he STILL hates his crate), his favorite squeaky ball, his outside tennis balls, the bully sticks I use to keep him quiet while I’m on conference calls, etc.
Obviously, I will do anything for my pups. It breaks my heart that he’s probably felt terrible for the past six months, so of course we’re going to stick with this once it starts (next Tuesday – wish me luck). But I’m a little worried about how to keep a 9-month-old puppy busy, entertained, and occupied while I’m working without all those toys.
Any ideas or suggestions? Has anyone else been through this? I would LOVE any tips, suggestions, strategies, sympathy, or advice.
You do have my sympathy. I have to say, if he has felt bad for 6 months, I can’t imagine how happy/energetic a 100% Cooper would have been during this phase of puppyhood. Simba volunteers to come over and be his plaything but I don’t think it would be at all quiet for you.
That’s so nice of Simba! 🙂 Cooper would LOVE to play with a cat I think, although I’m not sure how well it would go over with the big boys…
I was wondering what breed emmet is? because i have a lovely girl name lexie and she looks just like him, were not to sure of the breed but she definetly is a pit, sha also came across some black rash on her stomach and hind legs and i thought maybe it was just part of her naturity if you will, but then i keep investigating and it sounds more like a allergy symptom, was wondering and what advice do you have as far as making sure its not deadly or more serious.
I’m so sorry to hear about the allergy problems. I’ve been very lucky not to deal with such things so I don’t have any good advice.
The good news I’ve learned from seeing other folks go through this is once you identify the food allergies, you can get into a routine that stabilizes everything and should have Cooper feeling better soon. But figuring out all the allergens can take a while. Just be patient. It will get better soon.
Thanks for the reassurance, Pamela! I sincerely appreciate it!
So sorry about Cooper!
Yes, Jasmine suffered from food allergies likely since she was born (inherited from her mother). On top of that it didn’t get diagnosed until she was 5.5 years old when we found our present great vet. She didn’t have such obvious problems as Cooper, mostly just intermittent poor appetite, stomach upsets (no vomiting) and bad stools (but not bad enough to cause a real alarm, plus always resolved with a course of antibiotics that her past vets bestowed on her).
As it’s been going on for that long it had developed into a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Identifying which foods are causing the problem and eliminating them from her food, home-cooked diet and TCVM treatment she’s doing quite great now.
So sorry to hear this. Food allergies are manageable, but the road to find the exact culprit is so painstaken and long. Viva has food allergies as well, which she never have been treated for before she joined our family, although that is another story, I can imagine what you must be going through. It is awful to see them suffer.
Food elimination through a home-cooked diet is the way to go, as Jana mentioned.
But probably like many families, we found it difficult to fit that in our schedule. Also, I wanted a solution right away and elimanting all the different ingredienst can take painstaken long. Therefore we decided on our vets recommendation to go for a Hill’s prescription diet based on hydrolized foods. That solved the allergies quickly, but as I am not a Hill’s fan I wanted to find an alternative. I analyzed what was in her food that she got from her former owners, and when she was in shelters. Corn, chicken, beef, etc. it was a long list. Then I went looking for a brand that had nothing of that list in their food and found Orijen’s six fish. It only contains different kind of fish and vegetables. I did the same for her treats.
It was a long shot, and maybe I should not recommend it …., but it helped for Viva and she is thriving on her fish and vegetables diet. I still don’t know what the actual culprit(s) was/were on the long list of food ingredients.
Oh I forgot. Viva als went through a hypoallergic trial which showed she also had dust-mite allergy. A dog with multiple allergies is even more difficult to do an elimination diet with as you cannot tell which allergy they are reacting to.
Viva gets monthly allergy shots – which I can administer myself – for her dust-mite allergy.
Feed trials are a great way to determine what safe ingredients are. With Jasmine we also did a blood spot allergy test, which was very helpful. Just recently I came across the fact that homeopet is also doing food sensitivity testing which might be quite good too. Those would be shortcuts to feeding trials and could provide useful insights.
sorry, it’s HEMOPET, that was a typo
What about cloth or canvas chews? Could you hide some legal food either in hard to find spots around the house or wrapped in a towel or blanket? Are rope toys okay?
Also belly rubs and car rides, if he likes car rides.
Thank you Jana and Kenzo for suggestions and for sharing your stories! I’m trying to learn as much as I can, so I greatly appreciate it!
Kelly, Car rides! Genius!!! I’m going to try to make him some toys out of an old pair of blue jeans. I’m not super crafty, so we’ll see how that goes… 🙂
our granddog has allergies with similar symptoms. likely culprits are wheat or corn so we eliminated them. her dogfood has salmon/sweet potatoes. wheat-free booda bones are great treats for the crate. not the toy, but the food treat as there is a dangerous toy by the same name. also sam’s yam’s treats. good luck!
Thank you so much for the suggestions, Leslie!! I’m making a note of all of those to try!
YW. her symptoms r all gone since we made the changes. if u do the diet change do it over a wk, mixing old with new food. start with 1/4 new to 3/4 old, by the end of wk all new food. also for toys we get old stuffed animals at the thrift store. pick a sturdy one that wont rip apart so easy. take off any bows, small parts. u have to watch him to see what he does with them 1st. ours doesnt eat the stuffing or any eyeballs, etc but some dogs may. also some dont even destroy it and just play with it.
Poor Cooper! Ty has food allergy issues too and he was on a duck and sweet potato diet but didn’t really like it. We put him on a venison food and he thought that was okay, but still had some allergy issues. Buster also has a very sensitive stomach and would go though bouts of diarrhea every couple of weeks. Ever since we’ve been feeding them food from The Honest Kitchen we have not had any problems – and that’s been nearly 18 months.
Thanks for the tip, Amy. I’m so glad they’re both doing better!! I’ll have to ask our vet about The Honest Kitchen!
curious about emmets breed, i have a mixed pit and her name is lexie and she loves to hunt, were not sure what she is mixed with but she looks just like your emmet, was wondering what breed he is so maybe it will help with some closure on our end so when people ask what breed of a pit is lexie, we can be a lil more confident in saying what it is. so in the meantime its just the same ole story were not 100% sure but she is a pit. also, she is having a large amount of