Awful Allergies!

[Spearmint]

My dog, Oreo, has struggled with allergies his whole life. He's allergic to carpets, trees, grass, chicken, beef, carrots, corn, peas and the list goes on and on. He's on multiple medications, and he's tried lots of others in the last 3 years (plus his monthly injections), but it doesn't help all that much. He's on a hypoallergenic diet, and he gets other veggies like kale, as they help with allergies apparently. He's so allergic, it's to the point his quality of life is heavily impacted. He will chew and chew at his paws until theyre red and bleeding, he licks his lower underbelly and it's covered in painful bumps, rashes and blood. I've tried a cone, but he can't wear a cone all his life, and he still manages to lick his stomach. I've tried socks, shoes, those little velcro ones, but he tears it off and scratches. I wash his paws and stomach almost daily with his medicated shampoo. I would just keep him on the tiles rather than carpet, but it's not near large enough for him to spend time, and we live in a gumtree forest, the trees he's allergic to, so not much I can do about that. I give him other enrichment to try keep his mind occupied, but his rashes are terribly itchy for him. I feel so so bad for him, and i'm not sure what to do. All the vets we've seen just say the same old "apply this cream, give these medications", and I do, but it's not enough.
Does anyone know what to do? I cant always watch him 24/7 to stop him licking and scratching.

 

[Toy]

Have you tried allergy shots? In the USA many dogs are allergic to grass, weeds, etc. & they get allergy shots.

My dog has itchy dog syndrome. He is allergic to grains, so he is feed a grain free food, with Taurine in it. We also put krill oil on his food. I shampoo him with Tea Tree shampoo for dogs, as he's allergic to oatmeal shampoo.

 

[Spearmint]

Have you tried allergy shots? In the USA many dogs are allergic to grass, weeds, etc. & they get allergy shots.

My dog has itchy dog syndrome. He is allergic to grains, so he is feed a grain free food, with Taurine in it. We also put krill oil on his food. I shampoo him with Tea Tree shampoo for dogs, as he's allergic to oatmeal shampoo.

I was considering that, however i've heard sometimes it doesn't work. I'll talk to my vet about it.

 

[April]

My pup is also a heavy licker because of allergies he tends to always target his under belly area most of all but sometimes his little arm pits as well and he always has a yeasty smell. I work at a vet clinic and do everything I can for him and it only changes in severity depending on the season for the most part. I've had him over 2 years now and every day he gets the strongest Allergy pill on the market twice a day,fish oil in his food,2 other types of allergy pills,I bath him weekly in the anti fungal itch shampoo only prescribed through a vet and he gets the monthly Cytopoint shots as well and all together it works fairly well but he can also be perfectly "normal" for him one day and literally less than 24 hours later he'll have licked himself raw and have a raging skin infection with a belly as red and irritated as can be.

I truly believe that some dogs no matter what you do just won't stop.

It becomes in my humble opinion an ingrained behavior a bit like birds plucking. Often times Kovu will just randomly start to lick himself non stop like he's in a trance I'll try to distract him it will work for a few mins then he goes back to it. He will also constantly lick his blanket or my hands he would just go forever but I discourage the hand licking most of all 1 or 2 licks is fine but once it processes beyond that I have to redirect because he will just obsessively do it as long as I'd let him.
He also has the added hit of being a primarily white dog so already he's more prone to allergies. I'm not sure why specifically but it's a well known fact that white dogs tend to struggle with allergies more.
He's had weeks were he's had to be in a cone non stop and I hate it so much because that's no life but then on the flip side sometimes he will go a month and have the most beautiful skin possible and then it will all change in a day. It can be so frustrating and upsetting. It hurts me so much I think especially because I do work in the vet field and I still with everything at my disposal can't stop Kovu from suffering through this.

 

[April]

@Mizzely 's boy Luke has also had allergy issues this year.

 

[Mizzely]

Luke developed seasonal allergies this year. He was put on Apoquel which helped a ton, and medicated baths weekly (more than that seemed to make the problem worse).

One thing we did that helped unexpectedly was putting him in PJs. I'm not sure if it helped because it kept him from scratching or from the allergens getting to his skin but it made a huge difference.

My vet also told me to up his omega 3s which we continue even though he's through the season. She wanted him on at least 1750mg a day (he's 75 lbs) and then make sure to supplement Vitamin E as fish oil can reduce vitamin E levels in the body.

I've seen some people do a medicated foot rinse as soon as they come in the door to help keep the paws free from the allergens.

 

[Shannan]

The other thing you may consider is finding a specialized vet who works with skin issues (yes they are out there). There may be something that your current vet, no matter how good, is missing. Contact the universities with vet schools to try and find one. (they may also know of some drug trials that might be what he needs) I don't know what medications your dog is on, but we had a dog that ended up taking Benadryl daily for most of her life as it helped (you probably are already passed that but thought I would toss it out) The final thing you might consider is that maybe your dog needs to live in a different state/ county, etc. (only as a last resort but if his quality of life is so bad, this may be an option to consider)

 

[NEVRM0RE_]

Our dog was allergic to EVERYTHING. Grass, dust, trees, pollen, mold, dander from other animals, chicken, beef, corn, legumes, wheat, oats etc etc etc. We had him allergy tested and he hit on basically everything. We fed him a grain free food that used salmon and trout for the protein for a long time but, he would get sick of it. We would often switch between that one, and a grain free sweet potato and duck version. There was also a period where I would visit my friends farms when they were butchering cows to steal icky bits and cook them into gross mushy smelly food for him (although he tested positive for a beef allergy for whatever reason ACTUAL farm raised beef parts, cooked were SO good for his belly and itchies but...IT WAS GROSS!!!!! SO GROSS!!!) He took probiotics and omega oil daily. His diet was...super good, but because he had so many environmental allergies....he was still a constant red, hot, itchy wreck with chronic ear infections (ESPECIALLY WHEN OUR KIDS WERE FOOD FLINGING TODDLERS!!!) We spent a lot of time and money trying to find him a comfort zone (we tried allergy shots but they made no improvements for him) some people swear by them though!!!! Our best course of action was - regular baths (like 1x monthly) with ACV in the water and a tea tree oil dog shampoo, weekly ear cleanings, and .5 of a regular strength benadryl (for adults) when he was SUPER itchy (spring, fall, food fling foraging or my least favorite GARBAGE DIVING!!!!) He lived a long(er) than anyone anticipated life and he was MOSTLY happy until close to the end, but allergies were the least of his struggles!!! If you find a remedy be sure to let us all know