r/dogallergies

hi everyone, I'm new to the allergy ridden dog club lol

my nearly 1 year old amstaff has been having some very worrying GI issues off and on for about a month. after the second round of metronidazole didn't help, my vet decided since the breed is prone to food sensitivities and he's had some skin issues and an ear infection in the past, it was worth trying some hypoallergenic food (hill's d/d venison and potato)

unfortunately this whole thing has coincided with his obedience classes. I have already paid for them, cannot get a refund and he really enjoys them so i would hate to drop out, but he has trouble focusing when there's so many other dogs around him unless I've got some high value treats. he's not usually picky, but my vet gave us some of the hills hypo treats that are compatible with his diet and he hates them. straight up will not eat them.

so i guess I'm just asking if anyone else has run into this dilemma? normally I'd just use toys instead but we're doing a lot of luring in class and that'd be difficult to do with a toy

We ran out of my dog’s prescription hydrolyzed food and the new bag will take ~3 days to arrive. Wondering if anyone has advice for what I should feed her in the meantime?

I thought I would try to get OTC without allergens. But I know it’s likely encountered contamination in the factory so it’s not an ideal solution.

For the future: I set up an autoship to arrive sooner than I think I’ll need it so I’m prepared.

EDIT- Thank you everyone for your extremely helpful suggestions. I called my vet and they had samples, I picked those up and I also had them write me a paper prescription for me to keep in my files in case I need to ever bring it to another vet or petsmart to fill.

Why is it so expensive? I'm paying 300 for 100 tabs which is a little over a months supply for my dog. I cant afford that long term. What can I do? Any tips ? I purchased from chewy recommended by my vet because it was even more costly to purchase from the vet.

Welts started to appear on my dog in around 1p.m. on Aug 7th. By 3 a.m., he was covered, and the bridge of his nose was a blob. He was given a hive allergy around 4am that helped, and by his 9am vet appointment on the 8th, he was normal.

At his vet appointment, he received a cytopoint injection. He has known environmental allergies that have been under control with a supplement, but before we found the supplement, he would get cytopoint injections during the summer months and once in the winter. Last year, he only needed a cytopoint injection in the spring/beginning summer time and in August, nearing the end of summer. This year, he didn't need a cytopoint injection for spring. Anyway, the Cytopoint has done nothing noticeable to help with the itching. He has been taking an OTC allergy pill every 12 hours since. If he missed a dose or got it late, the welts/hives and itching would return. At some points, he was still very itchy even with the pill.

My first thought was environmental allergies, but now I am not sure. He started getting The Farmer's Dog about three weeks from the 8th. Suspecting it might be a food allergy, I switched him back to his old diet on the 13th. All the while continuing with the allergy pills.

Today, I didn't give him an allergy pill, and it's been 24 hours with no symptoms. I still can't be sure if it was the food or just a bad environmental allergy reaction. I live in a valley, and we just had a lot of wild fire smoke come through. Maybe it had to do with that.

My question is, should I try to add The Farmer's Dog food back in, and if I do, how long would symptoms normally reappear if he does have an allergic reaction to something in the food? His environmental allergy symptoms have been known to ebb and flow in the past.

Any advice is appreciated. I am apprehensive to try the food, but I want to narrow this down to prevent future breakouts. He will be getting an appointment with a dermatologist for immunotherapy, but that doesn't help with food allergies. My pup was miserable, and I feel so bad.

TLDR: Dog has environmental allergies under control. Started new food three weeks before symptoms appeared. Sometimes, environmental allergies show symptoms in August, but nothing this crazy. Changed back to old food after six days of symptoms. Five days after changing back, symptoms disappeared. Should I reintroduce the food to see if it was the food or an environmental allergy? If he is allergic to the food, when will I see symptoms reappear?

I have an almost 7 month old english cocker spaniel, I called the vet this morning because she refused her breakfast (not completely out of the ordinary for her) but she ended up vomiting bile.

I'm not sure how the conversation steered to our previous concerns of a food allergy but it did and the vet ended up recommending an incredibly strict elimination diet. They told me there would still be treats and wet food options for her so I accepted it as maybe something I'd be able to do with her, but when they sent me through the food they said in the notes that there will be NO treats and NO wet food. So she will only be eating kibble for 6 weeks minimum.

I'm concerned. She already is not a massive fan of kibble, moving her onto an entirely kibble based diet seems risky. They told me before that she would not allow herself to go hungry but this morning she was SO hungry she vomited. All I wanted to know was if I should take her in to make sure she's ok or if I should be majorly concerned and how soon I'd be able to offer her another meal. I don't feel like those questions were really answered and now suddenly I'm looking at 6 weeks of an elimination diet I did not ask for. I feel a bit lost.

Does this seem like an extreme decision on the vets part or does this seem like a logical next step? Should I just buy the food and get on with it?

Hello, I have a problem with my 11 year old dog (he is a poodle mix). He is pretty healthy in general for his age and active but since 1-2 months he started having issues. First with his anal glands which the vet extracted. The anal glands were really full and a little bit sore. After the extraction he went basically back to normal but then he started licking his butt. We dewormed him (which we always do like every 2-3 months). But the licking continued so we thought his anal glands were maybe full again but they weren’t. The vet tried to extract them but told us they were empty. She then gave him Cortisone which didn’t really help. I don’t know if he became allergic to anything food related but he just licks his butt and occasionally his paw (not excessively just a nibble) he shows no other signs (no diarrhea, farting, vomiting). I don’t really know what I can do next. I went to the vet again yesterday and she said she doesn’t know what his problem is. His butthole is a little bit darker than usual (the vet explained it could be hyperpigmentation due to the excessive licking). Please help me idk what to do anymore. He oftentimes licks in the middle of the day or at night time or really early in the day. It mostly is really suddenly. Some background info: his deworming medication also works against flees and ticks. We switched a while back his kibble because he needs special renal kibble (his renal function got worse and the vet said it would be better to switch to this specific kibble type).

Our dog started vomiting about 10 days after starting Numelvi and has had off/on vomiting for months since then. We have been working with a vet to establish the cause, but I’m still thinking it’s the Numelvi given she never had vomiting before starting it. If your dog had vomiting from allergy pills, can you give me some details? Thanks.

We have a 4 year old yellow lab who suffers constantly with allergies. They typically present as ear infections and discomfort but also itchy skin and sometimes breakouts from scratching.

We are at a total loss on what else we can do to get him some relief.

Things we’ve tried:

Limiting water activity (🥺)
Routine ear cleaning
Allergy testing (food mites and common outdoor allergies)
Freezing food to control food mites
Changed food to try various food proteins
Daily apoquel
Several rounds of custom made of those liquid oral allergy meds (like shots in humans)
Several vet visits for professional ear cleaning and targeted treatment based on ear culture diagnosis

What else can we do? He is miserable and it’s costing us a fortune without really much relief.

What is the weirdest or perhaps most loathsome thing your dog has been allergic to? For example, my dog broke out into hives one day, and my vet was ready to think Leptospirosis! In actuality, she was reacting to my new area rug! Unfortunately had to donate it :(

Was wondering if anyone had similar stories? Sorry if this kind of question isn't allowed!

my 6 yr old bichonx has been known to have a lot of allergies. She has been on a kangaroo diet and her treats are strictly bison, venison, or kangaroo. I dont know what happened, but last night at 330am, she woke me up by being restless and trying to scratch. When I took a look at her, her entire body was covered in huge red hives. I called the emergency vet and they recommended that she take a 50mg dose of benadryl. Shes 25 pounds, and i told them that, but they said it was fine. I gave it to her and she pretty much passed out after about an hour or two.

This morning after her morning walk, about 830am, she was itchy and restless again. I called my vet and they could squeeze her in for an appointment at 12pm. I bathed her in some dermachlor 4 I had from the last vet appointment where she broke out into hives, and she seemed to slowly improve. She was nearly normal by the time of the appointment, as she seemed sleepy in the car and relaxed at the vet. The vet said it seemed to be getting better, so he recommended giving her benadryl again at night and a 5mg dose of prednisone twice a day. More than anything, I just wanted her to go back to herself, so i did what he recommended.

I dont know why but since taking the prednisone she seemed to be worse. Her body broke into hives again and she was unable to relax herself. She has been pacing and restless. I rinsed her under some water again trying to relax the hives. She even scratched herself so hard she started bleeding. I called the vet back and they said that I should continue the course the vet recommended and give benadryl at night.

Well, I gave her another does of 5mg prednisone as prescribed and a 25mg dose of benadryl, as prescribed, and she is once again restless, agitated, itchy, and uncomfortable.

I am at a loss. Whenever I call the vet they just tell me to wait a few days, but i cannot sleep when she is pacing and crying and scratching! I dont want her to hurt herself and bleed again! A few years ago during an episode like this, they gave her an anti-inflammatory shot and she was back to normal. I dont know why the vet didnt want to do this today or suggest something other than benadryl... it seems from reading up that anti-histamines dont do fuck all.

All this to say, am I asking myself: am i doing the right thing by trusting the vet? Will the prednisone help? Is this a reaction to the prednisone, or is it just that nothing is working? What the heck do I do to get her a little relief for her? To i go to the emergency vet and waste money?? The poor girl usually sleeps like 16-18 hours a day and has had maybe 3 hours today....

Im losing sleep here and I feel like im going crazy just waiting for her to relax long enough to sleep... so then I can sleep too.

Edit: for anyone interested, she was told to stop all anti-histamines and lower her dose of prednisone. Shes only taking 2.5mg now but he wants her to take it for the week. The vet i spoke to this evening told me she thought this was a pretty complex case as she has never heard of a dog worse off after taking pred. By this afternoon, she was sleepy and resting and basically no longer itching. Some pawing at her face, but just mild. But when it came down to her nighttime dose, the pred makes her go insane. She runs around scratching herself on every surface and is unable to settle. Fortunately for me, I have figured out that she just needs a reset to stop her scratching. Last night, it was a bath that put her to sleep. Today, it was a car ride around the neighbourhood with lots of prolonged stops for sniffs. Unfortunately for me, she doesnt settle until waaaaaaay past my bedtime. The things we do for our animals, I guess. I am going to see how she does in the morning and if she is still itching after her morning dose of prednisone I am calling the vet office again. I almost rather she take nothing and ride it out then continue to be tormented by whatever pred does to her.

I have a 1yr old female mixed breed that’s about 60-70 lbs and we are in Texas. She has had really horrible allergies that cause her to be itchy and as a result develops scabs and hair loss. I feel like we’ve tried every route and nothing is working. Is there anything else we can do?

List of things I can think of right now that we have done:

\-We’ve done 4 cytopoint shots, and every shot it seems to work less and less.
\-Changed food from chicken to salmon
\-put like a high omega salmon oil in with the food
\-antibiotics
\-medicated shampoo
\-topical sprays

I’ve been researching apoquel and some people have said it’s the same as the cytopoint shots, where it works and then it doesn’t.

I’m just desperate at this point to get my baby some relief:(

What socks or booties actually fit your dog and protect against environmental allergens? I just blew $820 in vet bills for exploratory foxtail surgery when we're guessing it was grass allergies that caused a very infected interdigital cyst in my Boston terriers paw. I've bought her the dog crocs and sled dog slippers but neither work well. I need something that's easy to slip on n off for walks. She's a 21lbs Boston. Cytopoint no longer helps and thought about zenrelia but read it suppresses the immune system which causes infections and she's already prone to skin infections due to allergies so zenrelia doesn't make sense to me. I read about Benefra, a new type of cytopoint. Not sure what to give her next to prevent these skin infections.

My dog is allergic to storage mites, among other things, and we’re doing allergy shots for him. Meanwhile, the Vet says we should manage storage mites by freezing his kibble. I have only my one freezer which doesn’t have much extra room for dog food. It’s not like we can put a whole bag of dog food in there and scoop from it.

Is this system good enough?

-Clean air tight container food container with soap and water and air dry, do this every 3 weeks or so when dog food depletes.
- open new bag of dog kibble into the container
- scoop one days worth of kibble into a freezer ziplock bag, including dedicated scoop. Put into freezer.
- Next day, use scoop/kibble from freezer for breakfast, and keep in fridge for dinner time later
- Use rest of kibble from freezer bag for dinner and refill same ziplock with tomorrows kibble and dedicated scoop and put into freezer

Is reusing the same ziplock bag bad? If I can avoid wasting a new bag every day, that would be nice.

Is reusing the same scoop in the ziplock bag a problem?

Note: my airtight container is the vittles vault with the screw on lid, I think it’s as about airtight as they make them.