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Little Lulu's allergy

1K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  Muzby 
#1 ·
:(Poor little baby...come to find out that she has some sort of allergy that affects her eyes and side of face. All test were negative for mites, fungus, etc.... Dr. put her on ointment and a steroid shot and she is on benedryl. She also said that puppies sometimes outgrow certain allergies.
I pray that this helps...she has been so itchy that it made her whimper when she would scratch:( posted some pics of her facial area. Anybody that has had similar problem w/ their dog, let me know...
Other than that she is just a bundle of energy and seems to be doing great in everything else.

 
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#6 ·
Poor girly!
Certainly could be a food allergy. If you don't already you could try a grain free food. After that you'd have to start eliminating certain meats and other products.

If it isn't a food allergy I hope its something easily manageable!
I hope she at least gets some relief soon. That looks painful.
 
#7 ·
She is on Wellness Puppy dry and canned which I have heard is supposed to be good?? The doctor said that if it were food allergy sometimes they have tummy trouble which she does not, but you just don't know. She has been on that food for about 2 months. When we adopted her 2 weeks ago her she had some noted hair loss around eyes already and seemed to squint her eyes. The vet even did a test to check for eye injuries, scratches, etc....
We will keep working on a solution to find out what it could be...She has already stopped her intense scratching since she got her meds. and shot this afternoon.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Wellness is definately a good food choice. :D

But to get to specifics, are they the grain free varieties? If not, it definatley could be a grain allergy. Your vet unfortunately is not correct in stating that all food allergies have to do with the tummy. :( Our old dog had an allergy to grain, and it only showed in his persistant ear infections! Once we switched to Wellness CORE & only fed the grainfree canned selections for Wellness (they will say on the can), his infections stopped. :)

It's little effort for a whole lot of gain switching to a grain-free variety, since you already feed Wellness. It's worth a try, and if they work, then your munchkin won't have to be on meds for the rest of her life. :)

I wanted to add also, that steroids cause many issues in animals (as well as people), so long term use will harm you little gal. They are wonderful things for very short term, but you need to get to the bottom of the allergy or risk her staying on steroids the rest of her life.

I would also urge you to seriously consider a raw diet. It does look scary, and almost every vet you meet will tell you it's horrible/will kill your dog/etc, but we've raw fed for over a year with our cats, and I would stand up for this diet with all I am worth after seeing our elderly cat become a kitten again. :)
 
#11 ·
Thanks Muzby!
Yes..the vet told me about the steroids. She was only given one shot because of the flare-up. She said that steroids are not good for long term. Also what the vet had mentioned about tummy upsets only happens to some dogs on occasion. She did say that allergies can affect a dog in many different ways. I suspect this is a food allergy of some sort.
I did look up the Wellness Core but they do not have it for puppies. (Lulu is 6 mths.) They do have allergy formulas so I might see if they have it for puppies.
Thankyou again for all the great info. and help:p
 
#18 ·
I did look up the Wellness Core but they do not have it for puppies. (Lulu is 6 mths.)
Because CORE is grain-free, it is already highfat-highprotein (which IS puppy food!). Any grain free will be okay, Orijen is also grain-free and offers a puppy formula if you are more comfortable with that.

Also, Merrick makes a grain free now "Before Grain" and one has Buffalo as a major meat source, so this may be a good dry option!:daisy:
 
#14 ·
Wellness core really can be fed to a dog of all ages I believe. A Bull Terrier I rescued was sensitive to grain, it caused her to have yeast infections in her ears. Once we put her on Wellness Core, the infections stopped. There are also other brands besides wellness that are or have grain free varieties, and great foods.
Or as Muzby said try switching to raw (I'm about to thanks to some prodding from Muzby hehe). That way, even if it isn't an allergy but rather a meat allergy (yes dogs can be allergic to certain meats) you can make sure she isn't getting those things.

Have you been feeding her different treats than she is used to? Maybe she is getting more of a certain food then she was before she came to you which is why it worsened? I hope you can figure it out soon. Kisses to Lulu girl.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for all your concerns...
She has been given only Wellness puppy treats...tommorrow I am going out on a hunt for another food. I am going to check out the Wellness core and Wellness allergy foods, plus some others... Since she got that shot today and the ointment has been put on twice, it seems like the swelling has gone down a tiny bit and she has even stopped her erratic pawing at her face. But that is just a temporary fix...I keep thinking too that she is allergic to her bedding or something she lays on? I wash everything in baby detergent and then on rinse cycle twice. No fabric softeners at all! I use only natural products to clean the tile area where her playpen is.
But my guess is that it must be something with the food. Hopefully a change will help:love7:
 
#17 ·
How long was she at the foster mom's house before you got her? And no problems there? I'd call the foster mom and see what she was feeding. It sounds like it might be environmental if she has gotten progressively worse over the time you've had her. As you said you suspected... maybe it is something in the bedding/carpet/air that is bothering her??

If she were mine, my next step would be to talk to the foster mom and see what she thought!!! :) Especially if she had her more than a week or so.

Brodysmom
 
#20 ·
She was at her foster mom's house fo 6 weeks. She was feeding her wellness puppy the whole time and wellness puppy treats. She was with two other chi's and one cat.
We did notice the hair loss at the time when we got her and we were told that she was licking and chewing on her front inside legs.. I emailed her foster mom last night to see if she might have any other clues.
So the first thing I changing is the food and then start looking closely at the invironment.
 
#19 ·
I have had my Pippa since September. This happened to her when she ate a generic doggy biscuit through the bank drivethru. She looked exactly the same. It hasn't happened to her since. It took her a few days to get over it.
It almost looks like Lulu rubbed her face on something like the carpet. Poor baby. DOn't ya just feel so bad for them.

Emma
 
#25 ·
OK...I just got back from store and I got her "Natural Balance" grain free, allergy formula for puppies. They had dry and canned and I compared it to others and it looked good. I got the duck and potato flavor. I will mix it a little with her wellness she is on know for a couple of days and then get her graduated onto the new food.
They even had grain free treats for allergy sensitive puppies, so I got some of those too.
I hope this helps. She looks pretty good today...her eyes are not as inflamed as they were yesterday:love10:
 
#26 · (Edited)
Poor baby. I hope she gets better soon. I understand how frustrating it is to try to get to the bottom of her allergies.

My Bella has food allergies, and is allergic to all grains, all types of flour, diary, beef, and lamb. She would itch and scratch like crazy, her fur would fall out, and she would break out in hives. She is currently eating Wellness Core (high protein, grainless) dog food and Innova Evo dog biscuits (high protein and grainless), and are doing great on them.

Bella is also allergic to rubber (like Kongs and rubber toys) and raw hide chews. She would break out in hives all over her face. We threw out all rubber toys, Kongs, and raw hide chews.

It took trial and error and months before we figured out what Bella is allergic to, and got rid of all these items from our home. We are very careful about everything she eats or comes in contact with to make sure she has no allergic reaction.
 
#27 ·
Wow...Poor Bella...You know just to be on the safe side too maybe I should take her Kong and chew sticks away?? She does have both and she loves chewing on the kong.
This is very frustrating for sure...It is like trying to find a needle in a haystack! Where in the world do you begin and who knows if you will find it:foxes15:
She seems to love her new food which I mixed with the old. She gobbled it up and licked her bowl clean! She has shown great improvment today. I gave her the benedryl and she tolerated it real good. She is such a happy little puppy and sits so still when I put ointment in and around her eyes and she opens her little mouth and just swallows down her yuky medicine with no complaints....I will take some pictures showing how much better she looks today...
 
#30 ·
Thats great to hear she is doing better. When you mentioned earlier about her biting on her foot, my parents have a German Shepard and while I was home, (North Dakota) for vacation for Christmas i noticed she was chewing on her tail quite often. So shortly after Christmas my mom had to rush her to the vet because she had chewed it raw and had we not caught it she would have chewed right through it. The vet said it was a "hot spot" and gave her a whole bunch of meds and sprays to put on it. It is now almost February and it has slightly improved but has to have her halo on in order to function or she goes straight to it. Now the vet thinks its something neurological and is looking into it. Poor thing. Just a thought, it might not be that extreme, but its something to look into :) but again, im' glad to hear she's doing better!!
 
#31 ·
Please please please! Try for food allergies BEFORE giving up! Hotspots are a KNOWN thing, happen 90% of the time in allergic reactions! She may just be alleric to the food they are feeding, and a simple change to a grain free will help this issue! (*grumble* I hate it when vets immediately go for the expensive 'last resort' diagnosis *grumble*) I can't imagine having to wear a halo all the time! That poor dog. :( PLEASE convince your folks to try Orijen/Wellness CORE before putting her on expensive meds/treatments/keeping the halo on for life.
 
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