[mandyrw]

My 5 year old pitbull has had terrible allergies his whole life. Once spring time comes, it's even worse. He was on benedryl for years and now has been on Apoquel for probably 6 months to year (I honestly can't remember how long exactly he's been on Apoquel). It helps but it is extremely expensive ($70 for 30 pills). Unfortunately, I have not been able to refill his prescription this past week. But I also think in the winter time, he should be able to go back to benedryl and monitoring his itchiness.
However, he is already getting soooo red and itchy. His feet and between toes are so red and he's licking them often. I have been giving him benedryl, gave him a medicated shampoo bath (something from vet for itching) and sometimes apply hydrocortizone to his skin where it's red.
He originally got on the Apoquel because I took him to the vet and his allergies were so bad he was red literally ALL over, had some cracking/bleeding skin and hives. Poor guy he had never been that bad before, so I'm not sure what triggered the reaction.
I don't know specifically what his allergies are, but I try to stay away from grains and chicken in his food. But I just realized his new food Nutro grain free salmon has flipping chicken meal in it so don't know if that's causing his issues or just something in the air, or maybe he is allergic to the cats? I have no idea.
I'm just trying to see if anyone has an suggestions to help soothe his skin along with the benedryl? I hate that he is so itchy/irritated feeling. I am considering changing his food to something else (grain free, free of chicken) but I worry about buying a bag and him hating it. I just want to help his allergies and try to find the cause (without getting an allergy test). If he doesn't get better, I will get him back on the Apoquel as it does help but if I could figure out how to keep him feeling well, without medicine, that'd be awesome. Any insight or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[naturalfeddogs]

All the prescription meds are just masking the symptoms, not fixing anything. You need a antihistamine if it's seasonal allergies, that's med free. I personally use spirulina on mine, and it has totally stopped all symptoms. Just research, and be sure you use a quality brand. It does make a difference.

You can also use bee pollen as well.

Prescription stuff isn't dealing with the issue itself, just covering things up.

 

[Rain]

My 5 year old pitbull has had terrible allergies his whole life. Once spring time comes, it's even worse. He was on benedryl for years and now has been on Apoquel for probably 6 months to year (I honestly can't remember how long exactly he's been on Apoquel). It helps but it is extremely expensive ($70 for 30 pills). Unfortunately, I have not been able to refill his prescription this past week. But I also think in the winter time, he should be able to go back to benedryl and monitoring his itchiness.
However, he is already getting soooo red and itchy. His feet and between toes are so red and he's licking them often. I have been giving him benedryl, gave him a medicated shampoo bath (something from vet for itching) and sometimes apply hydrocortizone to his skin where it's red.
He originally got on the Apoquel because I took him to the vet and his allergies were so bad he was red literally ALL over, had some cracking/bleeding skin and hives. Poor guy he had never been that bad before, so I'm not sure what triggered the reaction.
I don't know specifically what his allergies are, but I try to stay away from grains and chicken in his food. But I just realized his new food Nutro grain free salmon has flipping chicken meal in it so don't know if that's causing his issues or just something in the air, or maybe he is allergic to the cats? I have no idea.
I'm just trying to see if anyone has an suggestions to help soothe his skin along with the benedryl? I hate that he is so itchy/irritated feeling. I am considering changing his food to something else (grain free, free of chicken) but I worry about buying a bag and him hating it. I just want to help his allergies and try to find the cause (without getting an allergy test). If he doesn't get better, I will get him back on the Apoquel as it does help but if I could figure out how to keep him feeling well, without medicine, that'd be awesome. Any insight or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thank you!

My old dog Shadow developed an allergy to chicken. It did two things, one caused his stool to get soft, it would start out firm then as the day progressed it'd get softer and softer. Two, it eventually developed into a full blown allergy and he began to scratch himself raw, and his ears seemed to bother him. I didn't know what was going on when it was just the soft stool as he had that his whole life, but once the itching started I put it together.

I'd suggest you find a food that is chicken free and see if your boy becomes less itchy. He could have a combination of environmental, and food allergies, in which case the itching won't go completely away, but I'd start by getting him off the chicken, make sure to also toss any treats that you have that contain chicken, or feeding him a chicken free food isn't going to do much good.

This food is a bit more expensive, but it's a decent brand and it's grain free, and chicken free.. https://www.chewy.com/taste-wild-pacific-stream-grain-free/dp/34250

You can also try organic, virgin, cold pressed, coconut oil. It can be fed to the dog, and rubbed into the skin, it may help to sooth his skin. https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/07/01/pet-allergies.aspx

 

[Shadowmom]

Have the vet do allergy testing. If it's environmental allergies all the diet changes in the world won't help. The immunotherapy injections really helped my cat who's allergic to everything, foods and lots of environmental things. Vets say the food allergy tests aren't very accurate but the environmental allergy tests are pretty accurate.
Itchy skin symptoms tend to be signs of environmental allergies o think.

My dog has ibd and food allergies and because he has no skin issues they wouldn't even test him because they said it was food related. They said to keep him on a novel limited protein diet, which I try but he's picky. I don't give him chicken much. He gets diarrhea worse from it.
My cat didn't test positive to allergies for chicken but did to pork and salmon. I know they said the food test allergies aren't accurate but if he tested allergic to something I'm not going to give it to him. Especially since they develop allergies to things they've been exposed to a lot over time and I used to feed a lot of salmon cans and pork I'd the main ingredient in the dry food I fed for many years.

 

[yannickyannick]

The most common dog allergies come from : flea allergy dermatitis and environmental factors. I think you should see your vet. to run a test ... because the test can determine the root cause of your dog allergy...and knowing the root cause can help.

Dog Food and cleanliness are 2 points that shouldn't be taken lightly when it comes to dog's health ...