Update on Preachers skin issue.

[C908]

Just came back from the vets office, Preacher had follow up visit. Preacher continues to be itchy and is still having a reaction to something. After an allergy, shot 2 weeks of antibiotic pills and medicated baths we haven't figured out what the problem is.We still see some dandruff and small bumps. As much as I don't want to change his diet we are going to. We will be taking him off Fromm and switching to Royal Cannin prescription for 3 months to see if his condition improves. He will be going back to the vet for another follow up at the end of the 3 month trial. If there is no change with the food the next step would be for the vet to do blood work or send him to a dermatologist for testing. I am very frustrated at this point and feel like I should let our breeder know what we have been dealing with. It's something we will just have to deal with and could get expensive. At this point we have been to 3 vets and spent over $400.00 and now we will start buying 19.8 lb bags of food at $89.00 a bag. That price is at Petflow with 2 different discounts otherwise it would be higher than that.

 

[Kaiser2016]

Ugh vets always want to prescribe their own crap which is what Royal Canin is. And at that price point?! Maybe you should just switch to premade raw. You'd probably even save money.

Definitely talk to the breeder.

 

[JanS]

Well that's too bad... Have you had allergy testing done on him? I'm sure it costs a few bucks but in many cases, it can pinpoint the problem so you know exactly how to treat it without doing so many other tests.

Ugh vets always want to prescribe their own crap which is what Royal Canin is. And at that price point?! Maybe you should just switch to premade raw. You'd probably even save money.

I totally agree here. I don't know much about raw but that's a ridiculous price for a less than great "prescription" food so I would definitely not go for that.

 

[Cscallan]

I haven’t been on here in awhile, we have the same problem and having to trial and error with food. We got a second opinion on her skin and the second vet said it’s just arkansas. Another dog owner friend (standard poodle) told me she was having similar issues, her groomer said she has been seeing it with a lot of dogs this year. Good luck, I hope y’all figure it out. I understand the struggle!

 

[Cscallan]

Neither of them recommended an allergy test. I’m definitely going to ask! Because she is so itchy and coat is getting patchy from scratching

 

[Kaiser2016]

vet said it’s just arkansas.

Autocorrect uh oh - did you mean dry skin?

 

[AresMyDobie]

You know it could be environmental allergies that you should have him tested for. A simple blood test will tell you all you need to know.
I agree royal canin is crappy food and so cause more problems in the long run and you don’t even know if it’s a food allergy.
I feed a raw diet but I would stay with Fromm and get blood work done to see exactly what he is allergic too.
Could be grass, yeast, fleas, flies, trees. I’m just saying allergies aren’t always food related.
If it were me I’d say bleep the guessing game and find out what’s going on.

 

[C908]

I haven’t been on here in awhile, we have the same problem and having to trial and error with food. We got a second opinion on her skin and the second vet said it’s just arkansas. Another dog owner friend (standard poodle) told me she was having similar issues, her groomer said she has been seeing it with a lot of dogs this year. Good luck, I hope y’all figure it out. I understand the struggle!

The first vet said it was due to the type of shampoo and flea and tick I was using. The second vet said the same thing plus gave him an allergy shot. By the time we saw the third vet we had changed the shampoo and the flea and tick. The third vet gave a different type of allergy shot( not a steroid) and prescribed an antibiotic to be given twice a day for two weeks and prescribed medicated baths to be given twice a week. This vet comes highly recommended so I'm trying to keep an open mind on what she tells me. I have resisted to this point on changing food but she strongly recommends we try the prescription food. My two choices were Science Diet ZD or Royal Canin. I am not a fan of Science Diet so I decided to try the Royal Canin. We will try that for 3 months and then reevaluate. I was just about to try Earthborn Holistic Ocean fish when the vet told me not to use it because it has potatoes in it. I was shown an article suggesting foods containing potatoes have been linked to heart disease. I will update as I get more information in case anyone else is dealing with a similar issue.

 

[Panama]

My Echo has a heck of a time with fleas. One flea and she's an itchy mess. and the fleas were terrible this year. Even with medicated flea shampoo, combing through them religiously twice a day, vacuuming daily, spraying their sleep areas, they continued to scratch. We invested in SERESTO flea collars and within 2 days no one is scratching.

 

[C908]

You know it could be environmental allergies that you should have him tested for. A simple blood test will tell you all you need to know.
I agree royal canin is crappy food and so cause more problems in the long run and you don’t even know if it’s a food allergy.
I feed a raw diet but I would stay with Fromm and get blood work done to see exactly what he is allergic too.
Could be grass, yeast, fleas, flies, trees. I’m just saying allergies aren’t always food related.
If it were me I’d say bleep the guessing game and find out what’s going on.

The vet said she could do a blood test but it is not as reliable as testing done by a dermatologist. For some reason she wants to try the food change before doing anything else. Her reason can't be to sell me the expensive food because I'm buying it online. My thinking is to try her recommended 3 month trial with Royal Canin to see if there is a difference. If we don't see a noticeable improvement then he comes off the Royal Canin at the end of 3 months. I have spent many hours researching food and there are no easy answers. It seems like every quality food has some type of negative.

 

[C908]

My Echo has a heck of a time with fleas. One flea and she's an itchy mess. and the fleas were terrible this year. Even with medicated flea shampoo, combing through them religiously twice a day, vacuuming daily, spraying their sleep areas, they continued to scratch. We invested in SERESTO flea collars and within 2 days no one is scratching.

My new vet recommends either Nexgard or Seresto collars. I have had him on Nexgard which was recommended by vet number 2 about 3 months ago.

 

[AresMyDobie]

The vet said she could do a blood test but it is not as reliable as testing done by a dermatologist. For some reason she wants to try the food change before doing anything else. Her reason can't be to sell me the expensive food because I'm buying it online. My thinking is to try her recommended 3 month trial with Royal Canin to see if there is a difference. If we don't see a noticeable improvement then he comes off the Royal Canin at the end of 3 months. I have spent many hours researching food and there are no easy answers. It seems like every quality food has some type of negative.

I’m going to be completely honest with you I wouldn’t donthe run around and waste more money and just go to a dermatologist. Then you would know and be done with the guessing.
Royal is still catered by vets because that’s what they study in school but truth be told they don’t know much about dog nutrion. They get some kick backs for pushing crap food like this.
Her reason for not having you just go to a dermatologist I hate to say it is to keep seeing you for the same issue.
You’d be better off and so would your dog to just nip it in the bud.

 

[Tropicalbri's]

I had the blood tests done by the dermatologist. Gracie was allergic to EVERYthing. What I found most interesting was her allergies to rat and cat saliva, also tobacco, spinach, Johnson grass, cedar, various palm trees, the list was endless. Hers was more environmental but absolutely impossible to remove all the irritants. We had her on allergy injections and after a while I did not see a marked improvement so I stopped the allergen shots. She also suffered from CDA and was constantly getting staph infections. It seemed to be a perfect storm working against her.
The vet put her on Z/D. It was expensive but after a year on it there still wasn’t a discernible improvement.

It’s tough diagnosing skin issues because that is usually a symptom of an unhealthy gut.

 

[strykerdobe]

I had the blood tests done by the dermatologist. Gracie was allergic to EVERYthing. What I found most interesting was her allergies to rat and cat saliva, also tobacco, spinach, Johnson grass, cedar, various palm trees, the list was endless. Hers was more environmental but absolutely impossible to remove all the irritants. We had her on allergy injections and after a while I did not see a marked improvement so I stopped the allergen shots. She also suffered from CDA and was constantly getting staph infections. It seemed to be a perfect storm working against her.
The vet put her on Z/D. It was expensive but after a year on it there still wasn’t a discernible improvement.

It’s tough diagnosing skin issues because that is usually a symptom of an unhealthy gut.

Or triggered by over vaccinations! Or even the use of Flea and Tick pesticides.

 

[Kaiser2016]

It’s tough diagnosing skin issues because that is usually a symptom of an unhealthy gut.

Hm. So a major dietary change could help here right? A probiotic for gut health, raw feeding because the allergy is probably kibble based, ACV added in to fight yeast in case that's present? I can see why skin issues are so hard to diagnose. Soooo many factors to consider.

 

[Tropicalbri's]

Or triggered by over vaccinations! Or even the use of Flea and Tick pesticides.

And heartworm preventions as well.

I would consider ALL possibilities within and outside the home. What type of laundry soap you use, your floors and bathroom cleaners, perfumes, air fresheners both aerosols and plug ins. Window cleaners, scented garabage bags, air infusers, hair spray, cigar, pipe or cigarette smoke. Mold or mildew build up in AC unit filters or duct work. Is your water filtered?
There are just so many things and it can be like an annoying and time consuming treasure hunt.

I would keep a log of when he becomes itchy the most, what he was doing or around or eating at the time. My Gracie was allergic to the kapok they use to stuff toys with.
Carpets have dyes and chemicals in them that can cause itchiness. I researched for years but Gracie had so many different problems that it made it even more difficult to find answers.

Is there an integrative veterinarian in your area? It would certainly be worth a try.

 

[My2Girls]

The first vet said it was due to the type of shampoo and flea and tick I was using. The second vet said the same thing plus gave him an allergy shot. By the time we saw the third vet we had changed the shampoo and the flea and tick. The third vet gave a different type of allergy shot( not a steroid) and prescribed an antibiotic to be given twice a day for two weeks and prescribed medicated baths to be given twice a week. This vet comes highly recommended so I'm trying to keep an open mind on what she tells me. I have resisted to this point on changing food but she strongly recommends we try the prescription food. My two choices were Science Diet ZD or Royal Canin. I am not a fan of Science Diet so I decided to try the Royal Canin. We will try that for 3 months and then reevaluate. I was just about to try Earthborn Holistic Ocean fish when the vet told me not to use it because it has potatoes in it. I was shown an article suggesting foods containing potatoes have been linked to heart disease. I will update as I get more information in case anyone else is dealing with a similar issue.

Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch doesn’t have potatoes in it. I’ve never tried the Ocean Fish.

 

[Balakumar]

I had skin problems with my girl. So I just started Omega 3, Zinc and vitamin B 6 supplement the scratching, skin bumps vanished in one week

 

[C908]

Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch doesn’t have potatoes in it. I’ve never tried the Ocean Fish.

Thanks for the suggestion but it's grain free and also has peas, our vet said stay away from both of those things.

 

[C908]

I had skin problems with my girl. So I just started Omega 3, Zinc and vitamin B 6 supplement the scratching, skin bumps vanished in one week

I'm curious how you came up with this solution ? Where do you get your supplements and what strength are they ? Thanks.