Itchy Paws and Face

[Skittlzski]

My Droopy is 19 months old and she has very itchy paws and face. It first started in winter and the vet gave her a shot and some prednisone pills. The itching diminished somewhat, then began getting worse again. I continued giving her the pills daily. I was feeding her Canidae. I have tried a couple of different brands, such as, Dick Patton's Duck and Potato. But she got hives from that. Now I have been feeding her Verus Fish and Potato. She still gets itchy. The vet gave her another shot and some other pills (don't know what they are) to take every other day. This round has not helped at all. I can't afford the allergy testing at this time and was wondering how to help her relieve her itch from over-the-counter items.

 

[djheitz]

You can try some antihistamine, but you'll be better served in finding out what's causing the allergic reaction. You can test for food allergies on your own by going to a food with minimal ingredients and then adding a food at a time until you see a return of the symptoms. There are several threads about how to do that. If it's environmental, it's will be much harder to figure out on your own.

 

[pennysmom]

some advise

My Miss Penny had the itchy face and paw thing going on for a couple years, till I finally figured it out, it might be worth a try to do these 2 simple things.

First was I put her on California Natural Sweet Potato and Herring dry dog food - within 2 weeks I noticed a big difference.

The second thing is, when Droopy comes back in the house from outside WIPE HIS PAWS ALL 4 of them. If you notice the grass outside in the morning and evening has a "dew", a wetness to it, well that dew on the grass has some sort of "film" that gets on the dogs paws, then when they come inside the house, they scratch their face, neck, and body and spread that film all over themselves and that is what makes them itch like crazy. I was told this by a women at a natural pet food store I go to, she talked me into buying some "herbal wipes" for Miss Penny, said to wipe her paws down as soon as she comes inside. Once I ran out of the herbal wipes I started to use a clean face cloth, and it worked just as well.

Just by doing those 2 things it cured the itchey/scratcheys ....I always wondered why Miss Penny would walk down the sidewalks, or on the gravel or dirt but never ever would go in the grass, she'd lay down outside on a towel or blanket if I put one down otherwise it was the dirt she'd go to, all those years she was trying to tell me and we just choked it up to her being a "miss priss" not wanting to get her feet wet or dirty, go figure

and Miss Penny would scratch herself bloody, had no wiskers for a loooong time, it was awful, I highly recommend california natural dogfood too, its made for allergy dogs, read up and you'll see.......please let me know if this helps, if it does, please shout it out to everyone else out here, God knows, our BW buddies need all the help we can get. looking forward to hearing the update.....God Bless and keep the faith

 

[ROCKYBOY]

Alergies

My Rockyboy suffers from very bad allergies.....we have him on Hill's IVD. I had the tests done and the Vet was a specialist in the field. We started with enviromental first. We found out that he is allergic to the following. Ants, Ladybugs,Beetles, Roaches and any other insect in that family. The Vet said don't even bother with testing for food allergies and put him on the IVD and shots. The shots very very prices and I couldn't afford to keep him on them....its been about a year, he still has flare-ups but nothing like before. When I see him start chewing him paws I give him Benadaryl

 

[boxersinapod]

Glad we arn't alone!

I'm so glad that we are not alone on this issue! Ive been doing research like crazy about Stella licking her paws and private area like crazy as well as scratching her pretty face until its bleeding. We have taken her to the vet and all the vet can say in a nut shell is shes got bad allergies!! Luke has no problems like she does, only gets diarrhea when he doesn't react well with foods.

We have also done the environmental steps, the wiping off her feet, her private, and we always wipe off her face after she eats or goes outside. Its gotten so bad lately that after every time she goes outside for a run she runs inside and jumps in the bathtub waiting for me to wash her feet, belly, and face off! We have tried about 15 different dog foods over the years trying to find the right one that doesn't make either of them itch and found that Diamond Chicken and Rice has been working for the past year.....until lately!!! After reading this thread and doing some other research we are definitely going to be making some gradual changes in food and try the brand of food that pennysmom suggested as well as adding the ACV to their water!

I wish you good luck and keep us posted on how everything turns out over the next few weeks, we are always looking for new ideas for the allergy issue!