More Allergies

[April K]

My dogs have both had some version of allergies this summer. Molly gets hives (which I thought were mosquito bites at first - until her coat started thinning) and Buster got infections on the skin of his armpits. The vet put Buster on antibiotics, but for Molly, he assumed it is food allergies (Eukaneuba) and gave some natural oil supplement to add to her food.

Is this enough? Is there something more I should be doing? I know it's hot in Texas and they stay in the backyard (fenced) when I'm at work during the day...with shade and a little pool. They don't seem to be unhappy with that.....just wondering if heat could be adding to the skin issues.

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Mom to :
Buster - fawn w/natural ears born 10/99
Molly - fawn w/natural ears born 12/99

 

[Carol-Thor's Mom]

If it turns out to be allergies there is a LOT more that can be done. I don't know about the heat, though-my dogs are inside dogs, with a/c, and around here is certainly cooler than Texas. I did notice Rocky's allergies got worse in summer, when I worked long hours and was afraid to turn on the a/c all day unattended (fire hazard).

Rocky was significanly allergic to 40 ENVIRONMENTAL things, not food allergies. What your babies have sounds more like environmental.

Dignosing the allergies is best done via blood test, but is not cheap-I paid $250. However, the serum (and shots I gave myself)made from that test worked 80% of the way.

Did your vet mention Benadryl in the meantime? This helps seemingly best out of all allergy medicines, and costs little anyway. It should always be handy anyway for things like bee stings (dogs and humans).

 

[April K]

Thanks for the input. I'm gonna need to get the allergy testing done more than likely. I'm also going to switch them to a hypo-allergenic food. Crossing my fingers.

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Mom to :
Buster - fawn w/natural ears born 10/99
Molly - fawn w/natural ears born 12/99