My poor boy is miserable....:(

Wow, my first blog post ever...and what a surprise that it happens to be about one of my dogs. lol. well here I go: my corgi Dax has always been an itchy little boy, but this year has been worse that ever. He is constantly itchy, not just on certain days like last year, and i'm pretty sure that he's has airborne allergies. I've tried several different products to try to relieve his dry skin, everything from switching his food and adding salmon oil to his meals, to reluctantly putting him on prednisone at my vet's advice. I will admit that the pred. has been the only thing that has giving him any bit of relief out of all the products i've tried. I've had him on a dehydrated raw food and an herbal supplement for several weeks now, and though his coat does look much healthier and silkier, he continues to itch. i'm at a loss. I have no idea what to do now. I'm still going to continue with the foods and supplements, and unfortunately will continue to give a pred. every few days, but i don't want to keep him on the meds. forever. I'm open to feeding him the highest quality food i have to and am open to hearing any advice that anyone has. My poor boy is miserable.

0 members like this

Next Post >

Comment

You need to be a member of MyCorgi.com to add comments!

Join MyCorgi.com

Comment by Samantha, Daxter and Seeka! on April 29, 2010 at 2:50pm: thanks everyone for your advice! Sky and Lyla and Jane, i have a question about the mites: if one dog had mites, wouldn't the other dogs (and possibly people) in my house have them too??? i have three other dogs that live with me and none of them itch nearly as much as he does. i suppose it's possible that he could be more sensitive to it, if that was the problem....i'll definitely keep that in mind. and thanks for your concern about the prednisone. I only give it to him as a last resort, only about once or twice a week or so. and i have tried benadryl, and it didn't have any effect on him....i wish it had though, that would've made life way easier.

Comment by Bev Levy on April 25, 2010 at 8:46am: Be sure to follow the vets instructions very carefully with the prednisone. It can really cause problems if you don't follow the course of treatment strictly. My Sparty has bad allergies. We finally had him tested and found out he was highly allergic to all kinds of stuff (house dust, fleas, thistle, grass, dandelions etc). That was about 8 years ago and he does very well with a once a month allergy shot. About once a year in the spring he has to take prednisone but otherwise he is fine. Start with the food but if those changes don't work talk to your vet about testing.

Comment by Jane Christensen on April 24, 2010 at 7:33pm: I agree with Sky and Lyla about the mite testing.. Have you ever tried Benadryl for the itching? I know people that have used this for their dog's allergies and it worked...at least it would be better than Prednisone. I would also double check the raw food ingredients...just in case. My girlfriends dog just went through this and she switched food...it took a couple of weeks but is much better! Good Luck!

Comment by Sky and Lyla on April 24, 2010 at 7:04pm: Have you had him tested for mites? My Aussie boy was so itchy for the first year and a half of his life. I switched foods, started antioxidant and probiotic supplements, and gave meds. Many thing seemed to help lessen symptoms to some degree, but never stopped the problem. Finally, I took him to a vet for a homeopathic consult, and the vet almost immediately said he thought it was mange mites (Sky had no visible bald or hot spots). He did a scrapping and couldn't find any mites (but he said that wasn't really that unusual) but was so convinced he treated him for it anyway. Voilà! Just like that my baby didn't itch for the first time in his life!!! If he hasn't been tested, I'd check into it. I too would be hesitant to keep him on the pred, that stuff has nasty side effects with long term use. Good luck!!