[mommaren]

My one-year-old pomeranian has suffered from the itchies for about five months. He has dug out his entire beautiful, thick undercoat but otherwise his top coat looks shiny and healthy. The vet put him on a course of clavamox (sp?) and prednisone (sp?). This took care of his fever and the red bumps that were all over his tummy. Now, three weeks later, we're back to digging and the red bumps. We are all miserable. The prednisone made him act out of character and he was up all nights until he was weaned off. What can I do for him besides taking him back in for meds?

 

[thekimballs]

What is he eating? And how often is he being groomed and with what products? Did the vet check for thyroid issues? Poms have black-skin disease (though this doesn't sound like that) and several other autoimmune issues, and they are very prone to allergies. If I know what's going into him and onto him, I can probably help at least give his skin the best possible chance to heal.

 

[Aries1985]

My dachshund has very severe skin allergies. After tons of allergy testing we determined he's allergic to preservatives and such in dog food/treats. He is on a limited diet from IVD and only allowed to have organic treats or ones made from "people" food. He hasn't had a break out in years since we've done this! He also gets a bath in special anti-itch shampoo and has an oatmeal based conditioner. He did tons of rounds of prednisone and other steroids and nothing helped. It was horrible watching him suffer.<br><br>
I'd seriously try adjusting diet if you haven't already.

 

[mommaren]

He is eating Science Diet small puppy bites and occasionally gets Old Mother Hubbard bisquits. We wash with Bio Guard once every two weeks. He was given a prescription of chlorphenarimine but didn't seem to help. We were told by the vet's office to try benadryl and have been for the last two days with no improvement.

 

[Aries1985]

I'd cut out all treats and try switching him to a limited ingredient diet.<br><br>
Has been tested for any common allergies?

 

[thekimballs]

A raw diet would be absolutely best for him (you can do this at an increasing number of stores by buying frozen raw). If you don't use raw, please switch to a much better food (science diet is pretty crappy). Treats should be meat only, no grains.<br><br>
That's an OK shampoo, but you need to be SUPER careful that you are using only a little bit (for a dog that small, half an ounce at the most) and you are rinsing like CRAZY. If you don't feel that you can get out every single bit of shampoo, switch to a different brand.<br><br>
If you haven't had his thyroid tested (this should be the test that includes TgAA--some vets call this the "quad test" or the "Dodds test"), please do.

 

[mommaren]

Thanks to both of you! Can I ask for recommendations on the food switch and maybe a different shampoo to try? I feel bad that he's been going through this for this long and honestly I thought Science Diet was good because that is what is sold at the vet's office. Thanks again!!

 

[thekimballs]

I would love to have vets stop selling SD "regular"--I don't mind selling i/d for short-term gut problems, but by selling normal SD they give exactly the impression you've gotten, which is that it's the best food. It is FAR from the best.<br><br>
The very best you can do for him is a raw diet--I don't know where you are in OK, but look for "raw diet dog oklahoma" and see if you can find a distributor of any of the brands near you. You want a frozen diet that is raw and has no grains.<br><br>
If you cannot find a frozen raw distributor and you don't want to make it yourself, I would switch him to one of the grain-free kibbles. Brands include Wellness CORE, Innova EVO, Nature's Variety Prairie, Orijen, etc.<br><br>
Third choice would be a super-premium kibble with grains. Back to Basics, Solid Gold, Canidae, Timberwolf Organics, etc. If you use a kibble with grains, watch his skin carefully and consider switching foods to different grain sources (from corn to rice, from rice to oats, etc.) to get the best results. You should be supplementing kibble with salmon oil or fish body oils.<br><br>
One of the best easily available shampoos for skin issues is EQyss Micro-Tek; look for it at horse feed stores. You should also get the Micro-Tek spray. Rinse ridiculously thoroughly, towel dry, and then part the skin and spray with Micro-Tek all over the body. You can spray his skin every day (don't need to wash first) if you need to.

 

[Aries1985]

We use Chlorhexi-derm shampoo and it's worked well, but we don't bathe him too often as it dries out his skin too much.<br><br>
My Boris has a pretty severe reaction, think staph infection sites all over his chest/tummy if we do anything to his food. He's been eating IVD vension and potato for the last 10 years and doing very well on it. We have to special order it from the vet. In the future I think I'll for sure be pursuing raw foods for a dog. Boris has done so well on this food I hate to mess with his system now that he's almost 13, but I do believe raw would be better for him. If you can do it, that's the way to go.<br><br>
Good Luck!