Puppy and Allergies

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bruns333
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Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 7:47 am

I sold a GSP pup at 8 weeks old and a month or so later he started to get a rash that turned into sores and he is itching a lot and scratching. He didn't do this when he was here, but did have a bladder infection the vet found soon after leaving here. The new owner's vet has switched his food thinking it might be that. He has been on antibiotics, steroids and benabdryl all to help with itching and fight UTI. He is now almost 5 months old and has had all of his shots. He lives about 1.5 hours away so basically the same sort of environment as far as pollen and vegetation. Has anyone had any similar issues? They are about to start doing some allergy testing of him. I have some photos of his various skin conditions. They also found a Sedum plant in their yard that he has been eating. I looked it up and it doesn't seem to be something that people say causes allergies. This is a really nice pup that my daughter's wanted me to keep. Dexter photos starting on April 11th. These first 2 photos are his first sign of a problem.
Image


Next few photos are when it looked pretty bad and he got steroids


Next 2 are of him looking better

Last ones are only a few days later and irritation is back.

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bruns333
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 7:49 am

Acute phase of the problem
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bruns333
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 7:51 am

Getting better
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Image

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bruns333
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 7:52 am

Only 4 days later he is getting worse again.
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bruns333
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 7:54 am

The first photos were on March 11th, next set April 11th, getting better April 21st, and looking worse again is April 25th.

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dog dr
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by dog dr » Thu May 02, 2013 9:25 am

did they skin scrape him?? could be mange.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by roaniecowpony » Thu May 02, 2013 9:30 am

Since it wasn't a problem at your house, why not take the pup back for a few weeks to see if it clears up?

The plants in the yard are a possibility. There's a million plants that could cause a reaction. I came home one day to find my gardener had planted a whole row of Foxgloves in my front yard. Beautiful bell shaped purple/white flora and nice leaves. There was something in the back of my mind that caused me to look into it further. I found that they are extremely toxic. All parts of the plant. I pulled them out right away. It offended the gardener, but I explained it to him. He just didn't know.

The point is, they may be chasing a plant caused problem that is from their yard. A few weeks isolated from their yard may identify it as a local environmental issue as opposed something else.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by Cajun Casey » Thu May 02, 2013 9:32 am

Tradescantia reaction is my first thought. That would be a common wild plant simetimes called spiderwort or wandering jew.
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by MonsterDad » Thu May 02, 2013 9:38 am

This pup had this condition over the whole winter?

Where does it sleep?

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 10:10 am

They did a skin scrape and ruled out mange.

I have offered to take pup back for a while and see if it clears up.

Pup sleeps in a crate in house, and they said his scratching is so bad some nights it wakes them as he bangs against the side of the crate. He is a mellow pup and not scratching out of frustration or anxiety.

The pup went to the new home in late Feb. and they contacted me in early April about the reaction. He didn't have any signs here, but it was winter and they were out a fair bit, but nothing was growing yet.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 10:16 am

I am correcting that it first showed up in early March. He went to new owners on Feb. 16th.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by MonsterDad » Thu May 02, 2013 10:24 am

that looks too widespread to be a simple contact allergy....these are tough things to sort out that is for sure

diet is remote, but still be best to feed something without chicken, beef, egg, dairy....stick to fish or lamb or venison with high omega 3's and see if it helps...omega 3's like in fish oil can help with the symptoms, still remote it is diet

gotta be something in their house setting it off

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by mountaindogs » Thu May 02, 2013 10:53 am

What type of flea prevention are they using? People miss fleas ALL the time. And its just a rule out. And did the antibiotics clear it up at all before the steriods were added or did they start the same time? I'm not a big fan of steriods in puppies unless it's a severe reaction or a very acute situation where the steriods are very short term...
It just looks like pyoderma to me but skin stuff is so frustrating :evil:

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by dog dr » Thu May 02, 2013 11:28 am

i treated a dog once for allergies for a long time with little to no response. finally did an additional, deeper skin scrape and found sarcoptic mange. sarcoptic can be harder to find and not quite as severe as demodex. not saying thats definitely what your dealing with, but would be worth a 2nd look.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Thu May 02, 2013 12:18 pm

Dog Dr, I asked the owner about her kids having any symptoms and they said they did not. None of the other pups have this and the two adult dogs that were here during the 8-9 weeks the pups were here have no signs of any skin problems. The new owner does not have any other dogs besides this pup. Did you treat with a heavy dose of Ivermectin?

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by dog dr » Thu May 02, 2013 2:25 pm

bruns333 wrote: Did you treat with a heavy dose of Ivermectin?
dont know how heavy it was, but ivermectin, yes.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by Jagerdawg » Sun May 05, 2013 10:24 am

sorry to hear about this Matt. I hope it gets figured out soon. Remi is doing great. She is such a happy puppy. Getting big fast.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by mountaindogs » Sun May 05, 2013 12:11 pm

bruns333 wrote: Pup sleeps in a crate in house, and they said his scratching is so bad some nights it wakes them as he bangs against the side of the crate. He is a mellow pup and not scratching out of frustration or anxiety. ...t.
My perfectly healthy adults sometimes wake me up scratching or chewing or rolling over in their crate. *shrug* just throwing in some perspective.

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by big steve46 » Sun May 05, 2013 10:35 pm

It could be a fungus and none of the meds would have helped that, or some plant in the yard. with a plant though, you should have seen a quicker response to the steroids and benedryl. Another consideration might be a chemical sensitivity from something in the house.
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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by frontline » Wed May 08, 2013 2:34 pm

Get a dose of Revolution (selamectin) from your vet. It's a topical parasiticide for dogs that treats sarcoptic mange, it's also a heartworm preventative so you can skip your regular preventative that month. This is the easiest and safest way to eliminate sarcoptic mites (instead of giving stinging injections of ivermectin). It's applied just like Frontline or Advantix.

A skin scraping will rarely will bring up a sarcoptic mite and most vets will just treat based on symptoms. If it is mites you will see a marked improvement in 1-2 days after applying the Revolution. Most vet. dermatologists will treat for sarcoptic mange to eliminate them as a cause before doing more expensive testing. Revolution works good for preventing the American Dog Tick and works on Fleas too though not as good as some other topicals.

If the puppy responds to the treatment he will need another in a couple of weeks to get rid of newly hatched mites.

Good Luck!

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Fri May 17, 2013 2:46 pm

Got Dexter back today. His underside looks pretty back with lots of small scabs from scratching on hair is mostly gone underneath or thin. His vet has him on 25mg of benadryl every 12 hours and 25mg of Hydroxyzine every 12 hours also. Both are just to make him itch less. I haven't seen a lot of itching yet, but he has only been here about 4 hours so far. Happy fella, on the thin side probably 35 pounds at almost 5 months old. He ate his 2 cups of dinner without any hesitation. I did notice some greenish/yellow mucous on the end of his penis. Got some in a klenex and it didn't smell strong to me. He did have a UTI early on. I am taking him to my vet on Monday. He is also cutting teeth right now. I thought he smelled a little yeasty on the car ride home.

Any thoughts?

Matt

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by bruns333 » Mon May 20, 2013 8:45 pm

I got Dexter back on Friday and his underside was red irritated with lots of scabs from scratching. His feet were red and was missing a lot of hair on his underside. He smelled musky. They gave me his food to feed him. I put some aloe lotion with neem in it on him Friday night. We had a soccer tournament both Saturday and Sunday so Dexter got to spend a lot of time in our outside kennel. It has pea gravel and a dog den with wood chips as bedding. I started to notice on Saturday night his skin looked a little better. Sunday was about the same. When we were home he was mostly outside in the backyard playing around. By Sunday night his belly looked much better and he smelled better. This morning i took him and the adult dogs out for an off leash run were he had access to woods, grasses, and ponds and a river. We were out about an hour and took him to my vet this afternoon. Gave my vet his history and we agreed to just keep him longer and see if he keeps getting better. He thought this was most likely from contact allergy at the owners place which is about 75 miles from here. He thought is was more likely a contact issue from something in their house. Over the weekend I saw almost no scratching or biting at his feet.

Tonight he was out in the backyard longer than he had been any previous days. Tonight I noticed some redness and by 9pm he was scratching and chewing at his feet. You could tell he was less comfortable. He came with benedryl which I gave Friday night, Sat. morning and Sat. night. I didn't give any on Sunday because he wasn't itching. Tonight I gave him his meds to keep him comfortable. Was it the run(outside stuff) this morning, the extra yard time he had tonight or something else?

1 step forward 2 steps back.
I hate seeing him uncomfortable,
Matt

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Re: Puppy and Allergies

Post by kninebirddog » Mon May 20, 2013 9:02 pm

try bathing in a coal based shampoo (for dandruff) get the generic and pour half the shampoo in another container ..add about 2 tablespoons of Tea Tree oil and about a 1/3 of the bottle of betadine. Shampoo the pup in the morning and evening. The tea tree oil has bacterial viral and drying effects and then betadine is a good cleanser and the coal based shampoo will also help with the itching
I normally make the mixture and put into a condiment bottle to help make sure I get some all over the pup and allow the mixture to stay on the pup for at least a minute plus
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