# (frustrated allergies)



## KimZ (May 15, 2013)

I am new to this forum and have never blogged before... if this post is not in the right spot you admin can delete or move. My 2 year old female V Frankie has had allergies since she has been 8 months old, we have tried every food on the market, and spent thousands of dollars on her allergy medications..... We have done elimination diets and still with no cause of what is causing these allergies. Two weeks ago we have finally switched to a RAW food diet, not sure if it is helping any but she is still severly itchy, but not red and broken out in hives. Her visisble symptoms incude red and inflammed chest, underarms, paws, legs and hive on her front legs, and not imited to her ears which are also all red. Our vet wants to keep her on medications, and we feel that this is not a answer or a fix to her problem... I was wondering which i know there are many V owners that have the same problem as us, what exactly their V is allergic too? ( cats, dust, grass, cheese, etc...) We have took out rugs, carpet, dog beds and food diets...I feel that my last hope will just to pay for the allergy test that they say could come back inconclusive. any help/suggestion that we havent already tried woulld be greatly appreciated.


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

We have been struggling since Dozer was 11 months. He'll be three years in August. We saw the most improvement when we went to a veterinary dermatologist. It's more expensive than your regular vet but its all they do and worth every penny. Have you been to one yet? Our results as of yet is that Dozer is on a Rx diet, 2.5 mg of pred 1x daily and 1/2 a Zyrtec once daily and weekly bathes with medicated shampoo. There is still room for improvement but we are more satisfied with his current state than we have EVER been. And he eats NOTHING but his kibble, since January. That means we use his kibble as treats too. We will lost likely try an alternative to Zyrtec simply bec the pollen season has left him scratchier than the previous months. It's a sad thing to see your pup scratching constantly, waking up and jumping from bed to scratch, but it can get better with the right help. Good luck!


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

We struggle with allergies too! We use just plain Benadryl (of course after elimination diets, special shampoos, skin testing etc) and it works great for us.


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## KimZ (May 15, 2013)

We haven't seen a veterinary derm yet, but we have done the medicated shampoos, strictly kibble ( it feels like every brand) plus the ohe recommended from the vet. We have tried Benadryl but it does not work for her done a bunch of skin scrapings etc.... I'm starting to think it might be the cat, I can't seem to think what else it could be...the picture below is what she looked like at her worst ....I'm just not sure if any other V's suffer with allergies like frankie does.


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Wow ours is not that bad... Miles get hives on his head, neck, and back when he breaks out and redness in ears and armpit region but it is controlled with Benadryl (dosage fluctuating with the season he gets 50mg once a day right now but can go up to 3x a day when pollen count is high). 

Best of luck, wish I had more to offer.


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## SkyyMax (Apr 5, 2012)

KimZ - I am sorry you did not find the solution yet.

Raw diet is great, as long as she is not allergic to the meat you feeding. May be a veterinary dermatologist will be able to help Frankie.

Best wishes!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Poor girl, she has to be miserable.


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## KimZ (May 15, 2013)

I think I might go ahead and do an allergy test to find exactly what she is allergic to! Ill keep it updated. Frankie was the worst in the winter.


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## GarysApollo (Nov 27, 2012)

Hope you figure it out. Poor girl...


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

Raw diet can take up to 6 weeks to take full effect. 

However with how bad the allergies appear I would get skin graphs done. 

I had to do this with my pup. 6 patches of skin removed were then sent off to a lab and wouldn't you know it was some meat that Mac was allergic to. 

Basically it came back that he was allergic to every meat except duck, turkey and fish. 

So I would advise you do this.


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## KimZ (May 15, 2013)

Born36- we had Frankie at vet and we are gettingnanreferral to a dermatologist. She has only been on raw for just over two weeks now so we do have to wait to see if it works a bit. Ps... While at the vet yesterday Frankie's skin immediately inflamed ( ears, face, hives) as soon as we got home her ears and face were not red anymore.


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## KimZ (May 15, 2013)

Thanks to everyone who replied. .very helpful


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

I'm telling you a Derm vet is your best bet right now, speaking from experience and yes, other Vs have allergies this bad. Dozer had lost almost all of his fur on his entire body leaving only the stripe down his back. He was bald in several places. The Derm vet even said "they don't usually look this bad when they come in here" but she's nearly fixed our boy. We are still a work in process. Good luck. My only other advice is to skip the allergy blood test as its practically useless. Only do intradermal if doing a test at all. They can test specifically for cat allergies too I think.


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

I'm telling you a Derm vet is your best bet right now, speaking from experience and yes, other Vs have allergies this bad. Dozer had lost almost all of his fur on his entire body leaving only the stripe down his back. He was bald in several places. The Derm vet even said "they don't usually look this bad when they come in here" but she's nearly fixed our boy. We are still a work in process. Good luck. My only other advice is to skip the allergy blood test as its practically useless. Only do intradermal if doing a test at all. They can test specifically for cat allergies too I think. 

Here's one pic and you can kind of see how much "lighter" his coat is than his sister's whose is more sandy than rust to begin with. And another photo, more recent, and the improvement in coat.


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## KimZ (May 15, 2013)

Our vet is sending in a referral to a vet derm.


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