So it has been another 5 weeks since I started the amended elimination diet with Maddie.

Today the vet and I had our call to evaluate the progress.

Note that I called her today for a few very specific reasons:

1. Venison roast at $10.99 a pound is not sustainable for this family’s budget
2. I have boiled and chopped enough potatoes to feed the National Army of Kazakhstan (pretty flag, no?)
3. Last night, for the 5th (or was it 50th) night in a row Maddie has awakened me licking and scratching her vulva and accompanying regions

The conversation went something like this:

Doc: How’s the scratching?

Me: On the margins somewhat better but she still wakes me up scratching.

Doc: Next step would be an allergy test.

Now at this point I am waiting for her to describe the scratch test. You know the one where they inject small amounts of the allergen and monitor the bumps that form.

But noooooooo……

Me: So the scratch test right?

Doc: No, they now have a blood test that looks at 40 different allergens and it is specific to Southern California (grasses, plants, etc.)

Me: How long have they had that test?

Doc: About 15 years.

What? Wait. WAIT! I have been doing the whole elimination diet thing as a way to try to figure out what is causing Maddie (and me) to be miserable and to save the $1800 plus dollars for allergy testing.

Me: So how much is the blood test?

Doc: $231.00

Me: WHAT? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THIS $231 TEST WAS AVAILABLE BEFORE I FED THE ENTIRE ARMY OF KAZAKSTAN POTATOES AND VENISON???!!!

Maddie went for her $231 allergy blood test today.

The results are back in two weeks.

My money on still on the fact she is allergic to the cat.

It’s been six weeks since I started Maddie on the elimination diet in the hopes of controlling her itching and scratching.

And for that six week period I have been diligently making the food mention in Dog Food Allergy Elimination Diet.

Maddie loved it.

Could not wait to eat.

Licked the design off the bowl!

Yesterday it was time for a chat with the vet to discuss the progress of the diet. It was during this discussion that she asked exactly what I was making.

As soon as I said ‘chicken’, she interrupted to inform me that chicken is the number one protein that causes allergic reactions in dogs.

What?

You mean that was six weeks of cooking dog food for no results?!

She went on to tell me that the true elimination diet had either duck, rabbit or venison as the source of protein.

And, no, chicken would not work.

Well I don’t know where you live but duck, rabbit and venison are not real prevalent in my local supermarket.

The vet suggested that Pinto beans are a great source of protein and that I could substitution a meat protein with Pinto’s.

Faithfully I remade the recipe mentioned above and replaced the chicken with Pinto beans. It was actually easier to make since there was no chicken to cook.

I dished out a batch to Maddie and instead of licking the bowl clean she looked at me with an expression that simply said “Really? You expect me to eat this?”

So there I am with a HUGE pot of potatoes, pumpkin, peas and Pinto beans with a dog that has no interest in eating any of it.

So I start to Google local meat markets to see if they had duck, rabbit, or venison.

Fortunately I found a shop up the steet that sells venison patties.

So I microwaved (sorry folks, that the method of cooking I’m left to after this fiasco) the patties, poured the juice into the pot, and crumbled in the venison.

Whoa! Home run!

She loved it.

Only 4 more weeks of this until the next vet discussion.

You watch. It will turn out that she isn’t allergic to any food – she’ll turn out to be allergic to the cat!

Previously I’ve shared the challenges of Maddie and her rather recent flair up of scratching.

Last week, while I was at the vet for the cat I asked the doctor about food allergies.

Mind you, I’m no rookie when it comes to dogs that can’t stop licking, scratching, creating hot spots, or otherwise making themselves, and me, miserable.

This time out the vet and I spoke about diets that would help to eliminate the causes of food allergies that Maddie might be experiencing.

In the past I was used to switching the overly aggressive scratcher, or a dog who was suffering from gastrointestinal issues, to a diet of only boiled chicken and whole grain rice.

The doctor explained that a true elimination diet would consist of a protein, namely rabbit or venison, and a starch, potato. This limited diet would be fed for 6-8 weeks after which we should be able to determine if the scratching had stopped.

She recommended Royal Canin Limited Ingredient food.

Knowing that the likelihood of Maddie liking this concoction was slim I still bought 6 cans of the rabbit formula. At $2.91 per can I already knew that, even if she adored it, it was a not an affordable alternative for the next 6 weeks – but I committed to giving her a taste.

As I suspected the reception was, well, unenthusiastic.

You know when you feed your dog something and they look at you with expression that says, “That’s it? That’s the best you’ve got?”

I knew it was time to make my own ‘limited ingredient’ batch of food.

Here’s what I made:

• 2 packages Trader Joe’s frozen chicken breasts (approximately 20 breasts)
• 2 – 13 oz. cans of Libby’s Pure Pumpkin (note that this is not the garbage filling that you make pumpkin pie out of)
• 8 medium Russet potatoes
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil (I’m not sure of this was the right amount as I think a bit more would have also been o.k.)

Boil the chicken until cooked. Then, in the same water as the chicken boiled in, boil the potatoes.

It’s important not to boil the potatoes too much. The cut potato should be able to hold a firm ½ inch dicing without crumbling.

The chicken was chopped until fine in a mini Cuisinart food processor.

In the same pot that the ingredients boiled in, after the water has been removed, mix the chicken, potato chunks, olive oil and the two cans of pumpkin together.

As all of this was being cooked Maddie stood by my side trying to control her excitement and the drool.

When I served it to her I thought she was going to eat the bowl that it was served in!

We’re on day three of the diet and it’s clear that I need to make more.

I’ll keep you posted on the results.

flickr credit

In the last post Maddie’s incessant licking and scratching was discussed.

A new development is that she has now added licking her paws to the mix.

The last time I was at the vet she suggested Benadryl. As an antihistamine it was supposed to help, along with bathing with a gentle oatmeal based shampoo.

Truth be told I was not committed to the use of Benadryl until I did some additional reading today.

Importantly you should check with your vet to see if they advocate the use of Benadryl for your dog. Included in their consideration will be the types and amounts of other drugs that are being administered to your dog.

Special consideration should be given to dogs that have thyroid issues, glaucoma and cardiovascular disease to name few.

What I found is that Benadryl is used for a host of purposes including:

• Controlling itching
• Help stop vomiting
• Motion sickness
• A mild tranquilizer
• Snake bites
• Vaccination reactions
• Insect bites or bee stings
• Blood transfusion reactions

The type of Benadryl that you give should be the name brand.

Alternately it you choose to use a generic brand, which would be cheaper, close attention should be paid to the ingredients.

Diphenhydramine is the active ingredient in Benadryl. Generic brands may have ingredients that will cause your dog harm. For instance acetaminophen, a common added ingredient in some generics, can be lethal to dogs.

Some people are giving their dogs Benadryl in liquid form. This might be o.k. but only if you can verify that the liquid version does not contain any alcohol. For that reason the pill form is preferred.

At one point I was concerned that the amount of Benadryl I was giving Maddie was excessive. She was receiving 25 mg once per day. It seems that the guidelines vary by very small amounts.

As such I plan to administer every 8 hours using these guidelines:

• Dogs under 30 lbs = 10 mg
• Dogs over 30 lbs and less that 50 lbs = 25 mg
• Dogs over 50 lbs = 50 mg

Others have suggested 1 mg per pound of dogs weight.

Given what I’ve learned I will continue to give Maddie Benadryl .

The dose will be 25 mg.

Instead of once per day I’m going to move to twice per day.

Next thing to try to ease her discomfort will be adding oil to her food. Salmon oil, omega 3, olive oil are all possibilities.

As if one dog in the house was not enough fun, recently we added a second.

Meet Maddie.

Maddie

As a rescue from the Orange County Animal Shelter (aka Death Row), she was in beat up condition when I rescued her. Not that she was injured per se – she had just had a rough life to that that point.

Since she was a rescue of course there is no way to plan for any of the health concerns that might be plaguing her. After all the shelter simply guesses her age, does a cursory health examine and then either adopts her out or kills her.

For the first 3 months of her time in our house Maddie was as normal as most rescue dogs could hope to be.

Tired, scared and simply getting used to her new surroundings.

At about that three month mark she began to get skin rashes.

And then she began to scratch.

And then she began to lick her vulva.

Multiple trips to the vet have yielded the following insights:

1. Through a couple of courses of antibiotics the rash has gone away – and mostly stayed away. As a result it does not appear that her scratching was being caused by a single incident skin ailment, such as a run in with a pack of hungry fleas or contact with a plant like poison oak.

2. After an unsuccessful course of steroids I determined that a bitchy, thirsty, constantly peeing dog (who was still learning house training) was not the right solution.

3. The food she is eating is top of the line. She and her partner in crime, Oliver, only eat Evo or Merrick. Recently they have also added Homemade Doggy Dinners to the mix. This recent addition has had no effect either way regarding her scratching and licking.

4. She gets shampooed once per week with either earthbath Tea Tree Oil & Aloe Vera or earthbath Oatmeal & Aloe. These baths seem to calm down the scratching and licking for a day or two but not more.

5. She is on a 25mg dose of Benadryl per day. Maddie is a, how do I say it, nasally dog. She sounds like she needs to clear her throat and cough up a phlegm ball. It seems that this treatment is helping – if only on the margins.

Our most recent trip to the vet ended with her suggesting that Maddie had allergies of varying varieties. And, like humans, those allergies can manifest themselves in a host of ways.

Scratchy throat, watery eyes, runny nose, skin itches, ear itches and eye itches can all be signs of allergies in people.

All of these and itchy vulva, ear irritation, skin irritation and more are signs of allergies in dogs.

The worst part about her scratching and licking, for both of us, is the fact that for some reason it is worse at night and Maddie sleeps on our bed. That means that at least once per night I wake up to the sound of a dog aggressively licking her vulva and scratching herself. Needless to say it irritates me and it is making her miserable to.

Hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of her skin allergy issues soon. I need the sleep and I’m not sure her poor vulva can take anymore of the licking!

Poor Annie

In the latest round of skin issues we went to the vet with another flare up of her skin.

Her belly was bright red and she was miserable. And so were we, since she would lick all night long.

The vet decided that it was time to take a culture of the infected area and see what would grow in a petri dish.

Three days later she called to say that there were two skin bacteria growing.

One that was related to the Mursa staph infection.

The solution was for her to have shots one a day for five days administered by us. These were to be 5 cc shots which represents a fairly significant dose.

We were warned to keep an eye out for increases in water consumption and urination as this drug had negative indicators for the kidneys.

Sure enough 5 days in Annie started to drink like a fish and and pee like a horse.

We were advised to stop treatment and come in for a ‘recheck’.

Over the last 6 months Annie (pictured at right) has been in, what we thought, was a simple aggravating battle with skin allergies. Just another annoying case of dog allergies that often plague our pets, right?

Her symptoms at various times were:

• chewing herself, primarily around her rump
• dandruff which would not be washed away
• skin pustules: small round spots all over her back that would flake, turn red, and then potentially bleed and get infected
• increased water intake
• increased food intake
• abdominal enlargement

We explored solutions that included:

• testing her diet for allergic reactions by eliminating treats, canned food and dry kibble and moving to a rice and ground turkey diet
• periodic treatments with prednisone – steroids
• ten day doses of Cipro – antibiotic
• medicated shampoos

While most of these provided some form of temporary relief, none of these resulted in sustainable solutions to Annie’s problems.

Shortly after the loss of our Golden Retriever we decided to get more aggressive with finding out what was causing these outbreaks.

Annie was taken to a veterinary practice that specialized in animal dermatology and was given a blood workup, to check liver value, along with biopsies of 3 of the skin sores. The results showed signs of Cushing’s disease. As a follow up, and to confirm the diagnosis, an ACTH Stimulation Test was performed.

This lead to a positive diagnosis for Cushing’s disease.

In order to identify whether the disease was caused by a tumor on the adrenal gland, 20% of cases, or over secretion of ACTH by the pituitary gland, 80% of cases, additional testing was required. There are a number of possible tests including an abdominal ultrasound to determine the size of both of the adrenal glands and to compare the glands against each other.

Abdominal ultrasound is helpful in three respects. First, it is a good test to evaluate all of the abdominal organs in the dog. Secondly, it is used to study the size and shape of the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands in pituitary dependent Cushing’s are usually normal in size or enlarged. If a tumor is present however, one adrenal gland is often abnormally large or of uneven shape. Finally, if a tumor is suspected, ultrasound can help identify any metastasis to other organs.

In Annie’s case the ultrasound had good news…..and bad.

The good news was that the root cause of the disease was not based on a tumor on her adrenal gland.

The bad news is that during the ultrasound a mass was detected on her spleen

Splenic tumors are treated as a fairly serious condition as the spleen can rupture due to the mass and causes massive bleeding. This meant Annie would need immediate surgery to have her spleen removed, a splenectomy.

The operation was complicated as the mass had grown in a star shaped pattern over and around her spleen. The fortunate news is that no other organs appeared to be affected by the mass.

The patient is resting comfortably as we nervously await the results of the biopsy that was performed on the mass to determine if it will be benign or malignant.

All dog owners are recommended to have their dogs properly evaluated by veterinary professional for root causes to allergy symptoms. What may appear to be one heath issue related to dog allergies may reveal another issue that may save your dogs life.

]]> http://dog-allergy-info.com/does-my-dog-have-a-skin-allergy-cushings-disease-or-worse/feed/ 0 http://dog-allergy-info.com/hypoallergenic-dogs-good-dogs-for-people-with-allergies/ http://dog-allergy-info.com/hypoallergenic-dogs-good-dogs-for-people-with-allergies/#comments Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:02:24 +0000 Rob http://dog-allergy-info.com/hypoallergenic-dogs-good-dogs-for-people-with-allergies/

My cousin Carl had a really difficult decision.

His 8 year old, Bethany, was ready for the responsibility of a pet. After lots of discussion and research he and Bethany agreed that a dog would be a welcomed addition to the family.

The problem was that Carl was allergic to dogs.

Growing up in a household that loved dogs during his childhood, Carl was plagued with runny nose, eye itching and symptoms that resembled asthma. He thought he was never going to be able to own a dog again.

Was Carl’s issue with dog allergies going to force him to disappoint Bethany?

Thankfully, no.

Prospective dog owners who suffer from allergies, but who can’t do without the joy of a canine companion, and want to keep their allergies at bay do have choices. In fact the AKC suggests they consider the following breeds:

• Bedlington Terrier
• Bichon Frise
• Chinese Crested
• Irish Water Spaniel
• Kerry Blue Terrier
• Maltese
• Poodles (Toy, Miniature or Standard)
• Portuguese Water Dog
• Schnauzer (Miniature, Standard or Giant)
• Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
• Xoloitzcuintli

Ideally, most of these breeds have non-shedding coats, which produce less dander. It’s the dander not the hair which causes most pet allergies.

Bethany is now a proud owner of a Wheaten Terrier.

Carl is still able to breath.

Fortunately there are hypoallergenic dogs.

Years ago when I was a kid my parents send me to an allergist to get allergy shots. This was an effort to cure mold, mildew and ragweed allergies.

Now as a ‘parent’ of Annie I am tempted to try allergy shots to cure her dog allergies. So just as people have this treatment, so can pets. The process, however, is not without difficulty and one should not expect hypo-sensitization to end all itchy skin concerns.

• Allergy shots take time to work. It is not uncommon for results to take 6 to 12 months
• Not all dogs will respond. In fact 25% of atopic dogs will not – they are frequently the gogs that are allergic to multiple allergens
• Up to 25% of dogs will require the steroid prednisone at some point during the course of treatment
• You will have to be prepared to administer the allergy shot yourself

Is Your Pet A Viable Candidate?

Testing is best done during your dogs non-itchy season. This is so that the skin responses of the test will not be influenced by any active inflammation.

In order to test, a small amount of allergen extracts are injected into the skin. Reactions from these injections are then are compared to reactions produced by two control groups (injections that are sure to produce results): pure histamine which is extremely inflammatory and pure saline which is not very non-inflammatory).

The proper outcome for these tests will be incumbent upon following a medication withholding schedule. Your dog may not have:

• had any Depomedrol injections over the last 8 week period
• received Vetalog injections over the last 6 weeks
• been administered Antihistamines over the last 1 week
• received a Topical steroid for 1 week
• ingested Oral steroids for 4 weeks

Note that these are requirements from one board certified dermatologist – other dermatologists may have other requirements. Further, it is useful to have ruled out dog food allergies with an elimination diet trial prior to the skin test as food allergies/intolerance responds much more rapidly to diet correction than atopy does to hypo-sensitization.

Interestingly both food allergy and atopic dermatitis present a similar pattern of itchiness and can be difficult to distinguish from one another.

For complete options about treating your dogs allergies call your local trusted veterinarian.

Recently, as in the last 12 month or so, our dog has developed really painful and annoying itching, scratching, chewing and skin rash issues. During this time we have tried medicated shampoos, endless courses of antibiotic treatments, steroid therapy, and now vegetarian dog food.

We arrived at this new food experiment during research of traditional dog food.

As you are likely aware dog food contains any number of left over animal parts that are not appropriate for human consumption. As well, manufacturers are not required to list ingredients on their packaging so there is simply no way to know what you are feeding your beloved pet.

The home made food choice was not recommended by our vet as the exclusive nutrition source, even when supplemented by Pet Tabs. Although the combination of ground turkey, whole grain rice and eggs proved delicious to our dog, we remained concerned about her overall health.

Enter vegetarian dog food manufactured by Royal Canin. The ingredients are clearly labeled and include:

• oat flour
• brewers rice
• potato protein
• canola oil
• yeast culture
• tomato pomace
• beet pulp
• flax seed

and approximately 30 other ingredients. This is fed in combination with the aforementioned turkey and rice combination and the mixture receives two paws up from our dog. In the search for remedies to dog allergies, vegetarian dog food is a helpful alternative to standard food choices.