my lab feels and looks terrible

[Roofer]

I have a lab with allergies in the fall. She has gotten it every year and it lasts a few weeks to a month. She loses the hair on her legs from licking and scratching, and also loses the hair around her eyes & head. We have tried baths with "relief" shampoo and conditioner, we have tried keeping her in, tried keeping her out all day, nothing works. Benadryl seems to help for a little bit, but doesn't seem to help all that much. She looks so miserable, it's hard to stand. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. Anything is worth a try. The medicine from the vet seemed to do nothing, but once it somehow goes away, she is fine the rest of the year until the next fall.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

My first thought is take your dog to a different vet & get another opinion on medication choices. I would think that there is more than one type of medication that could be given to treat a dog with allergies.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I would think too that dogs allergies can be tested the same way people can get tested, by blood sample or whatever and find out exactly what the allergy is, then get shots or something to reduce the symptoms.

[JConrad]

Several years ago we had a dog with serious alergies... Our daughter told us about a vet in Eden Prairie MN who did research on dog alergies for the U of MN...

The vet's name is Dr. Patrick McKeever and he did wonders for our dog...Her alergies were so bad her skin turned from pink to black and she was losing lots of hair. We feel he put years onto her life and yes she went through skin test similiar to what humans go through.

The climic is McKeever Dermatology Clinic in Eden Prairie.... I am sure you can find it online or through a twin cities directory service... You may wish to have your dog evaluated..

[311Hemi]

There is a supplement that I know has helped some dogs called Dinovite. It's not cheap though...so be forewarned. You may do a little research on that.

I am currently giving 75mg Benadryl morning and night as I am dealing with the same thing (mostly seasonal)....and it is helping. How much Benadryl are you giving? If the Bendryl is not working there are a few other OTC antihistamines that you can try, you would basically just do a 2 week trial on each and see if one helps more than the other. Ask you vet about the others...I don't remember the names. These types of drugs help but are not as affective in canines and humans.

Another option would be to have an allergy test done on your dog to determine what exactly the dog is allergic to. From there they can put together a serum (for a lack of a better term) for the specific things he is allergic to that gets injected into the dog roughly once a month. From what I was told there is a roughly 60% success rate doing this. They will teach you to do the shots yourself so you don't need to go in once every month. This basically in theory builds up the tolerance to the allergens so they do not affect the dog as much. These are also somewhat spendy....I think $200-$300/year for the liquid....or roughly $160 for 8-10 month supply.

I may do the last option sometime soon....my dog is borderline.....and is not losing hair at this point but will get a small scab here and there occasionally.

Please report back as you work through this.....I would be interested to hear what you guys decide.

JC.....what was the result of your visit to that vet as far as what you ended up doing? Monthly shots or some sort of meds?

The no-itch shampoo's from the vet have no affect on my dog.

[Roofer]

Thanks alot so far guys. quick responses. I am giving 50 mg of Benadryl to her morning and night. The good part is that it gets her to sleep a little and kind of heal a bit.

[311Hemi]

Contact your vet before increasing any dosage, but Benadryl can be dosed at 0.5-2mg/lb. I was not seeing much help at 50, so I went up to 75 and did see more relief. My dog is 75lbs. My vet said I could give up to 150mg.....but again...talk to your vet first.

The more you increase dose the more drowsy they may become.

[GotOne]

I went thru the entire allergy test deal with Dr. McKeever about 6 years ago-so I'll try to remember things. First off, I believe you have to be referred to Dr McKeever. They do a test similar to what they would do with a human. My yellow lab started when she was approx 4 yrs old. The allergy test revealed that she was allergic to about 8 to 10 different things-from different grasses to box elder dust. They do mix a batch of the things they are allergic to, start with a less potent mixture and step it 2x stronger, if I remember correctly. My dog was actually allergic to more thing than they were able to mix-so they picked the top 6 or 7 things. You inject them monthly with this mixture to try to build up their immune system. I thought the success rate was about 80%. To make a long story short, didn't help my dog. Spent a lot of money and didn't get any results-just a dog that thought I was the bad guy giving her shots once a month. I went to another vet, who gave her a steroid shot and that really helped for a week or so. Also, he gave me a prescription for Termeral P, which helped. My neighbor get a different med for a shepherd that works good for them.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Roofer you will have to keep us updated. Are you bringing the dog to the vet there in princeton? I lived in Zimmerman back in 04 at that time had a cat and I was not impressed with the vet service there in princeton, but that is just one person's opinion.

[Roofer]

I have been going to a vet in Cambridge. They would not give us a new prescription because I didn't bring her in for her yearly check up. The prescription drugs we had last year helped just a little, but it was at the end of the dog's yearly allergy season. I don't think the drugs helped at all. She is seeming to get better just a little at a time lately. Maybe it is the cooler weather. The problem with the vet is that they took a quick look at her and it was like $75 for the visit. I have a hard time paying for that. If they looked at her when she is sick looking like now and prescribed something that worked, it may be worth it. They wanted to see her on their schedule. I'm probably being just a jerk about it, but those vets bother me. I will update this thread if she gets better or worse. I have actually decreased the amount of benadryl and she seems to be more relaxed and healing. Not quite sure yet. Thanks for the advise everyone.

[JConrad]

We found out what she was alergic to... She went on a monthly shot program that really did work.. He skin came back to normal color, she stopped itching, and she overall improved dramatically... She was 8 yrs old at the time and ended up living until she was 12 with a good quality of life.

In our case it was well worth the expense since se was a big part of our family and her life was good once we figured it all out...

I wish you guys the best and hopefully my current dog does not have these issues going forward... I guess dog alergies are now pretty common.

[fishnhooks]

Hey Roofer,

Will you email me? fishnhooks (at) aol (dot) com

Have a question for ya.

"hooks"

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I still say take to a different vet, especially from what you are saying you ain't happy with them. I would worry a little too with benadryl, generally used for a short term maybe a week or two at least in people, don't really think that you would want to keep giving that to your dog over a long period of time, i.e. months. I'd research around the web find another vet in your area, Elk River I know has a few vet places, don't know reputation or anything.

[Swamp Scooter]

You might consider going with a steriod to get a better response. Something like prednasone. The changing of vets might be an option too.

[311Hemi]

I would worry a little too with benadryl, generally used for a short term maybe a week or two at least in people, don't really think that you would want to keep giving that to your dog over a long period of time, i.e. months.

As per my vet (who I like and trust) daily use of Benadryl is fine and will not cause issues if used long term. Please consult your vet though with any question regarding this.

[fishnhooks]

Roofer,

Hows the Lab doing?

"hooks"

[Roofer]

She is doing much better. We are not even giving Benadryl anymore. It just must be the end of the yearly allergies she gets.

It was nice talking to you last week Hooks. Deer season is getting close. A couple buddies went to my cabin and found that all our copper pipe(well only 10 ft), electrical wire outside, and wheels off of a blazer we have, are stolen. They even stole our chain and lock that was on our gate, but were nice enough to wire it closed and didn't touch the cabin at all inside.

[fishnhooks]

Glad to hear the pup is doing better.

I was up to the hunting land two Saturdays ago and again last saturday. Everything seemed fine there but someone had a little fire sometime near the far corner of the shack. It was only about 20 feet away from our fire pit????? I assume a Meth fire, it would be harder to see where they had it than if they used the fire pit.

One time a few years back a buddy and I went up there and we found that someone had a little meth fire way back in a clearing on one of the trails and there was some empty sinus med packages near it.

Nice of them to wire the gate shut again for you??? It is unbelievable what some people will do. It's like if you leave it out, in their minds they think ... oh, they left that out for me to take

I am going up there again the Saturday after this again, If you want me to check on things there let me know and I could stop by on my way up or back since I can go right by it.

"hooks"

[Roofer]

I sure wish people would leave things alone that don't belong to them.

Thanks for the offer Hooks. I believe they have taken everything that they could for now. I think it may have been a whole 50 cents worth, besides the wheels. Maybe we could get together up there this fall yet before hunting.

[fishnhooks]

I hear ya there!.

Ya, it would be kind-of fun to get up there just to goof around. But like you said deer hunting season is getting close. If there is some time between now and then that we could get up there to goof off it would be fun!

"hooks"