My pug has allergies and diabetes. What non-steroid treatments exist?

Hello, and thanks for your question about Mya. Allergies are very common in dogs, and they can be frustrating to control! I recommend asking your vet about Cytopoint, which is a monthly injection, and Apoquel, which is a daily pill. These are very effective non-steroid allergy medications that can either be given individually or (in more severe cases) together. For young dogs like Mya, I usually prefer the cytopoint injections, and then add Apoquel if necessary. If the a strict feeding trial with the Royal Canin Ultramino diet didn't help, then her allergies are less likely to be related to food, and are more likely environmental. Of course, also make sure she's kept current on a high quality flea/tick preventative, to make sure an external parasite can't be complicating things! And if a skin scrape has never been done, that may be advised as well - I've had skin mites get misdiagnosed as allergies before! If it comes to it, I've certainly had patients who did best on steroids - and that can be done pretty safely if you're weaning to the lowest effective every-other-day dose. Hopefully this helps! Of course, I'd defer on all points to a vet who has seen Mya in person!

Grain free is not recommended unless Shorty Jr has a documented grain allergy. Grain free diets are actually linked to causing heart disease in dogs - I do not recommend you feed this. I'm assuming the vet is just giving steroids and anti-itch sprays because you have declined allergy testing. As vets our hands our tied unless the owners proceed with finding the underlying cause of the allergy. I strongly recommend you have Shorty Jr allergy tested so you know what type of allergy you are dealing with and then you will know how to best manage it. Usually what happens is that after you find out what he is allergic to, "vaccines`' are formulated that contain the antigens your dog is most reactive. Then the vet teaches you how to give these vaccines at specific intervals to help desensitize your dog's body to those antigens. This is very effective and usually helps to eliminate about 80% of all allergy symptoms. There is no 100% cure for allergies. I suggest you take him to a veterinary dermatologist for testing. ( https://bluepearlvet.com/dermatology/ ) ( https://www.amcny.org/dermatology ) Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Poor girl! Allergies are so frustrating but can be rewarding if you can find what works best for her. I would strongly talk to your vet about long term steroids and anti-fungals. Steroids long term are not ideal for her liver and kidneys but if it is the only thing that will keep her comfortable then it may be the only choice. If you don't want to do that, you can also try apoquel and cytopoint together. I have success with this combo as well and have been told by a dermatologist that it is safe to do together. From the picture, it looks like she is covered in yeast and needs some anti-fungal medicine as well. I personally like terbinafine and recently had a dermatologist tell me it is okay to use long term. I have 2-3 dogs currently on it long term and it has helped a lot. Talk to your vet about proper dosing for Kiley. I usually do it daily for 1-2 months then decrease the dose to every Monday and Tuesday long term. I would also be bathing her with a medicated shampoo like miconahex-triz 2-3 times per week. If you don't already, put her on some omega-3 fatty acids. Also, I know you mentioned some food changes but if you haven't tried a food trial with a PRESCRIPTION hypoallergenic food, I would also talk to your vet about this as well. Once you get the itching and yeast under control, you may be able to switch her to from the steroid to apoquel or cytopoint and they may work better. I hope this helps!

You are correct that long term steroid use is not generally good for the body. The four main reasons for continued itching are allergies to fleas, allergies to something in the environment, food allergy or endocrine disease. Each one of these problems is detected and addressed differently and I recommend to discuss with your veterinarian which one to start hunting down first. Parasites are often ruled out with an oral medication like Simparica. Food allergy is best ruled out with a diet trial using a hydrolyzed protein. Endocrine diseases are detected with blood work. Environmental allergies are a little more difficult to detect but a response to therapy or a blood test can give an indication. Once you figure out and address the underlying cause, the itching should not come back. There are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they may not address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing his diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Also protect the area from trauma by having Nunu wear an elizabethan collar at all times. Regarding the diet, a hydrolyzed protein diet is best and I recommend Royal Canin Ultamino. You also need to be sure to conduct a proper food trial to see if it helps. He can only eat this diet and not treats or ANYTHING else for 12 weeks to see if it help. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Fighting secondary skin infections and allergies is tough. Drugs like prednisone and Apoquel are used to control inflammation. In some cases, we add a drug in an effort to taper prednisone if long term immunosuppression is needed. Ideally, long term immunosuppressives should be avoided but in some cases are needed. You should consider discussing referral to a veterinary dermatologist for intradermal skin testing.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Cortisone can help if for example this is due to allergies and it is causing him to be itchy. This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are medications such as Apoquel or prednisone which may help with the itch. 

 There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. 

Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). 

If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests.

 Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!


I would recommend the following to see if you get improvement without having to get these allergy shots. These can be quite beneficial and I've seen many dogs on these alone for allergy relief. 1. Douxo Calm PS shampoo 2. Essential 6 spot on by dermoscent 3. Krillex krill chews 4. Redonyl ultra soft chews I hope this helps! You can also use an antihistamine such as Benadryl along with all of these if the symptoms are still bad. ( https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/ )