My dog scratches till she bleeds. Safe long-term allergy relief?

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!

If it is from a flea allergy, then regular flea control will be needed to treat the underlying cause. Cortisone shorts can have side effects such as increased thirst and urinating and weight gain which can affect joints and arthritis is older animals. Long term use or high doses can also lead to diabetes and liver problems. They do make other medications to help control allergies that are safer to consider. A food allergy may also be contributing and you may want to talk about a prescription diet to minimize more ingredients.

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.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are medications that can be used for scratching to reduce the urge to do it such as Apoquel or prednisone. This is only to help temporarily but it is important to address the possible allergy as well. 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!

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!

Bo may need to be on antibiotics in addition to the steroids to help clear up any skin infection present. The skin infection causes them to itch as well. You may also want to try a medicated shampoo 2-3 times a week to help the skin heal up faster as well. You could also try using an E-collar (cone) to prevent Bo from chewing and placing a tee shirt around his body to prevent damage from scratching. The tee shirt should be light and loose enough to prevent trapping moisture like you vet was concerned about.

I am not sure about at home testing, but there is allergy testing available for dogs through several different companies. They will test for a variety of allergens, food and non-dietary in type. I would agree that long term corticosteroid therapy is not ideal for you or Toby and should be avoided if at all possible.