I have a problem that I can't really seem to solve, on our budget, and I would really appreciate ideas...

I have a 6 year old DDR/Danish bred GSD bitch, Anja, who is my service dog. She is an outstanding dog, and incredible workaholic, never seeming to know the meaning of 'tired' or 'enough'. But she does seem to have the allergy to fleas that has been the bane of all my years as a GSD owner. We have done the food check, she gets coat supplements, grooming all the time to stimulate natural oils in her skin, and most recent, three OTC Benadryl daily, to combat the itching. The Benadryl *seem* to have had some effect on the itching, but I am wondering if it is possible that it is having the opposite effect than making her sleepy...she seems to be even more wired and hyper than before. The worst of it is that her work has been off in the last couple weeks-she has always been uncomfortable with children, disliking them darting in for 'drive by petting', and only slightly more at ease with strange adults;she takes her work very seriously, and just wants to be able to do it without petting on the job. Off the job, she loves her pointer! But this last couple weeks, she is skittery and startles at apparently nothing, and worse, yesterday, would not step out of the pew at church, because there was a toddler nearby. Partly this was because we had had a hellacious time last week getting out of a school concert, where she and I were both mauled and knocked around by idiots, and Anja has always been one to remember such things, and do all she can to keep us out of repeats. But she has never reacted so much to a kid as she did yesterday, and she is hyper here at home now as well, acting like she can't settle down, or if she does, explodes into action off the bed, floor or wherever, rather than her usual fast getting to her feet.

I'm very much in a bind here, we can't afford to take her to the university vet school clinic for comprehensive testing as our little local (as in boondocks cow vet, all we have) wants us to do. So she sold us a shampoo, a coat suppliemnt liquid, and told us to give her 3 OTC Benadryl a day....and that was it. When I asked what else I could do if this didn't work, she told me,' I can't do anything else without the full workup'. So, without the workup, I have two opions, it seems...

1) have Anja on the med, with somewhat less itching (at least her coat is coming back in), but wondering if its the meds that is making her jitter.

2) take her off the Benadryl, watch her lose her coat again, chew and itch, but be calmer at work as usual.

It is *very* bad for the image of both the GSD and the service dog to have a working dog act shy and jittery like this in public. She is not normally like this, and I don't know what to do. I need her to be able to leave the house at all, but I do not want to jeopardise things for other SD owners by her giving the wrong impression to the public...as a dark coloured GSD, she makes people nervous as it is, just seeing a 'police dog' standing in line at Walmart with them.

ok, I'm rambling. I'm sorry. This is upsetting and depressing me very much because I don't know what I can do about this

It is possible that the benedryl could make her edgy, it can be that way with some people. You could try giving her one dose a day instead of three.
Do you have her on salmon oil and E? those will help her skin.
There was a recent thread about using diatomatious earth to control fleas. http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/defaq.html It can be used topically on the dog as well as in the environment. Leerburg sells it.

i had tried her on just one a day, prior to taking her to our vet, and never noticed any effect, either stopping the itch or jittering. i've heard of the DE, but hadn't tried it- have to look into the cost of it (always the major problem with solvng problems with us...:-( )

So its not just my being a worrywart- the benadryl can make them act like this? figures- its like when i first began taking antidepressants, and it began making me gain weight even though i ate far less than ever before. doctors wouldn't hear of it, saying it 'helped lose weight'. now, its acknowledged that antidepressants can cause both weight gain and loss. nothing i've found online so far has indicated any side effects of benadryl other than drowsyness in the dog. that would almost be a good thing for Anja! <wry grin>

I have a 4-yr-old 65# female GSD that get the itchies now and then. A while ago, the vet talked me into OTC Benadryl and I tried 2x25mg a day. It did nothing for the itching, but slowed her down a little bit, certainly in her case didn't make her hyper. It seems to be the opinion of people here that Benadryl is the least effective choice. You might ask the vet for a small supply of another antihistamine - hydroxyzine (Atarax). I finally got some recently from the vet. It worked well on my previous GSD and seems to help this one, but makes her lethargic. I made the mistake of taking 25mg caps and want to get tablets that I can cut into smaller doses. I try and dose the minimum amount that will take care of about 90% of the problem and keep the side effects to a minimum.

Have you tried probiotics? I have mine on at least a cup a day of plain yogurt and kefir (fermented milk) You can do a "probiotic" search and read what's been posted here about them over the last 6 months.

Mike

kiefer isn't really available out where we are, but youghurt is. what is it that its supposed to do? and is the med you mention expensive/available as a generic from the vet?

You can order kefir grains and make your own with regular milk.
http://www.happyherbalist.com has them. You will only need to order them one time. The extra grains that are reproduced when you make kefir can be eaten by you or your dog.
Kefir also has about 10 X the probiotics that yogurt has.
The probiotics are an excellent food for the body.

 Quote: Gail Nichols

yogurt. . .what is it that its supposed to do? . . .is the med you mention expensive/available as a generic from the vet?

Gail,

Read what I posted in July:
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/147838/page/4#Post147838

and updated last month:
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/168307/page/2#Post168307

The vet gave me 50mg Hydroxyzine Pamoate, 60 caps for about $25-30, very pricey compared to OTC Benadryl. I've used a couple, but they really made her sluggish. I recall having 25mg tablets for my other dog. As I mentioned, I'd prefer to have something I can cut into smaller doses. Feel free to ask more questions or even PM me.

Mike

Yes, I have heard of dogs with much more of a sedated response than mine has to antihistamines. I've read that it's highly individual. (The hyper reaction is far less common.)

Hydroxyzine Pamoate and Hydroxyzine HCL even act differently on different dogs. What my vet said was that HCL "worked" more often, but if pamoate worked, then good, because it's less expensive.

(I don't know anything about the difference; I was happy when I tried the cheaper one on mine and it worked.)

Gail, this is by no means an attempt not to give you all the info we can, but you will be doing yourself a disservice if you don't also read the dozens of threads on canine allergies here. This is a topic that has been discussed many times, and just about every thread is loaded with info. (This board is particularly knowledgeable about canine allergies. Like Mike, who is an excellent example of someone who has not only been there, done that, but has done a ton of reading/research.)

I'll get you some links.

http://www.google.com/custom?domains=leerburg.com&q=allergies&sa=Google+Search&sitesearch=leerburg.com&client=pub-9352112989043417&forid=1&channel=8149920423&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&flav=0000&sig=XaJqMPqToCkex0QJ&cof=GALT%3A%23333366%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23999999%3BVLC%3A336633%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3AFF9900%3BALC%3A333366%3BLC%3A333366%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A666666%3BGIMP%3A666666%3BLH%3A86%3BLW%3A100%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.leerburg.com%2FPhotos%2Fheadlogo.jpg%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.leerburg.com%3BLP%3A1%3BFORID%3A1&hl=en

Scroll down to the heading WEB.

Also
http://www.google.com/custom?domains=leerburg.com&q=allergy&sa=Google+Search&sitesearch=leerburg.com&client=pub-9352112989043417&forid=1&channel=8149920423&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&flav=0000&sig=XaJqMPqToCkex0QJ&cof=GALT%3A%23333366%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23999999%3BVLC%3A336633%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3AFF9900%3BALC%3A333366%3BLC%3A333366%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A666666%3BGIMP%3A666666%3BLH%3A86%3BLW%3A100%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.leerburg.com%2FPhotos%2Fheadlogo.jpg%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.leerburg.com%3BLP%3A1%3BFORID%3A1&hl=en