For the past two weeks my dog has been very itchy. I put it down to the last of his coat being blown and the daily combing to help it along. However, last week my husband discovered what he thought was a tick but when he went to remove it; realized it was an inflamed scabby skin tag. He cleaned it and put bacitracin on it. This past Wednesday I discovered the same type of skin tag in each of Thor's ears and under his chin bleeding and scabby from scratching.

I started him on 100mg of benadryl 2 times daily and treated the sores with hydrocortisone spray and gold bond powder. He was scratching less but this morning he has the beginnings of another hot spot over his eye so off to the vet he went.

My vet believes he has either a food allergy, has been on a raw diet for almost two years; I have to admit to feeding more chicken lately but I still add other proteins on a regular basis.

Her other thought is environmental; other than a high pollen count nothing has changed in his environment. Would it be weird for a dog to develop environmental allergies at 9.5 years old? I still think it is something else but can not come up with anything new in the past 2-3 weeks, other than that he swallowed a toad, he was sniffing along shoved his nose in a pile of leaves came up gulping and I saw what I thought looked like a frog leg disappear in his mouth. That was 3 weeks ago.

So what has been suggested for a course of action.
1. Increase his salmon oil
2. Hydroxizine 50mg 2 times daily for 2 weeks
3. Betagen apply three times daily until resolved
4. Prednisone 20mg 1 tablet twice daily for 3 days then 1 tablet once daily for 3 days, 1/2 for three, 1/4 for three and then every other for a total of 12 pills.

Thoughts, suggestions, alternatives.....I really don't like drugs but at least this is short term.

In case anyone thinks I ignored the toad issue. I was instructed to clean out his mouth and watch for symptoms but he did not develop any. If he swallowed a toad at all it was most likely a Fowler toad nasty tasting but not deadly; though Thor didn't seem like it was nasty tasting on the other hand he hasn't been pushing his snout into leave piles lately either.

No, no age or length of no-allergy life predicts continued allergy-freeness.

How big is the dog?

QUOTE: So what has been suggested for a course of action.
1. Increase his salmon oil
2. Hydroxizine 50mg 2 times daily for 2 weeks
3. Betagen apply three times daily until resolved
4. Prednisone 20mg 1 tablet twice daily for 3 days then 1 tablet once daily for 3 days, 1/2 for three, 1/4 for three and then every other for a total of 12 pills.END QUOTE


Suggested by whom? The vet? When? Have you started the Hydroxyzine? When?

Where else besides face is he itching? Was there a skin scraping done? Is his sleep interrupted? What do you mean by "skin tag"? To me it means a little piece (tag) of skin, kind of on a stalk. It doesn't sound like that's what you mean.

Has he been in a field or woods or meadow or park lately?

Did the vet suggest bathing the dog and all of his bedding/mats?

Is there any itching around the base of the tail or on the tail?

Is he licking/biting his forepaws?

How does it look inside his ears?

I'll wait for the answers to Connie's questions, but I've had a lot of experience with hydroxyzine and pred and this sounds like a pretty heavy load of meds just to start with. This is for a GSD? How big?

Mike

 Quote: connie sutherland

Suggested by whom? The vet? When? Have you started the Hydroxyzine? When?

Thor is a 91lb shepherd. The medication and amounts to take are from the vet. I did give him one course of the meds last night and am about to give him his second.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Where else besides face is he itching? Was there a skin scraping done? Is his sleep interrupted? What do you mean by "skin tag"? To me it means a little piece (tag) of skin, kind of on a stalk. It doesn't sound like that's what you mean.

His face, ears and under his chin. Also he is licking and biting at his front paws (occassionally). He is sleeping fine. And you described the skin tag perfectly...I'm thinking they just happen to be located where he is itchy and are getting torn by the scratching and then of course bacteria etc is causing the hot spots to develop. There was a skin scraping done no signs of mites or fleas. My husband took the dog to the vet so I am getting some info in pieces but lol the vet commented that his anus and back side are in great shape. His overall body skin is pink and inflamed.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Has he been in a field or woods or meadow or park lately?

We hike through the woods daily a good 1 hour to 1.5 a morning, same woods, fields and parks he has grown up in. Other than reports of extremely high pollen counts everything is the same as it had been for 9.5 years.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Did the vet suggest bathing the dog and all of his bedding/mats?

First thing I did. His ears like his skin are pink and inflamed with the two sores at the base of the ears where they meet his head.

I had never been to this vet she is new to the practice but she seems from what my husband said to have some knowledge about raw feeding, she explained diversity of proteins and suggested venison as a good choice and salmon if he will eat it. She also suggested more salmon oil , vitamin e and a multivitamin to cover any deficiencies that might occur as he ages. He has a follow up appointment in two weeks.

The Hydrox dose sounds right for Thor's weight...True takes the same amount and he's roughly the same weight. My Derm vet told me giving less than 100mg of Hydrox for this weight probably wouldn't be effective and my experience says he's right.

20mg. of Pred is a fairly big dose. True has taken Temaril-P, which is an antihistimine-pred combo pill, and it contains something like 2mg of Prednisolone. He has taken straight Pred on a few occasions and I found 5-10mg. stopped a really bad flare-up.

Mike and Connie eased my mind considerably about using Pred. I don't like all the meds, either, but it is the most effective drug available, used short-term, for stopping a terrible itch cycle.

One other thought I had: From my allergy readings, I've run across many references to Hypothyroidism and skin problems. Hypothyroidism is not uncommon in older dogs. We ran a T4 on True at the outset of his allergic symptoms, just to rule it out. Something you might want to ask your vet about.

Poor Thor...I hope he's feeling more comfortable soon!

 Quote: Sarah Morris

Mike and Connie eased my mind considerably about using Pred. I don't like all the meds, either, but it is the most effective drug available, used short-term, for stopping a terrible itch cycle.

Thanks Sarah. I feel I should have caught this sooner and now poor boy is subjected to all these drugs. On the other hand, it is short-term; to be evaluated in two weeks or sooner if I feel it is necessary. I wish I could figure out the trigger....damn I'm wracking my brain and I'm coming up with nothing. A blood panel was run and I will receive a call if it shows anything unusual.

Question: He is due for his monthly heart guard and Advantage on Monday....I was going to hold off until he is through this series of meds...any thoughts since I live in deer tick hell; however, we will be hanging in the concrete playground until the pollen count drops.

When True's skin was such a mess I did not put any topical flea/tick meds on him. However, fleas and ticks are not a huge issue for us.

I follow the 45 day protocol with HeartGard. If you normally give it every 30 days then you can safely wait up to 45 days. Beyond that there is a risk of HW disease. HW meds are a tough call...probably Connie can answer that better than I can.

And don't be hard on yourself...it can all go to hell so rapidly and within a matter of days. What starts out as a scratch here or a nibble there can become a full-blown skin nightmare before you know it.

 Quote: Sarah Morris

I follow the 45 day protocol with HeartGard. If you normally give it every 30 days then you can safely wait up to 45 days.

The heartguard 45 days will coincide nicely with this course of treatment. I'll wait to hear back about the tick meds but I am leaning towards doing the 10 days late and staying out of the woods. A good thing is that he is white and even the tiny ticks can be easily seen if I use a magnifying glass.

We go to a derma vet with Kasey for skin problems caused by environmental allergies. I asked about the use of topic flea treatment and how it affects their skin - I was thinking the same thing you are. But she said absolutely put that flea stuff on - especially when they are having flair ups. One tick or flea bite can cause hot spots to happen because the dog bites where it gets bit and it get infected and you know the rest! She said it does not cause their inflamed skin or hot spots, etc to get worse - it just helps prevent further bug damage! I would put it on especially if you have a lot of ticks! We have to use it regularly because Kasey is really sensitive to flea bites and it's never made his skin worse.

Also, we had a dog that was 8 before he developed any allergies - allergies usually develop over a period of time because they have to be exposed to something for a while to become allergic to it. Food is the LEAST common allergy suspect though - first fleas, then environmental, THEN food. Our 8 yr old dog didn't have problems with flea bites until he was 8! Then it got bad.