Has anyone heard of feeding locally produced honey to their dogs to help with seasonal allergies? Someone suggested adding honey to his dinner, with the theory that local honey will expose them to the same allergens that bother them, but in a dose that they can develop tolerence for.

This is a new dog for me, and our first allergy season, and he is ithcy. He's fed raw, has been since the end of May, and this is my first time feeding raw. My first thought was that maybe his diet is deficient in something, but I'm not sure what. Couldn't really find anything in the "search". I read the thread about eggs, and he gets about 4-5 raw eggs a week, but doesn't sound like that's enough eggs to cause a biotin deficiency.

I basically follow Cindy's online sample diet, but smaller amounts as that's too much food for him. He gets chicken (mostly backs, but also 1/4's and breasts), hamburger, eggs, mackerel, sardines, yogurt, pulped veggies, canned tripe, liver. Sometimes babyback ribs, turkey necks, veal necks, pork necks, canned buffalo. 5 yr old n/male, about 95 lbs.

Thanks!

http://leerburg.com/search/dosearch.php?terms=itching%2C+scratching&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

Hi, Nancy,

A diet deficiency would probably be one of the last things I'd suspect when a dog is itching. Flea hypersensitivity and then inhalant allergies would come way ahead of diet deficiency for me. I'm sorry that I'm rushed, but I did a quick search and attached the returns above.

We need to know more about the body parts where he itches most (base of tail, face, paws, etc.) as well as whether it seems to be all day or at certain times, what month the itching is/was worst, etc.

Also, please check inside the dog's ears. Is there debris or redness? How about between the toes?



P.S. Can you get local pollen rather than local honey, which is a lot of sugar to give a dog?

No knowledge, but I'll echo Connie's concerns about the amount of sugar in honey.

Neb is hypoglycemic and while I have dehydrated chicken to give him while we hike or backpack, on our recent trip up north I decided to give him a honey chew that we have for emergencies to see how he reacted. Within 5 minutes of him eating the chew (he was fine, energy-wise, so I will say his blood sugar was normal at the time I gave it to him) he turned into a tasmanian devil/demon dog, like a crazed puppy. It was a small chew but it was an obvious sugar reaction.

....which is a long way of saying that I think it would be good to be wary of the amount of sugar in honey

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

http://leerburg.com/search/dosearch.php?terms=itching%2C+scratching&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

Hi, Nancy,

A diet deficiency would probably be one of the last things I'd suspect when a dog is itching. Flea hypersensitivity and then inhalant allergies would come way ahead of diet deficiency for me. I'm sorry that I'm rushed, but I did a quick search and attached the returns above.

We need to know more about the body parts where he itches most (base of tail, face, paws, etc.) as well as whether it seems to be all day or at certain times, what month the itching is/was worst, etc.

Also, please check inside the dog's ears. Is there debris or redness? How about between the toes?



P.S. Can you get local pollen rather than local honey, which is a lot of sugar to give a dog?

Besides these questions, are you giving daily fish oil and E?

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

.... which is a long way of saying that I think it would be good to be wary of the amount of sugar in honey

I agree 100%. I avoid high-sugar fruits and all other simple sugars when feeding dogs.

 Quote: nancy dresser

Has anyone heard of feeding locally produced honey to their dogs to help with seasonal allergies?

Yes, I've heard of this...I even tried it.

My Corgi suffers from fall seasonal allergies that go away after the first frost. Some pollen/mold issue. The pattern with her is identical every year, and I can set my watch by the date she starts showing symptoms: last week of August!

Last year, I started her on a course of local raw honey--1 tsp per day--with the blessing of our holistic vet who wasn't sure it would help, but couldn't hurt. I started the honey months before the allergy kicks in, hoping to "build up" whatever in her system.

It didn't work at all. Not a bit.

So this year I tried Herbsmith Clear Allergy supplements (sold on this site)--a Chinese Herb product that, again, our holistic vet thought was in the category of "can't hurt, might help." I started this supplement 2 months ago with high hopes.

I'm sorry to report this was also not effective for us. I know others have had luck with it--so I'm not dissing the product--but this wasn't the right thing for my dog.

We are now in our fourth year of this allergy thing and the only thing that we have found effective is Benadryl, coupled with a short, low-dose course of Prednisone. I hate having to resort to a steroid like Prednisone (that's why I'm trying things like honey and herbs!) but it has been for us the "lesser of two evils" when the dog is causing bleeding and skin damage from constant scratching. I simply don't want to risk secondary infection. Not to mention her quality of life (and ours) is nil when she's that itchy. Within three doses of Prednisone at half the recommended dose, the inflammation is gone--no more red, hot skin, and no more itching. I'm able to reduce the dose to a quarter-dose given every other day and that keeps her symptom-free until the frost comes and offers natural relief.

I still haven't given up hope of finding a better solution, but I haven't found it yet.

Hi,

My GSD had regular seasonal allergies as well. I tried the local raw honey thing, appx. 1T, twice a day with her raw meals (she weighed about 50 lbs). It made a significant difference for her. The intensity and frequency of itching was amazingly less with the honey.

Once, I ran out of the very local version, and tried some that was from a couple of states away (MD as opposed to close to where I live in VA). It did not work as well and the difference showed up almost immediately.

I do share the concerns about the sugar content. Her bloodwork was always fine, and she didn't display any behavioral changes from the honey, but that was just my dog.

I had tried several different herbal concoctions aimed at this issue, but nothing helped as much as the local raw honey did. Well, other than the antihistamines, but I didn't like to keep her on those<g>.

Good luck solving your dog's issues,
leih

Thanks for everyone's experiences.

As far as where he itches... most noticeable on this ribcage/sternum area, right behind his shoulder blades, right in front of the point of the shoulder, and his neck more than normal. He has a heavy neck ruff, and he always like you to scrub it, but it's much more intense. I think all dogs like the base of the tail, don't they? But he really just wants to be scrubbed on everywhere.

I don't think it's fleas, haven't found any flea dirt. And I would expect the cats would have picked up the fleas and they have no issue.

I haven't found any rash-y areas on his skin. His ears are clean, no rashes on his toes and he isn't licking them.

He does get 200iu vit E 2x/day, and 2 squirts salmon oil 2x/day.

I am concerned about the sugar in honey, that's why I posted here. I figured if there was one place where people would have experience with it, it would be here! I'm not crazy about the sugar, but he's a low energy dog, so I'm don't think he'll get a psycho-sugar-rush.

As far as seasonal, this just started within the last few weeks, and pretty much coincided with it being really humid. He's in the air conditioning, he gets walked in the morning before it gets really hot, a short walk at lunch before I go to work, and again after dark.

I'm sure not every remedy works with every dog. But I may try the bee pollen vs. honey. I found a local beekeeper about 4 miles away, so I'll ask him if he has pollen.