Quote: Rich Pallechio

Great. On Wednesday I spent $300 on a blood test for my dog. The vet told me that neither skin nor blood test is perfect, but didn't tell me one was better than the other.

Hans has a red spot on his lower abdomen that he licks. He had the same thing in December, which we thought we fixed by getting rid of his cedar stuffed bedding and putting pea gravel over the wood chips in the area he uses for a bathroom. But apparently something else is going on.

Rich

When antihistamines-plus-salmon-oil, and regularly rinsing off pollen, eliminating all grains, and switching to am excellent diet, etc., have all failed, the scratch test plus a strict elimination diet is (IMO) the way to go.

Connie,

Thank you.

The vet suspects pollen may be it, given the timing, and he suggested rinsing.

Hans eats Canidae All Live Stages, which does have rice in it, and Nature's Variety raw meat, which has salmon oil in it. He's taking antihistamines now while we wait for the results of the blood test.

Rich

 Quote: rich pallechio

Connie,

Thank you.

The vet suspects pollen may be it, given the timing, and he suggested rinsing.

Hans eats Canidae All Live Stages, which does have rice in it, and Nature's Variety raw meat, which has salmon oil in it. He's taking antihistamines now while we wait for the results of the blood test.

Rich

Which antihistamine?

Dogs react individually to them (the ones who are helped), but there are three that are more successful than others. Unfortunately, inexpensive Benadryl is not one of them. Chlorpheniramine and Hydroxtzine are two I have had more luck with than others..... but again, it's an individual-dog thing. I recommend a two-week RX of one, trying it, and then, if necessary, a two-week RX of another.

And as mentioned here many times, antihistamines with the Omega 3 EFAs in fish oil work better than either one alone.

The rinsing..... that was a DUH moment to me when I read it in an excellent paper on allergies. The benefits (according to a canine allergy specialist) of getting rid of allergens on the paws and coat before entering the house and depositing them onto the carpet, the dog bed, and everywhere else, far outweigh the inconvenience. I have wiped off the paws and undercarriage with baby wipes for a long time, but now I am also setting up a 4" deep container of clean water and then a thick towel to walk on after walking through that, for after any grassy walks.

I'd launder the dog bed or mat too, when you start doing the rinsing thing.

And the salmon oil: How much is in your food? The biggest error in fish oil supplementation, IMO and in the opinions of many authoritative vet researchers, is under-supplementing.

From DogAware.com:
Here's an exerpt:

....Omega-3 EFAs are hard to find even in a natural diet, and ...... for dogs with health problems would be 1000mg per 10 pounds (4.5kg) of body weight. Vitamin E should also be given whenever oils are supplemented (even small amounts are adequate, but highest recommended dosage would be 100 IU per day for small dogs, 200 IU for medium-sized dogs, and 400 IU for large dogs). END

And for another study on the benefits:

http://www.dermapet.com/articles/crossover.html

I had posted a while back that my regular vet mentioned he's seen diminished effectiveness with hydroxyzine since it was reformulated a few years back. I asked the dermatologist about that yesterday, and I don't remember his exact explanation, but his answer was basically he hasn't observed that. He did talk about there are two different salts than can be used in the formulation, one very expensive and one less so, and he tries to use the cheaper one whenever possible. I think Connie has pointed out before that none of the antihistamines are effective in more than around 30% of cases, and yes, dogs are different so you have to try different ones till you find what works. The derm vet did verify benadryl has by far the worst success rate.

 Quote: AnitaGard

I had posted a while back that my regular vet mentioned he's seen diminished effectiveness with hydroxyzine since it was reformulated a few years back. I asked the dermatologist about that yesterday, and I don't remember his exact explanation, but his answer was basically he hasn't observed that. He did talk about there are two different salts than can be used in the formulation, one very expensive and one less so, and he tries to use the cheaper one whenever possible. I think Connie has pointed out before that none of the antihistamines are effective in more than around 30% of cases, and yes, dogs are different so you have to try different ones till you find what works. The derm vet did verify benadryl has by far the worst success rate. .....

Yes, I just switched to the cheaper one a month ago and found that it was equally effective in my dog's case. (I had been hesitating because of not wanting to mess with success.)

The price diff was big -- I believe it went from $50 to $15 when I switched to hydroxyzine pamoate from hydroxyzine hydrochloride salts.

Again, though, this is highly individual.

Also, there was indeed a period when vets had pretty much written off the "people" antihistamines, and I think it was partly because of the poor showing from Benadryl and partly because it wasn't until 2005 that Tufts published the findings about how much better antihistamines did in conjunction with marine-source Omega 3 EFAs (FISH OIL with the antihistamine).

Connie,

He's taking Hydroxyzine Pamoate. The label says each capsule is equivalent to 50 mg of Hydroxyzine hydrochloride. I read the insert that came with it and it appears it is a human medication with several uses: allergies, sedative, a couple of others.

I'll look into the amount of salmon oil he is getting. Thanks for the information.

Rich