When is enough enough?

[Tippsy'smom]

This has bothered me for a little while...

So, anyone who knows me and Jazz, knows we've found Jazz's severe allergies for the majority of his life. We get meds from the vet, change his food, & get medicated shampoo time and time again. And for a little while, he gets better. His skin and ears clear up, his fur grows back in and he stops itching. And then, time and time again, his allergies flare up tenfold. It gets worse every single time they flare up, which I don't know how it's possible to be worse at this point... And it hurts me every time it happens. There doesn't seem to be a permanent fix for his allergies... And I feel like his quality of life isn't that great because of it. It makes me wonder if there comes a point when I need to decide if there's nothing else that can be done... We've spend 1000s of dollars trying to get him better and it all seems so futile when he's so miserable and gives me the look of "please make it stop"... And I just don't know what else to do... Even our vet doesn't seem to know what to do at this point...

I love him so much, and I don't want him to be miserable.

[maikinda]

Have you ever had a skin biopsy done on Jazz? I'm wondering if what you are thinking is allergies is some other kind of problem. Also have you tried rinsing Jazz in apple cider vinegar? Mix natural apple cider vinegar w/mother half and half with water and pour on your dog after bath. Leave on 5 minutes and then rinse off. Don't use on open sores.


Laura

[Tippsy'smom]

We've done the skin biopsy with 3 different vets. Every one of them came back saying allergies. He has food allergies and environmental allergies. The only time of the year that he doesn't seem to have issues is in the summer. The rest of the year, it's awful. Last year it got so bad we thought he had mange. Again, the vet came back with allergies and a skin infection.

I haven't tried that. I'll have to tell my mom about that and give it a try.

[sue]

Have you any of these kind of plants in your garden at all http://www.allergyfree-gardening.com/al ... -dogs.html For a few years a lot of our dog walking community went walking in a certain part of the woods & we all ended up taking our dogs to the vet with varying degrees of itching loosing fur etc it cleared up after people stopped going to that part of the woods.The wandering jew plant can cause very severe reactions

[Tippsy'smom]

We're out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the woods. No telling what kind of plants are here. But if that were the problem, wouldn't all 6 dogs have problems and not just Jasper? The other 5 dogs are perfectly healthy, have none of the stuff happening to Jazz.

[chowpups]

I feel you pain Jess, we had a shar pei that had terrible skin issues and the only thing we came up with was he was allergic to Bermuda grasses. And that cost us thousands to figure out!

[sue]

Not all dogs are allergic out of an average 40 dogs a day using the woods 6 got the itching all different breeds & sizes my chow was fine but the corgi was given injections as was a Jack Russell,German Sheperd & a couple of mixes the others were given a course of tablets.There was no logic as to who got it & who didn't

[Victory]

I feel for you Jess. I'm trying to figure out what has Firesong so itchy too, a combination of age and a new environment I think, but it is troubling and she hasn't really lost any hair. My first chow, MingToy, had severe allergies to food, and my mom was forced to finally feed him a diet of ground meat and rice only, any kind of commercial dog food caused allergy attacks that caused severe hair loss, runny eyes and ears etc. It's a pain, but it worked for MingToy, I would also maybe make the food from ingredients that are only organic.

And the time to give up is when he does. He's young and still trying, until that comes to an end you have to keep trying too.

[Tippsy'smom]

Thank y'all.

We upped his Benadryl intake for right now. I have to wait to get paid to be able to take him to the vet again. We're tight on money at the moment....

And Victory, thank you. You're right. He is young and he is trying. I just hope this time the vet can offer something more than we've come up to before....

[vacker]

I would recomend barf food.
Please read: http://barfworld.com/allergy-solution.php

In Sweden we have a brand called Vom og hundemat, and it's really great!
I don't know where you live, but google your country and try to find the purest barf food, without carbs!
And one other thing, try to stop completely with giving you dog anything other that barf.
No chewingbones, no scoobysnacks and no carbs at all, just barf food!
Your dogs food should only contain protein, vitamins, minerals and fat.

This is my tip. Good luck

[TyChowgirl]

If you could figure out what proteins are an issue, you could go raw with him,...but I know that doesn't help the environmental and I know those can be terrible. The only time a year Ty doesn't have issues is Winter. Any fur he managed to pull out with a hot spot or two (usually his tail) grows back just to get destroyed again in the next season. My vet and I are still trying to work it out, and he spends a lot of time coned when it's bad...but unfortunately even with the biggest cone of shame, he can contort himself just right to get to spots on his tail -.-

[Sydney]

Jess:

I'm sure the vets have already done so but have you ever had Jazz on steroids? I had one of mine that had to go on steroids and antibiotics for 6 months out of the year. This went on for 10 years and no vet or specialist could put their finger on it.........then we moved and she was fine. I'll never know but I can tell you that the treatment was cheap. I know we hear steroids and get scared because they're not good for them but I'm hear to tell you that my girl lived to be 16 years old. My sister goes through the same thing with her dog for 6 months out of the year too. Sometimes she only gives him 1 steroid every other day and he's does well. I just wonder if the vets have tried steroids on him. Of course the food would be an easier issue to solve. Many of our members gave you great advice on food allergies.

Syd