Viewer Question Topic: Allergies
Hi, my baby is a 48 pound terrier mix that has been diagnoised with a
food allergy. I was given pills( looks like 50mg Atarax, and
50?g?Xreflex) and told to feed her a lamb and rice dog food. She is a
wonderful girl and I think I hindered her progress when I gave her a dog
biscut thinking it was relatively hypoallergenic. Can you tell me
something that is hypoallergenic that I can give her as little treats.
Details and background:
We live in Crestview FL(western panhandle), we have three cats that come
and go as they please buy they do not have a litterbox in the house and
Elizabeth (the dog) has been known to dig and eat their feces. We are
also in the habit of giving her table scraps and I would let her lick
the realativley empty cat food cans so she would feel like she was
getting everything all the other "kids" were getting.
The pills seemed to help the first day or so, she still was itching but
not as intense. She is used to sharing just about anything she wants so
this is very hard on all of us. She doesn't understand why we won't
share with her and I think she thinks she's being punished. I tried
giving her a dog biscut and that seemed to make her worse. She is sooo
good she deserves some sort of treat please give me suggestions that I
can reward her with without inflaming her allergies.
I am sure hoping we can control this with diet but the vet mentioned
prednisone shots if all else fails can you tell me some of the side
effects? - Marcee
Hi Marcee
As I've mentioned in previous articles, it is important to rule out other
causes of your dog's itching and scratching e.g. fleas, mites etc. Once you
have done that, the next step would be to have an allergy test done for both
food and environmental allergens like plants, trees, molds etc. I've seen many
dogs that are allergic to lamb and rice- so guessing doesn't always help! Once
you have the answers you can feed her the correct food and treats and possibly
consider desensitizing her to most of her allergies. Prednisone is a cortisone
which will help to control her itch but can have serious side effects if it is
used in higher doses over a long period of time. Using a combination of Atarax
and Prednisone tablets (so you can control the dosage and side effects) and
Keflex if there is infection in the skin, should give her temporary relief.
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