Sunday, June 28, 2009

Scratched (licked?) from trial; allergy woes

Darn, darn, darn. Lucy's foot-licking issue has been getting worse this week to the point she's got a sore spot on her left back foot now, between two toes. So, I scratched her from today's Dogz trial where she was entered only in Advanced Jumpers. Too bad, since this is a place we train at so I was looking forward to the chance to trial her somewhere she's comfortable. But she wouldn't have been comfortable with her foot in the state it's in, so it's a moot point.

Poor dog. She's pretty much always tended to lick at her feet and she gets recurring ear infections. Vets have suggested both may be due to an allergy (maybe food, maybe environmental) so last fall she started on a strict allergy diet where she ate NOTHING but a certain type of kibble for three months; no change so we did the same thing again with a different type of kibble; still no change. So, at the vet's recommendation we started her on an Omega 3 oil thing about a month ago; no change. Now that it's been getting worse lately I started her yesterday on benadryl since that's something we haven't tried yet.

Hopefully she's not allergic to the cats! ;-)

11 comments:

Elf said...

Nice photo! Bummer about the licking. Wish I had a useful tip for you.

Muttsandaklutz said...

Thanks for commiserating.

There could be a lot worse things, that's for sure.

Natasha said...

Poor Lucy girl! That allergy thing must be really tough.

I've heard that some dogs' allergy symptoms lessen or disappear when they're switched to a raw diet, but I'm sure that's not the case for all dogs. My guess is that the dogs that had their symptoms disappear when switched to raw were probably to some kind of grain or filler that was in their kibble. Must be hard when you don't know what Lucy is allergic to. Hmm...I wonder if they have allergy tests for dogs... xD

~Nat

Muttsandaklutz said...

I've heard that about raw too. I'll keep on my list of options, but I'm a bit reluctant... Walter tried a high-protein food for a while but had to be taken off it because his kidneys couldn't handle it, plus his cholesterol went through the roof. But, lots and lots of dogs do just fine on it so I won't rule it out for trying with Lucy.

Allergy tests for dogs... hmmm, I will have to look into that! :-)

manymuddypaws said...

it could be a seasonal allergy- my friends flatcoat has really awful allergies. Her vet reccomended Benadryl to start, (along with the strict food intake) and it for sure makes a difference.

Cedarfield said...

Hi,

I hope by now you've made progress on the foot licking thing. If not, I just read an article by Sophie Yin (http://www.askdryin.com/) about obsessive compulsive behavior in dogs and one of the behviors is foot licking. So, if all else fails, you might want to try your dog on some Prozac and see if that helps. And if you're worried about giving her Prozac, I had my dog on Prozac for almost a year and it made no difference to his personality or activity level. It did seem to help with his anxiety level, though.

Anyway, good luck with that problem. I hope you already have it solved.

Muttsandaklutz said...

Well, we gave Benadryl a try but there was no change with that either. Sigh.

We did just try a prescription drug which helped but now that the course has been reduced and ends soon, she's back at it.

OCD eh? Entirely possible... Back to the vets soon to try something else!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Kim said...

When you look at the protein content of a raw diet, it averages somewhere around 20% depending on the type and quality of protein. So not any higher than the average kibble. Some of the grain free kibbles have higher concentrated forms of protein, that is why some dogs have trouble eating them.


Whole chicken is around 17% protein and 19% fat.
Raw Beef is around 18% protein and 10% fat.
Bison is about 20% protein and 10% fat.
Lamb is 16% protein and high fat at around 20%
Rabbit is a nicely protein with 18% protein and 12% fat.

Muttsandaklutz said...

Interesting stuff there, Kim. Yep, it was a grain-free, high-protein kibble that Walter wasn't able to tolerate.

Might just give the raw a try and see what that does for Lucy's symptoms.

Gussie said...

Belatedly catching up. Poor Lucy. Jake is atopic, we discovered in his first year with us. So he has some food allergies & struggles when pollen is high. The most dramatic symptom was constant squits, but paw licking was part of it. The vet put him on an exclusion diet while we waited for allergy tests to come back. And he's allergic to fish & chicken. By the time we got the results we were used to not feeding him processed food - and he was like a different dog. I would recommend the allergy tests if Lucy is still suffering. But I do hope she isn't!

Muttsandaklutz said...

Oh my, no squits here thank goodness! Lucy's doing much better these days, but I'll definitely ask about having allergy tests done at her next vet appointment. Would be so nice to know what it is, or even if it's an allergy. Glad to hear everything got sorted out for Jake!