Dog Community

Winter Allergies??

Posted : 11/20/2006 12:08:31 PM

Hey guys. I posted on here a while back about Napoleon and got some great tippers (thanks!) about handling Napoleon's allergies. I will give you the short version of his problems, prefaced by a biography:

Napoleon is turning 17 years old in one month and lives a happy life except for his allergies. Since i met and married my wife, I have become very involved in his care and his allergy symptom control has improved dramatically. However, there is one remaining enigma: his allergies get MUCH worse as soon as the winter months roll around.

He does not have food allergies (ruled out via food trial), he gets Hydroxyzine 25 mg three times daily, and I bath him with NuSal-T shampoo once a week. Talking with the Vet, there is no doubt that he has Atopic Dermatitis; the vet and my wife and I don't see a reason to do allergy shots at his age, we are not giving him steroids anymore (he literally goes crazy for a couple of weeks). We live in a small apartment that doesn't have the cleanest central air unit and we have no air purifiers. Like i said, his symptoms have been VERY WELL controlled with Hydroxyzine and regular baths with an antipuritic until just a week or so ago when it started to get cold; the same thing happened last year. We live in Memphis, TN.

Any thoughts? The only thing I can think of is dust mites/products, but logically that doesn't make a whole lot of sense because i would think his allergies would be year-round if they were caused by dust mites. Also, the air in apartment gets drier in the winter time: an environment supposedly not conducive to dust mite survival. The last thought is that maybe since we switched the heat on it is blowing out more dust from the central air unit; however, we use the same unit for AC the rest of the year.

Any insights would be much appreciated!

cakana

Posted : 11/20/2006 2:31:18 PM

Napoleon is turning 17 years old in one month and lives a happy life except for his allergies. Since i met and married my wife, I have become very involved in his care and his allergy symptom control has improved dramatically.

Well, I just want to say that your wife and Napoleon are very lucky to have you in their life [

]. Regarding the increase in allergies when winter arrives, I think we may be in the same situation. My lab is having more problems lately and has again developed some skin infections. I'm not any more sure than you are about the cause, but I wonder if the humidity or lack of humidity might be a factor. I don't think house dust mites ever go away, so perhaps that's the problem too. It sounds like you're doing all the right things with the bathing and using benadryl. Do you also use any fish oils in the diet? If not, you might try adding those. Are you giving an adequate amount of benadryl? It should be 1 mg per lb, so in my case, I give 75 mg to my 78 lb lab. The other thing I'd suggest is either tryng to find hypoallergenic bedding or use something that you can wash every couple of days in very hot water. Just one last thought and that's regarding the thyroid. If you haven't had his thyroid levels checked, I'd suggest doing that. At 17 y.o., he very well could be hypothyroid and that can affect the skin and allergy problems.

sallya

Posted : 11/20/2006 3:10:29 PM

My little allergy dog has them all year. She has a dermatologist, takes Hydroxyzine and I give her a shot from her serum weekly.

I bath her weekly and that helps a lot too. I use Solid Gold shamp and cond.

She eats Natural Balance Fish and sweet potato. That is a GREAT food for allergies, skin, and coat. Good oils. I give her kibble and also some canned each meal.

I would say try this food. The oils can help. What food do you feed?

Dustmites never go away. We all have dust, no matter how hard we clean. Vacuuming often, cleaning bedding etc. does help. Many pets and people are allergic to that.

Dry air and could also be some sort of pollen could be a problem too.

Try the fish oils or a good fish food, that is easy. Could help. Good luck and let us know how it is going!

jessies_mom

Posted : 11/20/2006 4:24:31 PM

Hi; I remember you posting about Napolean before; his problem is probably caused by dust mites. Before Jessie was tested for her allergies and began immunotherapy ( allergy shots) she used to have the same problem and would have all her paws bleeding in the fall and winter, her eyes would water a lot, and her ears would itch a lot. What happens is the indoor humidity rises and dust mites thrive in a humidity above 45%. I know you don't think dust mites causing the problem makes sense, but I have a humidity gauge and I know our indoor humidity is higher in the winter; air conditioning is much more efficient at drying the air than heat is. With the mild winters we've been having the last few years in the midwest ( we live in Indiana) the heat hasn't been running enough to keep the humidity low. I tried the baths, antihistamines, frequent vacuuming, and it didn't help Jessie either. Immunotherapy isn't likely to work on an older dog but if it did I wouldn't hesitate to have a blood test done and do the shots for Napolean; a blood test for allergies runs about $160 dollars around here and the allergy serum only costs about $165 twice a year. Here's some things I can suggest; try vacuuming more frequently, at least twice a week and vacuum all the carpeting and upholstered furniture with a HEPA vacuum. There are more dust mites in mattresses than anywhere else in a home so if you keep him out of the bedrooms that should help. If you don't want to do that, get an allergen cover for the mattresses and wash all the bedding in hot water once a week. An air

urifier can help too; make sure it removes dust mite debris from the air; it's their droppings that cause the allergic reaction. I also second Cathy's suggestion about a hypothyroid test . Good luck; I hope you can find a way to make him feel better.

Preston

Posted : 11/20/2006 6:10:19 PM

Thank you for all the insights/tips!

Napoleon has been eating NB duck and potato for a long time now and he loves it. He also gets DermCaps oil in his food every morning. I give him 25mg of hydroxyzine at each dose and he weighs around 17 lbs. Also, he just got blood work done less than two months ago and everything was stone-cold normal; that's one of the things that amazes me about this dog.

Jessiesmom, I'm going to talk again with his vet and see what the prices are for the allergy testing/shots are in my area and if we can afford it we're going to consider doing it. Also, I'm going to get a humidity guage to actually see what the humidity is in our apartment; I don't know for sure if the air gets drier or not in my apartment, so it would be nice to know what it is.

We have a cover on our mattress and we wash the bedding and his bedding in hot water once a week, but i'm going to try one of these products that you can spray on the carpet to kill the dust mites; it's called Dustmite Control by ecology works, and it's supposed to have good results in 4-6 weeks and not be harmful to animals. Anybody ever used one of these products.

Thanks again for the advice! Napoleon thanks you too. We're getting primed for his 17th birthday party on December 13th! My wife was 10 years old when she got Napoleon, so needless to say, he is very special to her, thus I'll do what it takes to make him well. Thanks again!

jessies_mom

Posted : 11/20/2006 8:41:03 PM

He is sooo cute! [

] I got a humidity gauge because the things I was doing to control dust mites didn't seem to be working and Jessie was worse in the fall and winter, and that's when I learned our indoor humidity is higher this time of year; we live in Indiana. Right now it's about 34 outside ( suppposoed to get down in the 20's) and our indoor humidity is 63%. About the allergy testing and treatment; it's my understanding that if it's begun in dogs older than 5 it isn't very effective; [linkhttp://www.hillary.net/school/dermatology/derm.lec.11.09.98]http://www.hillary.net/school/dermatology/derm.lec.11.09.98[/link];

Immunotherapy (allergy shots)
-AAAI wants to call it
"allergy vaccine"
"-best for dogs under 5 yrs of age w/less than 5 yrs of clinical disease"

Your vet may have a different opinion. Is there anything different you keep in your apartment in the cooler weather, such as a wool blanket; dogs can be allergic to fabrics like wool. If you bring in plants that spend the summer outside perhaps one of those could be a trigger.

calliecritturs

Posted : 11/21/2006 12:11:52 AM

Hi - you don't say whereabouts you live and that may be the key. Drier air can cause LOTS of problems.

I'm in Florida -- and winter brings THE worst allergies here -- the mold/mildew that's been around the rest of the year dries and flies thru the air even more in the winter. Also -- the dust outside is worse since we don't get snow to calm it all down.

However, if you are in the North, then in winter when the heating dries the air, you get MORE allergens from things like wallpaper, your cellar (again dried dust/mold, etc.) and generally the dryness makes more dust airborne. Sometimes it's just good old dust, rather than dust *mites*. Then you also have to consider what different may be on your bed during the winter -- it's not unheard of for dogs to be allergic to things like wool blankets (BIG allergen in fact) and feathers, fleece and even polyester. It isn't that there are supposed to be 'less' allergies in winter -- they are just different allergens.

If you have mattress covers, then why not try a hypoallergenic cover for the duvet and pillows as well. It's a thot.

jessies_mom

Posted : 11/21/2006 1:06:48 PM

Hi - you don't say whereabouts you live and that may be the key

In the OP he said they live in Memphis, Tennesee. Your remark about mold drying up and becoming airborne is interesting; good point.