a couple ??'s for the allergy experts on this forum!

yeah - Lipton has Cold Brew Tea Bags. It's for cold tea. THey're about twice the size and you just put them in cold water and let steep as with regular tea bags.

jessies' mom - I read the article about the antihistimines. We've been using Benadryl and I'm not so sure if it works. We'll give it another couple weeks. You say you use the Tavist on Jessie. Tell me this - you do or do NOT use the Tavist-D. In the article it mentioned NOT to use the "D" with pets. Thanks.

Weird, I posted a reply yesterday afternoon to Boogeys mom and it isn't here???
 
Oh well! Most of what I was gonna say has been said.
 
 Gosh guys what great info I am getting!!
 
Thanks for the "gold bond" info- I will try it.  Love the olive oil with lavendar idea! He won't want to lick it at all! The vet gave me some sort of "relief" spray by DVM pharmacueticals and he hates the floral type scent and won't lick it. It works OK, but not great. The tea works better.
 
I am going to try making the tea EXTRA string then and add warm water and I might try the tea tree oil too.  
 
Also - great info on the antihistamines. .  I might try them then when his feet get real bad since they won't effect me being able to see the results of the foods I feed him.
 
Thanks you all, I am learning so much here! I have so many "new options" to try (I won't try them all at once though!)
 
Bogeydog- let us know how the NB is going!
 

Tell me this - you do or do NOT use the Tavist-D. In the article it mentioned NOT to use the "D" with pets. Thanks.

 
 You do NOT use the "D"; just Tavist;   [linkhttp://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_tavist.html]http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_tavist.html[/link];
   
 I get Walmart's version called Dayhist ; it'a a lot cheaper.

I don't want to jump to soon, and Bogey's still itching and chewing some, but it has seemed to lessen a bit. I know I have to give the NB Sweet Potato and Duck a while, but we'll see.  She loves it and that sure helps.  I've also been putting Gold Bond on her feet and that might be soothing, too.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I think I'm going to look for the Tavist - Jessie's mom recommended it is Benadryl isn't working too good. I'll try the WalMart brand.  We'll keep you guys posted.  I sure do love this site and everyone for your opinions and suggestions.  I sure am learning a lot !

I sure do love this site and everyone for your opinions and suggestions. I sure am learning a lot !

ORIGINAL: bogeydog

I second that bogeydog!
I hope the food works for you!
 
I may be osting you all a picture tonight. . . I made some crockpotted chicken to add to the puppers food and this is the first time I have fed my new girl Prudence chicken. I have only had her about 12 days and she was eating nutro lamb and rice at the rescue but I switched her over her first week with me to the Pinnacle duck formula that JJ eats. Not sure what she ate at her last home of 6 months.
I have been adding crockpotted beef or yogurt or pinnacle canned duck until I made the chicken.  Last night after her 3rd meal with chicken,   I noticed a big red spot under her "arm pit" area that looks VERY similar to what JJ gets when he has a very strong reaction to an allergen. I wracked my brain to figure out if she had any contact with anything different in the last day or so and the ONLY difference is the chicken. 
 
I thought at first that it was a cut or a puncture because it looked almost bloody, but I cleaned it and no blood seemed to come off into the cotton pad.
 
I am puzzled for sure!
I really hope it is not an allergy. what are the odds that both my greys  have allergies??!
Anyway, fed her chicken again this moring so we will see if it gets worse or gets better.

Here's my suggestion, and it took me a long time to do it, so I understand if you're not quite there yet [].  Since you have two dogs who are showing some allergic reactions and you *suspect* it might be food allergies, I would do a true elimination diet on both of them.  I say that because with one dog, I drove myself crazy wondering and trying different foods.  With two, I can't even imagine the ride you might be in for.  A true elimination diet would mean you have to homecook for 8-12 weeks, but it honestly goes by really fast.  I used pork and buckwheat because I had no reason to think Sassy had ever had pork, it was readily available and inexpensive.  I used my crockpot to cook both the pork & buckwheat and then froze enough for a week.  I gave her nothing else during this time.  Not even her favorite carrots.  In our case, the diet did absolutely nothing to relieve any of her problems, so I'm continuing to use the NB Duck & Potato (her long running ear infections had cleared up a year before with the NB, so I'll continue with it for that reason).  Anyway, that's just my suggestion, and as I said, it took me a long time to finally break down and do it, but it answered the question I had about food being the culprit.

Makes me feel better. I started Bogeyon the NB duck and potato two days ago and she absolutely LOVES it. I'm hoping it will help with the itchies. Cakana, did your dog have other problems besides the ears that the duck and potato helped?

She had ear infections from the day we rescued her, and after about 2 years of trying ear solutions, antibiotics, and changing food, I put her on the NB Duck & Potato, and she has not had one single ear infection since and it's been a year and a half.  She also had other problems though, like yeast infection on her feet, and then started with these other bacterial/yeast infections on her tummy, chin, etc., that we haven't been able to get fully resolved.  I ruled out the food though in the Jan-April timeframe, so I knew it wasn't food.  The allergy test shows she's highly allergic to just about everything in the air around us, so we're just trying to figure out whether to use Atopica or allergy shots.  I truly hope your story doesn't become as complicated, expensive or frustrating as mine has been []