Having a bad time in the midwest

I hope the meds help your dog's ears; let us know what the vet says.

 
I didn't see that doctor today with her I just got another refill of the ear meds that helped her last time.  For some reason her usual stuff just doesn't cut it.  I can't figure out what is causing these sudden inflamations.  I thought maybe this last one is because she tried rolling in the grass with her head. 
 
This is gross, but if she finds/smells anything related to poop, mostly bird poop, she'll drop down and start to roll her head in it!  We usually catch her, but of course this one time I was hanging the clothes on the line and caught her a few seconds to late.  But I'm not for certain this is what did it.  We'll really have to try and be more attentive for the next time, which I hope there never is.  She's never had her ears this bad before, but this med (Otomax) works great.  Takes a few days, but it still helps and it clears it up. 
 
Until the next roll...[sm=sad.gif]

Wow I'm sorry to hear that she is suffering so again - we just got back from the beach.  I was sure that Bugsy would be fine there as most humans allergies are better at the sea but lo and behold he broke out in lumps the second day, complete with his swallowing issue.  Fortunately Benadryl works for him. 
No idea what it was but my husband gave him some roast chicken and a few tortilla chips.  He has had no issues with chicken that I know of but his current foods are devoid of corn so may be it was the corn. 
he was fine yesterday, with only a remnant of the lumps and is lump free today

We got a shampoo that helps him called Malaseb, don't konw much about it but it certainly helps with his itchies
Good luck
feel better soon jessie

A couple of months ago my old golden broke out on his tummy with a rash which h licked until he got somre sores and my vet said it was "contact dermatitis".  He had gotten into my fenced in flower garden and laid in lantana and we think that is probably what caused it--heck he turned 11 back in Feb. and had never had anything like this.  Working with lantana makes me itch.  Well, my vet put him on antibiotics and that shampoo and I had to shampoo his tummy every day for a week.  Cleared right up.  Not been back in my flower graden and not had another rash.

Bails mom, did you have the skin testing by a dermatologist? 

This is gross, but if she finds/smells anything related to poop, mostly bird poop, she'll drop down and start to roll her head in it

 
 I think that's typical of many dogs; two weeks ago, Jessie rolled in horse poop the day after she had a bath; she's also rolled in deer poop. I hope her ears are better soon.

We got a shampoo that helps him called Malaseb, don't konw much about it but it certainly helps with his itchies
Good luck
feel better soon jessie

 
  Thanks; the antibiotic the vet prescribed has made her foot a lot better.  The pred has helped with the itching a lot; she started out with 5mg 2x a day but is now taking it once a day and will soon be taking it every other day. She's 65 lbs. so that's a fairly low dose. She will see the dermatologist at the end of the month and it's possible that the dermatologist may want to retest her to see if she has new allergies, which is something that happens with allergy dogs. Even though she has made some sore places on herself and is recovering from a foot infection, she used to much worse in the fall before we saw a dermatologist and started immunotherapy. Sometimes on walks she would sit and look up at me with her watery eyes as if to say she wasn't feeling good; at least two of her feet were always red and sore.
    I really hope you find out why your pup breaks out in lumps; it's a good thing that he responds to Benedryl. He probably loved being at the beach.

ORIGINAL: sallya

Bails mom, did you have the skin testing by a dermatologist? 

 
Actually, no, he was just our regular vet.  He sent it in to some place.  That was a few years ago.  I'm sure by now everything has changed, but since we seem to have everything under control, kinda, her dermatologist doesn't even mention having them done again. 

ORIGINAL: sandra_slayton

A couple of months ago my old golden broke out on his tummy with a rash which h licked until he got somre sores and my vet said it was "contact dermatitis".  He had gotten into my fenced in flower garden and laid in lantana and we think that is probably what caused it--heck he turned 11 back in Feb. and had never had anything like this.  Working with lantana makes me itch.

Oh my, I hate the smell of Lantana, pretty flower, but yucky smell. [:'(]  (Sigh) I miss working in the greenhouse...you've peeked my interest in this contact derm., I shall go to my vetinfo website and see what I can find.  Thanks.[]

Actually, no, he was just our regular vet. He sent it in to some place

 
  That may be why the shots didn't seem to help; the blood test isn't as accurate as the skin test and can give false positives; Sally's dog and Jessie both had the skin test, which can only be done by a dermatologist. I think the reason (JMO) some dogs don't respond well to immunotherapy is because the testing isn't done properly. The derm vet Jessie sees asks a lot of questions such as when the symptoms first started, what time of the year the dog itches the most, where the itching is on the dog, what treatments we were using for the itching and which of those seemed to help, where we take Jessie, etc. She also did the blood test and the skin test. Jessie tested highly allergic to more than 2 dozen allergens, but not all of them are in her vaccine. The derm vet used the results of both tests and the information provided by the questions she asked to determine which allergens to include in the vaccine. It's a bit of an art and that's why a visit to an experienced derm vet can give much better results than a blood test done by a regular vet.
   Is your dog taking regular strength (1.34mg) OTC Tavist?  If that's the case that's wonderful since dog's allergies usually worsen and she tested allergic enough to need immunotherapy when she was younger. I hope the Tavist keeps working for her and you find the reason for the ear flare ups too. Jessie isn't thrilled about wearing any doggie clothes; does Bailey mind wearing the sweater?

Is your dog taking regular strength (1.34mg) OTC Tavist?  If that's the case that's wonderful since dog's allergies usually worsen and she tested allergic enough to need immunotherapy when she was younger. I hope the Tavist keeps working for her and you find the reason for the ear flare ups too. Jessie isn't thrilled about wearing any doggie clothes; does Bailey mind wearing the sweater?

 
Yes, right now since she's having such bad reactions lately we have her on 2 pills twice a day.  During the winter, spring and summer months she's usually fine on just 2 pills in the a.m., unless she has an increased itch during the day then we'll give her 2 more.  But once July and especially August roll around its 2 pills twice a day.  Ragweed just kills her...[]
 
Her ears are finally getting better, much less scratching and head shaking today.  Yeah!!!  We took her with us to pick apples today and she dropped 3 times to roll in something, but I caught her before it went too far.  Thank god. 
 
She doesn't mind the sweater at all.  I was kind of nervous since I made it and then to have her not like it, yikes, that would have sucked, but yeah! she doesn't give a flyin' flip.  (tee hee)

 I'm glad her ears are getting better; []  It won't be too long and outdoor allergy season will be over. Jessie should be able to go back to one shot every 2 weeks and no antihistamines. Bailey's such a good girl to wear the sweater; maybe she knew that you made it for her.

he LOVED the beach -
I wish we could really determine what was going on with him but it is very intermittant.  He now has the red paws but no lumps in fact his coat looks great.  He can look like the elephant dog for a day and within 3 days look stunning, makes no sense to me.  Everyday since we got him he has terrible eye boogers, I never really thought then that it was allergies.  Now that we have to clear them out several times a day I realize it must be.  His ears have been much better on the no egg diet (which without my intent is also the no corn diet).  they were constantly glunked up and he had already had a severe infection at about 7 months old.  Now they are clean, he sometimes gets hot ears but they no longer spew yucky stuff.
he certainly has inhalant allergies as well as food allergies but he is doing pretty well and benedryl works (even in what is for him a tiny dose) - he is a SUPER happy pup so I wish it didn't have to be this way for him
My husband always says that it is a good thing he picked us to adopt him or it could be a lot worse!
Bugsy says hello to Jessie

  He has such a cute face; [] Jessie loves the water too; we don't have beaches nearby but she loves to get into lakes, rivers, and creeks whenever she can. My derm vet said Jessie came out of the shelter and fell into a tub of butter; I wonder what would have happened if we didn't adopt her. You'd like to think that anyone with an allergy dog like Bugsy or Jessie would spend the time and money to make them healthy but there are probably a lot of dogs with allergies that don't get the treatment they need. We're fortunate because we live close to a veterinary teaching hospital and Jessie is treated by a veterinary dermatologist there at a very reasonable price; there wasn't any charge for her last recheck. Jessie says hello to Bugsy too and sends some ear scratches.