Itchy, biting feet

I've heard good things about Pro Plan as well. If you think there's a good chance it's a food allergy, then you should do an elimination diet. It's not that difficult. I did it for 12 weeks for Sassy. You need to think of a protein and carb that she's never had before. In my case, I used pork and buckwheat and fed her that and ONLY that for the 12 wks. Unfortunately, it didn't provide me any information. Sassy didn't get any better or any worse Well, I guess it ultimately told me that food issues weren't the heart of her problem. Sassy's allergy testing didn't include food but it did tell us that she is highly allergic to a multitude of things, including mold, dust mites and just about every pollen found in our area. We're using Atopica for her and she's been problem-free for over a year now. It's not cheap, but the treatments for the infections weren't cheap either.

The testing was also for environmental issues...listed are; Weed, Grass, Tree, Fungal & environmental.  Lamb's Quarter alone was a 33.  There is none here though.  BTW-we live in Schofield, WI-next to Wausau, WI.  I am really interested in hearing that your dermatoligist stated that food testing for allergies was not reliable.  Yes there is Pro-Plan here.  I am thinking of going the Salmon oil addition to your food to see if that does anything.  The Benedryl did help but I only gave her one at 25 mg.  She weighs 75.1 lbs. per her visit last night. 

You really need to give her more than 25mg of benadryl for it to be effective. I know it's scary to use doses that are so much higher than we would take for ourselves, but they really do fine with it. I honestly can't even tell that Sassy takes it, other than that it helps with the itchiness.

When we had the allergy testing done for Sassy, they really only tested for trees/plants that were found in this general area. That's a pretty long list anyway, but at least it narrowed things down somewhat.  Sassy's readings were highest on molds and dust mites, so I do my best to keep her bedding washed frequently and I vacuum a lot, but I know there's no way I can eliminate everything. I think the medicated baths were the single most important thing that helped her.

I feel so sorry for all of these dogs.....and all of you mommies and daddies!   The licking can drive you totally insame!  I am not an expert or a vet, but I certainly have experience at this!!  My Sheba is a german shepherd....when she licks you can hear her if you're 3 rooms away from her!  She just turned 4 years old in August.  Since we've had her, we've had problems with her itching - mostly her paws and bottom of her legs.  Also, her 'snoot' (she actually rubs her face along the chain link fence!).   Our vet put her on prednisone once...it stopped her itching, but did a horrible thing to her....she could not hold her pee and.she would just go while she was sleeping.  The vet stopped that and put her on Temaril-P .  That worked, but you can only keep a dog on that for short periods of time.  The next step was allergy tests.  I decided to research on the internet and try some things on my own.  Aside from being an allergic dog, she is also very finicky!  She would go days without eating if she didn't like the food......I would even try feeding her out of my hand, piece by piece, spoonful by spoonful - she just wouldn't eat.  So I would give her saltines and peanut butter just to try to keep her stomach a little full.  Then one day I realized....there is WHEAT in saltines and many dogs are allergic to that AND to peanut butter!  So I stopped giving her both of those things.  I also realized that she ate a lot of cheese (when we took her to obedience class, we were told to give her cheese to praise her) - so I also stopped that. I felt horrible stopping everything she was used to, but I had to.  In the meantime I put her on a limited ingredient diet from my vet.  It was rabbit & potato.  That got extremely expensive, so now I have her on Wellness Super 5 Mix Dog Food - I give her the Lamb.  She ACTUALLY EATS IT OUT OF HER BOWL!  She really loves it....and it has no wheat or other grains that would make her itch.She also gets STONEYFIELD NONFAT FRENCH VANILLA YOGURT for a treat....that's the ONLY yogurt I give her and that's the ONLY treat she gets.  I give it to her right off of a plastic spoon (METAL KILLS THE GOOD BACTERIA IN THE YOGURT!)...and I also freeze a little in ice cube trays and pop one out at night for her.  She is doing much better these days.  She still itches on her paws and legs, and will chew....but she doesn't KEEP GOING!!  I also use APPLE CIDER VINEGAR .... 1 part ACV to 1 part water....I dip her paws in it or dab it on with cotton.  The problem is SHE LOVES THE TASTE....so I have to fight her/hold her head so she doesn't lick it off - at least until it dries.  It dries pretty quickly.  Believe it or not, I use DOG BOOTIES over night and when we're not going to be home to watch her....the velcro and fleece kind.  They seem to really help her.....but you can't keep them on all the time.....  When using them, you have to place the velcro BELOW the dew claw - you should not enclose the dew claw inside the bootie....it can rub and cause infection. As far as her face/snoot - that still itches her!  I don't know what to do about that because anything I put on it - I tried vaseline, ACV, etc. - she just licks it right off!  But it's a little better - she's not rubbing her face across the chain link fence anymore!!  Her legs/paws are pretty under control.  She/and we actually almost get to sleep through the night now!  I really hope these things helps some of you....  Oh, a few more things....BEWARE OF TEA TREE OIL - Sheba itched more when I used a shampoo with that in it - when I contacted the company they said 'some dogs are allergic to it'.....I replied 'that's great - I'm using it because my dog is allergic and you are saying that some dogs are allergic to it!  Maybe you should put that on the label'!  I only use OATMEAL shampoo and I don't wash her too often.  ALSO, I give Sheba HEARTWORM TABLETS instead of CHEWABLES, because some dogs can be allergic to ingredients (beef?) in the chewables.  Also, beware of GENERIC BENADRYL ~ only EQUATE from Wal-Mart compares exactly to Benadryl - DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE.   I am not a vet nor an expert, but I had to share what I have learned....I hope it helps some of you.

I wash my dog's feet in a basin with a combination of ResiCort leave-on lotion and Relief shampoo. It stops the foot biting.