Question:
My beagles had seasonal allergies to grass, pollen etc. now my Rusty is starting to scratch and it's the middle of the winter. Does anybody else have these problems?? The vet always gives them prednisone....but I hate to medicate them so. I used to feed them Solid Gold, great food but didn't help much, Now I just switched over to wellness. I noticed within a week that their coats are much oilier and Rusty isn't scratching quite as much. Am also trying to brush them with a soft bristle brush everyday to spread the oils around and that is helping too....but Am dreading when August comes cuz I know it will terrible, always in that month. I bought some healthy skin and coat supplements which I hope will help. Also bought a new vacuum today with a hepa filter. Does anybody know about air purifiers and if they actually work?? I think it would be good for their allergies if it is good with people allergies. I was looking at some stuff on this site and wondering if anybody has any of these products or anything similar. http://www.onlineallergyrelief.com/


Answer:
joey has seasonal allergies as well. the vet usually gives him benadryl. she wanted me to give him one a day, but i usually just give him a maintence dose as it starts to flare up ( which it has this weekend) it doestn help he gets a spot and starts to lick and chew at it till it is a complete mess. he is also on vit e supplement with fish oil i put in his food everyday. i have him on nature's recipe dog food, which doesnt seem to be bothering him. scott mentioned to me that someone told him at work she uses a humidifier in the winter time for skin allergies and it works for her, we are ordering one from his work ( bed, bath and beyond) i will let you know if it works.
if you have any suggestions for me that would be great too. i also HATE august, when it seems to get really bad.


Answer:
I tried the whole benadryl thing, but my problem is with med. is that once they get used to it, they will need more and more. I have been reading a lot and they say that bathing with a good oatmeal and aloe shampoo helps during flare ups, they say that bathing once a week during the allergy season reduces hot spots (not making skin dry, like one would think). There's a unit I saw in Walmart, was a humidifier and air purifier in one, I think that is the one I'm gonna get. We'll see how it works....will have to save for now. The problem with medicating is you don't solve the problem. I don't think just a humidifier will help, but if it does it might be something to look into. There is one thing on that web site that I really like.....a permenant filter for your furnace that removes allergens. It's so hard...I thought just Rusty had allergies, but Turbo just started last August, so now I have two dogs with allergies, grrrr.


Answer:
You're sure it's not food-related allergies in addition to their seasonal allergies?
I read that commercially available collodial oatmeal shampoos don't really contain that much collodial oatmeal and it's much cheaper and more effective to make your own. It's really easy, you just need a blender I think. I'll dig around and see if I can find the recipe. I do think bathing them once a week will help out their skin.


Answer:
Maybe you can add nutritional supplements to their food: such as flax seed oil. I'm not really up on nutritional supplements for skin, but I'm sure someone on this forum could give you more advice along that line or could refer you to a website.
I know that some dogs can be allergic to their food, as Clearjade pointed out, and that there are special diets formulated for dogs with food-caused allergies.
Good luck, and keep us updated with any progress!


Answer:
Here are a couple home remedies I found:
Hot Spots: Dissolve 2 adult aspirins in 1 Tbls. rubbing alcohol. Steep 1 tea bag in 1 cup warm water; discard tea bag. Stir together aspirin mixture and tea; allow to cool. Shave hair around hot spot. Blot prepared mixture over spot with a cotton ball. Follow with over-the-counter cortisone spray or crème. Repeat as necessary.
Itchy Skin from Allergies: Give your pet a 10 minute cool bath to relieve itching. For further soothing, you may also add colloidal oatmeal (Aveeno®) to the bathwater. For dogs with itchy feet, fill the tub with enough cool water to cover their feet, dissolve a couple cups of Epsom salts in the water, and soak the dog's feet for 5-10 minutes. Be careful not to let them drink the water.
From: http://kitchen.robbiehaf.com/PetHomeRemedies.html
I'm still trying to dig up the collodial oatmeat recipe. I think you just have to blend it VERY fine and mix it with water. I'll look around somemore.


Answer:
If you don't mind some experimenting, you can easily try to make your own colloidal oatmeal. In a blender, coffee grinder, or food processor, finely grind the oatmeal that you purchase at the grocery store. A word of caution is warranted, however. It can be a bit difficult to determine just how fine you need to make the oatmeal before it can become a colloid in water. If it's too coarse, it will simply sink uselessly to the bottom of the tub. The commercial product is processed so minutely that its ability to form a colloid is assured.
From: http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshel...,10107,00.html
It does say that it might be difficult to blend it fine enough, maybe a health store will have preground oatmeal?


Answer:
wow clear jade, thanks for all the recipes, i think they will really help... pawz i agree about the medication the more you give hte more they need. that is why i only give him benadryl when a flare up occurs. the fish oil supplement seems to be helping. at least he isnt shedding as much ( last year it was a mess, cause he was inside and outside all the time) and his fur seems a little oiler. i will have to check out walmart tomorrow for the humidifier thing.


Answer:
When I go to the vets in april I'm gonna tell her that I'm not putting them on prednisone anymore...I heard some bad stuff about it. I really don't like the fact that it shuts down the immune system and if taken for too long could cause kidney or liver damage. I think it must be seasonal because their skin only gets really itchy in august until just this past month they started scratching. But they could have food allergies, it's possible.....sometimes they get diarrheafor no apparent reason. I was feeding them Solid Gold and they weren't doing very good on it, sometimes they would throw up yellow bile, but now I have them on Wellness, and it's only been a few weeks but the difference is amazing! I can feel the difference in their fur already, way more smoother and more oil.
Check out these sites
http://allergies.about.com/gi/dynami...rticleid%3D504
http://allergies.about.com/gi/dynami...rticleid%3D504
http://www.accentonpethealthcare.com/


Answer:
It's good to hear they are doing better on Wellness! It's a very good brand from what I hear. About their diarrhea, have you tried supplementing their diets with acidophilus? It's a bacteria that you can buy in capsule form from any human health store, it's not too expensive and it helps with digestion problems like diarrhea etc.
What alternative treatment are you thinking of for their allergies? Are you going to ask your vet to test them using the method outlined in the article?
The supplement website looks good, are you thinking of getting some for them?