Puppy Forum and Dog Forums banner

Why are there so many allergic dogs

1K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Luxorien 
#1 ·
My 8 month old Papillon has allergies, Vet said at a visit last week that he could tell from the pattern of hair loss on face & legs, She scratches non stop if not asleep
This scratching & itching started 3 days after her last vaccine
The breeder is asking for her to be sent back to them

The Vet has tried her on Hills hydrolyzed ZD for a month, Pup only ate very small amounts of this food & has lost a little weight
This is very upsetting for our family
Watching her scratch & cry all day is heartbreaking

We also tried 2 weeks of wrapping her feet & a small cone around her neck, no difference, & she got quite depressed

Colostrum powder, seaweed powder, omega 3-6-9 oils & changes of food have made no difference
 
#2 ·
I'm sorry you're going through this. Some dogs have bad allergies, just like some humans have bad allergies. Good breeding can help make this less likely, but sometimes it just happens. If your dog just started itching, it could possibly have something to do with spring and environmental allergies rather than a food allergy. Pollen is beginning to float around, and humans, as well as dogs, with allergies are beginning to have symptoms at this time. As our snow melts, my dog is beginning to itch a bit, too.

Has your vet talked about giving your dog Benadryl? My dog has mild environmental allergies, and Benadryl (we actually use an off-brand from Costco that is much more affordable than the Benadryl brand), along with fish oil and regular bathing has helped immensely. If Benadryl does not work, your vet will be able to recommend prescription allergy medications and a number of other options.

Some other things that have helped me is to bathe my dog regularly to remove pollen and other irritants that may collect on their hair and skin. You should try to wash bedding once a week as well, if not more. Good luck!
 
#3 ·
I am so sorry. I have no idea what is causing this but it is relatively recent and heartbreaking. My family always had dogs in the 1970s and I had never even heard of such a thing. Our dogs are about the same age and had the exact same reaction to the same vaccine, but I suspect that Laurel must be smaller (she is 5.3 lbs) and she is not purebred. I just assumed it was mange when I called the vet.

I refuse to feel guilty about following standard veterinary practice to protect my fur kid from the parvo epidemic. Your breeder means well and is probably a gem--just don't go there. Have you "pestered" your vet? I had good luck by asking for a refill of Laurel's Temeril prescription when I didn't think I would actually be given one and then asking for an appointment way in advance "just in case" taking her completely off of beef AND chicken, as in no bully sticks or treats at obedience class completely off, wasn't the answer.

She got to see the best vet in town yesterday and was diagnosed with a secondary bacterial infection. She's on anti-biotics and a different anti-itch med for the symptoms and they even caught some ear issues before I did.

Also, Laurel wears ugly but practical "doggie clothes" 24/7 because of weather and now allergies. There's nothing special about me and I'm not brilliant, the "cone of shame" has been outdated for awhile: just do a search for "recovery dog onesie" to get some ideas.

HTH your poor sweetie. It's not your fault.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Correlation does not equal causation, meaning that it's probably just coincidence that she started scratching after the last shot, especially if she didn't have a reaction to previous shots.

Has your vet done a skin scrape to rule out mange? Sarcoptic mange makes dog ridiculously itchy. Even is a skin scrape doesn't show anything, treating for sarcoptic mange might be a good idea. My GSD had repeated clear skin scrapes, but was still itchy and miserable. We decided to treat her anyway... within days she was feeling better and no longer scratching like mad.

Since environmental allergies are much more common that food allergies, look around and ask yourself what in the environment has changed? Plants pollinating? (If she's 8 months old, that means that she's never experienced what we call yellow dust season down here.) New laundry detergent? New cleaning products? My GSD and I both have environmental allergies, probably to the same things. Sometime an OTC medication can help (obviously don't give anything without your vet's okay) but sometimes you need to go the prescription route.

Once you've ruled the likely causes with no success, consulting with a veterinary dermatologist would be the next step.
 
#5 ·
Thanks everyone
The Vet has treated my pup for mange 2 weeks ago just in case they were the problem, no change at all in itching

The breeder wants pup back & they will do a complete health work up at breeders Vet Dermatologist,
I'm thinking about sending the pup next week
all this is so hard to deal with, when other family members have health issues & the pup was meant for a joyful present, it has turned out so very wrong for us
 
#6 ·
lots of things an happen to vaccines, they not handled right to protect their integrity, different companies do different formulas, some company brands change the formulas without notice, some company brands are known to cause problems. Without taking away from the reasoning vaccines are effective.

I would ask your vet to give the name of the company brand they used, research, and try a different brand the next time if you feel there is a connection or possible connection. Too many vaccines in one shot can overload a dogs system to have a reaction, mixing vaccines with other chemical applications, the flea/tic drop , collar or pill ...
 
#7 ·
Itching and allergies is an inappropriate immune response if not parasitic. Vaccinating can trigger it. This is why I follow Jean Dodds vaccination protocol (Hemo-Vet).

Dog gets vaccinated for Parvo and distemper ONLY at 8 weeks. This is repeated at 16 weeks. A month later is rabies. At the one year anniversary for rabies I get the rabies (3 year) and a month before or after the dog gets distemper and Parvo only. After that run titers. No more vaccines other than rabies unless the titers indicate NO antibodies.

Every vaccination requires the dog to have an immune response. Some of the vaccines are 5 way, 7 way and I saw one the other day that was 10 way. That is 5, 7 or 10 diseases the dog is trying to build immunity to at one time.

While it is true that many dogs get all this vaccination and are fine, if you get that one dog that ends up with an over stimulated immune response to environmental triggers it can be miserable for the dog and for the owner.

I wish you luck with your dog.
 
#9 ·
Dogs, like people, are exposed to thousands of immune-stimulating materials every day. Even a 14-valent vaccine is a drop in the proverbial bucket. Until we have strong epidemiological evidence linking vaccines to autoimmune disorders, I think delaying and separating vaccinations does more harm than good.

There are certainly cases where a vaccination can trigger an autoimmune problem, but viral and bacterial infections are even more potent triggers than vaccines (especially newer, recombinant vaccines).
 
#10 ·
Dogs, like people, are exposed to thousands of immune-stimulating materials every day. Even a 14-valent vaccine is a drop in the proverbial bucket. Until we have strong epidemiological evidence linking vaccines to autoimmune disorders, I think delaying and separating vaccinations does more harm than good.
The reason for separating vaccines is so that if there is a severe reaction, you know which one caused it. Although severe reactions are rare, they're not something that I'd want to mess around with guessing whether it was the DHPP or rabies that caused it. Better to separate, especially in a naive dog.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top