Allergies...help me without steroids

[Chicagocanine]

I have found the best thing to do is first figure out whether it is environmental allergies or food allergies. I've had dogs with sensitivities to certain food ingredients and as soon as you start using a food without those ingredients, they improve.
Changing foods also helped my Golden's seasonal allergies some, the symptoms were not as bad in the spring the year I had started using grain-free foods with her.
If it is environmental allergies you can also try to reduce exposure to the allergen or if it's something like pollen or grass where it is hard to reduce exposure, it can sometimes help to wipe them down after contact. I used non-medicated eyedrops for Ginger when she had her seasonal allergies and this helped to prevent eye infections triggered by her allergies. She was also allergic to some plants so I tried to wipe her down after she came inside to help remove any irritants from her fur.

[LuvWorkingGSDs]

Switching to raw, minimizing pesticide exposure and balancing her immune system (through herbs for a few months at the beginning) was what cured my dog's allergies. Her allergies were environmental and resulted in poor skin quality and some nasty bacterial infections.

She was given a couple of Chinese herbs under the advisement of Marina Zacharias at http://www.naturalrearing.com/coda/contact.html#landing as well as soy hydrocortisone for the itching. (benadryl never did anything for her, but the soy hydrocortisone helped with the itching without any of the negative effects of typical steroids)

I also gave her concentrated high quality fish oil/vitamin e of course and continue to do so. (around 50 mg/lb total omega 3s)

[Doc]

I would look at a good vitamin and mineral supplement. One with a high dose of sodium ascorbate. Prenvention Plus or Mega C Plus.

[JakeN]

My dog is going through the same thing. This is a great thread. Pls more input

[LisaT]

For dogs, I would definitely recommend no grains and low starch -- tough unless you want to homecook or feed raw. The grainless is do-able, but they are typically higher starch.

I have had bad allergies since I was a kid. I have always required a multivitamin, lots of extra vitamin C, a B-50 complex, and a calcium/zinc/magnesium supplement. Those things made a huge difference decades ago when I first started them.

I still had to take allergy shots, but stopped them several years ago. I replaced them with
the NOW bioflavanoids product mentioned above: http://www.nowfoods.com/Products/Sup...ts/M003398.htm
and this when things are blooming and I'm sneezing a lot: http://www.hylands.com/products/hayfever.php
I know that Hylands has a number of allergy and sinus formulations, that might work just when there are flair-ups. I wouldn't use those for long term use. I just use them when the darn privets and cottonwoods are blooming...why oh why did the developer love those privets......yuck!

[Doc]

Lisa, those particular plants grow fast and are cheap to buy. I would speculate that is the reson the developer loved them so.

[LisaT]

I suspect that you are right I try so hard to keep Max from sticking his whole head into the bush on our walks when it's blooming, but he's such a dork....


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Has anyone noticed that when you type it's singular, but is plural? What's up with that? Inconsistency drives me nuts....

[Kava3]

Bromelian given away from meals is a natural anti-inflammatory,

Quercetin, is a natural anti-histamine,

Vitamin C benefits as an immune booster and therefore your dog's system is more resistant to environmental allergies. If giving Vitamin C make sure it is Sodium Acsorbate and not Asorbic acid.

Fish Oil works against allergies but has to be supplimented with Vitamin E otherwise your dog can develop a Vit E deficiency which will cause itchy dry skin.

Cider Vinegar helps internal and topical

Adding Olive Oil helps

Gelatin helps the body to use protien better and therefore improves the skin, and the condition of the blood allowing the dogs to fight infection and allergens better.

Good Luck

[SunCzarina]

Originally Posted By: BowWowMeowBraggs organic apple cider vinegar. Mix 1 to 1 with water and you can spray it on too.

Hmm, I wonder if this would work in a foot bath? My friends dog gets seasonal cysts in his paws that I suspect is from him frollicking in the woods. What's out there for allergens, I don't know but it's not his feed doing it becuase the cysts only come out in the spring/summer.

[LisaT]

Okay, I don't regularly watch Oprah, but that Dr.that is on there a lot said for foot problems in people, soak in regular black tea. Something about the tannins(?) In the tea.

When the weeds are dried up and bad in the yard, Max licks and his paws get all red and almost infected looking. So I tried the tea thing and it really did help.