Poor Natty has struggled with allergies all his life. He was on Hydroxyzine from the time he was about 5 months old until early August of this year. Even when on the Hydroxyzine, he still had periodic flare-ups of skin sores and yeast on his belly or foot pads. I managed this with Keto-C shampoo washes as needed. He has also been on Apoquel for the past year and the skin issues have been greatly reduced. In August, when I inadvertently ran out of Hydoxyzine, I kept him off of it to see how he fared. The result was a huge change in his personality. He's far more alert and playful. He acts like a normal 7 year old dog. I don't want to put him back on this medication.
The problem is that he is still struggling with histamine responses. He had a bout of vomiting from gastric reflux a month or so ago. The vet suspected that stopping the Hydroxyzine was the cause (He was already on a Select Protein Rx kibble and taking Omeprazole.) She suggested trying Chlorpheniramine in lieu of the Hydroxyzine. The reflux issues seem to be under control but another issue has flared. He is losing hair around his eyes (maybe a little around his muzzle too) and constantly wants to rub his face on something. He's had this happen periodically before, and it usually clears up on its own. This time it seems worse and I noticed this morning that he's rubbed a place raw above his right eye. I am aware that this could be a flare-up of demodex mites. I think it is directly related to allergies and his immune response. Ironically his yeast issues on his belly and feet seems to be gone for now.
He's never been "allergy" tested; there are no specialist nearby and this is expensive. Also I strongly suspect environmental allergies and these are things that are not easily avoided, so this route didn't seem to be especially useful to me.
I'm looking for suggestions as to how others have treated dog allergies. If his eyes continue to get worse, I'll most likely make another vet appointment, though it'll probably take a week to get one of the vets I want. Meanwhile if you know of anything that would help his poor skin, please let me know.
This was from 2 days ago.
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The problem is that he is still struggling with histamine responses. He had a bout of vomiting from gastric reflux a month or so ago. The vet suspected that stopping the Hydroxyzine was the cause (He was already on a Select Protein Rx kibble and taking Omeprazole.) She suggested trying Chlorpheniramine in lieu of the Hydroxyzine. The reflux issues seem to be under control but another issue has flared. He is losing hair around his eyes (maybe a little around his muzzle too) and constantly wants to rub his face on something. He's had this happen periodically before, and it usually clears up on its own. This time it seems worse and I noticed this morning that he's rubbed a place raw above his right eye. I am aware that this could be a flare-up of demodex mites. I think it is directly related to allergies and his immune response. Ironically his yeast issues on his belly and feet seems to be gone for now.
He's never been "allergy" tested; there are no specialist nearby and this is expensive. Also I strongly suspect environmental allergies and these are things that are not easily avoided, so this route didn't seem to be especially useful to me.
I'm looking for suggestions as to how others have treated dog allergies. If his eyes continue to get worse, I'll most likely make another vet appointment, though it'll probably take a week to get one of the vets I want. Meanwhile if you know of anything that would help his poor skin, please let me know.
This was from 2 days ago.
