Holistic veterinarian questions

DRAG-ULA

DRAG-ULA

Club Member
So one of our Boxers that we got through the rescue has horrible allergies. She's allergic to damn near everything. The rescue had an allergen test done, and we have a list of most of them. Anyways, we're really happy with our current vet, he deals with allergy problems a lot. Marge is on a drug called apoquill which she gets daily, and an antifungal every other day. Her allergies are managed, but that's it, and she still has flare ups. When we first got her, we were giving her an allergy shot twice a month, but it didn't help. The apoquill helps a lot.

The past couple months she's been pretty bad, scratching herself a lot, we took her in a while back and they gave her a steroid shot, which helps, but we don't like doing that very often. Twice a year tops. We've been thinking about taking her to a holistic vet, but we have no experience and don't know anyone who has. So I'm asking if anyone has any input on that. Smoke and mirrors, or worth a shot?

Thanks Motown.
 
Sorry,

Cant comment on the holistic approach but our boxer/lab mix has similar allergies. She tends to itch like crazy and loose her hair. We also started her on Apoquill but since that just suppresses the side effects of allergies(Itching, licking, etc) we try to only give her half a pill a day. We did however notice that switching her to a salmon based food made a big difference. The Omega 3s seamed to have helped alot. I look forward to any other comments and maybe your follow up.

Thanks
Jeremy
 
Marge only gets half a pill as well. She's only 40 lbs. I'd have to ask my wife if salmon is on the list of her allergies. She doesn't loose hair, but she's super itchy in the morning, and when she has a flare sometimes she'll scratch herself raw in spots when we're not home.

What brand of food do you feed your dog? And thanks for the input.
 
Pretty sure I saw Costco (Kirkland) has a Salmon Based Dog food John. You know I can get it for you if need be....
 
My girlfriend is a vet that specializes in dermatology and she seemed to have solved my dog's allergies. Like yours, he was always scratching or licking his paws and I had no idea what was going on until she took him to work with her and tested him out. He was on the apoquel and it didn't do much, so she put him on prednisone starting with one pill daily and gradually working him down to 1/2 a pill every other day and weaning him off. During that time we also changed his food from Pro Plan to Science Diet and he is much better now. He has been off the pills about two weeks and shows no signs of allergies. The Science Diet is expensive but she gets it at cost right from the Hills rep that visits her work every week.
 
So two items. Yes diet can have an effect, talk to Jill Tack at Pet Bistro in Madison Heights. We fed out last Mastiff Raw and it helped a ton.
As for holistic Vet, we used Natural Healing Pet Care in Berkley, they were very good.
 
Another thing to consider is skin yeast infections getting spread with the licking and scratching. you'll notice the smell in most cases. We used to do a rinse after the bath, with a gallon of warm water, cup of white vinegar and twtwenty drops of peppermint oil from good source company. Yes... it's a douche rinse lol... just keep away from their nose and eyes and light towel dry then and let them air dry. It helps keep the yeast under control and the peppermint cooling sensation helps reduce the itching and licking for a while.
 
2001-WS6 said:
Another thing to consider is skin yeast infections getting spread with the licking and scratching. you'll notice the smell in most cases. We used to do a rinse after the bath, with a gallon of warm water, cup of white vinegar and twtwenty drops of peppermint oil from good source company. Yes... it's a douche rinse lol... just keep away from their nose and eyes and light towel dry then and let them air dry. It helps keep the yeast under control and the peppermint cooling sensation helps reduce the itching and licking for a while.
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She gets a bath twice a month with medicated shampoo. When we first got her she was a mess, and our usual vet recommended we see the guy we've been with. Same office thankfully. Since she's been seeing him it's gotten way better, but she still has issues.
 
Tin said:
My girlfriend is a vet that specializes in dermatology and she seemed to have solved my dog's allergies. Like yours, he was always scratching or licking his paws and I had no idea what was going on until she took him to work with her and tested him out. He was on the apoquel and it didn't do much, so she put him on prednisone starting with one pill daily and gradually working him down to 1/2 a pill every other day and weaning him off. During that time we also changed his food from Pro Plan to Science Diet and he is much better now. He has been off the pills about two weeks and shows no signs of allergies. The Science Diet is expensive but she gets it at cost right from the Hills rep that visits her work every week.
Click to expand...

Apoquill definitely helps Marge. Her foster mom tried a bunch of different foods with her, and she said what Marge is on right now is the best for her allergies. We haven't really tried switching her food, mainly because Marge was with the foster for almost a year. They didn't want to adopt her out with her issues. In that time, Karen (foster mom) said she tried every food that didn't have anything on Marge's allergy list. However, Marge wasn't on apoquill then either. Maybe we'll switch her food. And you have a PM coming. Thanks Bob.
 
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