Skin is a long slog, often no easy answers.
Often the owner waits too long or only goes to the vet when they HAVE TO or it gets bloody or whatever....and doesn't embark on a year round effort. You didn't mention steroids which is a significant omission, so maybe that's relevant or you just omitted that? Pretty much EVERY VET I know would prescribe a type of steroid or antihisamine for something like this if they thought it was allergy AFTER the course of A/B if it could wait...as a preventative to keep the condition to escalating to needing an A/B because of open sores.
Anti fungal? Did a skin culture show sensitivity to that?
That does not sound like food allergy to me - if the bumps are like pimples. If the bumps are like HIVES, perhaps. Of course I'm only going by generalities it could totally be diet, I guess. But normally you don't get antibiotics for a big swollen hive/histamine type bump so I'm assuming they are bloody and more pimply?
Yes, does he lick his paws/arms?
What you describe is fairly typical in terms of challenges with that set of symptoms. Have you ever just kept him OFF GRASS?
Not every antibiotic kills every bacteria there are 4 classes. That's why they do a culture to grow it and see what it responds to. Same with pneumonia they get material from the lung to culture via lavage before the patient dies because sometimes the antibiotic/s they chose only PARTILLY work and there remains a low grade level afterwards that needs a different antibiotic or combo.
Without seeing, it's hard to guess. A/B doesn't fix classic food allergy only the side effects from the allergy so if the bumps/bloody get better that's not the allergy, they are healing. I never saw an A/B "fix" allergy or even do anything for hives.
So I guess I'm thinking it's not food allergy, per se since you said she's more normal on A/B.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Honeycrisp
PS Am vaguely remembering that the dark patches on the skin can be connected w/ a yeast / staph infection and selson blue shampoo can help, not sure why though
PPS Just found the link http://www.justanswer.com/pet-dog/6g...its-chest.html (not sure if it's allowable to post it but if it gets deleted, just google 'yeast or staph infection and black skin in dogs'
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Right. YEAST. That was true for my dog who didn't have allergies but long term neglect that went too far. After months of antibiotics and mite tx, we cleared the final areas up once we "found" the yeast - with Malaseb. Under veterinarian's care.
You must be very careful with that mite + antibiotic treatment because it lowers the resistance/immune system and can create other medical problems. When that happened to us, I regretted taking an aggressive "let's make him perfect" approach too much too soon. In our case it caused a Helicobacter Pylori bacteria to become aggressive/opportunistic and cause a bleeding ulcer and IBD that caused megaesophagus. I would have preferred mange/skin.
DURING treatment: (where my hand is there's fur growing back where it was black. The pink is yeasty areas that we didn't realize because I was inadvertently covering it up with too many cleanings with normal medicated shampoos)
After, cured:
My dog came to me all messed up so we had years of mess to clear up and really didn't expect the black leathery skin to regrow hair but it did. He only had the red bumps only on top of his head, the sterotypical place for the mites/mange.
I would try Malaseb treatments to see if it's yeasty and responds- shampoo + spray or pads if your vet agrees. It's relatively benign. The bumps? may be something else. I would try a different class antibiotic OR try and really get a good scraping for mite testing if it really is intolerable and you have to find a fix.
Go SLOW. Skin is not the worst thing compared to other adverse reactions ...especially in your case. NOT TOO MANY MEDS at once and give him long breaks in between.
I really
BELIEVE in BOOSTING the dog's immune system versus tough medications like insecticides but that's easier said than done and I don't know that mites can ever be cured that way.
I would ADD a good probiotic - most vets are using FortiFlora I think. And perhaps a complete change of diet to the most clean food you can find. Of course, raw meaty bones is always an option but not everyone is suited to take that on. If you buy chicken buy organic. Members here have reported allergies to grocery type brand chicken but not organic
When I fed my OTHER food allergic Bulldog Raw Bones and Meat diet it only subsided his flair ups pretty well but did not CURE the condition and environmental allergies.
It COULD be ONE SIMPLE THING. FLEA BITES???? It sounds like that, too, if it's pimply-ish.
All fragrances, carpets...carpets with even mites embedded in there, Febreeze, even the laundry soap changed to, dryer sheets, .... Get her her own bed and keep it spotless with vinegar rinses in the washer after you wash the bedding and pick a very SIMPLE bedding like a waterproof pad that can't soak in the allergens. In a crate if you have to.
I would get her OUT of the beds.
I have a client who's Boxer ONLY itches/turns red on his CARPET anywhere in the house, worse where he mostly lives when the guy's at work, tho - the "game room". . If he stays at a friend's with a house of tile, he's fine. HOWEVER, he has another dog that has urinated on that room's carpet and he only spot cleans it with a Bissel so that urine is getting all over the allergic dog! I put him in the pool every day pretty much.
Lastly, my allergic dog was allergic to the hypoallergenic food ZD because while the protein chicken is HYDROLIZED (lake baby formula) the starch was not and he had starch allergies. I spoke to the chemist at Hills about it.
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