My dog apparently has horrible allergies. We've taken her to the vet, and they've said to just put a pill version of Benadryl in with her meals...well it's not working.

Her ears are flaming bright red, and she will not stop shaking them to try and relieve the itch or burn. She's also been itching them lately, and I'm afraid she's going to start bloodying them up.

Is there anything else we can possibly do? Do they have allergy shots for dogs?

I'm having the wife call the vet again today to see if we can get her back in to see if it's something other than allergies...

Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

Originally Posted by odi420

breed of dog?

Not entirely positive, b/c we got her from a shelter. We originally thought Chocolate Lab/Pitbull mix...but after doing a little more research lately, I'm 100% positive that she is at least partially Chesapeake Bay Retriever...still a little bit of pitbull in the face.

Pics coming in a minute.

On your left in this pic:

 

Originally Posted by odi420

hmmmm...the vet didnt recommend a cream of any sort? similar to benedryl but with higher levels of antihistimine?

Not yet...the first time she just recommended the pill version of Benadryl to mix in with her meals (she eats once in the morning and once around dinner time).

I feel awful because she's completely miserable...rubbing her ears along the couch to try and relieve the discomfort etc.

Hopefully she'll recommend something better today.

In the meantime, no lesser-known home tricks or remedies to help??

call the vet, tell'm the benedryl ain't working, they'll give you/recommend something else.

yeah, mine runs when he sees me get cotton balls, he knows! they hate it. yours sounds like a 2 man operation one person to hold and the other to do the dirty work.

i think if it is making the liquidy sound then there is probably a lot of gunk and moisture down there. do you have a pond or lake they swim in? swimming makes it worse for mine.

if you try to wipe any of the stuff out of the ear you'll just irritate it more until you have something soothing like the solution to put in there.

i've never found anything natural or a home remedy for these problems, i'd certainly be open to it but nothing other than what i wrote you has ever worked. i've also tried tons of ear cleaners, and the ones i listed are tried and true and all that have worked for me. some of the others have actually increased the problem and irritated the ears more. then of course, the more irritated the ear is the more they shake, scratch and rub making it even worse - poor things are their own worst enemies :(

yes, the lab has allergies. generally food related, but they can get the ear problems from external things too like swimming etc.

you can play around with different foods and see if the ear problems get better - try finding a dog food that has none of the ingredients that your current dog food contains (this can get expensive). my dog responds best to the duck and sweet potato. i used to make my own dog food but my main ingredient was brown rice and that seemed to make the lab's ears worse. back in the old days they used to have you put the dogs on lamb and rice when they had allergies, but now all common dog foods contain lamb and rice so you have to get creative.

allergy testing from the vet is super expensive and not very conclusive. i'm sure your vet will recommend this at some point.

edit - also, yes retrievers are just prone to these ear problems. so it's yes and yes to allergies and it being a common problem with their ears.

 

Originally Posted by BlufferChic

i think if it is making the liquidy sound then there is probably a lot of gunk and moisture down there. do you have a pond or lake they swim in? swimming makes it worse for mine.

she actually has never been swimming before, so we're clear there.

 

Originally Posted by BlufferChic

you can play around with different foods and see if the ear problems get better - try finding a dog food that has none of the ingredients that your current dog food contains (this can get expensive). my dog responds best to the duck and sweet potato. i used to make my own dog food but my main ingredient was brown rice and that seemed to make the lab's ears worse. back in the old days they used to have you put the dogs on lamb and rice when they had allergies, but now all common dog foods contain lamb and rice so you have to get creative.

I'll have to try this to...makes me feel horrible for her when she's in constant irritation.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Originally Posted by odi420

BC seems better versed in this issue than me....i trust what they are saying...

and appreciate the help (or try at least) here too

Our boxer is allergic to just about everything. we went through dietry changes/drugs etc and couldnt get it to stop. We have now found a drug called Atopica which has made a world of difference, costs a damn Fortune (bloody animals bleed you dry!) but i believe that there are generics out there.

Good luck its one of the most heart breaking things watching your animals suffer. we had to put a t-shirt on ours before it got better to stop it scratching itself so much it bled

My old dog had bad skin allergies. I took her to a naturopathic vet and the first thing she did was change her diet away from chicken. I cooked squash and ground turkey for her for 3 years and put her on chinese herbs. It kept the allergies to a minimum until she died later of cancer at 13 and 1/2.

Sounds like the ear problem is a yeast infection. Treat it as such (a certain ear wash for her ears 2x/day + an oral med), then get an ear wash for her a couple times a week. Learn how to do it. There is a certain way so that as you rub around the ear with the wash in you actually feel/hear a kind of "pop" that tells you it got into the area it needs to.

edit: after reading the thread, blufferchic got to the info I gave. I'll just say I agree with her on all accounts, but as the ear is already infected (may have been allergy related), you need to treat the symptom aggressively. Ear infections are horribly painful for a dog.