Allergy of Something Else?

Hi,

My poor little 6 month old boy is having a terrible time at the moment. He is gnawing and licking his paws until they are red raw and his chin and upper eyelids are also red and itchy. We had changed his food 1 week earlier and thought it may be this so changed it back to what he was on. I took him to the vets and they said that it is most likely an allergy to the new food and to give him a Piriton everyday to help with the itching and see how he gets on once the new food has worked its way out of his system. This cost £34 for them to tell me this. Then a few weeks later the itching was no better so we took him back to the vet again and they gave him some antibiotics and some medicated wash and told us to try these for ten days. This cost £75. He's just come to the end of the ten days and i'd day he's worse. He is booked in for this Friday to see the vet again and I think they are going to suggest taking bloods and scrapes to test for allergies but I was just wondering before I go back, whether anyone else has come across this before. The vet also said for us to keep him off grass, but we live in the countryside so keeping him off grass is not only unrealistic but wouldn't give him much of a life either as he loves to play on grass. He is insured and the vet said that any blood tests would be covered by his insurance because this is when it starts to get expensive.

If it's a grass allergy (very common) then you can help by a. wiping his feet & coat down with a damp cloth every time you come in, and wiping Vaseline over his paws before you go out, b. giving him half a piriton tablet, twice a day and c. spraying some Dermacton onto his paws to soothe the irritation. You can also add some Apple Cider Vinegar to his water, which often helps.

If it's a food allergy, then it's most likely a wheat/cereal intolerance. Try putting him on to a grain free food for a month & see if that helps.

Skin scrapes will tell you if there are mites, but it honestly doesn't sound like them (but I've been known to be wrong!). Blood tests will pick up allergies, but can be quite unreliable.

It does sound like it's an allergy, but it's very difficult to say exactly what he's allergic to. The things Caryll mentioned should help a lot if it is an allergy!

Thanks very much, I'm going to try all of these things. He's on the James Wellbeloved food which i'm led to believe is hypoallergenic? We also live in a new build house with new-ish turf and I was wondering whether it was something to do with that maybe. There's just so much it could be bless him. It doesn't seem to be getting him down at the minute but i'm desperate to get it sorted for him. Thanks again i'm really grateful.

Poor baby its awful to see them doing it and not be able to help. I am afraid its a process of elimination, but you will get it sorted I am sure. 

Morning All,

Well we have the blood test results in for Jerry's itchy paws/chin/face.............. he's not allergic to any of the things they tested so the vet has now recommended that we put him on Royal Canin Hyproallergenic food for 6 weeks to see whether it is something in his food. He's already on James Wellbeloved but the vet says that there are different degrees of hypoallergenic? Pour little soul, it's a long slow process!

Oh no, poor Jerry, I do hope you get to the bottom of it, they can be such a worry  

If you decide to change over the foods do so gradually over the course of about a week, this will avoid any upset tummy.

Vinnie was put on that along with Viacutan plus oil on the food. It did help considerably. Hope things start to improve soon x