Further advice on skin allergy

Hi everyone

I really hope you can help. We are currently fostering Billy (who we think is about 2 years old). We are desperate to adopt him but he has a skin condition that we can't work out. We are trying to get it sorted before we officially adopt him so we know how much it will cost to control (sadly we don't have endless funds )

The rash on his skin looks extremely similar to Max's from Karen's post on 9th April. However they then end up being sores (we're not sure how, it seems to happen overnight so we think he's scratching). After this the skin seems to go a brown colour and heal. He also gets small red lumps that come up and then scab over (I'm not sure if this is related to the rash).

He has been on a course of anti-histamines (Ucerax), which knocked him out but also stopped the rash coming up (so no scratching). However I don't want to keep him so dosed up for the rest of his days (he's like a zombie when he takes them!)

I am torn between whether it is a pollen allergy or dust mite allergy (he didn't have any skin problems when in kennels so it could be dust mites). Does anyone know if there's a difference in the way each presents itself, or the treatments of them? Nosipho suggested New Era tablets so I'm going to get some of those as well as some Camrosa.

If anyone can offer any more advice, or suggestions I'd be sooo grateful (so would Billy). It's so furstrating, we just want him sorted and adopted!

Thank you!

Pip and Billy

PS. Billy is a white staffie

this may help
http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/grassallergies.html

i will do some research for dust mite some time

Whereabouts on him is the rash?

Hi Steve

Thanks so much for your reply, that link looks really informative; there's so much on the internet it's hard to know where to start! It certainly looks like we can do some really simple stuff to help him.

Caryll, he currently has a sore on the inside of his elbow on his front leg. He also gets the rash in his armpit. In the past he has also had it on his chest and on the top of his nose (I have attached some photos below). He has never tried to chew or lick his paws.

The photos make it look like he's suffering in all of the areas at the same time but he's not. Fortunately at the moment it is just his leg - his chest and nose are back to normal!





Thank you both for your help, I'm really looking forward to getting it under control (fingers crossed!)

Poor little thing, that looks really sore! Do you know if it's worse when you've been cutting the grass? Sometimes the grass sap can make them react.

I would wipe him down with cooled, boiled water, maybe with a little salt disolved in it everytime you come in from outside, whether it's a walk or just the garden. I would also look to simplifying his food, preferably feeding raw. I'm not trying to convert you to a raw feeder, but I've heard of all sorts of allergies being helped by raw feeding & it may be worth a try.

Has the vet sugested any skin tests?

Hi,

He's had skin scrapes but they showed nothing. We're feeding him James Wellbeloved, which sorted out a tummy problem he had but I can definitely see that changing his diet might have a positive impact. I'm going to do a bit more research on it as I don't know a huge amount about it.

Have a look here.......
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners.php

Thanks Caryll, I'll check it out!

Aww poor billy they look so sore hope you get it sorted soon it is so hard hard when you dont know what is actually causing it

My boy flares up with this regular he is nearly 9 now, I swear by malaseb which is a shampoo that you can buy online, you wet the areas rub in to make a lather leave 10 mins and wash away, then do again in a couple of days. I dont keep him locked in before a walk I put some vaseline on his prone areas and this protects it so he can live a normal life.
It works for us and does control his grass allergy

Do they start off like quite big fluidy lumps? Then get smaller and more pink, then as they start to heal he scratches them off and the hair gets pulled out with the scab? Just trying to establich if it is similar to Brnady's grass allergies.

Hi, it tends to start as pink skin, turning in to a rash, which he scratches. He does also get some tiny pink bumps that then scab over but they don't seem to cause him any discomfort. Antihistamine cream seems to help, I'm going to get some malaseb, I've heard really good things about it - thanks gem!

We had a really interesting development yesterday...he's been on antibiotics (vetoquin) and one of the side effects is hypersensitivity. We skipped the dose he was meant to have last night and his skin looks much better in general. It's not as pink and he's not as itchy. Hopefully now, with some anti-histamines and malaseb we can control it. I'll let you know how we get on over the next couple of days...