white staff skin issues

hi to everyone im new to this forum I thought I would pick the brains of fellow dog owners. I am the owner of a lovely and affectionate white staff x boxer, but he seems to be more staff.

around xmas time his tail started to become red and sore and as result lost hair and was bleeding, visited the vet as we had noticed he was itching a lot. the vet gave him a steroid shot and it seemed to calm down , 2 weeks had passed and no improvement he was itching still and now licking his paws, now at this point he was becoming sore in places.
returned to vet, he was now on antibiotics for soreness and I returned with dog collar to stop him being able to nibble and lick . they done skin scrape said no bacteria or mange (I suspected mange as we have 4 or 5 cubs who regularly sit in my garden when dog is in the house.) also a shampoo to use twice weekely.
vet recommended looking into any diet changes cleaning products fragrances ect. he was on james wellbeloved they have changed recipe recently, so I switch to chappies chicken and rice (but he then started to consume his poo ) so I have gone onto pedigree dry food which I soak in warm water. but this has also had no change on his skin.

he now itching again and becoming sore around ears where he is itching and also noticing around his mouth becoming red where hes licking ... I am now lost as I think vets are wasting my money with try this and this come back in week or 2 paying another fee for the visit..

hes fully up to date with all jabs hes receiving regular doses of advocate aswell, and baths once or twice month.
he hasn't been neutred though. he stays in a crate at night but is out while were home most of day and I have a cat in house which has been there before he arrived.

has anyone got any ideas, I was wondering if its behavioural maybe connected to hormones or something ... could it be allergy to cat? mange from fox?

It certainly could be an allergy. Have you asked the vet if he can do an allergy test to see what he might be allergic to?

vet told me it could be very costly as they don't test for everything in allergy test they check for specifics. but nothing has changed up to the point where his skin began to change

Hi ya Gary, a Welcome to the Forum.

I'm surprised the vet hasn't said its this or that and offered shots like mine did. I declined and tried a few things with my Flo. First was diet, which did make a difference but she tends to nibble her paws so we use a product called Thornit which has had some good effect. Worth reading up on to see if any of the symptoms fit.

A lot of people also swear by a raw diet. Chappie & Pedigree are really not quality foods unfortunately. You'll need to allow time for any diet change to take effect too.

I'm sure others will post some good suggestions for you. In the meantime, when you get a min pop along to the link below & say Hi:-
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

he had steroid shot at beginning there is this shot its like an allergy shot or something that is like £75 per shot lasts 1 month, then needs another, but no guarantee, he has always been on james wellbeloved right from a puppy to present, I tried diet change over 3 weeks , something is causing an irritation as the hair loss around ears is quite present atm , I plan on calling vet tomorrow and seeing what can be done now as its not nice to see it

how much would allergy test cost approximately

as above could be anything have you considered that it may be a grass allergy? did the vet mention antihestamines? i would try washing clothing regularly as well with a gentle washing powder . i wuld recommend a different vet as well.

would an allergy to grass not be present from birth, I make sure the vet is the same as always do you have any recommendations .

could it be like a hormone thing causing irritations . I do really need to talk to vet and see.

I've just had a look through my Flo's med notes and whilst the results are in there the cost is a nominal £1 for bloods and £1 for analysis. Now that can't be right so I have no idea what it would cost individually as this was part of other tests etc.

I would certainly ask the vet some more questions.

by all means im not made of money but I do feel he deserves looking after, its part of ownership of a pet I suppose, hes more a member of my family than a pet lol .

I will make some contact with vets tomorrow

garry_noble wrote:would an allergy to grass not be present from birth, I make sure the vet is the same as always do you have any recommendations .

could it be like a hormone thing causing irritations . I do really need to talk to vet and see.

Allergies can devolp and change over time. Suki had a ton of food allergies as a pup but is much better know

They are family members for sure. My Flo has a grass allergy apparently and we do give her Piriton during the summer months. Do take a look at Thornit too.

Certainly move away from the Chappies and Pedigree. They might not be causing that specific problem but they're terrible foods and certainly will not help. As mentioned, you could try raw, or you can go on here and check out some of the hypoallergenic stuff. If you want to feed wet try Wainwright's Grain Free (from Pets at Home), or Forthglade Lifestage (same as Wainwright's but with grain). As I say, it might not solve the problem but without good nutrition it will be far more difficult for the immune system to fight off the problem.

It definitely sounds like it could be an allergy if the vet hasn't picked up anything else from previous tests.

We had a similar experience with our vet when we first noticed Bane itching. We even suggested it being an allergy and they dismissed it each time and prescribed other expensive meds. It was only when we asked to see the dermatologist that he said it was atopic dermatitis: skin allergy basically.

We had a blood test done. I think the initial cost was about £110 ish. That was to confirm if he had an allergy to an indoor or outdoor cause. That came back positive for indoor, so they then expanded on that test which cost about an extra £80. Which then came back positive for a dust mite allergy. But I have heard of vets doing allergy testing differently so your's might be different to that.

When we had a diagnosis our options were: deal with it ourself, pay for monthly injections to try and make him immune to the allergy or steroids. From my understanding steroids will just suppress the immune system and not fix the problem and cause major health problems so that was an instant no and the monthly injections were so expensive and not guaranteed to work so we have dealt with it ourselves.

You mentioned that the food you were feeding had changed recipe around that time. Don't suppose you know what changed? If it is a food allergy, then it's quite easy to fix once you know what he can't eat.

Many dogs are allergic to grain, chicken and beef. Have you looked at feeding a hypoallergenic food? Or maybe trying a fish based food? Or even going raw?

It's horrible to see them suffering and even worse when you don't know what you can do to fix it and aren't getting answers from your vet.

My Skye lost all her white fur around her neck and the grey fur on her back changed her food to skinners salmon and rice and her fur is now back as it should be. It took time but she can now have lamb and rice as well. She only has a little grain if she gets a treat

Hey Clare, Did your vet give any reason for Skye losing her fur?
Minnie has a problem similar to Skye ive put her on Probiotic Miracle and its improved a great deal not so red and more a white/human skin colour.

Minnie currently gets
1 tsp 100% pure coconut oil
1/8th tsp probiotic miracle
1/4 cup of milk
1 egg every 2nd day
1tsp salmon oil every 1st/other day
and this is mixed into alpha sporting puppy hypoallergenic dry nuts.

Have you/anyone found any tips for hair growth/repair?