allergies for french bulldogs

[David Larson]

Hello all, I would like to know if there are any owners who have experienced allergies with their frenchies? My Lucy has frequent outbreaks of skin inflammation that my vet and myself think are food allergy related. She has all the classic symptoms, paw licking, scratching, and severe inflammation of the skin in the neck and leg pit(armpit?)areas. The vet has allowed me to give her Benadryl which seems to provide no relief at all. I am in the process of working toward a grain-free diet in order to eliminate that as a cause. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[Sue couto]

Hi David,
I feed "Canidae "dry dog food it is all natural,my dogs do wonderful on it maybe you should give it a try...hope it helps
Sue

[Archie Boo]

We are just getting Archie's allergies under control. He was experiencing some of the same symptoms that your Lucy is, including the skin inflammations. We tried several different types of holistic foods and ended up choosing Canadae as his permanent food. I have read a lot about frenchies experiencing food allergies to wheat and corn, which are basically cheap fillers in most "over-the-counter" dry foods. Additionally, we started bathing Archie twice a week with Soap-Free Hypoallergenic Hy-Lyt Shampoo followed by Efa Hy-Lyt Bathoil. These bathing products are around $15 each and can be found at Petsmart, Petco, or online. They have worked wonders for Archie and I would definitely recommend it. It took a good month to get Archie's allergies under control. From what I have read it takes at least two weeks to get the "bad" foods completely out of the dog's system. Keep in mind that there are also a lot of fillers in dog treats. There are also holistic treats available if you want go to that length. Good luck and I hope everything works out for Lucy!

[andrea lewis]

My male also has these problems, and for a full year, I have tried everything. My vet told me that we would try everything before allergy testing. We tried benadryl, clariten, chlor-trimeton, and prescription shampoos. The ONLY time he has had any relief is when he recieves steroid injections. If your vet has not already done this, please ask them to do so. They only cost about $25 per injection, and are only needed every other month or more. The only real way of knowing, and saving your frenchie a ton of grief is to get the allergy testing done eventually. It is very costly, but like I said, the steroid injections can be done in the meantime.

[Julie]

Hi....I work for a vets office and yes the injections are a good choice, but there is a new product out called Atopica that is working wonders for our clients. It is a little more expensive than the shots....but the outcome is much better. Ask your vet about it...it is made by Novartis. It use to be so expensive most owners couldn't even consider it...but Novartis has lowered the costs so that clients can afford it.

[Leigh Webb]

Hi Julie, I have a frenchie that my vet mentioned this Atopica, I looked at it online and besides wondering about how expensive it is, I wondered about if used in a dog that you will be breeding and it looked as if they can not take it. What does your vet say about that?

[Leona]

my frenchie had his first allergy outbreak last week with tiny red bumps. i hear it's common for them to get allergic reactions to alot of things. my vet wasn't able to tell me exactly what it was but perscribed a ointment called animax & kept a collar on him. and it seems to be healing well. i'm suspecting it was the new shampoo..but who knows. have you tried any new products on or around her?

[Jeremy Schachter]

Hi,
I have a 1 yr old Frenchie and had the same problems. I did get the allergy test (costs 250.00) but well worth it. I was feeding Dolby a high grade natural pet food and he was allergic to everything in it (chicken, carrots, etc..). I had to switch to a brand called Wellness (only one protein and one carb-Duck and Brown Rice). It seemed to work well for him.

[bullman]

my frenchie often keeps chewing and licking the foot .............maybe someone can help me here

[arohn]

hello,
I just posted a very simliar cry for help. My frenchie walter has been suffereing from what I think are food allergies since he was about 5 months old.
He has been to the hospital er, on low residue diets, steriods, antihystemins (sp?), and now we ahve switched his food in the alst few weeks to duck and potato...
And I have noticed his bumps are worse than ever.
I am so frustrated. been on countless websites to try to find chicken and beef free receipes ..and nothing.

what kind of food are you feeding your frenchie?
I know my vet suggested a dermatologist to have test done.. but again.. so much $$

[Forest, Mr. Nubbins, Ms. Wiggles]

I had been intending on replying here since after reading this thread I discovered "Canidae". I had previously been feeding my two frenchies, "Avo-Derm" which is another good brand for skin and allergy problems, but I didn't realize how much better a food could be until trying Canidae. It is indeed a wonderful solution. Not only have the allergies cleared up on my problem child, but they both now have nice firm droppings that make them easy to clean up after, which is a godsend for me since we go for our daily walks on well traveled walkways and I don't like letting them do their business on private property. Also, I am almost sure they both smell better when they need to release a bit of those gassy residuals.

I also started using the Hy-lyt shampoo and conditioner which also has been a very nice solution. Thanks Archie Boo!

Thank you for taking the time for input on these products. They really are wonderful and have made our lives much better.
Forest, Mr. Nubbins and Ms. Wiggles.

[Rhiannon Ott]

I have read alot of stuff regarding allergies on here and thought I may be of help. I worked for a veterinary dermatologist and have alot of experience with allergies and skin testing and so on.
I will start by saying that food allergies can start as early as 6-8 weeks old and any age from there on and there are some signs that it could be food allergies that your dogs are suffering from. Environmental allergies appear between the ages of 1-3 years of age. There are alot of questions that are usually asked to determin between food and environmental such as what age is the dog, does the dog seem affected year round or seasonally, have you moved regions within the last 12 months, does your dogs have contact with other pets through boarding- dogs parks or grooming? Do you have any other pets in the household, what food is your pet eating, what brand of HW preventative, does your dog scoot and so on.
Food allergies can leave signs such as face rubbing, paw licking and scooting. Most people think that it is either anal glands or worms if a dog scoots but it can be a sign of a food allergy because if your dog cannot tolerate it's food it will effect the facial area and cause it to be itchy because the food passes through the mouth and it will also effect the bottom because it passes through that area. Not all dogs have the same symptoms though. Discolored skin can be a sign as well. Reacurring ear infections are a sign of allergies because the ears are just an extension of the skin so until you can control whatever the dog is allergic to you will continue to have ear infections. How many of you keep your dog on antibiotics many times out of the year? Just to find out that they get well for awhile and then start all over again? You are just treating the symptoms of allergies by medicating them not actually treating the underlying alleriges. The easiest and cheapest way to find out the difference between food and environmental is to do a food trial with a TRUE hypoallergenic diet, not ZD and not HA but Royal canins either duck and potato or vegetarian. Reason being is that those two diets do not contain the ingredients to cause a reaction in the dog. Those of you that are on canidae and so on may not have food allergies or your dogs are not allergic to the specific ingredients in that particular food. Your top food allergies are
Chicken
Beef
Wheat
Soy
Corn
Dairy
dogs are typically allergic to ATLEAST two ingredients and some many more. All of the commercial foods carry these ingredients which is why so many people can switch from food to food and not ever see results and then think that the dog does not have any food allergies because they have tried everything. The royal canin does not contain any of these ingredients. The vegetarian is just that vegetarian but it rules everything out- the duck and potato is great and does not contain any of these items either but it does have an alternate protein source which is duck and if you are one of the unlucky ones that has a dog allergic to animal protein than this diet would not work for you. You need to keep the dog on one of these diets for a MINIMUM of 8-12 weeks, that is how long it takes for all the old food to clear out of the dogs system. Make sure not to give any treats either because then you have to start all over. You can however give them sweet potato, baked potato any veggies really other than corn, any fruits that you want as well. Make sure to change their HW preventative too because the popular preventatives contain either beef chicken or pork flavors, switch to either a topical like Revolution or the Advalntage multi or you can have your vet order heartgard non flavored pills during your food trial. If you start to see results than your dog has a food allergy. If you want to find out exactly which food ingredients the dog is allergic to you can add things in only after the food trial. So lets say you see great results and you are on week 10- go ahead and add one ingredient from the allergy list like chicken but it needs to be real chicken and add it to the food they are eating so that you are not changing anything other then adding one thing in. Do this for a period of two weeks. If the dog has no reaction to that chicken go ahead and add one more thing like cheese for another two weeks and then so on. If you see a reaction within that two week period take that item away and continue to give only the royal canin until the dog clears up and then move on to another ingredient.
Environmental are a whole nother topic but food allergies are the easiest to treat so before you waste your money trying all this hollistic stuff and other food sources try to rule out a food allergy, worse case scenario you see no results and you know you have followed the food trial correctly so then you can rule out a food allergy and know that it is environmental. If your dog has problems all year round it would be a food allergy- that is not to say that they do not have some environmental on top of that but environmental are seasonal and the dogs are effected with the seasons.
Hope this can help atleast one person. I have made believers out of many :)

[jc bolton]

I HAVE TO AGREE THUS FAR, I HAVE TWO FRENCHIES MY MALE SOMETIMES DEVELOPS WHAT APPEARS TO BE HIVES AND SOMETIMES HE GETS THESE DIPPLES ON HIS BACK THAT LOOK LIKE HE WAS SHOT WITH BIRD SHOT, MY FEMALE GETS RED SPOTS ON HER UNDERSIDE AND OCCASIONAL A SPOT HERE OR THERE ON HER FACE FOLDS. I SWITCHED THEM TO ROYAL CANIN BULLDOG 24 BECAUSE THEY HAD GAS SO BAD YOU COULDNT LIVE IN THE HOUSE WITH THEM, I HAVE TO SAY THAT NOW THAT HAS BEEN ELIMINATED AND THEIR COATS ARE BETTER. I BELEIVE I WILL TRY THE SUGGESTED VEGETARIAN OR DUCK /POTATO SINCE I AM ALREADY HAPPY WITH THIS FOOD BRAND