another possible allergy question

[janice]

My 11 month old french bulldog is constantly licking his front paws, scratching his face and ears. Now recently vomitting. I have only had him 3 weeks and feel completely stressed out. Have him on eukanuba puppy lamb and rice. Have made a vet appointment but find all they ever do is treat the symptoms and not the problem. More steriods and anti biotics.

[Frenchiebyassociation]

Janice, you should take your pup off the food for now. The best thing to do is either feed him plain white rice and chicken (boiled) and maybe a little bit of pumpkin (the real stuff not the pie filling.) My pup (not a Frenchie) had a lot of vomiting after meals and I was told to stop all feedings for at least a day and slowly introduce white rice to her and work myself up to other items.

Now having an allergy dog in the pack it really sounds like you have the same issues (and possibly a yeast infection on top of that.) If the vet has been giving you a lot of antibiotics for your pup it is very possible that may be the case. I'm not certain, but it is a possibility to look into as well as the allergies.

My question for you is this: does the antibiotics help at all? How about the steroids? From what the vet has told us, steroids will help with the environmental allergies but not so much with the food allergies. If the antibiotics does help--there is a good chance part of the itching is due to a staph infection brought on from all the scratching. Once again, you know your dog better than me, I'm just trying to flesh out possibilities.

If you suspect a food allergy it will take about a month or so before the new food will go into effect.

I would suggest Blue Buffalo but since you aren't in the states--I really don't know what you have to work with in terms of dog foods. If you must, I'm sure there are some online venues you can check out to have food deliver to you.

I know the number one ingredient that dogs are allergic to is corn. My dog is allergic to corn, rabbit, turkey, beets, and yeast--and that's just his foods (there's also the random grass they sometimes throw in foods that he's allergic to.) He has a whole host of environmental allergies (unfortunately, he took after me.)

[janice]

thank you to everyone that replied. Wilbur became very poorly fast last night so I took him to emergency vet as I felt he was getting dehydrated with all the vomitting. Well to cut a long story short he had surgery this morning and a small piece of plastic was removed from his stomach. So fingers crossed the vomitting has stopped. Now back to the allergies......... I feel I am going to get to know you all very well soon.

[Karen Bringol]

Oh wow, I sure hope that this was the problem and that he'll be okay now. I have Lovey on Purina ProPlan Select Turkey & Barley and 20 mgs of amitryptiline a day. Sure has helped with the bumps and the feet licking. Good luck with your boy during his recovery.

[karin hamlin]

that just goes to show that we should all listen to our instincts! we can never be too careful with our little charges. way to go with seeking medical treatment!!!
let us know how he heals and how the allergies fare.
bye for now,
karin

[janice]

after my shift last night I went into see Wilbur and he is healing well. They are trying him on solids today and depending how he gets on we could have him home tonight or sunday morning. I have to say when I went into see him he wasn,t at all interested in me just wanted cuddles from the nurse, we have only had him 3 weeks and i feel he has been through so much in such a short time and the vet hasn,t begun with the allergies.

[Frenchiebyassociation]

Oh wow, what a turn of events! I really hope the plastic being removed helps him out--the poor boy.

[janice]

well here is an update on Wilbur. This forum is no longer about his allergies still to sort that but now about his vomitting. He had the plastic removed and the following day we were allowed to see him. When we arrived he vomitted again so yesterday morning he went back into surgery to have his pyloris widened. I feel so sorry for him. He has only been with us for 4 weeks now and one of them at the vets, they are trying everything but don,t have his history and we were told we had a healthy dog when we got him. Appears not to be the case.

[Frenchiebyassociation]

Poor Wilbur. I hope he gets better soon. I hate for him to be in so much pain.

[Adam and Jennie Young]

My female Suki is having the same issues. But it did not start until we switched her from Beneful puppy food to Imes Puppy food. We have an appointment with the vet this week. She also is getting bumps all down her back.

[janice]

Wilbur has had his surgery. we were not allowed to see him today as when he gets excited he vomits. I pray this is only because he has had surgery and nothing more. This has caused so much stress to our family. I will post an update tomorrow when we speak to our vet. thanks again to everyone for their concern about Wilbur.

[FrogDogz]

Janice, this sounds like pyloric stenosis, NOT allergies. More on PS here --

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2090&aid=468

Excerpt:

What are the symptoms?

Intermittent vomiting within one to two hours of eating is the most common sign of pyloric stenosis. The food will appear undigested, pretty much looking just as it did when eaten. The sphincter may not always be constricting or spastic, therefore, some meals may pass without vomiting. Additionally, liquid diets or water will pass through the narrowed sphincter more easily than bulky foods. In severe cases, weight loss may develop.

Illustrations (from a human website - people can get PS, too)

Note that surgery to correct pyloric stenosis can often have a very good outcome. Fingers crossed for Wilbur - give him some time!

[Esther Lim]

I just want to share my experiences with Cola's allergies. It took me about 1.5 yrs to find out what he is allergic to. We went through steriods and more steriods and antibiotics but it only solve the problem temporarily. We decided to put him on a skin test where one patch of his skin is shaven down and different allergens are introduced to find what he is allergic to. The final verdict is he is allergic to a few things, top of the chart is dust mites and moths, ants etc..

He is on immuno-therapy and has been on the programe for 2 over yrs now. I put him on a barf diet and with the help of the vet, we found that he is allergic to pork. Barf diet is easier to determine what protein he is allergic to as you will only introduce one kind of protein and feed only that for a few days or weeks. It allows you to observe the reaction. Usually, if there is food allergy, it will only be 1 or at most 2 kinds of protein according to my vet.

Wtook out pork completely and his allergy has been under control since. He will have breakouts at times since he has environmental allergy, but I'm glad that it is kept at bay. He does not need antibiotics or steriods everyday. Thank God for that.

There are a few things about allergies which I learnt along the way. If he needs to poo more times in a day or suffer ear infections these are some signs for allergy. Now that he is eating the 'right things' he only poos once or 2 times a day. I remembered he used to poo up to 4 times a day. I think I read somewhere that this is one way the body tries to get rid of the allergen. I think that explanation makes some sense.

I don't feed pineapple or oranges to him because he will vomit. I don't know why but this happens to my previous late dog as well.

I hope my experience helped you a little. Allergy can be a very painful and long battle but hang in there. You may want to try food trial first. If allergy persisted throughout, it may be a sign that he has environmental allergy. Then you may decide if you want to go for a skin test.

Cheers
Esther