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Lhasa with allergies
in Pets
She's around 7 years old and over the past year we've seen a considerable increase in her licking and having skin issues. This past summer she had a staph infection due to excessive licking and itching (it literally developed over a weekend we were not home) and was so bad she couldn't move. 2 weeks of meds later and a totally different dog.
We've tried switching foods, but have a hard time getting her to eat anything hypoallergenic. Any other thoughts? We try and have her groomed regularly, or I keep her hair cut short myself and bathe (not too often though) her because she gets carsick and we live on an island.
I know lhasa's are known to have common skin issues, so I'm just seeking any other experience. Thanks!
Re: Lhasa with allergies
Food can definitely play a role (thoug environmental allergies are another possibility). Which foods have you tried that didn't work? I would start with a grain-free food, and if you think there's a possibility she's allergic to a common protein source (i.e. chicken), go with a fish-based grain-free food like Wellness Core Ocean or TOTW Pacific Stream. Many foods that are marketed as "hypoallergenic" have lots of fillers and aren't very good quality, so be careful with those.
In terms of her not eating a particular food, do you free feed her (leave food out all day) or have scheduled meal times? Free feeding can lead to a picky eater, so I would do scheduled meal times with whatever food you try so you can evaluate the results.
Right now she's eating Purina simply because we tried numerous other kinds and she just won't eat and becomes very depressed. When I brought her to the vet he said that the staph was likely from flea bites or other insect bites, and the deer flies were terrible here last Summer. The flea bite theory surprised me because I never see fleas anywhere...the house, dog or cat.
Also, she had quite a few ticks pulled off of her last year. I've been very wary about using flea or tick chemicals on the animals because of a pretty severe reaction with another dog we had. This 80 pound, 8 month old lab/mastiff mix totally lost the use of his hind legs for 2 weeks after putting Advandax on him.
Is it possible that we have fleas in the house without ever seeing a single one?
What other kinds of food have you tried? Purina is a very low quality food, so I personally would want to switch to something better. What do you mean she "gets depressed"? Is there a change in her energy, behavior, coat, eyes, etc.? Also, what is your feeding schedule/routine? How did you switch from one food to another (gradually or all at once? if gradually, over how many days/weeks?)? how long did you stick with each food (days, weeks, months)? It's really hard to provide suggestions without having specifics.
I'm no help on the flea issue - we've never had that problem. I do know there are more natural flea/tick prevention methods that some of the posters here use. Diotmaceous earth, maybe?
Whenever we changed foods it was always gradual. We've tried food from the vet, suggestions from other people with sensitive dogs, even talked to people at the petfood stores. I can't list all of the brands we've tried because she's always been sensitive to certain things (one treat gave her ear infections) so we've tried different things over the course of the years. It's just recent that I've noticed it getting worse with no real changes in her diet. Brands I recall her not liking are Blue, Science Diet, Wellness and Iams. When given these foods she will go days without eating, she doesn't run around and play. She barely looks at us.
I know Purina is low quality, but all I've been doing is wasting money on food she refuses to eat.
We feed her once in the morning and once in the evening, usually she eats it within the hour of being fed.
why do you think it is a food allergy? Our last dog had environmental allergies and had all of the same symptoms. She was on benadryl the majority of her life. When she got older the benadryl no longer worked and she was on prednisone.
I don't know for certain, that's why I said at first that I wanted to get some other experiences with lhasa's and allergies. Last summer we tried benedryl when her itching first started (before the staph) and it didn't seem to work.
I'm really just trying to get an idea of all the possibilities. I live on an island so getting to a vet takes planning, I like to be prepared.
Is Lyme disease a problem in your area? Has she been tested since you pulled the ticks off of her? One of the symptoms is itchy skin.
Is Lyme disease a problem in your area? Has she been tested since you pulled the ticks off of her? One of the symptoms is itchy skin.
Is Lyme disease a problem in your area? Has she been tested since you pulled the ticks off of her? One of the symptoms is itchy skin.
Edit: Sorry for the multi-posts I've been in excel too much today, I kept hitting alt+enter to try to get a new paragraph. All I wanted to add was I agree with Caz on the diet comments. You can usually get free samples from boutique pet food stores of the better brands. We had luck with Taste of the Wild, but there is more information about other brands in the FAQs. Previously, we'd had Gloria on Purena, which we were told was "like having your dog eat Chinese food everyday." There was a huge difference in her coat (and weight) when we switched her.
Ditto the comments on potential environmental allergies - that's definitely a possibility. I don't have experience with that, so I'm not sure how to figure out if that's the cause. Lyme disease should definitely be ruled out as well.
For food, have you tried any grain-free food? If not, I personally would start there. As PP said, you can usually get sample bags from local stores so you don't have to buy a huge bag and waste money. Vet-recommended food is usually poor quality (unless your vet is awesome and doesn't rec Science Diet/Purina/Royal Canin and stuff like that), so I would do your own research on anything the vet recommends.
My older pug was on terrible foods (Purina with previous owner then Science Diet with the rescue), and he had horrible skin issues (red, itchy, inflamed, even bald patches where his fur fell out and wouldn't grow back). He also wasn't much of an eater, picking at his food and never finishing his meal. We switched him to Wellness Core when we adopted him, and it was a total 180. No more skin problems; his fur grew in thick and plush, and he has a much healthier appetite. He's also at a healthier weight (he was about 3-4 lbs. overweight, which is a lot for a dog that should be about 20 lbs.). GL!