help please - skin problems and itching by white frenchie

Mr Bentley · Oct 6, 2016

Hey

I´m from germany, so I try that you understand me :lmao:

I have a white frenchie and his name is Bentley. He has many problems with his skin. We are so helpless about his 'allergies'.. No vet can help us, they also don't know what he has for allergies or whitch disease he has. The vet gave Bentley, since he was 4 month old, 'apoquel' (now he is 11 month old). Photo at the Start of itching:

The problem is, tablets, shampoo or to change the food aren't realy helpful.. The itching is not going.
It is so hard for me to see that he is not happy. He is scratching his skin so much, that he is bleeding.

Have you any idea how I can help him?

Thank you for every answer..

2bullymama · Oct 6, 2016

Welcome to FBN .... poor little guy!

My first thought is mites... has your vet tested for mange? it is s skin scrape that would be needed. My second thought is environmental allergies, meaning grass, pollen something in the air or a cleaner you are using in the home.

What protein are you feeding... chicken, beef, cuck,? it might be good to try a different one, also avoid white potatoes as his chin looks yeasty to me. Does he have any type of odor/smell ... how are his ears?

davidh · Oct 6, 2016

Sorry your baby is so miserable. If you are feeding food with chicken in it, try a different food that does not have chicken in it. Also since the apoquel isn't working, try Tremaril P, it works pretty well for one of ours. Also give Benedryl three times a day. Give one 25mg tab each time. If he gets really bad you can double the dose and it will not hurt him. I hope this helps.

Honeys Owners · Oct 6, 2016

Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. I would also add that putting a t shirt on mr. bentley and even an Elizabethan collar will prevent him from scratching and licking as much. Make sure you wipe down his paws and coat every time he comes back inside. Since he's been on apoquel, which suppresses his immune system, his skin should be scraped and checked for mange or ringworm since he is more prone to getting infections. You can also add on an antihistamine like benadryl and allergy shots on top of the apoquel although they aren't as strong. He might benefit from taking him off apoquel and switching to prednisone or temaril-p (prednisolone and an antihistamine), for a while, and then cycling back to apoquel.

Mr Bentley · Oct 7, 2016

[MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION]: Thank you for the quick answer!
The vet has only tested his dung of parasites, negative. I think the environmental allergies could be the problem. The vet said, that we could make an test of allergies, but this is very expensive and the test isn't realy accurate (maybe 60% of allergies are right by the test).
I have changed the food every 2 weeks, to look at his reaktions. He becomes fish, chicken, rabbit, horse, beef. Then I feeded him with or without rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes.
Under his arms he smells a little bit sour and its a little bit clammy. It looks like he is soak with sweat.
Bentleys ears are very quick dirty, but normal skin colour.
[MENTION=4]davidh[/MENTION]: Thank you very much!
I will try tremaril p and benedryl, that is a good idea. Thank you for the dosage of medication.

[MENTION=2100]Honeys Owners[/MENTION]: Thank you for your help!
Bentley is wearing a t shirt in the evening or to sleep. I am afraid that a shirt scrubs? Monday I will drive to the vet and tell him, that I want to try the temaril p and he should scraped his skin an check this out. Also I want to buy an Elizabethan collar. Have the tablets any negative side effects?

I read that 'nuvet plus' will be a very good product. What do you think about it?

Jakeyjake · Oct 7, 2016

First of all Apoquel is not recommended for dogs under 12 months of age, so I don't know why your vet would recommend that for him. When switching his diet give it some time. It could take a couple of months for any improvement to show. I would recommend a grain free, limited ingredient diet with no white potato. Also try a shampoo with chlorhexidine to help calm his skin down. You can bathe him one to two times per week. Good luck and I hope you can find him some relief soon. Both of mine have pretty severe allergies and are on Apoquel, so I can totally relate.

Honeys Owners · Oct 7, 2016

Those hard Elizabethan collars are kind of antiquated. There are soft ones nowadays that are more comfortable, but I don't know which brands are best. My dog has some allergies too, but not as bad as yours, so here is my regime:
1)Cetrizine ( Reactine ) 10mg daily
2)Clean wrinkles daily with Malacetic wipes, and occasionally wash with Curaseb ( chlorhexidine and ketoconazole ) shampoo and then sudacream ( zinc oxide ) ointment.
3)My dog's ears are constantly dirty with ? wax, but I originally had her checked at the vet to make sure they weren't perforated, and now I'm cleaning her ears out about twice a week with Zymox otic. I find that quite expensive, so I'm experimenting now with a home made solution made with 3oz witch hazel, 1 oz white 5% vinegar, 3/4 tsp boric acid powder, 1/2 teaspoon povidone 10% liquid

Honeys Owners · Oct 7, 2016

I forgot to mention I also wipe down my dogs paws every time she comes in from outside, and also soak her paws in a weak solution of povidone and water to " calm them down " once or twice a week.

Honeys Owners · Oct 7, 2016

Have you ever tried a commercial frozen raw dog food? eg Stella and Chewy's frozen patties? I hear raw dog food is good for severe allergies and when it's frozen properly or high pressure processed it won't transmit tapeworms.

Mr Bentley · Oct 8, 2016

[MENTION=600]Jakeyjake[/MENTION]: Thank you!
Oh, realy? I don't know that apoquel is only for dogs over 12 months :facepalm:
At the time of the beginning by Bentleys itching, the vet told me that I must give him the food only 2 weeks and then I have to change. Now I know it was too short to see any positive reaktion.
Today I have started a new change of the food. I will give him 8 weeks (or to short?) cangoroo and amaranth, this food he hasn't eat before.
I'm sorry to hear that you have such problems too with your sweeties

@Honey:
So perfect! Thank you for the solution! You are right, it is very expensive to recover the dog.. But if he is well, that's the best thing in life

Yes, I have tried the frozen raw dog food by petman and proCani. Bentley realy hate the menu by proCani.. but he love the meat by petman. The food by Stella and Chewy's I haven't seen it bevore in germany.

Today I have called the (I don't know the right word in english..) doctor of veterinary medicine and made an appointment on 07.11. (sooo long time to wait..)
He makes a bioresonance analysis. I'm so excited to see the result :wiggle:

2bullymama · Oct 8, 2016

Please keep us posted on how he is doing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

WeeDex · Oct 9, 2016

I can't really add much to the great advice above, but just to say that Dexter is also white and when his skin has looked like that it has been food related. He is also allergic to dust mites. I understand the vet saying that allergy testing is not completely effective, but it's worth a shot to provide you with some guidance. We did environmental allergies through our vet, and food testing on our own via Nutriscan.org. It gave us a good understanding of how to help him.

It's still a battle for us, but having switched to raw and using medicated shampoo and wipes mentioned above we are getting there. He currently is on pork (80% meat, 10% bone, 10% offal) and we didn't give him anything else at all until he'd been eating it for a while and I saw how he reacted. I now add in broccoli, kale, spinach to give him a bit of veg. No root veg as it causes him yeast issues, as do potatoe, rice etc. As plain as possible is the only way we are managing.

He sleeps on cotton sheets now, and I can wash it at 90 degrees to help with the dust mite issues. It also helps him with the sweating issues, not being on the artificial fabric.

Good luck with it - I completely sympathise with how hard it is to get this under control.

Mr Bentley · Oct 9, 2016

[MENTION=1504]WeeDex[/MENTION]:
Thank you very much! My vet told me, that french bullys or pugs don't have to eat pork.
It makes me so angry to see how badly I was advised by the vet.. wrong medication, wrong information of changing food, wrong information how could eat my dog.. :bang:

I also changed all sleeping places from him on cotton. But he likes to crawl every night under my bed, so there isn't 100% dust free zone

WeeDex · Oct 10, 2016

Mr Bentley said:
[MENTION=1504]WeeDex[/MENTION]:
Thank you very much! My vet told me, that french bullys or pugs don't have to eat pork.
It makes me so angry to see how badly I was advised by the vet.. wrong medication, wrong information of changing food, wrong information how could eat my dog.. :bang:

I also changed all sleeping places from him on cotton. But he likes to crawl every night under my bed, so there isn't 100% dust free zone

Even though our vet is great, they don't support raw feeding, and - in my opinion - are too quick to offer drugs instead of actually looking for the source of the problem. Of course some dogs will always need drugs to help control allergies. Dexter takes 3 Piriton a day to help with dust mites.

It can take a few weeks for the food to start to help, so you are doing the right thing with trying the kangaroo. Stick with it, feed nothing else (no treats unless it's kangaroo) and see how he's doing in 4 weeks or so.

Vetimed

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Synergy-La...6091758&sr=8-2&keywords=medicated+dog+shampoo

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Synergy-La...6091989&sr=8-3&keywords=medicated+dog+shampoo

These were recommended to me, and I'm using them all just now. The pads work - and work really well. Dexters smelly, yeasty feet were looking great after just a few days. I'm using the shampoo and spray just now. And as I think may have been mentioned, Sudocrem really soothes. It also makes a big mess of carpets and settees, so best to pop a t-shirt on him and keep him somewhere carpet free for a while!!

Honeys Owners · Oct 10, 2016

Great advice !!! You can get general chlorpheniramine 4mg tabs ( made by Novopharm ) at a pharmacy,instead of Piriton, 100 tabs for less than 10 dollars. They usually have to order it in for you. I think it's easier to give cetirizine 10mg once daily than the Piriton 2 or 3 times a day. Both chlorpheniramine and cetirizine are antihistamines and are completely harmless, compared to all the side effects you can get with Apoquel and prednisone, so are preferable if your dog is not extremely allergic.