Living with a Dog That Has Severe Allergies: A Personal Story

Well, probably not. I mean, for sure it’s emotionally harder on me. But he is miserable.

So, we’ve been struggling with this, basically, since he was six months old. We’ve been tackling symptoms one at a time, but looking back on that post, they’re all here again: rashes, itchiness, running eyes, ear infections, barfing, diarrhea. Currently, his eyelids are puffy, and he has two sores on the insides of his thighs. He woke up this morning with his left eye completely shut because of the amount of gunk built up. The skin under his chin is broken out and swollen. He has little hives under his armpits, and he can’t. stop. itching. That’s why he’s in the cone – the scratching and licking were making him (and us) insane.

Could it be a new food allergy? Maybe? We have him on a limited ingredient diet, but we did try a different brand of a protein he did fine with previously. We also bought a different brand of coconut oil.

Could it be environmental? Maybe? He had such similar symptoms before, and we’re in a totally different climate, so maybe there’s something here that irritates him more than in Indiana? I guess we’ll see if anything starts to clear up next week.

Mostly likely it’s a combination of factors (again), and all we’ve been able to do is tackle one symptom at a time.

For now, he’s on a Benadryl regimen and will be in the cone. We also gave him a bath last night with the Organic Oscar Holistic Bite & Itch Relief shampoo and the Aloe conditioner, hoping to soothe some of the itching. I have a package of skin wipes, too, that I think we’ll utilize every time he comes back in the house, hopefully to get rid of any pollen or allergens that stick to his fur. We’ve been using a combo of Cortisone and Aquaphor for his sores and his feet, but he HATES them, so now when he sees me coming, he runs and hides. Which breaks my heart.

Last night the poor guy was so sad and sulky. We let him sleep in bed with us, snuggled up with his Comfy Cone on. And, at 5:00 this morning, he barfed on us.

My plan for now is to write out his history – looking through it all, he’s seen three different vets about this – so I want to compile it all into a comprehensive story and have a meeting with our new/fourth vet in Indiana. My poor dog’s allergies are killing me. And him. We need a better plan… I mean, other than sticking him in a bubble.

Anyone else going through this? I know dogs all react differently, but have you found a solution for a food/environmental allergy combo? Would LOVE to know what’s working for you!