Allergy - Sadie has spots on her belly

[Sadiebear]

The Vet gave her antibiotics and steroids but they not working. She itches and licks her belly and bits a lot, and her little red blotches are worse in the morning, fading as day goes on. Vet reckons an allergy, but I wonder if the symptoms sound familiar to anyone?

[Lynne L]

YES - this sounds familiar ! Paddy gets itchy red bumps on his chest when his allergies flare up and worse this time of year as one of his allergens is grass pollen! He has piriton (half a tab morning and night with feed) which helps,anti-allergy diet and I find Sudcream helps to sooth the bumps. Also wiping down with damp towel to remove pollen from coat after walks or avoiding long grass if you think that's the problem.
Don't know if this helps
Lynne

[bracken]

Bless her, so no advice  

I would take her back to the vets on monday if she's no better   Have you taken her anywhere different or given her a new food or human snack that is different?
I would keep a diary of events and things eaten for a while  

[louis mum]

Alfie is being investigated at the moment, yes the symptoms are more than familiar.  I found dermacton cream really eased the itching, plus piriton. We are using a 'novel food' at the moment, mashed potato and white fish. He has cleared up a treat but it has taken time  We have had blood tests done too, all came back negative, however they can throw up false negatives  so we are non the wiser. We are suspecting food though as he has cleared up after a few months on the new diet with absolutely no additional treats etc. I think our next stage is to start introducing other foods again to see the response.

Its horrid isnt it watching them chew themselves  I hope you get to the bottom of it soon 

[speedyjaney]

We went through all this with Jessie and found she was intolerant of Pork, rice (both brown and white), soyabean and sugarbeet!

Try finding a food that doesnt contain at least one of those.....after almost a year on a vet diet (Royal Canin SC24) Burns introduced the maize variety and she is doing very well on the fish and maize....

Janey

PS : Jessie didnt show up as allergic to Pork through the tests...we found this out when we did controlled tests...

[Sadiebear]

Thank you all for your help, it's actually a relief to find it quite common. I do like the piriton idea, but cream I'm sure she would just lick off and I hate those collars She's a lovely girl but a very fussy eater, we have to chop and change feeds constantly as she gets bored with the same diet. She's "into" chicken in a big way at the mo.

[louis mum]

Thank you all for your help, it's actually a relief to find it quite common. I do like the piriton idea, but cream I'm sure she would just lick off and I hate those collars She's a lovely girl but a very fussy eater, we have to chop and change feeds constantly as she gets bored with the same diet. She's "into" chicken in a big way at the mo.

The cream stinks so Alfie didnt even try to lick it  There is a million things it could be, chicken being one of them. Has your vet suggested food intolerances?

[Lynne L]

Ref possible dietry allergy - it is quite time consuming to introduce exclusion diet but if you suspect it might be food related, it is the only way to find out what the rogue food is. Although it is tempting to keep switching foods(especially if they are fussy eaters and we know all about that!) it makes it much harder to pinpoint the problem. Your vet should be able to advise you on how to go about it but it took us about 4 - 6 weeks on an exclusion regime to clear Paddy's allergy (it takes quite a few weeks to clear the allergen out of their digestive system) but since eliminating beef/lamb and starting on an anti-allergy diet he has been a different dog.
Hope you get to the bottom of it soon. Malasab shampoo is another remedy we tried for skin soothing - from the vet.
Lynne

[KatieJean]

If its not the food have you washed her bedding using a fabric conditioner
One of ours was allergic to that and it might be why she is worse in the morning if she has been laying on her bed.

[Sadiebear]

Thanks all, we are trying piriton half a tab in morning for now, and we will watch food, although all she'll eat at the mo is Hi-Life complete, will see how it goes. It has settled down a lot now, but he belly is still a bit red. Thanks again everyone.

And we always use a fabric conditioner on her blankets, so that will stop now. They are worse than babies!