Looking for natural remedies for dogs's itching and kidney issues

[sgtanthony]

We have two rescues - one is a five year old female, Bichon/Poodle mix and the other is a year old Maltese female.  Both have major allergy issues, i.e. constant biting, licking, chewing, etc. I have tried nearly all of the limited ingredient foods, no people food, probiotics, fish oil, supplements, etc., with no help.  Little one is one 1/4 a Benedryl 2x a day and the bigger one is on Apoquel.  Neither are helping and according to,the vet, the only other option is steroids.  For obvious reasons, that is not an option.  The older one had the expensive allergy panel.  We make sure she doesn't have any of the allergy foods, but she is allergic to grass and some trees, so that can't be avoided. The young one we just got.  We have no done the allergy panel on her, but I suspect she might be allergic to grass too.  She loves rolling around in it.  We just found out the young one has kidney disease too, so we are heartbroken about it.  Vet wants to put her on Royal Canin KD, for the kidney issues and after I asked, she said there was a supplement that has bacteria in and helps slow down the disease progression.  She also wants to put the older one one the WD formula, as he cholesterol is sky high and she is a couple of pounds overweight.  We don't know how since she is the pickiest eater in the world and if we can get her to eat once a day, it's a good day,  Can anyone recommend something natural for the allergies that won't affect the kidney issues in the little one, as well as something for the kidney disease? Thanks.

Kir

[kerk2]

You have given 'pro biotics'?  What dosages? Was it bought refrigerated from a health food store? Low doses and/or low quality products are a waste of time and money. I never buy acidophulis that isn't kept refrigerated. And that is only done at health food stores. Even then, the strength could be diminished since time of packaging.

If it were me, I would be trying to combat the skin problem with a dose of 50 billion bacteria count daily, mixed in milk, for a 50 lb dog. It might help, it might not. Unless you try you won't know. And you would need to do it for a week.

You might also consider bee pollen. Go here for some info:

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12765/how-bee-pollen-could-cure-your-allergies.html

[kerk2]

Excellent post.

[Benjicarol]

1.  If you are someone who can carefully follow directions, buy a book that tells you how to make your own kidney diet dog foo.  It is doable; my dog has chronic kidney disease, diagnosed almost 2 years ago and is doing better on home made food, which he loves & energetically eats.  But it is very important that you add in the correct supplements that the author vet tells you, in addition to the food.  I follow the recipe from the book Dr. Pitcairn's Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, a great book.  He has info re allergies in it too.  Most allergies are related to the "bad" stuff commonly found in almost all kibbles, as well as a great many canned dogfoods.  If you don't want to make the dogs' food yourself, I think next best is the frozen  dog food, they sell at some pet stores and at Whole Foods. PS: Any dog guardian needs to carefully assess all the ingredients in any dog food.  Particularly bad are " meat byproducts"  which can mean feathers, claws, chicken feces!, etc.,  totally non nutritive, but add bulk and sometimes also add to the protein "count,"  but your dog can not absorb them as protein. Also problematic, yet common, are "meal"  ingredients, like "chicken, fish,  lamb, etc. meal.  Avoid them.  Learn about good canine nutrition, if you want your dogs to get and stay as healthy as they can.