Severe Skin Problems

[ReddyGoose]

I have a 5 year old Golden Retriever who used to be beautiful.  Now, his sides are bare, and his tail looks like a rat tail.  He's now starting to make sores on his body from chewing.  My vet put him on 1.5 mg Triamcinalone twice a day, and he's been on that for over a year.  He's also been taking two chlorpheniramine antihistamine pills a day, but things seem to be getting worse if anything.  He was on Iams large breed dog food for the first couple years of his life, and when the allergies started, we switched him to lamb and rice to see if it was his food, but that didn't help.  We've also tried Benadryl with no results.  My vet says that there is not much more we can do, but I've read about the yeast pills, and other medications.  The anti-itch shampoo doesn't seem to help much, and after a month or so on fish oil, his allergies were the worst they've been, so we took him off the fish oil.  Any suggestions?  

[Katra23]

Sometimes you may have to treat with a antinbotic for a long period of time. Not just the two weeks but six weeks or more.

[gotdaddysear]

You mentioned the yeast pills....

Try going to your health food store and asking for nutritional brewer's yeast flakes (I like the large ones).  They often come in bins so you can get as much as you like, but if not they are sold in containers also.  Take some home and offer it to your dog.  If he needs it, he will eat it without forcing it on him.  It contains B vitamins and is great for nerves and growing hair (I use it and shave my legs more frquently than I like, but the benefits outweigh the inconvenience).  It's usually incuded in most pet foods, but sometimes more is needed for certain conditions.  It may take a couple of weeks to see hair growth, but you may see the scratching/chewing slow down first.

Fresh aloe vera gel can help with the healing of the sores.  Cut off a leaf, split the skin and scrape out the gel.  It's a little messy, but keep rubbing it in until absorbed or drizzle it on if he doesn't want you to touch them.  If the gel seems to "dry out" just break the skin on it and it will be useful still.

[Jaybay]

First, get a second opinion from a different vet.  I'm not saying you have a bad vet, but sometimes you need a different set of eyes on a problem to figure it out.

What dosage of benadryl have you tried?  Most people use too little to make a difference.  In dogs, the dosage is 1 mg per pound of body weight.  

Did your current vet do a skin scraping to rule out or confirm the presence of mange mites?