rash
hello everyone, I am new to this site, I have a 4 year old bully i have been going crazy with a so called rash , yeast under his armpits under his neck red looking and sometimes rust color, i have changed his food several times (no luck) took him to the dermatologist, she thinks it is allergy , put him on Atopica seemed a little better but i am not convinced it is allergy he gets this always in the same spots and between his toes seems sore and does not want to walk much, if someone has the same issues with their bully and has an answer ,please help, disgusted in RI
thanks
thanks
Comments
Based on what you've described it sounds exactly like the reactions caused from a food allergy. Try staying completely away from grain.
Follow the guidance provided on the link below and I guarantee you'll see a difference in a matter of weeks (if not sooner).
http://bulliesofnc.com/bull-terrier-nutrition
Additionally, here's a past thread on the same subject that may provide you with a lot more information:
http://www.bulliesofnc.com/BTforum/discussion/10/skin-allergies#Item_33
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
we are also new to this forum, but we have been proud bully owners for quite some time now. Sad to hear about your problem.
Although she eventually reached the age of 14, our late BT Fancy had suffered from a lot health issues in her life - among them a lot of skin problems caused by allergies.
We had to learn the hard way that - as some of the others have already stated - allergies often are strongly related to nutrition as a very probable trigger!
The people here have already posted some great links to sources of information.
HILL's Prescription Diet was what finally helped our dog - A LOT! But that does not necessarily mean that this is the cure also for your dog. I just wanted to mention it, in case you have not heard of it before.
We were also successful with some other remedies.
Our vet had told us about possible triggers for dog allergies and mentioned that this is a huge problem especially for dogs in Florida, because of the warm climate year round.
He also mentioned already at that time that nutrition CAN be a contributing factor. But we did not see the point in that thesis at first and he did not put a lot of emphasis on it.
We strongly believed for a long time that the problems are related to environmental aspects, so we relied on trying to keep our dog off grass, which was really hard for her. We only allowed her to "go" on concrete and we bought 2 pairs of dog shoes to avoid skin contact with grass even if she stepped on it accidentally.
We chose Ruffwaer, great stuff! The only durable and fitting dog shoes I know of, everything else we tested did not work. I'd suggest to keep a camera ready when you break your dog into SHOES for the first time, chances are it will be a funny sight.
She had already had skin problems back in Germany - a completely different herbal environment from the one in Florida where we live right now. On the other hand we kept feeding her the exact same brand of dog food, we had fed her before back in Germany after we had moved to Florida. Looking back I think these should have been THE clues for us that her problems probably were at least NOT ONLY related to environmental aspects.
During the first time we relied on steroid therapy, always with a bad conscience about giving her such a harsh treatment. But the symptoms vanished and we could lower the dose and eventually quit the drug after a short while. We kept using the shoes and started to wash her feet, legs and belly every single time we went out with her with a medicated shampoo (Chlorhexidine 4%).
We also bathed her once a week when she had a lot of spots with that same shampoo, which is disinfecting and helps the skin to heal.
Later another vet had also suggested to give Benadryl to soothe the itch. We have tried this for a short time, but cannot tell, if that really made a lot of a difference.
The bathing and shoes always seemed to help for some time. First when her symptoms vanished we ceased these steps, because Fancy did not exactly LOVE wearing those shoes, she just tolerated that we wanted her to wear them. And she also did not really like bathing.
After a lot of back and forth with recurrence, shoes, bathing and steroids, we tried to check out other and additional alternatives, because all we did seemed to work for some time, but not permanently. The allergies always came back.
This lead us to consider two more things:
1. Change in nutrition
This story is quickly told: After we had changed the nutrition to Blue Buffalo and later Hill's Prescription Diet (Allergy), added Fish Oil and stuck to the habit with the shoes and the bathing (we used a vet recommended mild oatmeal shampoo for bathing when no spots were present, but also be careful with oatmeal, it can also be an allergy trigger for some dogs and there are other mild shampoos available) things worked fine for her.
2. Atopica
The recommendations about ATOPICA promised something like a "miracle medicine" to us in the first place, while we had been told that steroids have the potential of shortening our dog's life.
This is now a matter of the heart for me and the reason why I want to speak a little bit more about it.
When we became too scared of the steroids being administered over and over again, we finally considered giving Atopica.
The vet had recommended it, basically only telling us that many dogs do very good on this treatment and no more steroids will be needed, the medication had to be administered continually, but with a gradually lowered dose over time.
Other than that we did not get a lot of information, only that this therapy supposedly was quite new, but MORE GENTLE AND EFFECTIVE than steroids. All this information sounded good enough to us to accept the huge price and give it a try.
If it would work, it would be worth every single cent.
Boy, were we wrong!
We decided that we wanted to know more about this drug and our research turned out to be an eye opener to us.
We found out that the active ingredient - cyclosporine - is used in human medicine for cancer treatment, after organ transplants, in skin disease therapy (e.g. heavy psoriasis) and other indications. It is an immune suppressant, which means it does inhibit the immune system from reacting to triggers. In simple words, allergies are an overreaction of the immune system to substances, which would normally be tolerated by the body and not provoke any immune reactions (such as inflammation, swelling and other symptoms).
As an immune suppressant Atopica prevents the body from reacting and becoming inflamed and spotty.
Sounds like a great cure so far! But every coin has two sides.
The problem with immune suppressing substances - and at the same time the reason why they are only administered in severe cases when all other remedies are exploited - is that they do NOT ONLY suppress for example the allergic reaction, BUT the entire immune system, which means the immune system is also very likely inhibited to fight other triggers, such as influenza, infections, pneumonia, gangrene etc., which can quickly lead to life threatening conditions.
This is why human patients on this medication have to take certain precautions in order to prevent catching one of these triggers.
This immune suppressing mechanism also does not only apply to sick patients. The substance works immune suppressing in EVERY individual, no matter if healthy or sick.
So, common sense dictates that a healthy individual should not ingest, inhale or touch the substance (I read it can be absorbed through skin) in order to avoid the risk of getting their own immune system suppressed and then no longer be able to fight a common cold oder something else.
As I learned this is why these meds are handled very carefully in hospitals and by medical staff (I actually read that many nurses wear latex gloves when they handle immune suppressants).
About this information we had not heard ANYTHING from the vet!
Not only did I risk to crash my dog's immune system, I also risked harm to myself, because I just took the capsules with by bare hands (washed them afterwards, of course) and gave them to my dog.
But that should only be the tip of the iceberg.
Further research lead to the realization that no real longterm studies seem to be existing for medicating dogs with Atopica, simply because the idea of giving it to pets is still quite new. Also the mode of action in animals is not completely investigated by now as far as I know. All science knows is that this drug IS able to reduce allergy problems in some dogs and cats, but not exactly HOW.
Even worse, vets (at least some of them) do not seem to know a lot about Atopica and these facts, either.
Looking back to me it seems like this drug benefits from good marketing strategies of pharmaceutical manufacturers and simply NOT talking about side effects.
And side effects there are.
Cyclosporine is a mycotoxin (myco = fungus, toxin = poison).
High doses of Cyclosporine can actually cause symptoms of poisoning, which manifest themselves in vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms are listed in the product insert and there are others.
The most drastic side effect in my opinion is that this drug caused cancer in 1 out of 2 dogs in tests.
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/atopica-dangerous-dogs/
That was the point when we decided to stop administering this poison to our dog immediately and going back to consequently CHANGE the nutrition of our dog, feed her fish oil, wash her feet and let her wear her shoes outside.
We were even willing to accept a steroid shot every now and then, should we not be able to keep her "clean" by our actions.
Because - although they DO have serious side effects, especially when administered longterm - one thing I have not heard of steroids yet was that they would cause cancer in dogs.
Weighing the two drugs against each other we came to the conclusion that none of the two is really "BETTER" than the other when it comes to side effects. The only advantage steroids had in our mind was that they do not have to be administered all the time, while Atopica does.
What did we learn from all this?
You do not need to question the general competence of your vet, but you should be aware that there is always more than ONE way, more than ONE opinion and DO your own research.
After all you are the one who sees your dog every day, who knows every spot, the good and the bad days. So this also makes YOU kind of an insider when it comes to your dog and her problems.
Your vet - if he's a good one - will also be willing to discuss information you have researched on your own with you.
If the vet only "knows" one way, all he would be is "my FORMER vet".
Unfortunately there is NO ONE and only cure when it comes to allergies.
Eventually the changed nutrition brought the BEST results for our BT and we were able to keep her "clean" and away from steroids and Atopica until we had to let her go due to her old age.
We would strongly advice to continue testing with grain-free or special diet food (such as Hill's prescription).
If you were not successful with changing the nutrition so far this may be the case just because you have not found the right nutrition for your dog yet. Triggers can be the presence of grain or abundance of byproducts and fillers. Some BT's also seem to have problems with poultry.
Getting allergies under control unfortunately involves a lot of trial and error.
Read the information on Steve's website - it is very helpful.
We wish you all the best with your dog and finding THE solution!
@bruno, trust me, start with the food first... get him on the right food slowly, it'll take 3 months for a transition and differences to show... AND NO TREATS, bullie sticks, chews,... nothing besides the best diet and I'm sure you'll see a difference. One thing we do, which helps a lot, is give their coats a good rub of coconut oil... the thick white stuff... not the "oil", oil.
Thank you