[ellgee]

This is my first post although I have been an avid reader of DFA for a long time.

I am at my wit’s end with my French Bulldog’s allergies. I do have an appointment with a vet allergist/dermatologist on 11/1, but I just don’t want him suffering until then.

He has been on several 4 to 5 star foods over the years and is currently on Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost (chicken) which I add some of the raw bites (duck) too. Yesterday I came home to soft stinky poop in the house! He hasn’t had an accident since he was a pup! I know he must have GI issues because we have to wipe his bottom after every poo and this isn’t anything new.

His skin is very red with crusty spots, he is losing tons of his hair. I am bathing him twice a week with Douxo chlorhexadine shampoo. Last time I took him to the vet, he told me that in looking over Dudley’s records, this happens at the same time every year leading us to believe these are environmental allergies. And due to a weakened immune system, he gets these skin infections and staph. Last go round, he was on antibiotics and steroids. I do NOT want to use steroids long term if I can help it. He is on a daily Benadryl which doesn’t do much as far as I can tell.

I was reading on the Supplement Forum and my head is spinning. So much information.

My question is since we don’t believe it to be food related (but who knows???) should I try to boost his immune system? Should I feed him an elimination diet?

Help!

[InkedMarie]

I have a friend with a frenchie that had horrible paws, red & raw. Vet prescribed Benadryl and she put him on Annamaet Aqualuk and what a difference!

[Mom2Cavs]

My first thought is always the food. Why don’t you think it’s that? Anyway, chicken can be a high allergen for some dogs, not all. I have one that does soooo much better without poultry in her diet. I just think it’s the easiest and “cheapest” thing to change first. I agree with InkedMarie above, put your dog on a different protein, possibly something hypoallergenic and perhaps try the benedryl, too.

[ellgee]

Oh I have been thinking it was the food for the past several years which is why he has been quite a few different things. He has just had the skin issues every single year despite the food changes. It runs in cycles. I will take him off the chicken because that’s been at the back of my mind as a problem. And he is currently on Benadryl daily.

When you say hypoallergenic is there a particular brand? I do want to rotate his diet. I also ordered the Annamaet Aqualuk today.

[InkedMarie]

Glad you ordered the Aqualuk. Give it a month then update. I’m hoping it’ll help. My friend tried so many dry foods, then pre made raw but this food finally worked.

[ellgee]

I have my fingers crossed! We, too, have tried so many foods including pre-made raw (Darwin’s). It is almost a joke with my husband. But I KNOW one day I will be able to say _________ changed Dudley’s life! LOL!

Does your friend feed just the Aqualuk or does she rotate with other foods?

[InkedMarie]

Pretty sure just Aqualuk.

[InkedMarie]

Yes, just Aqualuk and it was Zyrtek, not Benadryl

[ellgee]

Good to know. Thank you.

Came home tonight and no poop, but he vomited mucus 3 or 4 times and was eating grass outside.

I’m yanking the chicken. I made him a mixture of ground beef, rice and a little pumpkin which he ate completely. It seems to have settled his tummy as he is finally laying down sleeping and not asking to go out.

[Dr. Vickie]

Skin is a reflection of what is going on inside of his gut, except his guts look and feel worse!
Feed him wild caught pacific bone in canned pink salmon from your supermarket, organic egg whites, no grains, no starch (carrots and peas are starches folks) or sugar for that matter (my guess is that he is not preparing to race the Iditarod, at least not soon 😉 ) If he is playful and active and not overweight you can add some organic canned plain pumpkin for energy. Cooked organic green beans, all other kinds of organic greens are great too and very important, plain greek yogurt. Sprinkle a high end holistic dry food or wet along with for added nutritional support that uses wild salmon only as a protein base and no grains. To give him some variety if he needs or wants it, you can try grass fed beef/bison/buffalo but I would keep it to salmon until you are sure he is stable before I would add these food items. Some starch in the formula is “ok” but less is more. One fish oil capsule one-two times per day for at least three months then cut back. There is such a thing as too much omega 3 over time. (Note, flax is far to weak of an omega 3 source for him right now. It is helpful once the omega 3:6 ratio has been fixed and that takes up to one year in my experience).
Treats? SOME banana, cut apples, berries of all kinds. Frozen or cooked green beans are safe too and nothing ever got fat off of green beans. EVENTUALLY, other grass fed animal protein choices will be back on his plate but for now, no!
His WORST food choices will be lamb even if it slept in the lap of Jesus it will cause issues; grass fed corn fed it does not matter. Corn fed critters, mainstream beef, CHICKEN and all parts. Even your buddies 6 point buck he shot yesterday is suspect for your dog ( been baited for months with corn feeders ).
It’s note easy, or cheap but it will work I promise.
Give him a pat for me!

[ellgee]

Dr. Vickie, thanks for your most informative and delightful post.

I am definitely going to put your suggestions into action ASAP. I cannot imagine how itchy and yucky he feels. But he is worth the work.

[Cheryl B]

Dr Vickie, you had posted back on 10-10-2013 regarding a french bulldog. You had mentioned salmon, Greek yogurt, pumpkin, egg whites, fish oil. Do you have a recipe for this, our Frenchie is so allergic. I thought I would try this. Just not sure what ratio I should use. Any help would be appreciated. We feed him Salmon and Sweet potato kibble now.

[Susan]

Hi Ellgee, how’s ur boy been going, did you try the elimintion diet as this would have been the best thing to do, to see what foods can be causing these problems as well as the environment…My vet told me that it was just from the enviornment but this winter he started itching & scratching, so I started a food elimination diet to see what foods he can & can not eat…
I found my boy can’t have potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, wheat & boiled rice also if he has tooo much banana, he starts scratching his ears, I look up high carb fruits & bananas are the highest…Sweet potatoes makes his ears itch, Wheat gave him red itchy paws aswell as grasses, potates gives diarrhea & bad rash all over his chest & hive like lumps all over his body……also is he on a good dog probiotic for his stomach & bowel?

[ellgee]

Hi Susan – I have not tried an elimination diet with him. Do you have a resource? We had him allergy tested and he has several grass/pollen allergies. He currently is on immunotherapy drops twice daily which seems to have helped quite a bit. He has a few crusty spots and we still bathe him with duoxo. We feed him Zignature right now which he likes and I do have a probiotic here which I need to find and give to him. We recently moved and I can’t find anything!

But on the drops he has improved – some days when the ragweed is very high I give him an Apoquel. But I may still try that elimination diet.

[Jenna P]

Try http://www.dynamicnutritionanalysis.com/pet-report.html its a hair sample test, you simply mail in 4 pieces of hair, they test the hair against 600+ food and non food items, plus can test for vitamin deficiencies. You can also send in 5 different types of kibble, they will see which one is best suited to your dog but giving you an intolerance percentage.

This test helped me and my allergy ridden dogs!

[Anonymous]

I have a 1 year old frenchie and I want to take him of from any kind of dog food brands and give him made at home food because he has problems from dry and wet dog food what do you recomand

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the bad english

[Anonymous]

Maybe this will help. Good luck.
http://www.homeovet.net/dynamic/php/downloads/dog-c8470f2c75dbe4b683205c3919ee2310/dog_diet_complete.pdf

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Anonymous.

[Channey T]

I am in the same boat right now and it is so difficult to see my dog like this. Last year, I thought it was bad and it has only gotten worse. He’s been miserable for the past year and I don’t know how I can help him. I want him to get better as natural and holistically as possible. We tried cooking him food at home instead of the prescribed vet diet for dogs with allergies (Ultramino) and haven’t seen any real improvement. I feel like the medicine that we’ve been giving him is only making his body more weak, his posture has changed dramatically in the last year and his bones seem brittle. We have another Frenchie and he is a solid burly dog so seeing the difference between the two of them is huge. Every time we go to the vet, I feel like we are just tossing our money at them with no real solution. We love our dog so much and we just want to make him better, if anybody has any recommendations on what we should do, let us know. Looking forward to hear from you.

[anonymous]

For best results go to a board certified veterinary dermatologist. Food allergies are rare. Food sensitivities fluctuate.
More often than not environmental allergies are the culprit.
The only accurate test for that is intradermal skin testing. The most natural treatment for environmental allergies is allergen specific immunotherapy otherwise known as allergy shots or desensitization.

See my posts, example /forums/topic/hes-got-good-and-environmental-allergies/#post-113364

[Author]

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