[Maggie R]

I have an 8 month old rednose pitbull that I rescued…she’s a great dog we love her.Her skin was fine for a while but now she has a rash on her belly, paws, ears, around her neck, I was told it was a food allergy, to feed her natural balance dog food wich comes in venicen , wich I chose and bison.Also was told too to stay away from any and everything chicken, potatoe& certain grains.Even with her snacks.natural balance also sells them for a decent size bag for $5.99.With th food change her skin seemed to have cleared up a little…I was told it would take up to 3 months to see a drastic difference.so one step at a time maybe this info can help someone else??if I continue to see a difference I will keep everyone posted…good luck.

[Shasta220]

If this food is helping, then certainly stick with it. If not, then possibly try an elimination diet….not always are allergy tests accurate. Try to do a super simple home made diet, or stay with the food (making sure she has no more allergic reactions), then add chicken for a week or two. Then try rice, or potatoes, or any other suspect allergen food. It’s time consuming, but well worth it.

Most of the time, for allergy prone dogs, home made and raw diets do the best anyway. It’d also be better since you could know exactly what goes in her bowl, no more looking at the ingredient list!

About the treats, I am disappointed with natural balance treats since they add molasses (sugar)…. Try some home made treats (keeping em simple….fruits, veggies, meat, and coconut flour or something if necessary. Bake in the oven for about an hour until nice n dried)

[Jaime v]

My pit had the same problem when we first adopted him, he had bumps all over. We even were giving him allergy pills for a while.

I started giving him Taste of the Wild (either bison or lamb) and he has not had a problem since. I was told that lamb based foods were good for skin conditions.

[dogluver95828]

I wanted to tell everyone that my pitt was having a horrible rash in his crotch and unerarm areas. bad, he scratched till it was raw. I spent 2 years searching on the internet and found the problem! I kept treating it as an external problem and it was an internal problem. he had a yeast inblance in his intestines. So i tried 2 tsp lemon juice once a day and it was gone in a week and has stayed gone. the info i read said to use lemon juice or unfiltered apple cider vinegar. If you pit has a rash that wont go away then try this, what have you got to loose? oh yes, and puree lemons dont work, tried that, rash came back. has to be lemon juice. I am so happy i am not having to wash his crotch area everyday. It wss so bad i cried cuz i felt so bad for him and i didnt know what to do. i searched and searched on the internet for about 2 years and it paid off. Tried all diff foods too, didnt work. so if your dog has a bumpy red rash on his crotch and under the armpits too, that is the sign of an internal yeast infection or inbalance. Wow, we are so very happy now. About twice it started to flare up again and i just washed it and was gone the next day! Such and easy solution too!

[Dru N]

I was told my American Bulldog had food allergies, and I tried a million different kinds of foods. It turned out he has some food allergies but worse skin allergies. We bathe him every so often (once a month or so) in Dr. Bronner’s and while the soap is on, we rub in Neem Oil and while Neem oil is stinky, it completely clears up his skin allergies. In a day or less after a breakout and a bath, his fur is super soft and all the redness goes away.

[desiree m]

Please help!! My 4 yr old pit has a bad bad rash on his private area & his arm pits. His private part as of last night is now swollen.
When it first started it was just a couple round spot on his inner thighs, almost looked like ring worm. But it’s not because my other two dogs(also pits) don’t have anything wrong with them. Anyways I started giving him a bath with universal shampoo, & it looked like it was helping. But over the past two days it has just gotten all red every where & now his private area is swollen. What can I do to help him?? Last night I just cried for hours cause I felt so helpless…

[anonymously]

Did you check the search engine here? I do not agree with all of the opinions expressed. /forums/search/allergies/

Do not put anything on it, it will only make it worse.
Assuming your dog is in good health and has seen the regular vet recently.
The best choice would be to see a board-certified veterinary dermatologist, if one is available near you (here is a list: http://www.acvd.org/).

Most dermatologists will not skin test for allergies until the dog has been exhibiting symptoms for 1 year/4 seasons without any significant periods of relief. There are also other treatment options that a specialist could offer.

Don’t be fooled by mail-in saliva and hair tests, I have heard they are unreliable

A summary of treatments for canine atopy:

Evidence-Based Canine Allergy Treatment

And here is a recent update:

Evidence Update- Evidence-based Canine Allergy Treatment

More info here:
http://www.2ndchance.info/allergytesting.htm
Skin tests to determine what your pet might be allergic to are considerably more accurate, on the whole, than blood tests. However, they are not 100% accurate either. To have them performed, you will need to locate a board certified veterinary dermatologist

excerpt below from: http://www.2ndchance.info/Apoquel.htm
Food Allergies are probably over-diagnosed in dogs (they account for, perhaps 5-10%). Hypoallergenic diets are occasionally, but not frequently, helpful in canine atopy cases but you should always give them a try. Food intolerances are more common – but considerably more likely to result in digestive disturbances and diarrhea than in itching problems.

PS: If you wait, it may get really bad, keep an eye on the chest area for a bright red rash developing. When this happened to my dog I had to go to the emergency veterinary clinic. They usually prescribe steroids to stop the suffering and to temporarily get the situation under control. The Dr there reprimanded me for putting witch hazel on the rash. There are prescription creams that a dermatologist will prescribe that help, but usually only in conjunction with other treatments.

[Pitlove]

Hi Desiree- This happened to my pitbull after switching flea and tick meds (no swollen privates though, just the “ringworm” spots). Have any changes like that been made recently? The meds are almost out of his system now and its starting to heal. He could be reacting to something that has been recently introduced; new food, new bedding, new meds etc.

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