Help! Possible food allergy!

Comments

• Romi

  March 2009 edited March 2009

  "chicken-by-product meal" and "chicken meal" are not the same. Chicken-by-product meal can include entrails, feet, beaks, some feather and of course 4 d animals. Pretty much the stuff we DONT want to be feeding our dogs. Chicken Meal on the other hand is dehydrated chicken meat with or without the bone.
  
  As for feeding, I would urge you to transition your dog slowly to EVO, as it is a much higher quality food compared to Beneful. Your dog may not react well to such a change. I would feed EVO exclusively and if you do want to give treats, they also make grain free baked treats. You should start seeing results in a couple months - if it is in fact the food that is causing all her problems.
  
  You may also want to try a fish based dog food - like Wellness CORE Ocean or Solid Gold Barking At The Moon.
  
  You can also add some salmon oil or seameal to her diet. I use Grizzly Salmon Oil and Solid Gold Seameal Powder. I have noticed a HUGE improvement in my dogs coat with adding these supplements to their diet.
  
  EDIT: How old is your Akita? Has she been spayed? If so, when?
• lindsayt

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Wow, looks like Ninja has allergies to something. You need to find out what to (the search for the Holy Grail practically). You can try switching her to a grain free food, that seems to help with allergy dogs. You can try antihistamines or steroids (let the vet recommend one to you). You may want to consider allergy testing. Food allergies can have GI components frequently, but if the foods are really awful, the skin will be as well. Make sure there are no fleas. There is shampoo with benadryl in it, but the vet would get it for you. She may have some other condition like an immune deficiency that could be determined by bloodwork. My girl Beebe has an immune deficiency and mega environmental/food allergies that we disovered after she developed mange and stinky, sweaty skin with hot spots. Keep us updated.
• Zinja

  March 2009 edited March 2009

  Ninja is about 8 years old now and has been eating Beneful and mixing it with Pedigree canned for a year or so. She is also a puppy-store doggy, which might mean she had this allergy along her bloodline at some point.
  
  We have had the vet look at her bloodwork and they said it was perfect. They checked everything and couldn't find the source. Steroids and several other medicines (administered daily) were also given.
  
  About the environmental allergy: We have taken her to the vet on numerous occasions because the inside of her paws were red... between the webbing. They said she might be allergic to something in our backyard and asked us to wipe her paw with baby wipes when she comes inside. This did not help.
  
  Now to search for some seameal and fish oil because I have heard these two will help immensely.
  
  Thanks for the suggestions so far!
• andreamg4

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Joe, I dont have a shiba yet, but from my experience with other animals and vets may I make a suggestion. If the broken/bleeding skin has a "foul smell due to the bacteria" as you stated, then this is a sign the skin is infected. he/she would have to be put on antibiotics pretty quick if so. Is he/she on them already?
  
  There are also many hot spot spays I know of from having an allergic cat, but the skin can not be an open wound and it only provides temp relief.
• StaticNfuzz

  March 2009 edited November -1

  It may not be a food allergy. It could be inhalation allergies. In that case you will not be able to control the big wide world and the plants etc in it. I would make an appointment specifically with a veterinary dermatologist to take your Shiba to be medically evaluated.
  
  Yes, the dogs can get VERY grouchy with other dogs when the allergy flairs. Keep a journal (when you notice the flair, in what month, what you are feeding, when it started etc etc) this will help with answering questions when you speak with the dermatologist. I would not wait, since once it begins it will make your dog more and more miserable, year by year season by season.
  
  Shibas are known to have both food and inhalation allergies. Sometimes both together. Work out the specifics with a specialist.
  Within rescue we have seen quite a few and with good treatment you can live happily.
  
  Good luck
  Snf
• Zinja

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Oh, Ninja is an Akita, not a Shiba. My Shiba's health is great, but his food aggression is slowly diminishing.
  
  We have already taken her to the vet for skin infections but they did not find anything both times. We tested for mange too. The vet said the smell came from her fur because she continued to chew on her fur where the hot spots are. The chewing stopped when she was given meds.
  
  I called Sushi's and Sasuke's vet in Gainesville and said they can refer me to a pet dermatologist. I then called Ninja's vet in Tampa and they said they would run the tests... which will be $250 (seems pretty cheap... I heard somewhere that claimed it will exceed $1000 for lab tests!). I'll visit Ninja's vet tomorrow just so I can get some recommendations on dermatologists.
• lindsayt

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Beebe's intradermal allergy testing, including the allergy shots was about $900 just on one visit to the dermatologist. Usually there are diagnostic stages that require several visits, but that was definately the spendiest one.
• StaticNfuzz

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Oh sorry Joe.... It is hard to keep up with who has what breed.
  
  I would think the same applies with the Akita. Take her in to a good dermatologist. The infections from chewing can make bacterial wounds pretty bad. You don't want hyper pigmentation to the point where the fur will not longer come back on that area if it has been damaged too much.
  
  Snf