My pup was taken to a dermatologist at 11 mos. He was put in a RX Diet to rule out food for a period of 6 weeks. He still had pink around his nose and mouth (he's pied so it's evident), licked his paws, had some small bumps and the main thing is he smelled bad just 2-3 days after a bath. We took him back at 12 1/2 mos for testing and this last Monday at 13 mos started his injections to desensitize. He has no food allergies, it's environmental, grasses, trees, dust and a mite that enters food in the bags it's stored in. I took my dog to our general vet several times and complained about him smelling funny. I was given an antibiotic, a shampoo (antibacterial) and a fungicide spray. It cleared but came back. When I took him to the dermatologist his skin was scraped and the tissue was run to determine exactly what we were treating so we'd know what to use as an antibiotic and treatment. Ours was bacteria, not fungus, so he use the Dermachlor 2% and let it sit for 10 mins before rinsing and he was prescribed Simplicef which is expensive but effective for skin issues. He took it for a total of 5 weeks, QD, $135.00. He doesn't smell anymore but still licks his feet and after his first injection I noticed some little bumps and a slight pink around his mouth and nose. I put him on Benadryl 25mg QD after the first injection. The dermatologist told us that you need to use Benadryl (or other antihistamine) for a minimum of 7-10 days to gauge whether you get any benefit and even if you do it will be minimal and only 30-40% of animals respond to antihistamine therapy. Another thing we were told was that a lot of the time when food is the culprit there are additional symptoms like intestinal upset. I was sure it was environmental because he didn't have problems when snow was on he ground when he came to us but as soon as spring hit at about 5 months of age our troubles started. There is a good article on this site about Allergies, I wish I'd have seen it months earlier because I wouldn't have been guessing about what was wrong with my dog. As I have commented several times on other "allergy" posts, the $ you spend to take your dog to a dermatologist will be well worth it. You'll understand that when your dog licks his feet and has pink tissues he has allergies. Most people post their dog is on a grain free diet however the literature supports that grain aren't the biggest culprit and an animal would be less likely to have food allergies than environmental allergies. My pup was raised on Blue Buffalo Freedom Puppy and the dermatologist explained the chicken in the dog food would be more apt to cause food allergies. With skin allergies she recommends a fish based diet. She recommends the Dick VanPatten stuff but I didn't like the protein level and some questionable ingredients so we're weaning off the Vet RX Royal Canin and mixing Blue Buffalo Basics Salmon but I don't like the potatoes so next I am going to mix in Blue Buffalo Wilderness. Somewhere, and I think it's this site, which has another excellent article on Foods and what the best foods are and their evaluation and breakdown, look through the articles here there is a lot of good information.
Not sure what to do to help him out. He is on a grain free diet and raw and his coat is great, no skin issues. His feet aren't pink or irritated looking.
