Possible chicken allergy

[QY10]

Angus has been VERY itchy lately.

I thought because he's always romping in the tall grass, he might have gotten fleas and so I immediately got him and the other dogs on Comfortis flea control, which works like a charm.

He's still very itchy and scratching to the point that the hair on the front of his neck is coming out. I can't even have him sleep in bed with me right now because he's just constantly shaking the entire bed with his itching. If I tell him "enough" then he just starts nibbling on his leg trying to deal with his itching there.

So, the only thing I can think of if it's not fleas is that it's possibly a chicken allergy.

My question is, while I take him off chicken can he still get his chicken feet, livers or heart? I have heard some people say, 'yes' because it's such a small quantity that it likely wouldn't agitate him.

Also, can I give him turkey or should I stay clear of all birds?

 

[ruthcatrin]

The nice thing when feeding raw is its MUCH easier to eliminate a protein!

I'd remove all chicken, period, from his diet right now. No feet, no liver, no chicken. And if you can, removing all poultry temporarily might not be a bad idea. Pork bones for the bone content, beef liver and heart. Yah you want more variety over all, but a few weeks to get it out of his system is ok.

Give him at least 6weeks with no chicken, no poultry if you can, the re-intro one type of poultry at a time with at least a couple weeks inbetween. Try to ensure the poultry is not "enhanced" with "broth" as that can screw with their systems!

The other thing to think off, Apollo has spring allergies that make him itch like mad if we let him into the brush in the spring. Local honey once a week for the last year may have finally gotten that under controll.

 

[QY10]

That's an interesting point on the spring allergies because the itching has just cropped up really bad recently.

It will be easy to get him off the chicken. Cache is allergic, too and her MAIN protein source is pork and pork bones although she does get a little variety.

I will start with that and if the protein change doesn't solve the problem then I suppose we will have to look at it being a spring time allergy.

Do you know what it is about the honey that helps curb the allergies?

Thanks for the insight!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Plain Benedryl will help temporarily with the itchies, UP TO 1-25mg pill per 25lbs of dog though I usually tell people to start at half that as it'll hype up some dogs.

I'll dig up the link on the honey for you, but it has to be a locally "made", organic, honey. And if the allergen isn't a pollen it won't help.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Can Eating Local Honey Cure Allergies?

 

[QY10]

It's been about a week and Angus has been eating strictly pork meat/bones and beef organs. His scratching has decreased significantly, but he is still itching himself a fair bit.

I know it will take longer than 1 week for all the effects of the chicken to wear off.

I noticed the hair on his back is looking a teensy bit sparse in some areas, almost like how it did when he had mange.

I'm going to wait on that and see if it's just an effect from the chicken as well.


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[QY10]

So, he's still on flea control and it's been well over 6 weeks since he's had any chicken in his diet, treats included. He's still itching on a pretty regular basis, although it isn't quite as bad as it used to be. It is still very disruptive (he sleeps in bed with us) during the night.

While we were at the cabin, we got him some Benadryl because his itching was out of control and there were also black flies that seemed to love him. The cabin has kind of the bare necessities and I didn't think to bring a pill cutter and trying to cut a cylindrical pill with a knife wasn't working, so his first dose was 2-25mg pills. He went off the wall hyper! He was almost literally bouncing off the walls... he was certainly bouncing around on all the furniture, crazy zoomies in and out of the house. The next day, he only got 1-25mg pill and he was perfectly fine.

Now, I just need to find some local, unpasteurized honey. On really bad itchy days for Angus, I still give him a Benadryl, but he still seems to get hyper sometimes (1 out of 4 times maybe?) from just 1 pill. I don't know if this is a coincidence, or he's actually that sensitive to it. I don't want to be harming him though, if I'm just getting the poor dog high on Benadryl.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Ask your vet aout an alternative to the benedryl then, there are allergy meds that are dog safe but I'm not sure on the doses.

It could be something else in his diet, or it could be something environmental, up to and including laundry detergent, fabric softener, a cleaner......

 

[QY10]

I restricted his diet to purely pork with beef liver when I tried ruling out chicken and the itching did decrease some. Prior to changing his diet, he was scratching more often than not to the point where his fur was falling out. After switching his diet, he only has periodic scratching fits throughout the day, but it's still a lot more scratching than my other two dogs.

Also, because of the dogs, we only buy unscented/clear laundry detergent that is supposed to be for sensitive skin and we avoid fabric softener.

I could switch cleaners to something eco/pet friendly. I usually use Lysol wipes for wiping down hard surfaces and then we use Mr Clean or Pine Sol for the floors, which don't get cleaned nearly as often as they should.

I will definitely be calling my vet to see what he recommends.