Link between antibiotics and increase in allergies

My 10 month old pup has been itching for about three months now and it's been diagnosed (with blood tests) as atopy. She's allergic to a variety of grass, weed and tree pollens. From the outset, my feeling was that the itching was something to do with the number of (I think unnecessary) antibiotics courses that Beanie had been on in her short life (I think 7 in total).

I did some more research today and found some studies linking the increase in allergies in humans to overuse of antibiotics.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...allergies.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1001064200.htm

I've read (on cranky homeopathic websites mostly) that even with probiotic treatment it takes a year for the gut to fully recover from a dose of antibiotics.

I've found lots of reports in discussion forums of dogs that are allergic to everything and don't respond to treatment making a full recovery after being put on a raw food diet. If I understand correctly, a raw food diet will increase the levels of good bacteria in the gut, so this would fit.

Beanie's still too young to go onto a raw food diet as she still needs a very balanced diet but surely it would help to add a bit of raw food to her kibble? What if I add a bit of raw salmon given that we have got her on a salmon and potato diet for allergic dogs? Can any raw food experts advise?

And can anyone recommend a probiotic that we can use? We're currently giving her tesco's value version of Yakult (it has the fewest additives). But if the advertising spiel is to be believed we'd be better using special veterinary products?

It's not something I feel the vet can help us with as our vet insists that antibiotics won't harm our pup. But I have serious doubts.

Hi Scarter I come from a family with a number of asthmatics who have allergy problems. My niece is the worst affected and is allergic to many things,she is prone to anaphalactic shock so caries an Epi pen with her everywhere. She recently had conjunctivitis and was prescribed an antibiotic eye cream which had a dreadful effect causing her face and eyes to swell and affecting her sight. It also triggered a serious eczema problem. She avoids antibiotics whenever possible because they cause her so many problems.

Antibiotics as with any drug/substance can affect the body's immune response, you may find this interesting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3753465.stm

You asked about Probiotics, I always keep a supply in the doggy medicine chest to use after tummy upsets . I used to buy them on the internet but now get them from my vet. The one I use is called Protexin Professional , you can buy it in the net from Vet-medic. It comes in powder form which is addded to the dogs food and a course lasts 5 days. Denes the herbal people do a good one too...
http://www.denes.com/advice/fact_sheets/probiotic.php

Minihaha, this might be of interest to you!

I found reference to another, more recent study (Albeit a very small one) that has found that taking a daily dose of probiotic helps with hayfever and allergies.

http://www.ei-resource.org/index.php...-hayfever.html

I don't really know about probiotics - logically I would have thought a dogs stomach, which is highly acidic, would kill off the bacteria before it had chance to do any good, although I don't know that for sure.

On raw feeding, they're never too young (or old) to go onto raw - raw is a completely balanced diet, exactly as their wild predecessors had! Natural rearing breeders wean their pups onto raw all the time. Just ask if you would like info on this!

I too believe antibiotics and steriods, while suppressing an initial problem and seemingly curing it, take their toll on the body and IMO should be avoided unless absolutely all other alternatives (natural) have been tried.