Allergies

Hi my dog is an American bulldog and is just over a year old. He seems to have an allergies to his collar or the metal on the collar. We leave it off when at home but he also shows signs of having other types of allergies. Under his legs but mainly around the underneath of his neck. He scratches so much he makes himself bleed. We have added aloe Vera to his food as suggested by the vet and now introduced an anti histamine. Any ideas on what else we can do?

Has your vet suggested allergy testing

Not as yet, he keeps saying its due to adolescence. I am the one doing most of the research!

Hi,

I remember this with Ima, my vet told me that allergies in dogs tend do develop fully in the first three years, so they will either go all together or develop into an established allergy in that time. He may be reluctant to allergy test as it is expensive (for you) and the phase may pass as your dog matures.

Dogs normally "show" an allergy in areas of the body that have less hair namely ears, toes, groin and bum (that's why you see a lot of itchy paws on here) so if it is a contact allergy to the collar he may itch at the site but then at any of the other sites too, or potentially it might have nothing to do with the collar at all. If you think it might be the metal in the collar, get a complete nylon/plastic one, as you are researching maybe look into diet, grain and soya are common allergies in dried foods.

xx

Thank you I will do that.

Is is not possible that your dog is allergic to its food i.e. the grain content which is not unusual. That would cause him to scratch and scratch. If he were mind I'd change to a grain free diet gradually over a couple of weeks and see what happens. And naturally buy a nylon collar with the snap fastening clip. I too have a dog that suffers from intolerances and it was a process of elimination before I knew exactly to what extent they ran to . I do hope you get him sorted and keep us informed.

Thank you. I have already changed the collar but the itching is still most significant in the under neck area. I try to leave his collar off as much as possible but it is hard when I need him to move as their is nothing to grab hold of, ( he can be quite stubborn).
I have changed his food a couple of times and will look into doing it again have you any suggestions for what is best for a grain free diet?

Hi,

This is good to find UK commercial foods on...

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/advanc...rch.php#Anchor

Also has he been treated for fleas recently? If it's contact dermatitis/flea allergy there only needs to have been one flea to set it off.....

Good luck

Yes we treat him regularly as we have three cats!

Thanks I will check out the website