thank you so much for all the suggestions! i'm out to get EVERYTHING you've just suggested haha

I also have a couple of pictures of her skin in case anyone recognises the symptoms. The vets were emphatic that the problem was an allergy to house dust.

Sorry, I keep getting at PB "this specified image does not exist" and my pc almost crashes each time! Lol!

Can you not just copy and put up the IMG of the picture from Photobucket please??? You have to resize it first though.

Regarding an allergy to dust mites, well that's all very well, but an allergic dog resulting in skin conditions like this, can be allergic to just about everything, let alone house dust! My dog was tested for just about everything in his previous life before he came to me, and he's allergic to just about everything too, even grass! 8 years down the line, my new vets (an RCVS hospital) have decided that it's auto -immune based and quite honestly, there is nothing they can do for him to cure it, they can control it but never ever cure it, so I just have to help him along in every way I can, just like you're going to have to do with food, bathing, applications etc. etc. etc.

Hey is this what you mean?

Thank you so much for all this help. Note the weeping eyes and the sore skin. Her ears were hurt from her scratching and the vet said they just wanted to let them crinkle up instead of put an old dog under anaesthetic to fix it.

The poor old girl. I feel so sad for her. I hope you find a way to help her. I agree, get a 2nd opinion.

Thank you I think we will, and we've just gone to get her a bag of Eukanuba while we're waiting for another non-allergenic food to come She's still scratching at the moment but fingers crossed and thank you all being so kind.
and anyone else chip in if they have any ideas!
xx

Oh dear, that is classic, classic pyoderma like Georgie has I'm afraid. The pink legs, the pink feet, the pink groin, the ears I'm no vet, but I feel your girl needs a dose of ab's like Georgie has just had Rilexine (he used to have Ceforlexin but they can't get them or something!) These act specifically on the skin killing all the bacteria which is building up there making everything worse. Please try and get some of that Hibiscrub tomorrow, because I absolutely guarantee you, it will make her feel a lot more comfortable.

Regarding her ears, do you mean they swelled up and are now shrivelling up?? That's a different thing, that's cauliflower ears (I've forgotten the technical term! ) and it's a heammotoma (sp??) and usually, they open the flap up, let it drain, and then you have to keep squeezing it for a few days and don't let the cut open, as I had this with one of my gsd's, but quite honestly, the blooming pain she was in with them (she'd hit them on the radiator shaking her head!)when I did that was something I just couldn't bear, so I just left them to shrivel up which they did, and that's probably what you're talking about here?

I wouldn't be at all surprised either, if she also might have the same thing going on inside her ears like my dog suffers with too. It's apparent that this condition goes with ears, so if the skin flares up, then so do the ears every time! My dog has had to have ab's for 3 months at one time last year to clear up a very deep infection inside his ears, because I didn't catch it in time (I was too busy with building work going on at the time!) and then on top of that he had to be knocked out and have them flushed out and they were hoping it hadn't got inside the bone, where they would have operated, but luckily that hadn't happened.

Oh I do feel for you, and I bet she's biting her feet like mad too isn't she?? How often are you doing the spot on flea treatment like I asked before??? It's imperative that you do that every single month I'm afraid and not 3 monthly as prescribed.

You really need to see a better vet who will instantly know what this condition is, and do something about this, coz your poor little girl is suffering. Do you remember years ago seeing a dog just like her on the Animal Hospital programme and that lovely vet got her back to normal, but she was chronic when they took her in, so sad, I wish I could help more, but I'm afraid it's all up to you now. Take care, try and do some of these things I have suggested here ok, and good luck.

p.s. I forgot to mention Piritons!!!! Try giving her a piriton tablet 3 times a day (it won't hurt her at all!) but make sure you get the CHEAP ones, about £2.50 for a pack, and not the ultra expensive ones. You have to make sure you get the ones that DO make her drowsy. These act on the immune system by calming it down and stopping it reacting too quickly to everything and it really does help for things like this. Not all the time it doesn't, but if you've never tried it, it should be brilliant for a while at least, but keep at it!

ow wow yes it sounds like we have exactly the same problem! its so nice to meet someone who does!

yes we had that problem with the ears. she did that from scratching them too much and our horrible first vet insisted that the only thing they could do was operate we found out that they were fibbing too late to save her ears.

Yes she has exactly the symptoms you've described! The one thing i havent mentioned is that she is taking a course of medication (she's been on it for about 2 years) called Atopica (which is cylosporin) which is supposed to be very sophisticated as a way of controlling the problem, but sadly even with a double dose every day she's still suffering really badly. God knows wot she'd be like without the medication

We were actually given some hibiscrub by the vet and we have the bottle but he said it would only do for cleaning our dog's ear after he tried to drain it. We also do the flea treatment once monthly and sometimes more often but she's still so uncomfortable you know?

How's ur dog at the moment? Are they suffering with it as badly or have you alleviated the discomfort a bit?
I'm very sorry your dealing with this too its abolsutely horrible!

First and foremost, you need to use that Hibiscrub all over her to calm all this down, and like I said before, believe me, it DOES work. That Atopica is the most expensive route to take, and Georgie had it for 3 months prior to me getting him but sadly it didn't work for him, and it doesn't look to me like it's working for your dog either The steroids work instantly for Georgie, but sadly, he's not allowed to have them now coz his liver got enlarged through 7 years of having so many of the injections It's ab's for him now or nothing, and my vet cannot treat it any other way now, she's done loads of bloods for just about everything,including thyroids which I thought it might perhaps be, but sadly it's his immune system. When it gets to the stage your poor dog is in, Hibiscrub is the only way I go, and then a course of ab's. My dog has been on and off ab's for a whole year now, and although the vet has said to me she doesn't quite know what the result will be with such long treatment of them, i.e. can he take it or not, we really don't have any choice in the matter, coz quite honestly I wouldn't have him pts and I wouldn't let him suffer so badly with it, so this is the only route left for us now.

When my dog's skin has flared up and he's not on ab's, I could leave him for half an hour, come back and he's chewed and gnawed half his leg away!! It's not only unfuriating for me, but it must be a nightmare for him to be constantly itching like that. His worst areas are his feet, his legs, his groin, and he loves chewing half way down his tail, sometimes he takes most of the fur off it and leaves me with a great big red saw to deal with! That's the time I get the Fuciderm out, and that ointment is absolutely brill, BUT, it's only for hot spots, you can't smother them all over in it! I also find Sudocreme is very very good, but I really don't like making it all moist and warm like that, but I do find it calms it down if his groin area has erupted or something when I can't use the Fuciderm on such a large area. Get a big tub of Sudocreme from the Chemist or Boots, the nurses at my vet hospital swear by it for skin like this. Sometimes, before I go to bed, I check him all over and smother him in Sudocreme, knowing that it will have sunk in and dried by the morning whilst he's sleeping.

Food is also a definite, and in your case, I really think what you should do is cut out just about everything she has except for a good hypo allergenic food, and introduce her treats back slowly and see what happens with her skin. If you want to give treats, my dog loves a raw carrot and he eats lbs of them in a week! Try her with those, it's something for her to nibble on and afterall it is a treat, just that it shouldn't affect her skin so much as something with who knows what in it!

I'm so very sorry for you. I had a gsd like Georgie once before, and her poor little face would be red raw sometimes too. She had steroids which didn't work for her, but 3 months of ab's always did, but then it would just come back again

There will come a time for me when the ab's stop working for him, or he cannot have them anymore like the steroids, and I will have to make the choice of letting him suffer in his old age or letting him go, but for the moment, he's only 8 and I CAN keep on top of it. I groom him and combe him every day, coz that also helps, stimulate the blood flow. Keeping them cool also helps, mine loves to go and lay outside on the cold grass and roll his little heart out, it must be lovely when your back is itching like his does!

Awww, bless her little cottons, try not to worry, I've seen worse, and it seems to be getting a lot more common, you just have to find the right way to keep on top of it, coz that's all you WILL be able to do by the looks of her, I don't think you'll ever be able to cure it like I can't with Georgie. Take care all the very best to you.xxx

Hi sorry I don't have much advice to give but you could have a chat with Kate from Natural Pet Choice www.naturalpetchoice.com as she has lots of natural and herbal remedies for problems such as this and if you have a chat to her, she'll be able to advise and if not, do some research and get back to you.

I've always had fantastic service from her and she's always very helpful!