Dog skin allergies - anyone know of an effective homeopathic or alternative treatment for skin allergies?

I have a lab mutt who is about a year and a half old. She hates baths, although they do seem to help (my vet said she is alleric to the pollen that gets on her skin). She does not have fleas. Antihistamines haven't worked. Cortisone shots have proved helpful, but I don't want to keep giving her steroids. Any suggestions?

Dog skin allergies - anyone know of an effective homeopathic or alternative treatment for skin allergies?
My husband is an alternative medicine veterinarian, so your problem is one we are commonly treating. Steriod injections have a number of undesirable side effects, so I don't blame you for wanting to avoid them.





There's a company on the west coast called Animal's Apawthecary, and they carry a natural supplement called Detox Blend. The dogs receive a dose 2-3 times daily, either directly into the mouth or on their food, and it really seems to help with the itchies. They also just developed a new supplement called Spring Tonic, made more for the seasonal allergies than the dogs who have year-round allergies.





We've also found that acupuncture can really eleviate problems. They often need treatments once a week for four or five weeks in order to get things under control. I've really some some tremendous results, and I think it's worth a shot.





There should be a website for the AHVMA (American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association) to help you locate local doctors. Good luck with this problem - I hope this helps.
Reply:I actually had to eventually put my dog down because of this problem (several years ago). In my case the problem just increaed to the point that she was tearing holes in her skin and the only way the vet could stop it was through meds that shut het immune syste down. We put her down before she died of cancer.





Hopefully your case is not that extreme. Science Diet makes a allegy formula for dogs. Cost a little bit more but added years to the life of our dog. Vet also has a perscription lotion that (works on humans as well) that acts like a orajel type. Second you must be fanatical about flea control. One bite and the dog will have abreak out. Brush the dogs hair often looking for flea bites and fleas.





Good Luck...
Reply:add a vitamin E supplement, or omega 3 or 6 (fish oils) to it's food and make sure it's food doesn't have any corn or corn meal products in the ingredients. also don't fertilize you lawn, that can also cause a reaction.
Reply:I had a lab with the same type of problem, I would give him 1 fish oil capsule and a table spoon of of natural yogurt, once a day mixed in with his dog food. Also bathing a dog to often tends to take the oils out of their coat and can also cause dry skin.
Reply:you should change your dogs food as well. Many people buy these name brand products which have by-products that are not good for your pet and in the long term get skin problems, allergies etc. the quality of the ingredients, the formula, and the nutrition is what you should consider when purchasing dog food. For example, two products could list chicken or chicken meal but you would not know from the list, if it is pet grade chicken, meaning unfit for human consumption. Pet-grade could include the diseased-ridden, e.g. salmonella-infected, rejects.Another thing to think about when reading labels is that the ingredients are supposed to be listed in weight order. However, "creative" labeling does occur. For example, the Science Diet Lamb Meal and Rice kibble shows Lamb meal first, so you might think that there was more lamb than any other ingredient. Well..... note that the second, third and fourth ingredients are brewers rice, rice flour, and rice gluten. It is quite possible that there are more substandard rice derivatives in this product than lamb. Merrick foods are all healthy visit the website


best of luck