Puppies Have Allergies????

[MomOfTwoBoJacks]

Hello All,
I have two four month old Jack Russell Boston Terrier cross puppies (they are from the same litter). When we got them they were 9 weeks old and eating Acana. Within two weeks of coming home the vet changed their food due to too much protein which was giving them diarrhea. She switched them to Royal Canin Development Puppy. They also had their second vaccination on that visit to the vet. About a 1 1/2 weeks later we noticed one of the puppies had a red patchy area near the groin. We thought it was a urine burn or that he had scratched it on something while outside, we figured it would just heal and go away. Another 1 1/2 weeks went by and they were back to the vet for their third vaccination, they have still been on the same food this whole time. The one puppy still had the red area. A couple days later his red area now had moved into his inner hind legs, so now he had it in three spots. I phoned the vet and she said to put some polysporin on it and it should go away. Jump ahead 2 weeks now both dogs had the same thing, their inner hind legs were both really red and looked really sore, they had the red spot near their groin, plus their whole under carriage had a pink tone, also their feet had a pink tone. They were scratching a lot and biting at some of the areas. We went to the vet and she figured it was allergies, but we had to figure out from what. She put them on an antibiotic and antihistamine. We went home and I washed and double rinsed all their bedding (thinking maybe it was from soap), we also kept them inside all week (except for pee brakes) thinking that maybe it was the garden or the grass. Four days later we noticed the really red spot were getting better. By the end of the antibiotics the red was gone, but the pink undertone never really went away. We kept them off the grass another week to give it longer to get better. I should mention that the red sore spots were not as red, but the skin was kinda bumpy like elephant skin. Also, just before they started antibiotics we switched their food to Blue Buffalo Puppy Small Breed Chicken and Oatmeal. So jump ahead two weeks and everything looked way better except for a bit of the pink undertone. So we decided they could have a day outside. I should mention that we ran out of the small bag of food and we again switched to Blue Buffalo Puppy Chicken and Brown Rice. One day later they had those red sore spots again in all the same areas. Was it the grass or was it the food. Or is there an underlying reason why this is not going away and by going outside did it just re-irritate the areas. Could it be yeast, or fleas (though we have not seen signs of fleas), or some other skin infection. Is it a food allergy, or environment allergy. We just don't know, we just don't understand why it is not going away. At this point any advice would be greatly appreciated. Anyone have a similar situation?

[MaxaLisa]

On my phone, I can't read long continuous paragraphs well, but I would find a food with no corn, no sorghum, and no by-products. Foods with none of those thing are generally typically pretty good foods. If this ingredient list is right, you're probably paying a lot for a food with not great ingredients: http://www.chewy.com/dog/royal-canin...-diet/dp/29896

[Longblades]

It's very difficult to read a continuous solid block of text with no paragraph breaks on the computer too. Could you edit your post?

I didn't get very far into it but I do see they are only 4 months old and in my own readings for my own allergy dog it seems that is too young for allergies. There's always that exception that makes the rule though.

[Barkingdog]

I also had trouble reading this . I was told by one vet the pet food you buy from vet offices is junk. Do you know if the grass been treated with any weeds killer? I would also made sure the dog food has no dyes in it feed you feed your dog dried food . If you think the grass is the cause of the rash can you buy some coats that cover your dogs tummy and see this help.

[momoftwofuzzies]

When my puppy was little, she had a bacterial infection on her belly, which was these little red, raised bumps. I think because she was so low to the ground, she got irritated by something she was touching. Anyhow, the vet gave her some antibiotics and it went away (haven't had the problem since).

As for allergies, I am dealing with those with my second one. It is very frustrating to find the cause! Yes, foods like Science Diet & Royal Canin the vets recommend aren't really that good (neither is Blue Buffalo really). I use the site dogfoodadvisor.com to check how good a food is. Small dogs sometimes cannot process chicken very well, so maybe you want to try a beef or lamb formula.

My dog's allergies symptoms are mainly that he scratches a lot. He also has very full anal glands that need to be emptied regularly (not by me! lol). I am still trying to find a way to give him relief.

[Marty11]

Was it Acana puppy food? Someone else I know had issues with the puppy food. Try maybe a fish and potato, no chicken no rice no oats. I agree that they are too young for allergies, however my dog started at 6 months. I just looked up the royal canine food, anything from the vet is not very good.

[Digston]

So I am going to go ahead and disagree with everyone lol. You want a definite answer as to whether you're dealing with food allergies? Try out Medi-Cal Anallergenic. Yes, it's a vet diet, and yes, it's expensive as hell. That being said, it'll give you your answer as to whether this is a symptom of a food based allergy.

You can continue trying out different foods, but each attempt requires 3-6 weeks to see any significant change. If there is no change then you're off to the pet store to pick up something new, and go through the process of slow introduction all over again.

Have you bathed your pups? Perhaps it was an allergy to a shampoo used.

It could be from excessive moisture as well. Try drying them off when they come in from outside if its wet, see if that changes anything.


Side Note to Members~ We should be careful when bashing Vet Diets. I agree that some of the diets are comparable to pet store foods, the Development line included. However, most of the prescription diets are specially formulated to help in the management of many diseases. Making generalized statements about vet diets being garbage, imo, is irresponsible.