Allergies

Since it is allergy season & CH is a royal pain during this season, I thought I'd make a post on my experience with my dog's allergies - I have them too, but we're talking dogs LOL.

There are degrees of allergies. Dogs get sneezy, weeping eye type allergies just like we do based on the inhalant type allergies. Food allergies are normally identified as: recurring ear infections, raw/itchy feet, & stomach upset. Apache's problem (ok, one of Apache's problems) is that he has both inhalant and food allergies. Talk to your vet if you think you're looking at food allergies - it's normally grain based (corn meal, etc..), and/or protein based. Protein based (in order of most common to cause reaction in my experience) start with beef, then go to chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, etc.. Apache has allergies to the first 4 every time he even accidentally encounters them, but the lamb depends on where it's from & if there are hormones, etc.. involved. Any food based allergy response should move to food 'trials', but you have to be extremely patient, as the switch to a new food should be gradual and then monitored for at least 3 weeks once the dog is entirely on a new food. Your vet can help you with that though, as food allergies are actually becoming pretty common in dogs. Inhalant allergies are trickier actually, as you have to find out what it is - most dogs are like people - dust, mold spores, certain plants, etc... Lots of dogs have runny eyes, and sneezing & reverse sneezing as a reaction. I'm not a steroid fan personally, and I know vet's love to prescribe it, but I often reach for a benedryl type allergy product and give the lowest dose imaginable. I know Apache has issues every single spring and the thing with CH is that once he has a reaction and histiocytes start to appear, his body starts to have a reaction to the histiocytes themselves. It can grow exponentially... I have been lucky, as when I switch to an all natural and raw diet for even a week, it tends to allow his body to stop over reacting & recover. I do feed him the most premium and natural dog food I can find on the market when he is in remission, but use the raw to attempt and snap him out of a reaction. Some people ask me why I don't just feed him raw rabbit all the time.... Well, I am afraid if he has a reaction when he's on the raw rabbit that I won't know what to switch him to to try and get him out of it... It's kind of reassuring that I can use it in emergencies, but I'm running out of options & never running out of emergencies with him.

BTW: Apache's lips have healed over and are no longer raw and scabbing over. He ate raw rabbit, rice boiled with vitamins, sweet potatoes, lamb lung, & celery for about 7 full days. His lips are still quite red, but have sealed anyway. We are going to the Holistic vet on Tuesday just to have another set of eyes and to fish for ideas. Unfortunately this disease has resorted me to doing a lot of my own research, weighing what the vet says, and then making a decision (and then praying it's the right one). I have found the holistic vet most responsive to alternative treatments, obviously, but he has also prescibed things to help the dog's immune system (CH does havoc on their immune system, as it is an auto immune disease). I don't recommend discounting your vet entirely, but if it's something they've never treated or seen, make sure you also do your own research and come armed with any information you think may be helpful for them and your dog (and potentially any dog they may see after)...