OK I am more than frustrated and wanted to know if any of you have experienced this.. I have a bitch that has never shown so much as an itch in her whole life. She is now 6.5 yrs old. She whelped her last litter last summer and blew coat pretty badly. She was very itchy and bald, more so than her first litter. But her coat grew back beautifully. She was spayed 4 months later... This summer she started to scratch... Well some of mine have licked their feet this year and never have before so I didn't worry too much... Of course the molds and fungus have been record high, UGH! But one of her sons does have contact allergies so I kept my eye on her.. We tested her thyroid and it was so low I was given the choice to medicate or not. I did for a bit but didn't see any change in her so took her off. Well the symptoms got worse and worse. We tried antihistamines and nada. She started to lose coat pretty badly so we did a very short course of pred... The itch went away, but so did a ton more coat... She is now on Atopica, and it was helping a bit, but she has so many bald spots and today she is scratching all over again.. I am thinking of stopping all meds and trying to feed her raw and build her immune system up... She has been on probiotics for a while now... Anyway, I would never have bred her the second time if I had known she had allergies... Since she was always fine I assumed her son had them from the combination and that breeding was not repeated.. Anyway, looking for experience here. I keep thinking due to her age, it might be hormonal but have no real basis for that opinion.. She looks like crap, and I feel so badly for her.. And of course am concerned for all her offspring now too... So far so good, but I thought that with her.... Anyone go through this and what did you do?

I may be wrong on this so please check with your vet, but my understanding is that once you start them on a thyroid med you have to keep them on it for life. Their body quits producing it.

If you haven't already, take your bitch to a board certified veterinary dermatologist. It's your best bet to find out what's making her itchy so that she can be started on a protocol designed specifically to help her. It's well worth the initial expense; otherwise, you'll be dealing with temporary, stop-gap measures that don't work in the long run.

Also check for a systemic yeast infection. Check the Dane Lady's site. But you might have to put her back on the thyroid meds. I had this same problem and did the protocol there, and all is well again.

Don't forget about treating for fleas (even if you don't see any) and possibly for mites (my vet says can be very hard to detect).

Scratching, bald patches, allergy symptoms are all signs of low thyroid. I would take the prior poster's advice and see a dermatologist and get her thyroid retested. Be sure to do the complete thyroid panel and not the quicky.

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yeast_mini_course.htm
This is a good article

I wasted alot of time with my regular vet. He gave my girl a couple of medications including a steroid initially, but not cyclosporin. Atopica is cyclosporin but more expensive.

She got much better on her antibiotics and cyclosporin. Unfortunately, they stopped working the past 3 months and we're back to square 1. The difference was amazing for almost 2 years.

The veterinary dermatologist took skin scrapings then punch biopsies to be sure it wasn't an autoimmune disease. The punches came back as very severe allergies, all the specialist could tell me.

We're due back there and going but I'm upset that the medications aren't helping anymore. I don't know what else they'll give her but I've been spending close to $300 a month for nothing lately. We have an appointment for next week.

Check out yeast problems, my girl gets black yeast covering her underneath and anywhere allergies were affecting her especially where she scratches or bites at herself. It's back and I hope there is something to help. She ruined the enamel of her teeth overnight

This is why some breeders get very upset when hearing younger girls are bred who have even mild allergies. It's horrible to see a dog ripping themself up from allergies. It can be genetic although I had no one on the bitch side that I knew of with allergies going back 4 generations. In your case, you had no idea until age 6. My girl began at under age 4. I had not bred her thankfully.

I hope you get some answers or medications that work. Perpare your ATM card for a costly 1st or follow up visits. :(

Unfortunately I think we'll see more allergy issues as it seems a heavily-used stud dog (no longer available at stud) has passed on his fair share, including my girl who I bred once before her allergies kicked in and I spayed her after it became obvious its not just a fluke. I know several other dogs just in my area with allergy problems out of this boy, and refuse to breed back into those lines even if they are gorgeous, top-winning dogs. Sad that stud fees trump common sense and years of misery for both dogs and owners.

I'd much rather deal with most any other health problem - EIC, HD, ED, etc... than allergies as the allergies impact the dog every single day.

Thank you everyone for your replies.
I have gone the route of a derm doc for her son.
And spent a ton of money with no results..
Since I know her thyroid is a tad low and the Atopica really isn't helping much. I am going to put her back on the thyroid meds and give them more time. I am also changing her either to raw or grain free since I am reading alot about grains and yeast... All my pack have had rice their entire lives... Maybe this line is more prone and the grain is not helping...

I am very disheartened that this has happened at all, but esp at this age... To me it's just another reason not to breed young bitches and dogs. BTW her lines are clean for allergies as far back as I can trace. So there was no hint what so ever.

It may not be an allergy. It may be a systemic yeast infection. Especially coming on this late. I know how you feel. I went through the same thing, being told I was dealing with an allergy. I followed the SYI protocol recommended by the Dane Lady, and after 4 months, I have a new dog. She is perfect. But you have to be diligent, and follow the rules, which includes the thyroid check. Don't cut corners and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Ive had the same thing happen and it was YEAST!!! The Vet said allergies. Never an itch in their life, blown coat and we had ringworm(fungus) on top of that. Its internal just like people.
You have to find a Vet to work with you and treat the inside as well as the outside.
I bet its not allergies!

Did you do other blood work? Liver disease can cause itchiness.

Have you had other blood work done? Liver disease can cause itchiness.

Do you remember what the treatment was? I'm attempting to treat naturally with coconut oil, probiotics and Apple Cider vinegar, but it's taking a while.

First test the area they are itching, if in the hair use the perixoide half and half solution. The hair will break off or come out with a little puff of smoke(that's the fungus)

The first treatment is plain yogurt to stop the red irritation especially in the ears, not in the inner ear. The skin should be white in a day. Give them Probiotics and Plain Yogurt forever. I haven't tried the vineger because it was so irritating. They can never have anything sweet again as it will flare up again.

Perixoide/water 1/2 of each equally. I use a pan to set the feet in and bathe them in the same solution. It kills the fungus. You need to leave it on for 5-10 minutes. I rinse well and add a moisture rinse because it drys the skin.

The shampoo I use after that is Vet Solutions Universal Medicated Shampoo and you should be able to buy it at the Vet. It says you can use it once a week and is a sulfur type treatment.

About the same time as we had this fungus/yeast going one we got Coccidia and treated everyone with Albon and it seems to be gone. So I am guessing the sulfur in the Albon treated the inside.

Yes we have had the liver checked and it was clear.



Do you remember what the treatment was? I'm attempting to treat naturally with coconut oil, probiotics and Apple Cider vinegar, but it's taking a while.

Hope I did this quote right!