[mema]

Hi,

I went trough the posts mentioning hives on this forum, but have not found any photo showing something similar to what my dog has. So I thought is a good idea to a start a new post || apologies if I missed it and please share the link to it

Issue:
So, I have a 2 year neutered boxer that for the past 6 months started having hives on this skin. I don't think it disappeared in these 6 months, only had less in a few ocasions. In all the cases, these hives develop a crust and then hair falls; I attached a few photos to show how it looks like

Food: we are giving him raw food, bought from a local company called natural instinct. He was initially on chicken and for the past 4 weeks we changed to turkey. he is on raw food for the about 14months

vet visits: we had several visits to the vets but we returned none the wiser. We were given everything from antibiotics to antihistamines, to apoquel and steroids injections. he only improved after the steroid injection but we can't have him on it all the time. No allergy tests were done as too expensive and not reliable [vet feedback]

current medication: we are giving him Piriton twice a day, trying to help out with the issue

bath: we have been told to wash him once a week with Ermidra Dog Shampoo for Itchy skin relief, because his skin was dry/had 'dandruff'

Can someone please help me out with an idea about what this is and what the cause might be. Any idea will be greatly appreciated as I am tired of vets saying that he is a boxer and has allergies and thats it....

Thank you
Mihai M

 

[[email protected]]

My only suggestions here and they are just suggestions is the bath thing that seems like an excessive and mount of bathing would strip all the oil out of his coat causing more itching. As you have tried apaquel, there is a safer allergy med called cytopoint it’s a once a month or sometimes lasts longer injection. There are allergy tests they can do with a blood sample now instead of those skin prick kind they are less expensive. There are also those tests that you swab the mouth but I heard those are not as good. I’m suspecting this may be a food allergy since apaquel didn’t work so the only way to find that out is eliminating some foods or go in one of those allergy foods from the vets but those are super expensive. If you can find a dog allergist it may save you some money in the long run. I think the Vet who says because it’s a Boxer is code for “I don’t know”

 

[Lindar51]

Have you tried any anti fungal shampoos? For example Order Douxo Dog Shampoo | Chlorhexidine Douxo
Does he have any signs of yeast like between his toes, or in his ears. I presume he is on fleas prevention. I had one dog that would develop small hives if she got bitten my fleas. I've had her on nexgard for 10 years and no further problem. But as you know with boxers it can be anything and may even be genetic. Have you spoken to his breeder for any ideas?
I am just guess here and throwing out ideas.

 

[mema]

My only suggestions here and they are just suggestions is the bath thing that seems like an excessive and mount of bathing would strip all the oil out of his coat causing more itching. As you have tried apaquel, there is a safer allergy med called cytopoint it’s a once a month or sometimes lasts longer injection. There are allergy tests they can do with a blood sample now instead of those skin prick kind they are less expensive. There are also those tests that you swab the mouth but I heard those are not as good. I’m suspecting this may be a food allergy since apaquel didn’t work so the only way to find that out is eliminating some foods or go in one of those allergy foods from the vets but those are super expensive. If you can find a dog allergist it may save you some money in the long run. I think the Vet who says because it’s a Boxer is code for “I don’t know”

Hi [email protected],

I have asked the vets about cytopoint & blood tests and currently waiting for their reply. As for apoquel, is making him vomit half an hour later; I assume he is not tolerant on whatever the drug contains.
Re baths, I agree that sounds excessive; I will reduce the frequency
Many thanks
M

 

[mema]

Have you tried any anti fungal shampoos? For example Order Douxo Dog Shampoo | Chlorhexidine Douxo
Does he have any signs of yeast like between his toes, or in his ears. I presume he is on fleas prevention. I had one dog that would develop small hives if she got bitten my fleas. I've had her on nexgard for 10 years and no further problem. But as you know with boxers it can be anything and may even be genetic. Have you spoken to his breeder for any ideas?
I am just guess here and throwing out ideas.

Hi Lindar51,

I have not tried anything anti-fungal as I focused only on the 'allergy' part. I will search for it and give a try. How many times per month/trimester..etc are you using it?
He has no signs of yeast anywhere and he is on flea prevention treatment since ever.
I did spoke with the breeder and it seems that this is the first time any of his dogs has such issues [that he is aware of]. Thank you very much for throwing out ideas as I started to have none.

Thank you
M

 

[[email protected]]

I was just doi

Hi [email protected],

I have asked the vets about cytopoint & blood tests and currently waiting for their reply. As for apoquel, is making him vomit half an hour later; I assume he is not tolerant on whatever the drug contains.
Re baths, I agree that sounds excessive; I will reduce the frequency
Many thanks
M

i Was just doing some reading regarding side effects of prednisone because a friend of mines Boxer is having skin issues now she is on prednisone, she has small hard bumps around her face now and legs, eye area and muzzle so I was looking into that and the literature I read says yes, prednisone can cause this. I thought about your dog too. Sometimes I think a viscous circle can develope when dogs are being treated for allergies and it’s hard to find the right balance treatment wise. I would look into the cytopoint it is safer than apaquel, I did try apaquel on one of my dogs and she got an upset stomach and bad diarrhea from it.

 

[Kaco Boxers]

Those are not hives. You need to do a skin scrape and have it sent off for culture. It’s most likely bacterial but it could be fungal.

 

[mema]

Those are not hives. You need to do a skin scrape and have it sent off for culture. It’s most likely bacterial but it could be fungal.

Hi,

That is the last stage of the 'hives'. it start like a clean pink-ish bump on the skin, it continue by getting a crust, then the bump recedes and it ends up with just the crust [which I removed in most of the photos I shared].

Thank you
M

 

[Lindar51]

Hi Lindar51,

I have not tried anything anti-fungal as I focused only on the 'allergy' part. I will search for it and give a try. How many times per month/trimester..etc are you using it?
He has no signs of yeast anywhere and he is on flea prevention treatment since ever.
I did spoke with the breeder and it seems that this is the first time any of his dogs has such issues [that he is aware of]. Thank you very much for throwing out ideas as I started to have none.

Thank you
M

I would check with your vet though for his recommendation. I kind of do my own thing with my dogs so I'm not a good source always but I used it 1x a week for about a month, then only if I saw a problem. I really didn't bathe him all that often, only when he needed it.

 

[Kaco Boxers]

Hi,

That is the last stage of the 'hives'. it start like a clean pink-ish bump on the skin, it continue by getting a crust, then the bump recedes and it ends up with just the crust [which I removed in most of the photos I shared].

Thank you
M

Hives do not leave crusts and scabs. They raise with histamines and then disappear. This is more than likely bacterial.

 

[Kappadappa]

I agree that these are not hives, and need to be scraped and cultured to determine treatment. Even though you tried an antibiotic it might not have been the correct one to match the infection, or it may be fungal. But a culture should solve the question.

 

[mema]

Thank you very much to all of you! I will come back with an update in the next couple of months. hopefully a good one

 

[Jerry204]

Reading through all of these suggestions, great forum. We have never experienced anything like your pictures but with our Boxer Mix we were not please with the answers our Vet was giving so reached out to friends and we moved to a larger group and we’re very happy we did. I have a problem when a Dr is giving me an answer to something they obviously don’t know. The new vet was able to say look I don’t know but lets find out.
as to baths we give our girl a bath when she is dirty but they may be months apart. Good luck

 

[cathyv]

Do they seem to itch? if not, and you can almost pinch them between your fingers where they feel like a cyst, check Histeocytoma? But note that those can take up to 6 mo. to resolve themselves. My boy got one last year at two years old under his chin, vet removed it surgically a) because it wasn't as round as they typically see and they were worried about cancer b) where it was: my boy loves shoveling snow with his face so the cyst was constantly bleeding. He ow has another one on the side of his chin but that one isn't bothering him so we'll leave it alone. New cyst isn't as scabby as the first as he is not constantly scraping it on the ground.

Boxers are apparently prone to these, neighbor boxer just had two removed off his ribs as that was a spot where they were bothering him (he and my boy play really rough).

FYi and a shameless plug here: God love our rescue shelters and all that they do: We had only had Max for three months and were already going through quite a bit to get him well from advanced lyme. They paid for his surgery (the cyst and neutering) - We love our boy and would have paid the $900 but were so surprised when they said they would take care of it as we were already incurring great effort getting him through all the protocols for the Lyme - they couldn't initially adopt him out as they weren't sure how he would come out of the Lyme, so they placed him with us as foster-to-permanent (and we tested his kidney function bi-weekly hoping it would recover). He is now doing well, had to find foods that wouldn't stress his renal system and he has gained 15 lbs (vet says he is perfect weight). He visits his shelter alma mater every month to take them food donations. My Max spends his allowance well

Otherwise, I have had a dog with bad allergies (Rhodesian Ridgeback)and she could never tolerate anything but lamb and rice. I actually cooked for her - bought market lambs I had butchered and froze - thats what she got, with rice. After cooking for current dog through the Lyme (chicken, rice, pumpkin or sweet potato) we still cook for him to add to kibble.