[Alicia]

I dozed off to sleep on the couch last night and awoke to Lola scratching like mad, the couch was shaking!  Her ear was bright red, with scratch marks and bleeding.......her neck was scratched up and bleeding.  I felt so bad, her poor ear and neck look awful.  I'm at my wit's end, I thought it may be seasonal allergies, but I think it may be food related at this point.

I give her yogurt with her morning food, I give her an oatmeal bath every few weeks or if she's really dirty, I use the genesis spray, I make sure her ears are clean everyday, I've been using the Tresederm drops and Otomax ointment in her ears for a few weeks now, I wash her blankets once a week, I alternate between Benadryl and Clorotab (?).  Anything else to try?

Now I think I have to do the food test.  I haven't given her peanut butter for a month so I'm ruling that out.  I

 

[chud89]

switch to home cooked rice and chiken. Sasha had some allegry problems that we couldnt figure out we took her off canidae and countless other things. It was driving us crazy couldn't figure it out even switched her to the plain diet. Nothing would work, untill one day my wife lit the candle that she does every night when we eat dinner and so does sasha. That's when I thought I dont really like the smell of candles but what about the dog so I kept it lit and let Sasha come close and smell it. She immeditely broke out in hives and started scrathing her nose and paws.
We got red of the candle and havnt had a problems since.

 

[tootsie]

You are feeding a good food, but the treats have to be watched as well. I would not give Lola anything with any kind of wheat, soy, or corn in it. Those three ingredients are big allergens. I can almost guarantee that the Milk Bone treats have some of those ingredients in them. I know it's a pain in the butt to read every ingredient label, but eliminating those three ingredients first may help you find out what poor Lola is allergic to. Good Luck, and I hope Lola's ears improve quickly!  

 

[sully]

Yeah, milk bones and biljack are basically junk.  Not saying they are the cause or even that you should never feed them, but just know they are pretty bad as far as treats go.  Sounds like you should just eliminate everything and then start adding things back one by one to see what the culprit is.  Giving her chicken and rice is a good suggestion

 

[AbbyandBrady]

We have eliminated grain. Timberwolf and Natural Balance are good ones to look at...I notice HannaBanana also recently mentioned Taste of the Wild.

As mentioned, you must also eliminate it from their treats. Natural Balance makes a fish and sweet potato and a duck and potato treat with no grains..try that. Or just go veggies for treats.

 

[Nexu]

I virtually never feed treats to Lola.  A treat for her is when my neighbor brings home some left over liver from going out to eat with his wife.  Or a piece of a pork chop or chicken that I give her from my dinner plate.  I'd try stopping all those treats.  There is no need for them nutritionally and like others have posted above, most treats are made of crap (heavy in wheat flour, whey, soy flour, corn, etc...).

 

[Barbs2Ks]

I had a terrible time with Kiah and food.  She lost all that hair behind her ears and chest while on Canidae, tried several of the really good foods but made her pooh soft and she was throwing up.  Talked to a local breeder and she suggested ProPlan Salmon and brown rice.  She has been doing great on it (bought just a small bag at first to test it) and now am on the second big bag of it.  She also suggested trying the Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach.  I think the other foods were just to rich for her and there was something in the Canidae she was allergic too.  It is expensive but well worth it; her coat is shiny and she is so healthy now.  It is such a relief not to have to worry about her not getting enough nutrition.

Hope you find something that works for Lola.  Try the sweet potatoe chews for Lola, Kiah just loves them.  I get Sams Yams sweet potaote chews.

 

[JeepKuntry]

Charlie didn't do well on Canidae.  He had loose stool, more eye boogers, and he seemed to shed alot.  We tried 2 kinds of Canidae, one was supposed to be for dogs that had allergies.  If you think it's food related, try Solid Gold.  This is the only food thusfar that Charlie doesn't have loose stool with.  The longer we feed it to him, the firmer his poop seems to get.  The only drawback with Solid Gold that I've noticed is it does give both ours more gas.

 

[lulu]

My stepdaughters dog has horrible allergies, Ekim's trainer suggested pinnicle duck and potatoe and her allergies have been much better. I have Delila on pinnicle trout and sweetpotatoe. Ekim is on wellness weight management and he to has allergy problems, but seems to be doing well on this food. His allergies are both seasonal and food related, beef being the major culprit. As I said both of these foods have worked well for us.

 

[samsonsmom]

I would start by removing the treats Alicia, like was already stated...Definitely all the ones that have grains in them...It may take some time, but you almost have to remove everything, then work up from there..Poor Lola, she must feel miserable...

 

[Alicia]

Thank you everyone!  Great advice here.  I didn't have time last night, but tonight I'm reading all labels and eliminating what was said above.  I'm using treats in training a little so I can't get rid of all of them.  I'm going to look into different food too, maybe the Canidea just isn't agreeing with her.  You guys are the best!  Let's hope I can figure this out!

Samsonsmom - I think she thinks it's normal to feel this way!  Poor thing, I just want her to stop scratching so hard she bleeds.  

Wish us luck!

 

[Kate]

The reason I switched my babies from Canidae was the constant scratching that Kane was having.

 

[samsonsmom]

Awwww, bless her heart Alicia..It has to be uncomfortable for her.Hope you get some answers real soon.....Hugs to you & Lola

 

[HannaBanana]

Yep I would literally eliminate all treats with said wheat, grain anything.  Also if you do a boiled rice and chix it kinda defeats the purpose because white rice is a grain.  I would remove many grains from her diet completely.   Take away all grains and see if at all it clears it up.  

As for the ear drops, they work but if its an alergyn then I have had some success with a low grade steroid Temeril.   It cleaned it right up.    So not sure what avenue your vet is going, but something is not working.

With her allergies being so server, you may want to start to look into a raw diet.  Premade is very convienent.  I also just purchased a 30 lbs bag of taste of the wild kibble and it was 45.00 delived to my door step.  Worth removing all grains all together and doing an illimination.

Its hard but you need to be strick with all treats.  Even one thing loaded with corn can cause a flare up!

 

[HannaBanana]

Alicia -

Can you PM me?   I have some ideas on how to help Lola!

 

[Alicia]

Re: I don't know what to do anymore....... *Updated*

Ok boys and girls - the ear issue is still on going.

 

[JeepKuntry]

Charlie was on Hills I/D for a week.  After he got sick and was vomitting and not keeping anything down the vet ended up puttin him on the Hills in a can.  We slowly weened him off of it once he got to feeling better.

 

[tootsie]

I hope you get to the bottom of these ear issues. Food allergies are the worst in trying to figure out what they are allergic to. Good luck with the amoxi tabs, hopefully they will take care of it, so you don't have to do the elimination diet.

 

[Barbs2Ks]

Not sure but I think I heard that it takes 3 to 4 weeks after food changes to notice a difference.