HELP: Boxer skin allergy

Weeshie

Is there anyone out there who can help me? My boxer Lucy is such a pleasant animal; she's beautiful and has a lovely temprament. She's not even 2 yrs old. But for just over a year now, we've been in and out of the vets with her, with the most terrible skin condition. It's a rash almost like human excema, confined mainly to her paws, legs, belly and under her chin. It also affects her eyes. We're on our second opinion now but no vet seems to be able to say exactly what it is. They reckon it's an allergic reaction to something in her environment, but none can say for sure. We had to get rid of her lovely soft bed (no fabrics), no treats (only pigs ears!), and her diet is reduced to chicken, lamb, rice and potatoes.
One year later, it now looks like poor Lucy is becoming immune to the drugs and her condition is worsening. She's still in such good form but it's heartbreaking to watch her.
Has anyone here ever encountered such a condition before? Please help. We're at out wits end now. We love her to bits and don't want to lose her.

amerden

We had two dogs who suffered from severe skin problems, tried everything, various vets, etc. etc. until we changed our vet and he recommended a product called:

MALASEB SHAMPOO 250ML (Leo)
Description: A shampoo containing 2% w/v chlor hexidine gluconate PhEur and 2% w/v miconazole nitrate PhEur.

MALASEB Uses:
For the treatment and control of seborrhoeic dermatitis associated with Malassezia (Pityrosporum) pachydermatis and Staphylococcus intermedius in dogs.

We were able to keep the condition under control with regular use and our dogs lived a happy regular life. We moved back from the UK 5 years ago and was unable to obtain this shampoo from any of the vets in our area, but was recommended to another vet outside our area who was able to get it, they got it from NI.

The manufacturer is :
Leo Animal Health
Longwick Road
Princes Risborough
Buckinghamshire
HP27 9RR
Tel: (01844) 347333
Fax: (01844) 274832

I hope this can be some help, and know the torment you are going through.

Baffled

One of our Yorkies developed the same problem a couple of years ago. It was so bad that he had big open sores from scratching. We use the MALASEB Shampoo on him too and now he is fine. Not perfect, but manageable and hes not sore anymore. Worth a try!

hairyfairy00

I used to have a jack russell that had a skin condition, he had a bald patch on his back and nothing seemed to work. The vet couldn't find anything wrong, he did scrapings and all different kind of tests all to no avail. He eventually put the dog on steroids and unfortunetly they caused my dog to die of a heart problem. Search the net and see if there is a natural way of treating your dog.

peasant

Ditch the pigs ears as well ...they're coated with all sorts of nasties (preservatives, flavours, etc)

EGAR

Malaseb is brilliant. I used it alot as quite a few Bull Breeds here had skin problems. Also, watch the diet of your dog. Alot of food additives, preservative etc can make it worse. I found that a balanced BARF diet improved my dogs skin greatly.

Sarah

padi89

Another vote for Malaseb here.My dog had alot of problems with his skin too,not as severe as your case but uncomfortable for him none the less.Tried this shampoo and its helped enormously.I had to wash him alot at first but now its down to every three weeks.He is also on Burns food ,its expensive but the combination of this the Malaseb and not having him inside the house to much makes Bailey a happy dog:D

Weeshie

Hi everyone, Many thanks for all your replies. I haven't had any luck yet in tracing some Malaseb - I've even emailed the producer (leo)! Since I last posted, Lucy has improved slightly - the raging allergy has toned down a bit and she's not that red (even after all the warm weather). Some hair regrowth has also appeared on her legs, which is a great sign, but this thing still baffles me. I've done absolutely nothing different in the past 2 weeks, so I've no idea what the cause of the improvement was. I'm beginning to wonder if the whole thing is hormonal?? BTW, has anyone ever heard of a similar shampoo called "Seleen"? seemingly it's along the lines of Malaseb, just more accessible.

Rogueish

Could it be possible that just like skin conditions in humans, doggie skin conditions respond well to sunlight.

In humans light therapy is used successfully on psorasis and excema. The nice weather that we've been having in the last few weeks is probably benefitting your boxer baby's skin condition.

Roll on the good weather.

Siogfinsceal

theres stuff you can get called 'camrosa' meant to be good for that sort of thing

Weeshie

HI again everyone, just to let you all know that Lucy has had 2 baths in the Seleen shampoo and seems to be coming along just fine - so fingers crossed!:D

Rogueish

Glad to hear that your baby is getting better.

Weeshie

Thanks Rogueish - I washed Lucy again over the weekend, and I've noticed that, even though the hair is growing back and her skin is a nice pinky colour again, her skin is still somewhat infected. I thought the infection would have to go before the hair grew back - I'm stumped. Just have to take it a day at a time I guess............. Someone suggested to me recently that maybe she has psoriasis which I know is a stress related condition in humans. Maybe life is just too busy for Lucy and she's finding it hard to cope - commuting, kids, mortgage, work.........:D