Maltese skin allergy

Rosie13

Hi all.
My 2 yr old maltese is going bald around her backside, back legs and up her tail. The vet says its a skin allergy common in white dogs but doesnt know whats causing it. I have caught her pulling lumps of her fur out. She is on anti biotics twice a day and anti inflamatories every day for the next 30 days. She has been on them for the last month with little change however. He said she might have to be on a tablet a day for the rest of her life.

Has anyone else had this experience and if so how did it turn out? Any adive would be greatly appreciated please.

Shanao

White dogs are pretty notorious for skin problems alright. How long has this been going on? What are you washing her bedding with, and what are you feeding her? Once you can rule out food intolerance and contact allergy, then you might be best getting a skin scraping done.

Rosie13

She is fed Burns mini bites and nothing else. And I'm using non bio detergent. The vet thinks its a combo of things that are most likely out of our control like the house dust mite. After she finishes her 30 days on the medication we are changing her diet to a sensitised one to see if that works if not then skin testing but he said thats rarely conclusive either.
Dont want to have he on tablets for the rest of her life.:(

Sorry forgot to say that its been going on for about 5 or 6 weeks now.

Shanao

One of mine has an allergy to dust mites at the moment as well and I was prescribed to use advocate every two weeks for eight weeks. He's had it twice now and its definitely making a difference. The allergy was very localised like your dogs' and he was only scratching his stomach, but he had lost hair in the area. It took three vets before one offered me what might be a solution (same thing, he didn't want to go doing blood tests and skin scrapes and the like). Might be an idea to mention using the advocate for a while and see what your vet thinks? She's on a very good food anyway, has the medicine made much of a difference to her?

theghost

The eldest developed an allergy like this a couple of years ago. I put dermovate or betnovate which I have for my own flare-ups of eczema on the bald patches for a couple of days to relieve the itch and after that apply manuka honey liberally to the affected areas.

mymo

My dog had an issue with a food and lost loads of hair on his belly and both sides, I worked it out to be the food. Once I realized I changed the food to a chicken and rice based one as I know bread and cereal can upset his stomach, so grain free seemed the way to go.
I had thought it was environmental so had washed everything in non bio powder, washed him with diluted baby shampoo, all that but since it started around the time I changed foods, as soon as I changed the food it stopped.
There are so many possible causes its hard to work out what it is. Draw around the edge of the bald patches with a pen and keep an eye to see if they get bigger. If its dust mites thoroughly hoover everything, wash all soft bedding, if you can get a steamer, steam clean any soft furnishings and carpets (the heat kills the mites), dust everywhere etc. Its a pain but it works, also try giving boiled wholegrain rice and veggies with chicken for a couple of weeks and see if there is an improvement.
(put quarter cup of rice, 2 chicken thighs or 3 drumsticks, some carrots greenbeans or other veggies etc, in a pot with some water and cook like a casserole or stew, remove bones and flake the chicken before feeding, this is the recipe my vet gave me)

fatmammycat

My friend's basset developed an allergy to dust and dust mites and was in a AWFUL state until they discovered what it was that was causing him to itch and drop hair.
However he takes one tablet( 5mg of Prednisolone) every morning and has done for four years now and is pretty much fine. He's 14 and a half now and carrying on not a bother to him.

golden8

Have you done a test for tyroid problems could be homonal. Finding the cause is always hard. I know my golden ret took numerous test to find out that there as a problem with the sebacious glands. We eventually found the problem but our retriever did not have the full coat (golden retrievers have a double coat) only had the outer hairs not the undercoat. He was a indoor dog so did not really matter he was warm and happy and very much cared for.

tk123

My guy gets a rash in the summer months from the cut grass in the park. I've been keeping an eye out as the weather got better because and spotted him scratching last month. He had blisters on his tummy and one of his legs I gave him Pirotin for a week and it cleared up no probs.

lisasimps

www.foodforpets.ie has amazing results for dogs with skin conditions, i'd definitely recommend doing a 2-4 week trial with them.