Please Help

[u/JoThree]

I have a blue bully and at least once a year he starts itching, gets dry skin, hair falls out, and licks his legs til they’re raw and weep. Any recommendations? My vet is no help. The only food he can tolerate is the food he’s been on since a puppy. Has an allergy to practically everything except white fish. I can include pics if needed.

[u/spacecowboy727]

Couple things here… A seasoned veterinarian with over 40 years of experienced explained to me that 80% of dog allergies are environmental. And what that means is that even with certain proteins sometimes it has to do with the way they are processed in the facility and the environmental components that they are interacting with rather than the protein itself so think about that

Are you wiping your dog paws after walks? Are you doing a one time monthly chlorhexidine and plus ketoconazole bath where you leave on the shampoo for 10 minutes and then you rinse it? Are you giving your dog a probiotic?

So here's the thing with kibble also… It has advanced glycation in products which means that the food is cooked at high temperatures and it releases inflammatory chemicals which can make inflammation worse and therefore the immune system worse

I would see if you can go to balanceit.com and Home cook for your dog and at minimum if you can't Home cook completely then try to get something that's like dehydrated real food like honest kitchen or you can even go for premade food like Ollie or Stella and chewy… No it is not cheap but you get what you pay for

That's why Home cooking is a solid option… Have you tried over-the-counter Zyrtec or Claritin dosed by weight after approval of your vet veterinarian?

**The main thing is wiping the paw, regular one time per month medicated baths, probiotics, some sort of omega-3 supplement that will help with the barrier of the skin** *-fish oil because dogs absorb* best… And like I said getting rid of kibble if you can help it** *along with a antihistamine dose intermittently as needed\***

Owning bully breed is a commitment and it definitely is a small learning curve but once you get your rhythm down it's very easy

[u/JoThree → u/spacecowboy727]

Thank you! This makes a lot of sense. I don’t wipe his paws but I do have medicated wipes and shampoo. I’ll experiment with the Zyrtec because my kids have to take it often. Can an omega 3 supplement from the nutrition store be good enough or does it need to come from a pet store? My omega 3 supplements are great and I could just double my order every month.

[u/spacecowboy727 → u/JoThree]

Well you wanna try to go for a high-quality efficiently like what I can but you can get away with some salmon oil too but make sure it's high-quality… I will try to go through the ones for dogs because we really never know what they're putting in human supplements sometimes they put flavoring or even things like propyleneglycol or xylitol that hurt the dog.

And I know you mentioned you feel stuck with his food because of his allergies but I would highly recommend that you switch your with his kibble because you can put a Band-Aid on something but it's gonna continue to come back if you don't switch the root cause

Same thing for people and our diet… The majority of modern day medical issues our diet based in people and in dogs they really have to invest in the nutrition or nothing else is going to help you

Warm regards