What is it with allergies this year?

[Unosmom]

It seems like every dog I know is having issues with itching, hot spots, hairloss, scratching. My sisters pup started rubbing her face on the carpet and is now missing quite a bit of hair around her eye. She was put on antibiotics for a bacterial infection, given medicated shampoo and fish oil supplement.

Couple days ago Uno broke out in hives, but only on one side of the body, he has contact allergy and I'm fairly certain he got it by running in some poison ivy/oak or some other brush. He hasnt had this issue last year, and we live in the same area, so I'm little baffled as to what it could be. No changes in the home environment or food. No itching either. I've been giving him an allergy supplement composed of quercetin/bromelain to reduce inflamation and fish oil, the hives seem to have gone down some, but not entirely.

Anyone else having issues?
Do you have any suggestions, especially natural approaches to dealing with this?

[moon]

Hey Unosmom, if it's poison ivy or poison oak - Jewel Weed (a member of the impatiens family) will cure it in pets as well as humans. The good thing is they like to grow near each other, so if you see poison ivy, look around for jewel weed. There's a picture here:

Jewel Weed - Touch Me Not - Impatiens - A Very Effective Poison Ivy Antidote

[chowder]

We're in the same state as you and Rocky has been scratching constantly this year, shedding his undercoat, licking his paws like they are lollypops, rubbing his nose, and his eyes will run clear tears some days.

We have everything under the sun growing in our yard and woods so I"m pretty sure it's something outside. Last night my own eyes were watering so bad that I could hardly see the tv and that was while I was taking prescription allergy medicine! It's got to be something in the air bothering us all.

It's just a really bad year overall I guess. I'm still blaming global warming! Rocky is starting to get a little better compared to a month ago. The last two spots he chewed have cleared up by them selves and the paw licking has slowed down a lot in the last two days. It could be because it has FINALLY started to get a little cooler outside or because he is eating the raw chicken now for a week, or both.

i can't wait for fall to come!!!

[Unosmom]

Moon-thanks, I'll loook into it.

Chowder- I know what you mean, its already Sept and its still 90 degrees out, I'm really fed up with this temp. and plan on moving to the high country (asheville) this year, its at least 10 degrees cooler then Charlotte.

[DaneMama]

I think this year is just a particularly bad year for seasonal allergies. Shiloh's always itchy but this year she was chewing holes in herself.

[malluver1005]

We're in the same state as you and Rocky has been scratching constantly this year, shedding his undercoat, licking his paws like they are lollypops, rubbing his nose, and his eyes will run clear tears some days.

I have the same issues with Aspen. Although not the shedding part. He's done shedding.

and the paw licking has slowed down a lot in the last two days.

Same here...

i can't wait for fall to come!!!

I'm dying for the cooler months to get here!!!