# Natural remedies for Allergies?



## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

You know what I do like doing to my dog? Supplying him with possible harmful medications everyday to still not have much affect on his allergies. I have had him on ketoconazole and the doctor said I could get some antihistamines over the counter to try out since I did not want to try out the Atopica due to possible side effects. I really do not want to keep dosing him with medicines over long periods of time so I was wondering if any of you do anything different. I would love to get a test done but for right now I do not have the funds for such an expensive test. I know it has to be something outdoors that mainly triggers it. Thanks in advanced! My dog is also on Comfortis and Interceptor and I also wondered if there was anything safer to give. I really do not like giving him so many drugs. :noidea:


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

Khan has environmental allergies. I have not found anything "natural" that has helped. I gave him 2 generic benedryl tablets twice a day during the summer/fall. That seemed to keep them at bay. I quit giving them to him after the weather changed and he's been doing fine. I figure that if I need to have him on them during the "typical" allergy season and then the other 6 months or so he can be off them, well that's pretty easy and pretty inexpensive. I have found that Walmart has them for $4 bucks. Can't beat that!


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Zoey has environmental and food allergies. I switched her to a Raw diet in July and it has been the best thing, she actually doesn't need antihistamines anymore. I had her on Zyrtec. I also give her 'local' honey and apple cider vinegar. The combo of the diet change/honey & ACV has done wonders for her allergies. She no longer chews herself raw and licks herself constantly and the white on her legs is actually growing in white instead of red/brown stained from licking. That is what worked for us.

The "Local" honey has pollens from your area so that helps 'desensitize them' to the pollens in your area.


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## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

Thank you so much! How much ACV and honey do you reccomend using?


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

pandaparade said:


> My dog is also on Comfortis and Interceptor and I also wondered if there was anything safer to give. I really do not like giving him so many drugs. :noidea:


Your dog can be allergic to flea and heartworm pesticidesuke: Plenty of dogs have problems with them and no one thinks of them being the cause. They just blame it on allergies. Is your dog on them now? If the answer is yes, you can stop it for the winter months. If the problems go away, than you know what the cause is. If you buy ACV, make sure it's raw organic unfiltered and not supermarket ACV. Add 2 tablespoons to drinking water. That will take care of fleas. For heartworms and intestinal parasite, give chopped up garlic. Here's a site for the proper dose.

Garlic for Dogs | Is Garlic Safe for Dogs?


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## Tekoah (Jan 24, 2011)

Well, cprcheetah and cast71 have made my answer much easier; they said it all. I can, however, add that you might want to consider flax seed oil (cold compressed) and Omega-3 fish oils. Both can have amazing anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory effects.

My older girl had food allergies when I fed kibble. I actually went from raw to kibble and now back to raw again. When I fed kibble and my older girl began showing signs that her food wasn't agreeing with her system I took her off it and all treats completely and began home-making her food. This lasted for (no less than) four months. 

I'm a vet tech and our protocol for treating dogs with food allergies it to switch to a low/hypo allergenic dog food for at least 12 weeks. Because I wasn't going to pay $100/bag even with my discount, I made the decision to make her food. It definitely paid off.

I just made sure that she was fed a meat protein that she had never been introduced to (I used canned kangaroo and buffalo) for a base, along with wild rice, oatmeal, beet pulp, cranberries, sweet potato, cellery, kelp, calcium powder, Recovery (for dogs), salmon oil and flax seed oil. All of her symptoms decreased within days, and after 2 weeks she was back to her normal self.

Give it a try. It was really worth it ... and if you do decide to go raw, it might be the best thing you do for your dog. You honestly don't want to keep pumping her full of all those medicines, I know I sure as heck didn't.

Good luck!!


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