# is this allergies?



## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

my lab/mix seems to be itching himself a lot. usually his arms and back legs. yesterday he shoved his whole back foot down his throat. right now he is itching his tail with his mouth. 

he is currently on blue buffalo. he got a shower 2 days ago at petsmart, so he is clean. is this allergies? what can i do? thanks!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

If he just started this since his shower, it could be the soap they used or maybe they didn't rinse the soap off good.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Yeah it sounds like it may be the soap. Either they didn't wash it off all the way, it dried out his skin or there is something in the soap that he's intolerant to. Either way I'd give him a soapless bath with just warm water and see if that helps. If it does it was probably the shampoo. If it doesn't help then it may be something environmental or something in his food. Did you just open a new bag or switch his food recently?


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

I would say "YES" it's very possible. It may not be allergies; but it may be that he's intolerant of something.
How are his ears? I mean do they look clean and clear of any nasty gunk? Is the skin inside the ear a "normal" flesh tone, or is is red, inflamed, or blotchy looking? How about the skin on his tummy and around his inner thighs? Again flesh tone, or a little red blotchy, or even grey/black looking?
All of these "signs" are what happens to Khan when he encounters something "foreign" 
How long has he been eating this food? Do you usually need to clean his ears of black yeasty gunk? This was one of the first things to go away when I took the problem ingredients out of Khan's diet. It's also one of the first things to "come back" when he is given something out of the norm.
When he encounters too much of an ingredient the skin on his tummy turns grey/black. As an example when I was training him I used string cheese. He is fine with a small amount; but give him an entire stick over the course of an hour class and the grey starts to appear.
Khan also has some environmental allergies, which also make his ears flare up. They get red and blotchy; but they don't get the yeast gunk. His eyes also get red.
I have found that giving him a couple benedryl twice a day will keep those in check.
Hope this gives you some clues and some items to look for in your pup.


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## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> Yeah it sounds like it may be the soap. Either they didn't wash it off all the way, it dried out his skin or there is something in the soap that he's intolerant to. Either way I'd give him a soapless bath with just warm water and see if that helps. If it does it was probably the shampoo. If it doesn't help then it may be something environmental or something in his food. Did you just open a new bag or switch his food recently?


yes, he was on science diet when i got him from the shelter, but switched to blue buffalo chicken/brown rice puppy food. u think that might be it? before he got a shower at petsmart, he was itching, but not shoving his foot down his throat lol.


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## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

Khan said:


> I would say "YES" it's very possible. It may not be allergies; but it may be that he's intolerant of something.
> How are his ears? I mean do they look clean and clear of any nasty gunk? Is the skin inside the ear a "normal" flesh tone, or is is red, inflamed, or blotchy looking? How about the skin on his tummy and around his inner thighs? Again flesh tone, or a little red blotchy, or even grey/black looking?
> All of these "signs" are what happens to Khan when he encounters something "foreign"
> How long has he been eating this food? Do you usually need to clean his ears of black yeasty gunk? This was one of the first things to go away when I took the problem ingredients out of Khan's diet. It's also one of the first things to "come back" when he is given something out of the norm.
> ...


no junk coming out from his ears. but it is a bit red. also, he has red eyes. when he woke up yesterday, the lower part of his eyes were really red.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

coolstorybro said:


> yes, he was on science diet when i got him from the shelter, but switched to blue buffalo chicken/brown rice puppy food. u think that might be it? before he got a shower at petsmart, he was itching, but not shoving his foot down his throat lol.


How long ago did you switch food? If it wasn't too long ago, I would give the Blue Buffalo a bit more time before you switch again. Maybe a month or two.


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## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> How long ago did you switch food? If it wasn't too long ago, I would give the Blue Buffalo a bit more time before you switch again. Maybe a month or two.


about 1 1/2 weeks ago. but he likes it, he always wants more.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Yeah, I would definitely give him more time.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

coolstorybro said:


> but he likes it, he always wants more.


He's definitely has a lab appetite :smile: He'll probablly eat the whole bag if he could ahahaha

You could try to bath him in an oatmeal shampoo. It's pretty soothing for dogs with itchy skin. Make sure you wash all the soap out good:wink:

Since you just switched him to BB 1.5 weeks ago, he could be having an allergic reaction. If he's still itchy by next week, you might want to think about changing foods.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

cast71 said:


> He's definitely has a lab appetite :smile: He'll probablly eat the whole bag if he could ahahaha
> 
> You could try to bath him in an oatmeal shampoo. It's pretty soothing for dogs with itchy skin. Make sure you wash all the soap out good:wink:
> 
> Since you just switched him to BB 1.5 weeks ago, he could be having an allergic reaction. If he's still itchy by next week, you might want to think about changing foods.


Ditto on the lab appetite. I have 2 and when they were ON kibble they always wanted more. Now they are pretty satisfied.

Maybe give him some allergy pill, I did that with my black. It may help ease the itching.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

coolstorybro said:


> no junk coming out from his ears. but it is a bit red. also, he has red eyes. when he woke up yesterday, the lower part of his eyes were really red.


I would definitely try giving him some benedryl. wal-mart sells their generic brand for 4 bucks. (Adult) not sure how much he weighs; but the adults are 25mg each. Figure about 1mg per pound. Khan is 100+ and I give him 2 pills twice a day. If it's from the shampoo, or not being rinsed really well, maybe between the benedryl and the other ideas to give a soapless bath etc. it will ease things.
If it doesn't seem to make a difference then I would start looking at the ingredients in his food. Look between the old and new and see what's in there that's different. Look at what's in the treats he gets. Did those maybe change too? Again, I speak from experience. Look at both the obvious and the not so obvious.


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