So my lab, like many labs, has allergies. She's itchy and licks her paws incessantly until we make her quit. Left to her own devices she leaves giant wet spots on the carpet. As instructed by the vet, I give her Benadryl, but I was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions? I hate to continue pumping her with drugs because I don't want to damage her body in any way, but I also can't stand to see her so itchy.

She's on lamb and rice food already, and she does not get bathed very often. Sometimes she gets hives, but that seems to have been a winter thing...

Any ideas?

About all I can add to what you are doing is brush her with a soft bristled brush every day and keep working with your vet. There is nothing all that great about a lamb and rice diet. If you started a dog out on one of the exotic diets, such as salmon and barley, it could develop allergies to them. Dogs develop allergies to the proteins they are exposed to when young. If you didn't feed chicken or beef when it was younger, you might try one of them unless your vet has done testing and identified them as allergens. The reason so many dogs develop allergies to chicken and corn is not because there is a problem with them, but because they are so common in dog chows.

I am afraid many breeders do not put a very high priority on allergy free dogs. Very few of the thousands of dogs bred by the dog guide school I volunteer for ever develop any allergies. They are mostly eating Pro Plan chickenand rice.

She started on traditional dog chow, which, if I recall was beef-based. The vet suggested switching her to lamb and rice to see if it made a difference. I don't think it did. I've left her on it because she likes it and we don't seem to get tummy issues. Don't want to tempt fate, you know?

I have to say, I can't fault the breeder for this one - she's my mother-in-law and I personally know both parents! My m-i-l's dog was the mom, and my sister-in-law's dog was the dad; and neither of those dogs have allergy problems. My mom's dog has really bad allergies (fungus and everything that won't go away), so I hoped my dog wouldn't get it, but it seems she has, thankfully not as bad as hers. Mine seems to be the abnormal one from her parents; she has ear problems as well as allergies, which neither parent has ever had. I suppose it could be from further back in the bloodline though, as I don't know the grandparents of my dog.

Is there anything particular about a soft-bristle brush over a hard-bristle? I have a metal loop brush which she enjoys (the kitty fights her for it though... ), but is there something specific about a soft bristle brush? The one I have does an excellent job at getting the undercoat and dead hair off.

You could try the holistic food route and see if that alleviates the problem.. Also make sure that when you do bathe use a hypoallergenic shampoo that has no perfumes or anything along those lines in it.. as well there may be dander etc.. In the carpet that is aggrevating her allegies... a spring cleaning of her environment might also be a good choice... pawsdogdaycare.

The general idea behind switching foods is to find something to which the dog is not allergic, if it's the food that's causing the allergy. If it's not the food, then obviously switching food isn't going to make a difference. This is a time of year when there is a lot of pollen floating around, it may be that. As far as I know, there is no easy test to find what it is to which dogs are allergic. You kind of have to do the shotgun approach.

You might try rinsing her off with a washcloth and clean water every time she come in. If it's pollen or something getting on her that's causing the allergies, then that can sometimes help.

You also mentioned that your mothers dog has allergies. Is there anything obvious that both dogs have in common with regards to environment or diet? Does she sleep on a bed or on the carpet. If you can find a common thing both dogs are coming in contact with, maybe you can try eliminating that and see if it helps.

I have to accept the suggestions of a holistic diet in this thread. I am trying to keep every thread from turning into a debate over food without letting things I disagree with go unchallenged. I was planning on posting some comments on ''holistic'' in my commercial dog chow thread.

My dogs have itchy problems, too. Our new vet prescribed Clemastine 1.34 mg and they each get 1/2 a pill every twelve hours (they are small dogs). It has helped one a great deal and the other is better, but still licks his paws and scratches more than the other.

Our first vet recommended this $80 a bag dog food made of duck and potato and I think that may have been part of the smell issue we had, too. They were chewing and licking and I think the smell was transferring from their mouths.

I think it's an outside spring/summer allergen since she's not having the same problems in the winter. My dog and my moms dog don't eat the same food, or share the same house, so aside from my dog going to my moms house sometimes, there's nothing they share in common.

I try to hose her off when we get back from our daily walk, as she has often been in the creek and running through tall grass. Sometimes I think it helps, sometimes it doesn't. I do bathe her in a hypoallergenic shampoo.

The suggestions about the holistic diet; I really don't think it's a food allergy since when I changed her diet she didn't improve. I suppose she could have an allergy to something common in both lamb and rice and beef-based dog foods though. I'll give that some thought.

Thanks everyone!

Jill, just courious if you knew there are several over the counter orals that if combined work very close to the ability steroids do with out long term side effects or dependency.
If you are courious I will let you know.

Really DocWill? So you think that combining several OTCs might help without long term effects? This might be good for my moms dog too, as he is on prednisone which I think is a steroid. My mom worries about his health because he's on antibiotics and prednisone all the time. The only OTC I ever give my dog is Benadryl, which sometimes is really helpful, but sometimes not.

My ears are open for your suggestions!

My vet recommended for my 75lb 2 regular strength over the counter benadryl tablets

Hang on Jill here we go
Antihistamines are not free of side effects; they are notorious for drowsiness in some individuals. Still, this is vastly preferable to the systemic disruption caused by the corticosteroid group.Clemastine fumarate(Tavist)Hydroxyzine(Atarax)Chlorpheniramin e(Chlor-Trimeton) and not many years ago the discovery of anti-inflammatory properties of evening primrose oils and fish oils in humans has led to similar products on the market for our pets. These products are not analogous to the oil supplements that are recommended as food supplements to make a pet's coat shiny; instead; these are true anti-inflammatory drugs capable of relieving joint pain, cramps, and itchy skin.

I give my lab benadryl and primrose. Very effective for those more itchy days.
Parenthis reviels the common counter name, I provided the chemical as well. Price them and ck availability. One of them combined with the fish oil is quite impressive results. Good Luck, shopping when you purchase them let me know what you chose and I will give dosage.

Ok, reading comprenshun r good... I'm trying to figure out what your post said!

So, I should give primrose oil and fish oil a try? Any particular fish oil? Salmon maybe?

Danienoahsmommy my vet told me three tablets for my dog; she's about the same size as your dog. Interesting the difference in opinion...

Oh, and trust me, I'd welcome the drowsiness - mine is apparently immune to that particular side effect. And they say labs calm down when they turn three; well, mine didn't get the memo!

1mg per pound on benadryl. Commonly sold in 25 mg caps.
Combined with primrose oil.

One gell cap oil
Two caps benadryl

See how that works out!