Labrador moult and allergies

[WeAllHaveWings]

Our ddog(3.5), whom we have had since a pup has started the moult to end all moults around 10 days ago. We could have knitted at least 2 new dogs from the hair he has shed so far and still it continues.

ds(12) 8 days ago started with itching and a rash around his ankles which has spread covering his entire legs and arms and starting now on his lower back. Its angry, hot and painful all over. Piriton and aqueous calomine cream never gave any relief. Doctors have now given him steroid cream and really strong anti histamines. He's due to go in for allergy testing and blood tests Monday afternoon.

I'm really worried its going to be the ddog he's allergic to . Nothing else has changed. Does anyone have experience of pet allergies, do they come on this bad this quickly? ds has never had problems before with previous moults.

Could ddog have something which is making him more of an allergen to ds now and not before? Is it worth taking him to the vets for a check over? Or is it just bad luck ds is now allergic?

Head is telling me if it is ddog it's not going to be possible to keep him (high shedding breed) as the reaction has been severe, although I might consider rehoming ds.

Heart is worrying and ddog is getting extra cuddles.

We had the opposite problem with allergies in that dd1 used to get eczema from dog hair and other allergies and then she grew out of it so it must be possible for the opposite to happen and become allergic. We didn't find the antihistamines helped much when the flare was there but did keep it at bay.

Have you though about booking the lab into groomer to get it hand stripped to stop the moult it may at least help alleviate your sons symptoms to the point which you can control it.

But if he's never been bothered by moulting before it could be something else causing the reaction.

Hand stripping is an idea but don't fancy sending him to groomers as he is quite an anxious dog in new situations.

I can see a Mars coat King on Amazon that does this, but there are lots of sizes and blade widths. Are they easy to use? What size/width should I get for a lab with quite long coarse hair?

The Kong Zoom Groom is absolutely brilliant for getting loose hair off short coated dogs. DDog2 moults quite heavily and it makes such a difference giving her a good going over with it.

Have a look at Petal Cleanse as well, it's a product you use on the dog to reduce the amount of allergens. Apparently it's great stuff.

We use a zoom groom and a pin brush and both remove a lot of hair, but two days later we can remove the same amount of hair again. I'm surprised the dog isn't bald!

Will see what the allergy test results come back with before trying the PetAl Cleanse, but could be an option.

Another problem we have is we cant replace the carpets with laminate, after getting a fright on the kitchen floor as a pup (firework outside) ddog cant walk on hard floors and even raw steak wont tempt him into the kitchen or bedrooms which are laminate.