Frenchie with Atopic Dermatitis

[FrenchieMomma]

Hello, hoping someone here might have been in a similar situation and be able to offer up some advice as to what helped their dog.

We took on a family members french bulldog in October due to their circumstances, the dog was in a really sorry state. She has been diagnosed with atopic dermatitis and her skin was in terrible condition, lots of broken skin, bald leathery patches, ears were disgusting and infected. She’s been on 2 apoquel a day since and there’s been a vast improvement but she’s still an itchy dog. We’ve tried to reduce her to 1 tablet a day a few times but her symptoms flare up terribly so the vet has advised us to keep her on 2. She’s on hypoallergenic food which has helped, I’ve tried hypoallergenic and grain free but that makes the itching worse. We’re using medicated shampoo 2/3 times a week as recommended by the vet. I rinse her off after every walk because her itching gets noticeably worse if I don’t. I’ve ordered her an all in one coat but the wrong size came so waiting for a new one so I don’t have to bath her after every walk.

She is so much better than she was when we got her, but she’s still itchy especially when she’s due her next tablet and I’d love to be able to reduce the medication she’s on. We’ve discussed different medications with the vet who has suggested keeping her on apoquel for now and experimenting with shampoos etc to see if we can find a solution that doesn’t involve more meds. So I’m wondering if anyone has any experience of this and suggestions as to what else we could try! I’ve read about CBD oil having a positive effect but not tried this. She seems to have multiple allergies, to things she ingests and to things that have contact with her skin. I’m toying with the idea of cooking for her rather than using dog food so she is only having meat/fish and rice/veg but need to do more research and to make sure she’s getting everything she needs nutritionally.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA

I would suggest seeing a different vet - apoquel is very expensive and does not treat the condition I would sugest trying "Bravecto" in case it is a parasite and the antibiotics in case it is foliculitus - bacterial infection. Dogs with allergies still get parasites and infections and apoquel just masks the syptoms

@ruthieness that’s a really good call thank you, we’ve been talking about changing vets as not happy with ours for other reasons so I’ll definitely look to speak to them about the medication. Yes that has been bothering me that apoquel isn’t actually treating the problem. I’d not really considered that it could be anything other than allergies so thank you

My dog was reactive to chicken maize rice and tomato - the hyperallergenic food had maize in it - so was not a good fit.
We have since gone for duck trout and sweet potato from millie wolfheart and NOTHING else! It is working for us.

Did you have your dog allergy tested? We’ve spoken to the vet about this and it’s verrryyyy expensive but we are considering it

my other sugestion is to take photos every week so you can track if there is improvement - and a diary of all medications treatments shampoos food - washing powder - even floor cleaning fluid.
it is very difficult to work out if something in particular is working or is a problem, but this gives you the best chance!

We got a rescue German Shepherd who was like that. Leathery, bald skin and so itchy. Prednisolone helped her a lot, but made her stomach very sick.
She’s on a sensitive food now, and Apoquel... 1 & 1/2 per day.
Have you heard of Cytopoint? It’s an injection every 8 weeks or so, instead of Apoquel. We’re thinking of it.

My lab is very itchy and it is grass and some food. I couldn’t afford allergy tests but trial and error with food worked and she gets itchy if walked anywhere except the beach
So the allergy could be environmental ie grass / pollen etc etc not just food

yes - we did have an allergy test - not sure how accurate they are but we were desperate.

for us the bravecto tablet was a game changer - within 24 hours!!

We think it was mange - it is easy to treat for mange - one tablet!
but difficult and expensive to test for it.

but our dog had also had long term yeast problem as well which may have been allergies. He also had antibiotics to help heal skin lesions.

You have my sympathy - it is a nightmare.

@ruthieness

I would suggest seeing a different vet - apoquel is very expensive and does not treat the condition I would sugest trying "Bravecto" in case it is a parasite and the antibiotics in case it is foliculitus - bacterial infection. Dogs with allergies still get parasites and infections and apoquel just masks the syptoms

Nothing 'treats' atopic dermatitis. Apoqyek reduces the immune system over activity and is a valid choice. However any dog with allergic skin disease should also be on parasite control and it's worth indorex-ing the house and cleaning bedding regularly to reduce dust mite burdens which can be a trigger.

Antibiotics are not required unless pyoderma is present. Antibiotic resistance is a societal problem and vets have a responsibility to prescribe responsibly. Bacterial infections are usually secondary to allergic dermatitis so often systemic antibiotics are not required. It's very likely that the medicated shampoo contains antibacterial and anti fungal components.

Steroids can be used to break the itch-scratch cycle but aren't a longterm choice.

Cytopoint is good but also expensive.

Supplementing with omega 3 can be helpful

Sadly atopic dermatitis often requires lifelong management
I've had done good results with allergy testing and immunotherapy

Here is info on medical options

vetspecialists.co.uk/fact-sheets-post/treatment-of-atopic-dermatitis-in-dogs-and-cats/

@magicstar1 yeah we’ve discussed cytopoint with the vet, unfortunately they think she’d need the injection every 4 weeks and that makes it really expensive so we’re exploring other options for now.

I think it’s definitely environmental as well as food allergies. @ruthieness interesting you’ve said about floor cleaner etc, I hadn’t even considered that could aggravate her! Ill start keeping a diary I think and see if we can identify any triggers.

I’ve seen a postal allergy test thing that you can do by sending off some fur samples, I have no idea how accurate it is though or whether it’s a complete waste of money. Only £40 though so I’m tempted to give it a go!

I’ve seen a postal allergy test thing that you can do by sending off some fur samples, I have no idea how accurate it is though or whether it’s a complete waste of money. Only £40 though so I’m tempted to give it a go!

Total waste of money. You'd be better off buying stronghold/bravecto, omega 3 and indorex. Or putting that towards immunotherapy

@Veterinari I’m glad you said that about steroids. The vet wanted to keep our girl on them, until I kept a diary and showed them that she had one good week on steroids, then a week of awful stomach...puking and pooing in the house cos she couldn’t hold it, then a week of severe itch while the steroids were stopped. Then he’d restart them.
I’ll have a look at your links too. I’d love to get her sorted...we’ve only had her 5 months so still learning about this. Thanks.

Vetinari
What is your view of antihistamines -
we found Piriton and nightol very helpful when the dog was very itchy.

@Veterinari thanks for that, really helpful info. Ideally I’d like to do allergy testing and immunotherapy but our vet charges £450 for the tests and £350 for a bottle of medication. I don’t know if this is standard but it’s such a huge expense so I wanted to explore other options first and see if anything helps. Can omega 3 help with the itching? Do you have any experience with using medicated shampoos? I’m 2 weeks into using sebocalm 3 times a week and although her coat looks better I can’t say the itching has improved but I’m not sure how quickly we would see an improvement with it anyway

Hi OP. My frenchie has suffered terribly with his ears, itching and paw licking for over a year now and we have finally got him down to 1/2 an apaquel a day.
We tried hypo allergenic food and it would only work for a month or two and then things were back to normal. He was at the vets constantly and I felt so sorry for him.
In November he hurt his back and has been on gabipenton, metacam as well as his apaquel and I swear I could hear him rattling he was on that many meds. So I started to research online about food.
We used to feed him raw but he didn’t really like it. Since November we have been feeding him butternut box. It’s grain free and has added spices like turmeric which helps with joints. Since he started eating this, we’ve reduced his apaquel, his skin is better, his ears are clean and his paws are soft and not dry and cracked. He’s on 1/2 an apaquel and we’ve managed to reduce his gabipenton from 3 per day to 1. Honestly could not recommend it enough and he loves it bless him. Does a little dance whilst I heat it up for him .
This isn’t an ad but I have a code for 50% off- just message me if you have any questions x

I was about to say allergy testing wasn’t that expensive it was about £600 when I had it done... then I saw you’d been quoted £450...

You're essentially managing a severe allergic eczema - it's very unlikely to ever be cured as it often has a genetic basis.

Sadly chronic health conditions are common in breeds like frenchies which often aren't well bred.

The evidence for antihistamines is mixed - worth a try but unlikely to be effective alone.

Really nutritional management, strict control of environmental triggers (pollen,dust, parasites), promotion of healthy skin and coat (shampoos and fatty acids) and then immunosuppressants/immunotherapy are the mainstay of control. With intermittent use of antibiotics/anti fungals as required.

It is about lifelong management not cure