Beagle with allergies

[eosmum]

Our 4 year old beagle seems to have developed allergies. He is scratching under and down his front legs and his groin area. Been to the vets and got antibiotics and steroids, which worked but itch was back within a few days of the treatment finishing. I've changed him to a grain free food and from a lamb or chicken protein to fish. I didn't feel the allergy was grass but the vet did say he had some dark areas on his feet from licking so it might be grass. He is on a tablet now I think aquelle (sp) but the vet did mention that in older dogs this can cause health issues and he is going to be taking them for life. Anyone any advice or been down this road before? TIA

I'm following this - my dog is 'mature' and has developed allergies, so is now on tablets, a special shampoo and two lots of eardrops, plus a fish oil spray for his food.
But I also know a beagle who is about 18 months old and has developed allergies, she was born and nursed on straw - I'm a bit suspicious of her breeder.
We tried homeopathic drops in our lad's water but they haven't helped, although paw licking has lessened recently!

Allergies and food intolerances are a pita.

Firstly, you need to know if you are dealing with environmental or food allergies (or bboth).

Environmental can be tested for via blood tests. As this is the easier of the two it's best to do this first.

Food allergies/intolerances cannot be tested for and can only truly be determined through a proper elimination diet. For this you take a meat and carb your dog has never, ever eaten before and feed them ONLY that for 8-12 weeks. If the symptoms subside you have your first clue that there was a food issue. You add ONE single ingredient (e.g. another meat or carb) and feed only those 3 for 2-4 weeks. If there are no more symptoms, you add another for 2-4 weeks - slowly moving through as many as you need to until you have a balanced diet. If your dog develops symtoms again you take a step back to the previous foods, wait until symtoms have calmed back down and try a different food next time. Slowly building up a list of foods you think are safe and foods you think are not.

Takes months/years

p.s. Grain free diets may not be the holy grail they were once thought to be. There is now some science suggesting they may be linked with heart problems - so take care.

I know you say you switched protein, but is his food rice, potato or sweet potato based?

I would try switching away from rice if that's what he's getting.

@DuchessOfDodo, thanks for that. They never mentioned they could check for environmental via bloods. I'll ask on Monday when we are back for a review. Why do you say that is easier than food? If it's grass is that not harder to treat as it's just everywhere? We are week four into the new food, but probably in reality back to week one as he managed to knock over our other dogs food bin and gorged himself. I'm wiping his paws and walking on the paths, he's a runner so the only time he gets off lead is in the dog park which is grass so he's missing that a lot. I'll have a google about the grain free diet. @eggandonion he's a rescue so I have no idea of his background, but I imagine a puppy farm or something similar, a good breeder wouldn't let a dog go to a home that gets rid within a year I'd imagine anyhow.

Mine is a rescue too, we have had him 11 years.
I know two others with allergies, I can't pinpoint any change around us in the past decade. There is less spraying of weed killer, which may have led to some plants annoying them. My mils dog made it to 15 taking himself for walks, not neutered, eating mashed potatoes, gravy and bits of fat! Plus toast, biscuits, buns.
I've spent about 350 euros this year on an itchy dog!

We have an 8 year old Cocker with some form of allergy. Causing dreadful itching and skin rashes/dryness.

We are currently seeing a dermatologist ( not covered by insurance 😬) we have just completed 8 weeks of a food tolerance test. Dry food and water only. Expensive and she hated it and it has made no difference whatsoever.

Just had biopsies taken this week so hopefully they will give us some answers. She was on apoquel (so?) for the itching but we now switched to a monthly injection of Cytopoint. Seems to have a limited effect.

So very frustrating trying to work out where the problem lies.

Hope you have more luck.

@eggandonion, you in Ireland? we are too and you are right the council aren't spraying weeds at all in our area, it's lovely all bee habitat but I suppose it could be causing the allergies. We've spent the same loads of €€€.

@sunflowersandbuttercups it sweetpotato, salmon and trout food.

thanks @Madlymumming sounds like us. Could you let me know what shows up in your biopsies? If you don't mind, just so I have something else to google:) We need to look at the injections as well, they have side effects also though, and he's just a youngster, just trying to see if the diet makes any difference first.

Yes I m in Cork. I'm noticing more beagles now, are they being bred a lot by unscrupulous breeders? The one I know is like a hoover, she walks along inhaling stones, coins etc.
We met a lovely puppy last weekend, she's a bernadoodle apparently. I do wonder ...
Our vet was trying to avoid steroids, but has decided not to worry about long term side effects if it keeps him comfortable.

That’s a new one, a bernadoodle . Though i think a good old heinz57 is best, definitely less health issues. I’ve never seen anything like the number of puppies, sadly I think so many are from puppy farms.

Why do you say that is easier than food?

Sorry, I meant easier to diagnose - because blood tests for env. allergies are more reliable so you can run tests against mutlitple potential allergens in one go. Which you can't with food, instead having to move through each ingredient one by one.

Also food can be an allergy or an intolerance. Allergy = immediate reaction; intolerance = slow build up of reaction over time. Making it even harder and time consuming to find out what the triggers are.

But I agree - ONCE you know then avoiding food triggers is easier than avoiding many env. triggers.

@DuchessOfDodo I was hoping you meant easier to treat. I see what you mean. The intolerance makes more sense he was on the same food from the day we got him 18 mths ago. And the same environment aswell.

Itching can also be caused by mites or fleas so would suggest that you make sure that the dog has a vet strength flea and mite treatment just in case.

@ruthieness we always keep them up to date with flea and worm treatments, he did have skin scrapings and they showed no parasites. Would have preferred if he had, so much easier to treat.

@eosmum the results are in!

Apparently she has a zinc deficiency which is very unusual especially in a Cocker. But Siberian Huskies are very prone to it. So she has stopped processing zinc from her food for some reason.

There is also some sort of allergy going on but not the major skin problem he thought it was. So change of food, skin wash/spray and hope it helps/resolves it. She can have zinc infusions if necessary.

I think that's all he told me! Too much information in one go lol