Dog allergies

[Wild Bill]

I have a female 5.5 yr old Lab/ Shepard mix. Long story short, she's had allergies for about the last 10 months. Had the blood test done. She's allergic to flea saliva (on advantage) dust and mold. We have been giving her the hypoallerginic shots, benadryl, omega fish pills, and hot spot anti-itch spray. We put her out when cleaning, and give her baths weekly.
After all this, she still breaks out, Smells horrible continues to lose fur by the handful, and looks miserable.
Any one dealt with this? Any tips or ideas? I've had dogs my whole life and never knew they had allergies.
Thanks.
WB 

[carpsniperg2]

i know some dogs that are given benadrill "spelling" to keep from breaking out you might ask your vet about it and give it like once or twice a day

[Wild Bill]

Been giving her the Benadryl, but not having much luck with it.... Poor dog is hatin life, and I'm hatin her stick/ hair...

[runamuk]

What are you feeding her?  so many dogs are allergic to foods as well try getting a food with no corn soy or wheat in it for starters......dont feed any other treats etc for about a month and see if there is improvement.  Too many baths will actually dry and irritate the skin causing the dog to produce more oils and sebum making the skin itchy red and often stinky so reducing the baths to as few as possible once a week is pretty frequent ( and common in show dogs) most dogs do well with once a month.  I've had a dog allergic to beef and fleas a dog allergic to chicken another allergic to corn and food dye its pretty common these days to have dogs with allergies.  Good luck and try a simple diet change it might make a difference.

[adam.WI]

I would agree with the changing of foods, and then talk to a vet about using a different antihistamine, such as Claritan. Be careful though some are deadly for dogs I believe Claritan D is one of the deadly ones so again confirm with the vet.

[Happy Gilmore]

Grain free food is the first place to start. Try Taste of the Wild Bison(lowest protein of the bunch). Not cheap food but, neither are vet visits. With grain free, you're feeding about 1/4 less food. Go to Costco and buy fish oil caplets. They are cheap. Dont give any treats or table foods at all. Swimming may help him a bit but, make sure in nice clean water. No ponds or anywhere which might have algae to cause more itch. Lightly towel dry him after each swim.

Find out if you can use a subsitute to advantage flea and tick drops.

[Curly]

You might want to do some research on Dinovite and see if it is something you want to try.

http://www.dinovite.com/not_allergies_after_all.html

[Wild Bill]

Will try out the food gig starting tonight.... Then move out from there... Scared of trying to much for fear of not knowing what it was (to avoid)
Poor damn dog... Looks like she's spotted, but she's all black...

[Forrestrover]

We just went through that with our dog. The vet gave him some flea medicine (capstar), and put him on antibiotics. We bathed him with some oatmeal dog soap. We changed food for both our dogs, feeding them a dog food made with duck, with no wheat, corn or soy. We stopped giving them table scraps or treats.
He just finished his antibiotics after two weeks. His skin is all cleared up. Now he just has to grow those patches of fur back. We are pretty sure it was flea related. So tonight they got some table scraps.
Good luck.

[Old Mule]

The Diet change worked wonders for my Lab.