[nagdu] Allergies and Huskies

[Daryl Marie]

Hi, Mardi,
Poor Shaman!  I just want to pick him up and snuggle him!

I switched Jenny to a grain-free food about nine months ago, and she seems incredibly happy.  This scratching and pawing has corresponded with the snow mould here.  What normally happens is during the winter, we get 1-2 big dumps of snow, then a few little ones in between, and then a gradual melt.  Because of the layers of snow, the snow mould is not too bad (the different length of time the snow has been on the ground), then gradually melted away.  But this year, basically we had 2 major snow dumps early in the winter, and then a 3-week melt.  The whole mess arrived at the same time, left at the same time, with dirt, grime and mould underneath and all exposed at once.

The Benadryl - coupled with the most recent snow - seem to decrease Jenny's scratching and makes her much less reactive.  So I will be keeping her on this until the melt is completely over.  I might look into the honey; she would love it!

Daryl

----- Original Message ----- From: Mardi Hadfield via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org> Sent: Tue, 24 Mar 2015 00:30:25 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: [nagdu] Allergies and Huskies  Hi Daryl,Mardi here. I have not had the money to do allergy testing on Shaman,and my vet says he thinks Shaman's allergies are mostly environmental.It is not really cold enough to have a break in pollens and other environmental stuff flying in the air here.Especially this winter. We had very few nights when it went down to 32 degrees. It was a nice warm winter. My vet feels that testing Shaman would not be that beneficial as his allergies are severe,leading him to think that he is allergic to just about every thing in the air.I have had him on grain free food for several years,yet his allergies have continued to become worse.He constantly scratches and chews himself and has scabs all over his body. His coat is very thin and you can see his skin through the hair on his back.He gets Benadryl twice a day.I can't get him allergy shots, even if I could afford them because you need to test first to see what the allergies are. I have been doing some research on allergies responding to Raw honey as bees make their honey with all the pollens that are in the precise area that they live in.I am giving Shaman vitamin C and natural ,raw honey that comes from the bees in my area.At first I noticed that Shaman began to scratch more so I discussed this with the vet and we decided to spread the honey doses out over a longer period of time. I have noticed that his coat is growing back and he is scratching a little less. He is also getting Flax seed oil and fish oil every day.I have had to put him on Prednisone and antibiotics while treating a particularly bad ear infection.I also bathe him with Oatmeal shampoo.I would love to try a raw diet,but I am feeding 8 dogs and simply can't afford to try it.I am hoping that the raw honey will help Shaman. My vet calls this the natural allergy shots.Shaman loves it and looks forward to getting it.He is getting it twice a month now,but will work up to more if he can tolerate it.He is such a great dog,I hate to see him scratch and chew him self all the time. I do think he is responding though.None of my Huskies has ever had this kind of allergies. Have a great day, Mardi and Shaman,retired and Neechee.  -- http://wolfsinger-lakota.blogspot.com/ http://wolfsinger2-thegoldendragon.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ nagdu mailing list nagdu at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu: http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/crazymusician%40shaw.ca