Shar Pei Allergy??

Question
My seven month old Shar Pei started with the first warm up about 2 months ago itching and biting her belly and her feet. They were both red and swollen. Our first vet trip was spent with a skin scrape to make sure there were no mites and a steriod shot, antibotics, an Antihistamine for the itching.....I had to bring her back after a week and a half because she was A LOT worse.From the first visit it seemed like the first 3 days she was relieved, which makes me think the steriod shot was the relief. At the second visit they tried to treat to have a type of Mange, more pills and a medicated shampoo. The medicated shampoo helped, but nothing else. I have tried to give her Brewer's Yeast tablets since then and she cleared up completely and was doing great. That is, until a week ago we got our back yard fenced in, so she is spending 1 to 2 hours a day outside. The itching is worse than before. I think this is pretty safe to assume something in the grass or the air is causing this. At the last visit to the vet, I was told by the technician to try these different treatments because allegry testing is not real cheap and not guaranteed to have a definte answer, but just the two visits of no help were over $200. The vet told me if the last treatment didn't work, then we could try a food allergy, but I don't think it is her food, especially since she was fine until she started to spend a good amount of time outside. (before the fence was put up, she would go out to potty during the day and maybe a short walk in the evenings, so she was not spending a lot of time outside) PLEASE help me! Is there a stronger anti-itch medication you know about? What do I need to be asking the vet?

Answer
Hi April!Did she have a skin scraping done to check for skin mites?

You can have allergy testing done as this may be the cause.

Was she on anti-histamines or steroids?

I would recommend switching to a hypoallergenic diet such as Wellness Sweet Potato and Fish or Nature's Recipe Venison and Rice.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids are good for the skin and provide anti-inflammatory properties as well as help prevent dry skin.

Ester-C is good as well...you can give 10 mg per pound twice daily.

If it is truly inhaled allergies (Atopy) then I would consider the new medication called ATOPICA.

Be sure to ask your vet about this before trying any of this to make sure it is OK.

I hope this is helpful and good luck!Give her kisses for me and keep me posted!Sending waging tails your way!
Nicole.D.