White boxer allergies

Question
I have a white boxer who is 8 years old and in the past 3 years his skin allergies are getting worse. I have changed foods, went on a venison and potato diet for 3 months, I have change laundry detergents, everything I can possibly think of. He unfortuneately cant take steroids, we have tried him on all and he gets deathly ill, wont eat and dehydrated, I know very strange for someone taking steroids, anyway is there something out there I can give him for relief of the itch, I tried fish oils, benadryl, calamine lotions, you name it, he is so miserable sometimes that he doesn't eat or sleep. Thanks for any help you can give

Answer
Many dogs that can't take steroids get ulcers along their intestinal tract that makes them sick.  There is a drug called sucralfate that helps these patients.  

There is a new drug called Atopica that does what the steroids do for the allergies, but they do not have the same side effects as steroids.  The problems is that Atopica is pretty expensive for a dog the size of yours.

If the dog has allergic skin disease, you can have him allergy tested to find out what he is allergic to and then you can give him allergen specific allergy shots to desensitize him.  This may take as long as a year to have beneficial effects.

Bathing two or 3 times a week helps.  If you can't bathe him, then wipe hime down with a wet towel to remove pollens and molds from his skin.