Allergies? Tight tail?

Question
QUESTION: Hi Marjorie,
First off, thank you so much for this invaluable information you provide. I have read it all and since I'm a first time EBD owner, it has saved me!
Here's my question: my 7-month-old girl (50 lbs!) was diagnosed with mange caused by mites. Then they said she has allergies. She's been taking about 100 mg of Benadryl daily, but still, she sits on her behind, turning from side to side, crying and whining. I got an entire tub of baby wipes and cleaned under her tail; and let me tell you, what came out was not pretty. Her tail is not "screwy" so to speak, it's flush against her body, but very tight. She's still acting really uncomfortable.
I don't want to continue medicating her if she does not have allergies. We live in Texas, and it's extremely humid and hot right now. She does come in from outdoors with a runny nose and sometimes her eyes are a little goopy. (She's had cherry eye surgery in both eyes.)
I'm doing everything I can humanly think of to ease her discomfort. She's on puppy Nutro Chicken and Rice formula, and I've been adding AvoDerm soft food with it. She gets one fish oil capsule daily and I give her a colloidal oatmeal bath about every two weeks.
Please help me! I am losing sleep watching her discomfort. Do you think she has allergies? When I clean under her tail, you can tell it's a major source of her aggravation...she leans from side to side, and bites the air! You can tell it is a relief for her. Thank you so much for your help, it is so appreciated.

ANSWER: Have her anal glands expressed and see if this helps. If you've cleaned under the tail really well, that's good. You will need to keep doing this on a weekly basis. If it ever gets abscessed, you're in for trouble and probably amputation.
Your vet or a groomer can take care of the anal glands for you. Get her off the Benadryl.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So you don't think it's allergies, then? I ask because of the eyes/nose thing I mentioned. Amputation???? Oh my. The thought of that seems horrific. And, I asked the vet two weeks ago to check her anal glands and she said they were empty. Shall I ask again?

Answer
This puppy has had more than her share of ailments. If this happened to me and I had already done all you've done, I would take her off everything for 2 weeks. Continue to clean her tail. If she's still acting the same, runny eyes, rubbing her butt, etc., then I would assume it was a food allergy. I would switch her to a natural food, something like Innova, or Wellness or even go to a raw food diet. Do the change over gradually over a week's time. Give that two weeks and see if you notice any improvement at all.  No Benadryl, no Avoderm, no nothing...no baths...the fish oil is ok as long as it's pharmaceutical grade.

If all else fails, have some allergy testing done and go from there.  I do have a feeling this will subside once she matures.

There's also a chance that once this puppy's immune system kicks in she may come right out of all her problems.