Dog Allergies

Question
My mixed Labrador's hair falls out constantly.
He is 5yrs. old and has had allergies and
"itching" all his life. His food has been
"Science Diet" or "Eukanuba". Any suggestions?

Thanks, Joyce Clark

Answer
Have you stuck to one or the other chows for several months?  Also was the Eukanuba you fed based on a different protein source than the Science?  Baths are another source of problems.  Regular brushing will control odor and shedding in a healthy dog.  

Sometimes you can solve allergy problems by having blood tests run, identifying the problem, and either avoiding the cause or desensitizing the dog.  That can be expensive.  

I don't like to self medicate, but you could try Benadryl, up to 5 capsules a day for a Lab.  


We visited the dog guide school school recently. Thought I would share some of what I learned.  One of their veterinarians gave a talk on current hazards. Xylitol, a newer artificial sweetener finding wide use in sugar free gums, is very bad for dogs, see http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=75125 The word on grapes and raisins being toxic to dogs has been around for a while, but new findings show some dogs are very sensitive to them, only taking a few to kill them. Her last point was bottle caps. Their sharp edges can cut dogs internally is swallowed. And like many other things, they can block the digestive tract.  She had some nice X-rays of dogs that had swallowed all sorts of things.  They fish the bottle caps out with a magnet.  Other stuff, they have to operate.