Help about allergies

[wattocs]

Hi,

My yorkie keeps on scratching her muzzle/nose area and sometimes she scratches it too much that it bleeds. And she's loosing some of her hair in that area due to scratching.

I went to the vent 2 weeks ago to have it checked, and she was positive for yeast infection. She was given a shot of ivermectin and was prescribed with an anti-bacterial medicine.

Sad to say nothing changed, she still keeps on scratching. I went to the vet yesterday to have a follow up checkup, and she was still positive for yeast. So she was given a shot of ivermectin, anti-bacterial medicine and ketoconazole tablets for her yeast. The vet told me that she might have allergy issues which in turn gets her infected with yeast.

I've decided to start looking into dog food allergies and was wondering for the best way to do the elimination diet. Based in my research, I should only feed her with dog foods that only have 1 main ingredient? I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can give me suggestions as to what dog food would be the optimal choice with 1 main ingredient for the elimination diet.

Thanks in advance everyone. Any help would be great.

I've attached a picture of her. Her name is Yuuki. If you look closely on her muzzle/nose area, on the left side, she has thinning hair and a healing wound.

[wattocs]

Oops, I forgot to upload the picture.

Here it is..

[Patti]

That's exactly what my Cali did. She scratched the same area and had hair loss. The elimination diet didn't end the scratching (I have them on California Natural lamb) so we did the allergy testing (300.00) nothing showed up. After many different meds the vet put her on Atopica once a day and she has been great. I would try other meds and then discuss with vet Atopica if nothing else works. I hope you can get her feeling better. I know both Cali and I were miserable with all that scratching.

[Wylie's Mom]

Awwwww...she has the sweetest face! Just adorable.

Allergies can be tough (to figure out), but an elimination diet is great to start with, in some cases. In her case, the worrisome thing is that her symptoms are causing her to break the skin barrier - so managing the symptoms and getting her relief asap would be a good route.

The Keto should help much more than the Ivermectin, imo. Did the vet say why Difulcan wasn't chosen? Diflucan would be slightly safer for the liver. For systemic yeast (and recurrent), hopefully the vet will use the Keto for 2-6 weeks.

If she seems to really need relief quickly, a steroid shot could do wonders for her...at least until her system calms down. Other med options are Temaril P and Atopica (this is what my Marcel is on). Atopica has a ramping up period, so just keep that in mind....it won't provide immediate relief.

As for the protein - yep, you want to get her on a "novel" protein (ie, one she has never been exposed to).