Itchy Bulldog

Submitted by craigellis on July 5, 2010 - 10:10am

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Hi All,

I am new to the wonderful world of Bulldogs, I have a male Bailey (9 months) and a female Belle (7 months)

Problem is with the little one (Belle) she is constantly scratching herself open on her underside by her belly, armpits etc, seems its only that area that irritates her.

She has been to the Vet and even had 3 x skin biopsies done whereby the vet established that she is allergic to "something"

Possibilities are 97% Food 2 % Detergents/shampoos etc and 1 % normal everyday human allergies, grass/pollen etc. She is a fair skin bully as in her coat is white and her skin already looks really sensitive.

My vet keeps giving her cortizone and antibiotics every time she breaks out with her allergy but these drugs keep breaking her immune system down every time she takes them and only last for 2 to 3 weeks until they wear off.

I have changed her diet to a Hyperallergenic sensitive food, she does not go onto the lawn all that often and we take our walks on the sidewalk in the park, we have also started washing her bedding in a sensitive detergent, and she gets bathed once a week so I have eliminated fleas, apart from the fact that they get frontline once a month.

Has anyone experienced this problem with their Bulldog that could advise me on what to do, as I am sure she is in discomfort with the constant scratching, not to mention she scratches till she bleeds.

I am at my wits ends already, I have a couple photo's of the rash/skin problem if anyone thinks it would help.

Best Regards,

Craig, Bailey and Belle

What brand of food?

Submitted by Deb and MacKenz... on July 5, 2010 - 11:28am.

are you feeding her? Does it have wheats and grains?

Food

Submitted by craigellis on July 5, 2010 - 3:38pm.

She is on a product called vets choice sensitive no wheat or grain, just duck and rice, could the rice be a problem?

Is it in black bag?

Submitted by Jo Ann on July 5, 2010 - 4:03pm.

I think I know the brand and had Rocky on it and had lots of problems with terrible gas and allergy reactions including IDC between his toes.

try grain free. I use to make Rocky's food so I'm not up to date on what's available but I have read that a lot of people use grain free. maybe but out a queationon the main forum about who use what grain free food or go and do a searh on grain free.

__________________

Jo Ann

We use Taste of the Wild pacific stream...

Submitted by Kathy Chester N... on July 5, 2010 - 5:55pm.

which is salmon and sweet potato. No itchiness, no allergies, no tearstains, etc. They do really well on it. And there is a much cheaper version at some Costco's called Natures Domain, basically the same food. Try to find something without any grains: salmon/sweet potato, duck potato, etc.

Thanks for all the advise,

Submitted by craigellis on July 6, 2010 - 2:35am.

Thanks for all the advise, unfortunately we live in South Africa so I don't think those brands are available to me.

Just look for a grain free

Submitted by Deb and MacKenz... on July 6, 2010 - 8:04pm.

with the first ingredients as a protein or a couple of proteins. Sometimes it takes several attempts to find the right food.

While TOTW is a great food, very expensive, it didn't work on one of my dogs and gave her a horrible staph infection. So it all depends on the dog!

I feed both Natures Variety kibble and raw patties and also a Canadian kibble called "Now" made by Petcurean.