Lab Skin Problems

[chocolatejack]

Hi everyone!

Jack is a 2-year-old chocolate lab who's had skin problems since I rescued him (his previous owner had him chained to a tree 24/7 for the first year of his life). He's happy, affectionate, slobbery, smelly, loud and annoying... everything a good lab SHOULD be -- except for the fact that his skin is constantly itchy and irritated (bright pink). He'll just sit there all night and scratch and scratch and scratch. We all feel really bad for him. We've spent about $3500 trying to figure out what's going on and, out of 4 vets, none of them have a clue. The next step is putting Jack on Atopica, which would cost around $500/month. I wanted to post here to see if any of you have any additional advice that might help us help Jack.

Here's what we've done:
- Food change (including vegetarian grain-free as well as a medicated processed pure protein) -- no change
- Fish oil supplements (in many forms) -- no change
- Medicated baths (twice weekly) -- no change
- Skin treatment for that mite that's really hard to detect (forgot the name) -- no change after a month
- Benadryl -- no effect at all
- Simplicef -- no effect
- Anti itch spray -- no effect
- Allergy testing from animal dermatologist -- 65 allergens tested, none showed positive
- Growth removed from abdomen and biopsied -- results: eosinophilic granulomatous dermatitis (allergic reaction to... something)

The only thing that does make a difference is steroids. He'll get a steroid shot and be completely itch free for a full week.

Anybody have any thoughts, experiences or suggestions?

Thanks so much!

[chocolatejack]

I should also add that Jack has lost hair on his belly, elbows, inner thighs and edge of his ears (I think from scratching). The insides of his ears are super clean and he's never had any problems with that.

With his allergic spots the vets were afraid he had mast cell cancer, which can manifest itself in the form of inexplicable allergic symptoms but he just tested negative for that.

The search goes on...

[Sophiesmama]

What about oral steroids? Have you asked the vet how long a dog can be on it safely? We used to have to put Maggie our 12 yr old on it every summer. It really helped. That with antibiotics for the skin infection. Our Sophie has allergies. The vet told us that even if she doesn't have fleas, even one flea jumping on her and biting her can cause flea allergy dermatitis. We were never sure if it was fleas, food or a combination causing Sophie's allergies. So, we put her on Comfortis, sprayed the heck out of our house, and put her on a food she never had before. Grain free TOTW Pacific Stream, which is a salmon based food with sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, peas and berries. We also give her fish oil caplets. The difference has been amazing. We noticed improvement right away. I know you must be frustrated. I pray you get some answers.