Supplements to heal skin???

[Rottzilla]

We have taken in a ~5 year old male rescue that seems to have suffered from severe skin allergies and negligence. His feet were cracked and swolen from chewing on them. The shelter we rescued him from has done extensive vet care to heal him, but his skin is still very dry and itchy (even though he is on an anti-hystimine).

Does anyone have recommendations on how best to treat his skin? Supplements like fish oil, topical treatments like Vitamin E are things we are considering... let us know what else we might try. I suspect his care would be similar to those used for mange.

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated. :-)

[DNeff]

I'd supplement with Flaxseed oil, vitamin E, and canned salmon. Anything that is rich in Omega 3 or 6 will be very helpful.
If possible consider switching to a food like California Natural Lamb and Rice which has a very limited list of ingredients making it great for dogs with allergies. Good food will be critical in helping this. Get your dog on the best food you can afford!
Topically, I would use vitamin E, aloe vera, and a vitamin E /tea tree salve.
Good Luck!

Dawn
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[spidey]

DNeff has given some good advice. This sounds like it could be a food-related problem (either an allergy, an intolerance, or something missing in the diet). I'd switch to a lamb or fish diet (Wellness makes a fish-based diet which is good for allergies). You could also try supplementing with some EFA. Topically, I'd try an oatmeal-based shampoo. A word of advice: make only one change at a time, otherwise you won't know what was causing the problem. I'd say your best bet would be to start by changing the food to a hypoallergenic diet, if that solves the problem you can either leave the dog on that diet, or, if you want to change foods, try challenging it by adding one additional food at a time (i.e. keep the dog on the hypoallergenic diet, and try adding different cooked meats for a few weeks at a time). Once you find out what the dog does and doesn't react to, you can start looking for different foods based on the igredients lists (there's not really any reason to switch from most hypoallergenic foods, but it's never a bad idea to know what your dog is allergic to, just in case).