Need advice, Please?

[Kiminski]

Hi all,
Ty went in to be nuetered on Thursday and I asked them to check his skin and ears because he has been flaring up again. Well, they said that he has a bacterial skin infection and yeast in hids ears. They put him on cephalexin (1000 mg)twice a day for 3 weeks and had me switch him to Eukanuba Response fish and potato food because she thinks its's food allergies. He seems like he hates this new food. I haven't been able get him to do more that nibble at it. Also he has been throwing up a couple of times a day. Does the cephalexin cause nausea? This poor dog has a regimen of sprays, creams, pills, etc. I feel bad and I hate to see him go without eating. My daughter caught him downstairs with his head in my shelties bag of food this morning. Any though, or suggestions> I can't add anything to the fish/potato food or I will be defeating the purpose. Oh, yeah he was on benadryl too, but I stopped it because it was making him so groggy.
Thanks, Kim

[Briar Rose]

My old girl's been allergic for 2 years.

Try giving the full dose of benedryl at night---they get over the "groggy" while they are sleeping.

My vet put her on Eukanuba at first also---no happiness. That stuff must taste bland as cardboard--we had 2 dogs that wouldn't eat it. We just started boiling up chicken, turkey, feeding raw beef, rice, potatoes, etc., "homecooking." "Homecooking" works real well for lots of allergic dogs.

[CarolineS]

Kiminski,

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!

Seriously, as you probably know if you read all the posts, my dog Maggie has food allergies too. I tried her on more than one type of commercial hypoallergenic dog food, she's not picky so she ate it, but one made her symptoms worse than ever and the other turned her coat all red.

Ask your vet if you can try your dog on a home-cooked allergy elimination diet. It's not always the food in a commercial diet that causes problems, it can sometimes be an additive or preservative. Guaranteed if it's home-cooked, your dog won't even realize his diet is restricted!

Unless you've fed him a lot of different commercial foods, it shouldn't be hard to come up with a protein and carb source he hasn't had before. We used turkey and potatoes for Maggie. I don't know if the vomiting is a side effect of the drug or not, but I do know vomiting can often occur with food allergies. My dog was vomiting about twice a day. It stopped completely after only two days on the elimination diet and has never returned, six months later.

If your dog isn't doing well on the commercial hypoallergenic food, please try the home-cooked elimination diet. A lot of vets aren't too keen on trying this, they just want to move right on to the next step, which is usually prednisone, which is not a great long term solution.