Need treatment ideas for dog with flea allergy/summer excema/mange?

Question

Our beautiful 7yr old border collie Jaz has always had a lovely healthy coat. He'd never had fleas until recently when we minded a puppy for a few weeks. It took about a month to get rid of the fleas, then shortly afterwards Jaz's hair all started falling out and his skin became red and raw in places where he had been scratching. I treated him with homeopathic sulphur which was quite effective and within two weeks he was well on the way to recovery. About 2 weeks ago he went through the same thing again. He still has no fleas so I am thinking he may have become allergic to long grasses on our rural property. However the hom sulphur remedy is working very slowly this time and he is still scratching madly.
I am wondering if anyone has any ideas for treatment - alternative or otherwise. I'm a pensioner and can't really afford a vet unless I really have to. Any advice would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Sounds like a quick trip to the vet will be cheaper than all the other things.

A cortisone shot from the vet should clear it right up.

Answer 2

If his hair has been falling out, obviously the sulphur is NOT working! This is a classic sign of flea allergy - your dog still has fleas, this is why he's suffering like this.

You don't actually have to take the dog to a vet to get effective flea treatment. You can pick up Frontline without having to take him in this. This stuff is safe, and it works. You get it all on the skin of your dog, not the fur, and he will be protected for about 8 weeks. Packs of 3 of Frontline cost £15-£18, and this is a 6 month supply.

For a flea allergy, you really need to be treating your house too, again, with a veterinary spray. These cost £13-£20 for a bottle that will do your whole house. I also recommend Program tablets, which sterilise fleas - fleas really need to be attacked from all angles when there is an allergy.

If you can't afford all these, at a minimum please get the Frontline, it will help your dog. £18 every 6 months isn't too bad.

Chalice

Answer 3

Don't be so sure that he doesn't have fleas. Introducing fleas into his environment from that puppy includes flea eggs that hatch at all times of the year, both indoors and outdoors. This means new fleas are constantly being introduced to your dog no matter where he is.

What you need to do is put Frontline on your dog every 3 weeks (for patients with a severe flea allergy it is VERY important that your flea preventative stay current and strong) and spray your yard and home for fleas. Keep up with the Frontline for AT LEAST a year (every 3 weeks for 12 months) at which point you can safely stop treatment. If you have kept up his preventatives your home and yard should be flea-free once again.

Please please DO NOT depend on cortisone shots to be your 'quick fix' to skin allergies. It is a dangerous drug that damages the liver and endocrine systems and can leave your dog with permanent illnesses if it is over-used (i.e. if you run for a cortisone shot every time your dog has an itch). Veterinarians who still advocate cortisone shots are either in the stone-age, or too lazy to solve your dog's real problems. 'Hot-spots' do not just appear out of nowhere for no reason, they are skin reactions to allergies, and the allergy should be treated, not each reaction.

Answer 4

I have a border collie also, shes also got fleas for the first time, got rid of them like a week or so and keeping my fingers crossed they are finally gone. Her hair didnt just fall out, she chewed it off her back she now has one large bald spot and another small one not far from it. It prob is an allergy to fleas and not mange or anything. Even though their is no more fleas there still might be bites, is he still scratching? If heard to try to put some vegetable oil on thier food, this should moisturize their coat and stop the dryness. Well I will be watching your question as Im interested as well.

Answer 5

Sounds like he might be getting "hot spots" this is where they itch like crazy and in a matter of no time they have a big raw place. This needs to be checked by a vet. They can give the dog a shot, I've had to do this the vet told me to watch the dog closely as they will go to sleep wherever a patient he had's dog went to sleep behind the car and you can guess the rest. The vet explained it as like a human getting a mosquito under the skin and not being able to get rid of it. Or your dog might have demodectic manage which is hereditary but not contagious to other dogs and usually is about three patches or so on different parts of the body now this can be very expensive vet has to do dips 1 x per week until culture comes back negative. I've also had a dog that had this and it was horrible her skin got infected and she was a real mess. A unapproved method to deal with this and by the way is very efficient is go to your local feed store for farm animals and buy the smallest bottle of Ivermectin you can get and put about 1/2- 3/4 cc for big dogs in a syringe and squirt it in the dogs mouth 1 x per month as I said this has not been approved but I read it in several pet books and have tried it. This will also treat all kinds of worms except tapeworms which are caused by fleas a separate wormer at the feed store for tapeworms will take care of those worms 1xper month. Hope this helps goodluck
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Answer 6

It still sounds like she still has fleas but they are not evident due to the fact they have probably reduced in numbers due to cooler temperatures and and the fact you used something to kill the fleas previously. However, it only takes one flea bite to start an allergic reaction. Typical signs are chewing on the base of the tail and on the lower back of the dog. A dull and thin coat and at times the coat can look dry and dull. Your problem will get worse when spring starts and the fleas come out of hibernation and start breeding again. I would suggest you buy Frontline Plus which can be applied monthly to prevent fleas and ticks. If that is a too expensive option then you could bath her in a Neem shampoo which is a natural herb remedy. To really get rid of fleas, you need to bear in mind that you will need to treat your pet, and the indoor and outdoor environment, regardless of whether you are using conventional or natural flea control. There are four stages of the flea life cycle: adult (which is the only stage that occurs on the pet and makes up 5-10% of the entire flea population,) egg, larvae and cocoon. Since 90-95% of the flea population (the eggs, larvae, and cocoons) occur in the environment (house and garden) rather than on the pet, it is absolutely essential to treat these areas otherwise all your efforts will be wasted.
Good luck and hope you can win the war!

Answer 7

Don't do it. I don't know this particular treatment, but it doesn't look good. Fleas need chemicals to kill them I'm afraid. Fortunately, modern flea treatments from a VETS (not a pet shop) are quite safe, and effective. Frontline in particular only works on the skin - it has no systemic action, so incidents of problems are all but unheard of. Pet shop or 'natural' treatments cannot make the same claim - and best of all, it doesn't work half the time! I would never put anything on an animal that I didnt know what it was. Look at that ebay advert for this stuff - 'put a few drops on your animal' - what kind of instructions are those?? Do yourself a favour and stick with safe and effective products from professionals, not random stuff from the internt, you don't know WHAT you'd be buying. Chalice

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Answer 8

Any dog not on Flea preventative serves as a breeding playground for fleas. 90% of the fleas infesting your home are in forms you cannot see - they are larvae, cocooned larvae and eggs. Some dogs that are very good groomers (and most cats) won't appear to even have fleas on them because they injest them while grooming. Take a small comb through your're dogs hair and place it on a wet paper towel. See little red dots? That's flea poop, blood, which is food for the flea larvea that are present in your carpet, under your sofa, in the dogs bed, in your bed, etc.

Irradicating fleas is much more difficult and if you are not using a product like Frontline, Advantage, Capstar, etc, then you did not effectively get rid of the fleas. Here's how to get rid of fleas.

Clean your house every 7-11 days concentrating on areas where the dog likes to lay and a 3 foot radius around those areas. Vaccuum and get the bag out of the house (contains flea larvae and cocoons).

Buy Frontline or Advantage and apply every 3 weeks, not every 4 for the first 3 treatments

Wash bedding in hot water every 7-11 days, especially bedding the dog lays on

BUY A PREMISE SPRAY - consisting of an adulticide and IGR - insect growth regulator (birth control for fleas). (I like KNOCKOUT)

Don't waste your money on OTC flea preventatives - they don't work and sight hounds can be sensitive to them.

You just may have to take your dog to the vet as it sounds like it has a skin infection caused by the itching.

Remember, when you got her, you promised to take care of her. Well, that involves taking her to the vet when she is sick.

Answer 9

An old alternative treatment against fleas and teaks is garlic,
squash it and do it under the dog's food oil and pulp, give this regularly, like twice a week, no pills, only fresh garlic works, one or two tows of garlic each time are sufficient.
For the allergy I am afraid you have to go to your vet. because he can do tests to see what your dog is allergic for.
What also is possible, that with all the over balanced foods for pets, your dog by getting older is getting allergic for is food. You see this more with older dogs, that the food is to strong, maybe it is time for a senior food product. I don't know what you give him now, but this is one of the things you should check.

Grtz. Mike.

Answer 10

my husky is the same way. i thought it was food allergies but he starts getting red hot spots and chews at himself and scratches all the the warm mths starting around june till sept. after many times going to the vet he has to go on prenisone all summer until it gets cooler. he is allergic to wet grass and weeds and like us they are prone to air born rag weed that they inhale. i try not to walk him in the grassy areas and sometimes do not walk him at all until he is better.i give him up tp 3 prenisone a day until he is clearing up and also benadryl 3 times.he is 96lbs so he can tolerate the meds well.i was worryed about giving him some much but the vet said it was better to make him comfortable and reduce the itching and the fever so every spring and summer we do the routine. he is 7 yrs old.i am in canada so the winter months are his fav and he loves the snow.i also got him medicated oatmeal conditioner that i rub on his raw spots and let it absorb it soothes him nicely. if your dogs paws are bad too soak them in warm epsom salted water for about 10 min them dry and apply the conditioner.prendisone is a cheap drug so it is good to keep in hand for your pet with these allergies.take him in for a checkup and then you will be able to keep the meds on hand when needed.fleas will cause this problem also when the venom peirces the skin.try to omit the fleas and the sctatching with advantage drops. good luck

Answer 11

Human dermatitis cream worked a wonder for my dog who suffered from all of what you say. It is a fraction of the cost of the same stuff that you get for your animals.
You could also start by slowly changing Jaz's diet (No tin foods with additives etc).
I feed my dogs a diet of fresh cooked or uncooked dog mince (either beef or kangaroo) and rice or pasta with frozen vegies (No peas). I would also add the liquid from fish oil tablets as this is great for the joints (for humans as well) and seemed to help his coat. I also added a glove of garlic as this wards off fleas. (This all works out approximately the same cost as tin food)
As for washing, it is best to change products often as there can be a build up of residue. I also put aloe vera gel on his back as this seems to soothe his itching and gives a bit of relief.