Question by luckynina113: My dog won’t stay still for her allergy shot!?
My dog has bad allergies so I have to give her allergy shots. The first few times she seemed okay, but recently I been having an extremely hard time giving her the shots. She jumps around and I can’t get the needle in. I had my husband hold her as tight as he could and she still squirms around so I can’t get the needle in. Here is what I have tried..

1. Having someone hold her tight while I gave her the injection
2. Giving her peanut butter (to keep her busy) while I gave her the shot.
3. Having her on a table so she was less likely to move around
4. I have tried hiding the shot before I give it to her but as soon as the needle touches her skin she freaks out.

Restraining here seems like it is making it worse. I have brought her to the vet to see if they can give me techniques, but they even had a hard time controlling her. She is a small dog but she is really strong so she can get out of any hold. She can sense when we are giving the shot so it is getting worse every time we do it.
When we try to distract here with food she won’t eat it because she knows whats going on. I hide the shot until the last minute, but she still knows what is going on.

I have to give her the shot every 10 days, so I need to figure out a way to make it a lot less traumatic for here.

Any suggestions will be helpful!

Best answer:

Answer by wishnuwelltoo
Give the dog a shot in the bath (sink) give the shot horizontal, and stay calm, your nervous energy is probably making the dog nervous. If you are not calm, take a time out, and try again in 10 minutes.

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Question by Michelle V: my dog had an allergy test one and is allergic to evryhting but raw food where can i find raw dogfood that isn?
ok so i feed my dog raw hickien and liver beef and that is it becuse he is allergic to averything else..can’t have wheat,rice,barley,corn,sweetpotato,eggs,potato,,the list goes on…where can i find dogfood that doesn’t have those ingredients in it and is all natural

Best answer:

Answer by Gayle
Try Pet Smart, tell them the situation and they will help you to the best of their abillity.
I have a Pomapoo (Rascal) who is very picky and they had an all natural food there wish I could remember the name but Pet Smart will know
Good Luck and have loads of fun with you dog they are terrific and give us unconditional love!

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Question by gwenny9093: Orijen is what I am going to start my little shihtzu on a he has an allergy to cheap pet store food. ?
what wet can I add to this
they dont have wet in this brand my dogs love a little wet from a can,what can I add to it

Best answer:

Answer by lunar_flame
Just add some water to the dry food.

P.S. Orijen is a great food My pup eats it and loves it!

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Question by Cindy: Dog food allergy experts only please!?
I have a 1 yr almost 9 month old mutt. As far as I know he’s mixed with lab, dane, and some chow. From the time we adopted him at the shelter at three months old, he has been fed high quality food. We started him off with Eukanuba, but I noticed after a while he was scratching and biting his paws, a common sign of food allergy. I then switched him to Natures Recipe, healthy skin formula. I was shocked to find the scratching still continued, only to discover he was now itching his back, and getting a bald spot. I knew it was mange, took him to the vet and got him treated. He was treated for the entire month where the scratching never stopped, after all his dips were done with I took him back to the vet as he now how more than one bald spot. Turns out this time he had a skin infection. He was then treated for that. He continues having the Natures recipe, and continues scratching, shedding severely (he has the coat of a black lab so I don’t know how he could shed this much without being bald). My vet puts him on Thera-Coat, a granual supplement for healthy skin and coat, on top of his food. The itching/scratching practically ceases. By this time, my wallet is really broken from over $ 1000 in vet bills from chronic skin infections and mange, and the $ 40 a month I was spending on the supplement as well as the $ 75 a month in dog food (he’s a very large dog lol). I go through financial rough times and cannot afford the thera coat for a month. He breaks into a skin infection and I decide to take him to a new vet. This vet prescribes his antibiotics, and suggests I try a venison sweet potato food or a fish sweet potato. I switch over to Nutro (I believe) formula with Venison and Sweet Potato to no avail.. Elwood still acts the same. I then start giving him a regiment of benadryl to prevent him from itching so much he gets skin infections, I have to completely stop taking him to the dog park ( in case of an outbreak occurring because of it).Through out the time I’ve had him, he’s had five total outbreaks of skin infection. Recently, I have lost my job and we could no longer afford to buy him the high quality food he was use to. We ended up buying him Purina. His itching practically ceases, and the shedding is reduced dramatically. After a couple of months, I felt bad about the low quality food and switch him back to NR. Within a week he has broken out into a skin infection, and now all together wont even eat the NR food. Curious, I discovered that the only thing all the formula of food had in common (except for the Purina) was Oatmeal, Barley, and Rice. Common ingredients in ALL high quality food. Is it possible those uncommon sources of food allergy are actually the cause of all of this?? Is there a high quality food out there that doesn’t have those in them? Should I just switch him to the cheaper low grade food?? Please help!!

Best answer:

Answer by pruin1
You can try one of two things…you can cook his food for him (boneless, skinless chicken or hamburger and green veggies and rice…its the most soothing thing you can feed but make sure you give him enough). If his allergies persist remove the rice and see if that helps. If you find that it does then switch him to a high quality grain free formula like Innova, or Orjen, or Fromms. Or you can just try the grain free formula and see if it makes a difference. It can be tough on their system at first though (can cause diarrhoea when you first Switch) so make sure you switch him slowly. Oatmeal, Barley and Rice are main ingredients in low and high quality food as they are fillers so it wouldn’t hurt to try one without. Food allergies are tricky so you really have to try a lot of different things to see whats causing the problem…grain free is worth a try.

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Question by phreadriquebean: Do magnolia leaves give off something that could cause a topical allergy for a dog?
I have a magnolia liliflora (the bush kind) in my back yard. My dog has a lot of contact with it and has started scratching more and more since it started bearing leaves. (The tree flowered before developing new leaves this spring and he did not have any problems) When we moved into this house last July, he started itching after a few days and the magnolia was the only thing we could think that was specifically different about this house compared to other places/plants that he’s been around. The scratching persisted until sometime in the fall of last year, but was better until recently.

I know that some plants cause reactions by touching them (poison ivy, etc) and was wondering if the magnolia leaves had a similar property and gave off some sort of oil or something that could irritate the skin. Maybe especially during the hotter days of the summer?

Before anyone suggests it, he is treated regularly for fleas and has never had any problems. He does not have a rash of any kind but scratched until he broke the skin last year. Also, I have tried giving him allergy medication (Benedryl – on vet’s advice) and it did not seem to help and caused him to become extremely hyperactive (and my house isn’t big enough for a 90lb dog bouncing off the walls so I limit this as much as possible). He is bathed on a regular basis (but limited to prevent dry skin) and bathing did not relieve his symptoms last year, either. He already has a history of grain allergies and responded very well to removal of grains from his diet. The only thing that truly provided him relief last year was the prednisone the vet put him on (along with an antibiotic) after we took him in to be evaluated for the itching, but the prescription was only for a couple of weeks and once it was over he started itching again.

Best answer:

Answer by Maggie
Not the leaves per say, but after the blooms are gone, there is pollen in the remaining pods on the tree. This can get on the leaves & irritate your dog. Watch the bathing, as you said it dries the skin terribly. Perhaps you can just rinse him off. Contact a pet groomer to see if they have any natural cleansers for their dogs. I used one who just used organic shampoos that didn’t dry the skin. I’d also contact the vet again to see if your dog has a fungus- since the prednisone helped so much. It may not have been an actual bacterial infection. He may need another round of prednisone.

Good luck~

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