French Bulldog Allergy/Skin issues
Discussion
Batleyred said:
Fingers crossed for him mate.
If the vets a good one keep them, a rarity these days sad to say.
Thanks mate, I am really hoping this might be a long term solution, but will have to just wait and see how it goes.If the vets a good one keep them, a rarity these days sad to say.
He got his booster shot last night and then will get another in about a weeks time when his antibacterial tablets are finished and the vet thinks he should be ok for the rest of this year and possibly longer, he said sometimes you can resolve it completely but will see.
I wasn't convinced when going to this new vet last week but the first signs look pretty promising so far, if it works out will definitely be sticking with this vet in future! Added bonus is he is only 5-10 minutes away from where we stay.
Can I ask what the injection was called?
There is a new injection out but it is quite pricey and the new generation of treatment since Apoquel (I only learned about it a couple months ago) which was a revolution for many dogs when it came out a few years ago (so much so that the company under estimated demand and ran out for months!)
It is possible your other vet just hadn't caught up about the new treatment.
The only other injection we give for skin that I can think of is a bit more old school and not one you would generally want to use long term without some caution as it can cause weight gain and cushings disease.
Good to hear your dog is feeling more comfortable now, hope it continues.
There is a new injection out but it is quite pricey and the new generation of treatment since Apoquel (I only learned about it a couple months ago) which was a revolution for many dogs when it came out a few years ago (so much so that the company under estimated demand and ran out for months!)
It is possible your other vet just hadn't caught up about the new treatment.
The only other injection we give for skin that I can think of is a bit more old school and not one you would generally want to use long term without some caution as it can cause weight gain and cushings disease.
Good to hear your dog is feeling more comfortable now, hope it continues.
good to hear youve had some success.
we took our staffy off apoquel as it was having less and less effect, after discussions with the vet we put him on steroids.
I know a lot of people say you shouldnt and its not a long term treatment, but we decided we'd rather have a happy dog who may not live as long than a poor unhappy ball of blood and scars.
he's on steroids every other day which seems to work really well, and after 9 months he's not got fat, his fur hasnt fallen out, and he seems to have managed to avoid any side effects
the other plus side is 6 months supply costs £17, but money was never the issue
we took our staffy off apoquel as it was having less and less effect, after discussions with the vet we put him on steroids.
I know a lot of people say you shouldnt and its not a long term treatment, but we decided we'd rather have a happy dog who may not live as long than a poor unhappy ball of blood and scars.
he's on steroids every other day which seems to work really well, and after 9 months he's not got fat, his fur hasnt fallen out, and he seems to have managed to avoid any side effects
the other plus side is 6 months supply costs £17, but money was never the issue
I did ask the vet to write down what it was he was given so i could look it up online, but I cant make out what he wrote! He was just closing so we were a bit rushed and I hadn't checked what he wrote before we left, I have uploaded a picture so maybe you have an idea! 
He said he has had good success with this before and our neighbour was the one to recommend him as he really helped their dog who had similar issues, the first part looks something like Depotcorticoid so assume it is some cortisone based thing?
I asked about side affects and he said the only side affect should be that he may drink more and urinate more frequently to start with.
I assume the new injection you mentioned is Cytopoint? We have also tried this with our last vet and while it worked the first couple of times and lasted around a month without him being itchy it now doesn't seem to do anything to help, so presumably he is somehow immune to it now. I believe its made by the same people who make Apoquel?
He said he has had good success with this before and our neighbour was the one to recommend him as he really helped their dog who had similar issues, the first part looks something like Depotcorticoid so assume it is some cortisone based thing?
I asked about side affects and he said the only side affect should be that he may drink more and urinate more frequently to start with.
I assume the new injection you mentioned is Cytopoint? We have also tried this with our last vet and while it worked the first couple of times and lasted around a month without him being itchy it now doesn't seem to do anything to help, so presumably he is somehow immune to it now. I believe its made by the same people who make Apoquel?
I suspect it is along the lines of depo medrone.(methylprednisolone)I would be cautious re long term side effects but I am glad it is working now, so distressing to see them itchy (had to use depo med a couple times over the years for my cat. (cats seem to tolerate it better than dogs)
Edited by bexVN on Wednesday 5th June 11:27
I'm hoping this isn't a long term thing, the vet said after the next booster he should be fine for this year if not longer, he said there was also a chance it wont come back so really hoping this is the case!
I will double check what it is on the next visit next week and update once I know for sure.
I will double check what it is on the next visit next week and update once I know for sure.
Told you it might be a steroid, this will give almost invariably an improvement in symptoms, and often should be used to damp down a problem, but can with long term use cause some side effects. I would undoubtably use apoquell in one of my dogs inpreference to steroids long term if they both worked. If there are mites such as demodex, then steroids could make this worse.
I think dermatologist would be useful.
I think dermatologist would be useful.
Both our whippets have skin problems (likely allergies).
Did the vet who said it was probably mites do any skin scrapings? That was the first thing our vet did when trying to diagnose the problem.
One of our dogs (Jet) is on Apoquel, which stopped him biting and scratching pretty much overnight - we did have to increase the dose, because weight-wise, he is on the 'borderline' between 1 tablet and 2 tablets. The other (Sam) isn't on anything at the moment - we have to be a bit careful with him, because he has an immune disorder. If he gets a flare up of that, he has to go on steroids anyway, which has the 'good' side effect of helping his skin, together with the bad side effects that you get with steroids. In Sam's case (to the vet's surprise) despite having an increased appetite he loses weight quite dramatically on the steroids. Being a whippet, he doesn't have much in the way of fat reserves, so he loses muscle, which is not nice to see. We can only partially control it by feeding him puppy food, but even then he usually loses several kgs.
So I'd definitely choose Apoquel over steroids long-term.
Did the vet who said it was probably mites do any skin scrapings? That was the first thing our vet did when trying to diagnose the problem.
One of our dogs (Jet) is on Apoquel, which stopped him biting and scratching pretty much overnight - we did have to increase the dose, because weight-wise, he is on the 'borderline' between 1 tablet and 2 tablets. The other (Sam) isn't on anything at the moment - we have to be a bit careful with him, because he has an immune disorder. If he gets a flare up of that, he has to go on steroids anyway, which has the 'good' side effect of helping his skin, together with the bad side effects that you get with steroids. In Sam's case (to the vet's surprise) despite having an increased appetite he loses weight quite dramatically on the steroids. Being a whippet, he doesn't have much in the way of fat reserves, so he loses muscle, which is not nice to see. We can only partially control it by feeding him puppy food, but even then he usually loses several kgs.
So I'd definitely choose Apoquel over steroids long-term.
Thanks for the replies, do you know exactly what it is that’s written? I’ve not been able to decipher it yet!
The vet said that it could last 3/4 of a year with his next booster and may even cure him of the issues completely if lucky, is there any chance of this?
At least the red rashes and spots seem to be clearing up well and it’s giving him some constant relief for now, so even if we don’t carry on with it he can relax better for a while anyway.
The vet said that it could last 3/4 of a year with his next booster and may even cure him of the issues completely if lucky, is there any chance of this?
At least the red rashes and spots seem to be clearing up well and it’s giving him some constant relief for now, so even if we don’t carry on with it he can relax better for a while anyway.
The first one I read as depot corticoid but can't make out the third word (I thought poss company name but not sure) usually written as depot corticosteroid in the UK (I assume you aren't in the uk)
The second one I can't make out the first word but the second looks like floxacin which is an antibiotic and can be used to treat skin infections.
The second one I can't make out the first word but the second looks like floxacin which is an antibiotic and can be used to treat skin infections.
Yes I also thought that's what it said but also couldn't make out the second part, I am in Austria so there was a bit of a language barrier with the vet which didn't help either, my Deutsch ist nicht so gut and his English was ok but not perfect, we had to use google sometimes! 
The second one being floxacin would make sense if this is an antibiotic as he had a skin rash with red spots underneath also, so guess this is for that, he also gave a prescription of antibiotic tablets for 10 days to clear anything up. This is actually much better than it was so obviously helping with that at least.
I will ask him again when we go back anyway to be sure what they are. Thanks for the input so far!
The second one being floxacin would make sense if this is an antibiotic as he had a skin rash with red spots underneath also, so guess this is for that, he also gave a prescription of antibiotic tablets for 10 days to clear anything up. This is actually much better than it was so obviously helping with that at least.
I will ask him again when we go back anyway to be sure what they are. Thanks for the input so far!
When my dog had similar issues, we didn't get anywhere with the vet treatments other than big bills and keeping the local lab busy.
Talking with the old boy, local farmer, he recommended giving the dog Goat milk, I was skeptical, found that Sainsbury's stocked it and gave it ago, and all issues cleared up within 2 weeks.
Talking with the old boy, local farmer, he recommended giving the dog Goat milk, I was skeptical, found that Sainsbury's stocked it and gave it ago, and all issues cleared up within 2 weeks.
Vandenberg said:
When my dog had similar issues, we didn't get anywhere with the vet treatments other than big bills and keeping the local lab busy.
Talking with the old boy, local farmer, he recommended giving the dog Goat milk, I was skeptical, found that Sainsbury's stocked it and gave it ago, and all issues cleared up within 2 weeks.
Its the same with us so far, nothing but big bills and not much progress. I don't mind spending the money if it helps however, its got to the point where Allianz tried to cancel our pet insurance as for every 1 euro we paid them they paid the vets 4 euros, luckily I have my car, motorbike and house insurance with them also, so when I pointed out that I would remove all this other business from them if they cancel my pet insurance they decided there was some mistake funnily enough! Overall they make far more out of me than they pay the vet, car insurance alone is very expensive here! Talking with the old boy, local farmer, he recommended giving the dog Goat milk, I was skeptical, found that Sainsbury's stocked it and gave it ago, and all issues cleared up within 2 weeks.
I might give that goats milk a try next then if we have no long term luck from this, but we have already tried giving spoons of Kefir milk to him which didn't seem to make much difference to anything.
How much did you give?
We are currently adding dehydrated beetroot to his food as well as I read a lot of good reviews about this helping with allergies in dogs, but again didn't seem to make much difference so far, he seems to love the taste though so at least there's that!
nickwilcock said:
Have you tried raw honey?
As food, that is, not ointment!
I've read that a daily teaspoon of raw local honey can really help with Frenchie allergies.
No we haven't tried that yet, but have heard honey is a great natural healer for other things, thanks for the hint! As food, that is, not ointment!
I've read that a daily teaspoon of raw local honey can really help with Frenchie allergies.
Will add it to the list of things to try next if the current plan doesn't work out.
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