French Bulldog Allergy/Skin issues
Discussion
Our Frenchie is having some issues with his skin mainly on his back and sides, he was getting very itchy and so far we haven't been able to figure out what is causing it.
The vet originally thought it was a food allergy so changed him from the Royal Canin French Bulldog food to Vet Concept horse meat based kibble, which is supposed to be non-allergenic, but he still gets itchy and has these small bumps appearing mainly on his back/sides.
Our vet prescribed him on Apoquel which does work but this doesn't seem to be a permanent solution to me, as its just suppressing the allergy/issue. I would prefer to try to fix the source and not the outcome if you know what I mean.
I have also read mixed things about Apoquel so not sure if this is the best method or not.
Does anyone have experience of this? I know Frenchies can have issues with their skin, but its proving difficult finding whats wrong.
I recently asked the vet to do a blood sample to try and identify anything from that but they couldn't see anything allergy related there, I'm thinking of doing a full allergy test with the shaved hair and multiple injections etc, but would prefer to do that more of a last resort if needed, unless advised otherwise. I understand they need to be under anesthetic for this?
He never really showed any signs of an allergy growing up but I heard these things can develop anytime really. There was one time when he had some reaction and his eyes/face got quite puffy, quick vet trip and cortisone injection sorted that, the vet said at the time it was likely an insect bite or something that triggered that and its not happened since.
One strange thing at the last trip to the vet, she took a brush to get some dry skin/hair samples to examine in the microscope and after brushing down his back he got very itchy all of a sudden and came up in small bumps which seemed to be an outcome of the brushing?! The vet was a bit surprised by that and didn't know why, he got some cortisone shortly after just in case it got worse.
He is due to get castrated on 31st January and the vet said it should be fine to go ahead with this despite the on going skin issues, any other opinions on this? (He will be 17 months old tomorrow)
I don't have any pics showing anything right now but will try to get some if it helps.
Thanks in advance!
The vet originally thought it was a food allergy so changed him from the Royal Canin French Bulldog food to Vet Concept horse meat based kibble, which is supposed to be non-allergenic, but he still gets itchy and has these small bumps appearing mainly on his back/sides.
Our vet prescribed him on Apoquel which does work but this doesn't seem to be a permanent solution to me, as its just suppressing the allergy/issue. I would prefer to try to fix the source and not the outcome if you know what I mean.
I have also read mixed things about Apoquel so not sure if this is the best method or not.
Does anyone have experience of this? I know Frenchies can have issues with their skin, but its proving difficult finding whats wrong.
I recently asked the vet to do a blood sample to try and identify anything from that but they couldn't see anything allergy related there, I'm thinking of doing a full allergy test with the shaved hair and multiple injections etc, but would prefer to do that more of a last resort if needed, unless advised otherwise. I understand they need to be under anesthetic for this?
He never really showed any signs of an allergy growing up but I heard these things can develop anytime really. There was one time when he had some reaction and his eyes/face got quite puffy, quick vet trip and cortisone injection sorted that, the vet said at the time it was likely an insect bite or something that triggered that and its not happened since.
One strange thing at the last trip to the vet, she took a brush to get some dry skin/hair samples to examine in the microscope and after brushing down his back he got very itchy all of a sudden and came up in small bumps which seemed to be an outcome of the brushing?! The vet was a bit surprised by that and didn't know why, he got some cortisone shortly after just in case it got worse.
He is due to get castrated on 31st January and the vet said it should be fine to go ahead with this despite the on going skin issues, any other opinions on this? (He will be 17 months old tomorrow)
I don't have any pics showing anything right now but will try to get some if it helps.
Thanks in advance!
Had a very similar thing with my griffon, first two years no problem the last 4 it’s been not stop.
Injections every month to try to build up his immune system, 2-3 apoquel daily. We know when he is due his next jab he gets little hotspots all over his bod.
Our vet ran a series of bloods on him a few years ago it ran into 6-A4 pages of things he was allergic to. The list is endless it covers everything from grass to dust and most thigs in-between.
He had so many food allergies he ended up on royal cannin sensitive dry mixer which he hates with a passion, funny thing he was not allergic to the more choice foods, venison, beef, duck and salmon, he is fine with those.
I’ll try to find the list if you want to have a look at the results it’s all done on a points system the higher the mark the bigger the allergy.
Did I mention the vet thinks he has a touch of autism..? Never been proved in dogs I am led to believe but spend the weekend with Ted and you will see why the vet came to that conclusion.
Would I swap him..
Not for anything.
Injections every month to try to build up his immune system, 2-3 apoquel daily. We know when he is due his next jab he gets little hotspots all over his bod.
Our vet ran a series of bloods on him a few years ago it ran into 6-A4 pages of things he was allergic to. The list is endless it covers everything from grass to dust and most thigs in-between.
He had so many food allergies he ended up on royal cannin sensitive dry mixer which he hates with a passion, funny thing he was not allergic to the more choice foods, venison, beef, duck and salmon, he is fine with those.
I’ll try to find the list if you want to have a look at the results it’s all done on a points system the higher the mark the bigger the allergy.
Did I mention the vet thinks he has a touch of autism..? Never been proved in dogs I am led to believe but spend the weekend with Ted and you will see why the vet came to that conclusion.
Would I swap him..
Not for anything.
I have two Frenchies, one is never sick / ill, the other needs to live in a bubble!
Vaseline for dry skin, try Acana grain free, worked for ours, if he eats anything as a ‘treat’ etc he will sometimes come out in what I can only describe as Hives, our vet said allergy tests etc are a waste of money, generally, as it won’t be specific enough.
Vaseline for dry skin, try Acana grain free, worked for ours, if he eats anything as a ‘treat’ etc he will sometimes come out in what I can only describe as Hives, our vet said allergy tests etc are a waste of money, generally, as it won’t be specific enough.
Edited by Lord.Vader on Friday 26th January 16:49
dillenger said:
Had a very similar thing with my griffon, first two years no problem the last 4 it’s been not stop.
Injections every month to try to build up his immune system, 2-3 apoquel daily. We know when he is due his next jab he gets little hotspots all over his bod.
Our vet ran a series of bloods on him a few years ago it ran into 6-A4 pages of things he was allergic to. The list is endless it covers everything from grass to dust and most thigs in-between.
He had so many food allergies he ended up on royal cannin sensitive dry mixer which he hates with a passion, funny thing he was not allergic to the more choice foods, venison, beef, duck and salmon, he is fine with those.
I’ll try to find the list if you want to have a look at the results it’s all done on a points system the higher the mark the bigger the allergy.
Did I mention the vet thinks he has a touch of autism..? Never been proved in dogs I am led to believe but spend the weekend with Ted and you will see why the vet came to that conclusion.
Would I swap him..
Not for anything.
Thanks for the reply, our vet thought it may be dust mites and she did do blood tests but nothing came back. I was considering doing a full allergy test but I read that even these may not be accurate especially when the dog is already in an allergic state, as you may get false positives. Perhaps that's why yours had so many things showing up also?Injections every month to try to build up his immune system, 2-3 apoquel daily. We know when he is due his next jab he gets little hotspots all over his bod.
Our vet ran a series of bloods on him a few years ago it ran into 6-A4 pages of things he was allergic to. The list is endless it covers everything from grass to dust and most thigs in-between.
He had so many food allergies he ended up on royal cannin sensitive dry mixer which he hates with a passion, funny thing he was not allergic to the more choice foods, venison, beef, duck and salmon, he is fine with those.
I’ll try to find the list if you want to have a look at the results it’s all done on a points system the higher the mark the bigger the allergy.
Did I mention the vet thinks he has a touch of autism..? Never been proved in dogs I am led to believe but spend the weekend with Ted and you will see why the vet came to that conclusion.
Would I swap him..
Not for anything.
Not sure if this is correct though, there is so many conflicting things online about it.
He is now on 1 apoquel per day and seems fine (Very little itching and no hives/spots showing up), but I know this is just hiding the issue and would prefer not to rely on this forever if possible. I also read it can have other side effects due to the way it suppresses the immune system to stop it reacting to the allergies, but again no idea if this is true or not.
We originally thought it was food allergies, it seemed to start not too long after 1 year old when he switched from the Royal Canin junior to adult but im not convinced it is, we tried various other foods and didn't seem to make a difference. Even the Vet Concept Horse meat kibble the vet recommended, which is supposed to be non-allergenic, didn't seem to help although hes still on that for now.
I've never heard of Autism in animals! What does he do to make them think that? He's cute thought!
I also wouldn't swap him for anything
We can live with his issues, but just want to make him as comfortable as possible.
Batleyred said:
Have you tried piriton ? We buy Boots own brand over here i am sure your local chemist will have them, ask for antihistamine tablets non drowsy.
Has he been running in long grass or weeds ?
No we havent tried that, how much/often do you give it?Has he been running in long grass or weeds ?
I might look into that, thanks.
He doesn't often run in long grass or weeds, but there are some nearby our house which he sometimes is around, since his allergy issues we have been trying to limit things like that to see if it makes any difference.
Lord.Vader said:
I have two Frenchies, one is never sick / ill, the other needs to live in a bubble!
Vaseline for dry skin, try Acana grain free, worked for ours, if he eats anything as a ‘treat’ etc he will sometimes come out in what I can only describe as Hives, our vet said allergy tests etc are a waste of money, generally, as it won’t be specific enough.
We did try him on Acana but didn't seem to make any difference, so we have a big bag that will be donated to the local shelter along with an unopened big bag of royal canin that i bought just before he developed these issues... typical. Vaseline for dry skin, try Acana grain free, worked for ours, if he eats anything as a ‘treat’ etc he will sometimes come out in what I can only describe as Hives, our vet said allergy tests etc are a waste of money, generally, as it won’t be specific enough.
Edited by Lord.Vader on Friday 26th January 16:49
Its like hives that he gets, mainly on his sides/back.
Hes getting castrated on Wednesday, i wander if this will make any difference to anything. Just hope it doesn't make it worse! I assume it wont make a difference to this issue though.
I also found this website which goes into detail about yeast infections and how they are often mixed up with allergies in dogs, its quite a long read but curious if this may be the case. One thing I read was swimming can cause this and he was swimming in a lake not long before this all started.
I will ask the vet if they can check for this when I bring him in on wednesday, but I assume they would have thought of this already and ruled it out?
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yea...
I will ask the vet if they can check for this when I bring him in on wednesday, but I assume they would have thought of this already and ruled it out?
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yea...
My staffy has been on apoquel for 3 years.
Change of diet had done nothing so we've accepted he's going to make us skint.
He also has piriton in the evenings as that means we can reduce his apoquel dose.
Couple of things about piriton, dogs aren't as sensitive as humans so the dose needs to be higher - no danger but may sleep more if you overdo it. Our vet reckons up to 4 a day isn't a problem - but we would never go that high.
Second thing is don't tell the chemist at boots it's for your dog as they won't sell it to you then!
Third is make sure it's piriton and not piriteze as dogs shouldn't take that
Change of diet had done nothing so we've accepted he's going to make us skint.
He also has piriton in the evenings as that means we can reduce his apoquel dose.
Couple of things about piriton, dogs aren't as sensitive as humans so the dose needs to be higher - no danger but may sleep more if you overdo it. Our vet reckons up to 4 a day isn't a problem - but we would never go that high.
Second thing is don't tell the chemist at boots it's for your dog as they won't sell it to you then!
Third is make sure it's piriton and not piriteze as dogs shouldn't take that
Lazermilk said:
We did try him on Acana but didn't seem to make any difference, so we have a big bag that will be donated to the local shelter along with an unopened big bag of royal canin that i bought just before he developed these issues... typical.
Its like hives that he gets, mainly on his sides/back.
Hes getting castrated on Wednesday, i wander if this will make any difference to anything. Just hope it doesn't make it worse! I assume it wont make a difference to this issue though.
When does his condition flare up ? Its like hives that he gets, mainly on his sides/back.
Hes getting castrated on Wednesday, i wander if this will make any difference to anything. Just hope it doesn't make it worse! I assume it wont make a difference to this issue though.
keirik said:
My staffy has been on apoquel for 3 years.
Change of diet had done nothing so we've accepted he's going to make us skint.
He also has piriton in the evenings as that means we can reduce his apoquel dose.
Couple of things about piriton, dogs aren't as sensitive as humans so the dose needs to be higher - no danger but may sleep more if you overdo it. Our vet reckons up to 4 a day isn't a problem - but we would never go that high.
Second thing is don't tell the chemist at boots it's for your dog as they won't sell it to you then!
Third is make sure it's piriton and not piriteze as dogs shouldn't take that
That is very true about chemists and certain products never say for your dog. Change of diet had done nothing so we've accepted he's going to make us skint.
He also has piriton in the evenings as that means we can reduce his apoquel dose.
Couple of things about piriton, dogs aren't as sensitive as humans so the dose needs to be higher - no danger but may sleep more if you overdo it. Our vet reckons up to 4 a day isn't a problem - but we would never go that high.
Second thing is don't tell the chemist at boots it's for your dog as they won't sell it to you then!
Third is make sure it's piriton and not piriteze as dogs shouldn't take that
Though recently we were prescribed anti sickness pills from our vet at £2 a tablet, rang my chemsist and got 30 tablets from them for £3.85.
Same with dog wormer, a 100 ml bottle of panacur 10% is around £20 but if you buy panacur 10% for sheep a litre is £50, same stuff, same ingredients,
We are going through similar with a WFT.
He's producing a lot of oily, yeasty substance, very pink skin & spots which erupt when scratched as well as flakey skin.
We tried Yumega oil but after his last stripping in Aug 2017, he's suffered quite a bit.
We're clipping him now & are trying a Hills medicated plan only (no treats or anything else) for a trial to see if things improve (without the Yumega).
Also bathing twice a week with Malaseb.
All under direction of vet.
He's producing a lot of oily, yeasty substance, very pink skin & spots which erupt when scratched as well as flakey skin.
We tried Yumega oil but after his last stripping in Aug 2017, he's suffered quite a bit.
We're clipping him now & are trying a Hills medicated plan only (no treats or anything else) for a trial to see if things improve (without the Yumega).
Also bathing twice a week with Malaseb.
All under direction of vet.
Batleyred said:
Lazermilk said:
We did try him on Acana but didn't seem to make any difference, so we have a big bag that will be donated to the local shelter along with an unopened big bag of royal canin that i bought just before he developed these issues... typical.
Its like hives that he gets, mainly on his sides/back.
Hes getting castrated on Wednesday, i wander if this will make any difference to anything. Just hope it doesn't make it worse! I assume it wont make a difference to this issue though.
When does his condition flare up ? Its like hives that he gets, mainly on his sides/back.
Hes getting castrated on Wednesday, i wander if this will make any difference to anything. Just hope it doesn't make it worse! I assume it wont make a difference to this issue though.
Right now he seems fine on one tablet a day in the mornings, I might give the Piriton a try also.
Batleyred said:
keirik said:
My staffy has been on apoquel for 3 years.
Change of diet had done nothing so we've accepted he's going to make us skint.
He also has piriton in the evenings as that means we can reduce his apoquel dose.
Couple of things about piriton, dogs aren't as sensitive as humans so the dose needs to be higher - no danger but may sleep more if you overdo it. Our vet reckons up to 4 a day isn't a problem - but we would never go that high.
Second thing is don't tell the chemist at boots it's for your dog as they won't sell it to you then!
Third is make sure it's piriton and not piriteze as dogs shouldn't take that
That is very true about chemists and certain products never say for your dog. Change of diet had done nothing so we've accepted he's going to make us skint.
He also has piriton in the evenings as that means we can reduce his apoquel dose.
Couple of things about piriton, dogs aren't as sensitive as humans so the dose needs to be higher - no danger but may sleep more if you overdo it. Our vet reckons up to 4 a day isn't a problem - but we would never go that high.
Second thing is don't tell the chemist at boots it's for your dog as they won't sell it to you then!
Third is make sure it's piriton and not piriteze as dogs shouldn't take that
Though recently we were prescribed anti sickness pills from our vet at £2 a tablet, rang my chemsist and got 30 tablets from them for £3.85.
Same with dog wormer, a 100 ml bottle of panacur 10% is around £20 but if you buy panacur 10% for sheep a litre is £50, same stuff, same ingredients,
I don't mind the cost of the medicine but would just prefer him not to be on it all his life, don't know what side affects it could have. If it suppresses the immune system to stop allergic reactions then surely that makes them more susceptible to other illnesses?
From apoqueldogs.com:
"IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Do not use APOQUEL in dogs less than 12 months of age or those with serious infections. APOQUEL may increase the chances of developing serious infections, and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or pre-existing cancers to get worse. APOQUEL has not been tested in dogs receiving some medications including some commonly used to treat skin conditions such as corticosteroids and cyclosporine. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. APOQUEL has been used safely with many common medications including parasiticides, antibiotics and vaccines."
Doesn't fill me with confidence!
Harry Biscuit said:
We are going through similar with a WFT.
He's producing a lot of oily, yeasty substance, very pink skin & spots which erupt when scratched as well as flakey skin.
We tried Yumega oil but after his last stripping in Aug 2017, he's suffered quite a bit.
We're clipping him now & are trying a Hills medicated plan only (no treats or anything else) for a trial to see if things improve (without the Yumega).
Also bathing twice a week with Malaseb.
All under direction of vet.
Did you look at the link I posted above about yeast infections, maybe its more along those lines?He's producing a lot of oily, yeasty substance, very pink skin & spots which erupt when scratched as well as flakey skin.
We tried Yumega oil but after his last stripping in Aug 2017, he's suffered quite a bit.
We're clipping him now & are trying a Hills medicated plan only (no treats or anything else) for a trial to see if things improve (without the Yumega).
Also bathing twice a week with Malaseb.
All under direction of vet.
Not sure how reliable that link is though but does go into some detail about it. The fact they are selling kits and recommending certain doctors for the testing makes me a bit suspicious however...
We are also trying not to bath ours so often now, i read you can end up making skin issues worse as they lose their natural oils etc and dries the skin out more.
http://allaboutfrenchies.com/french-bulldog-skin-p...
I was reading this page earlier, take a look on there at the 'What we use' section, they recommend some lotions there which may help your dog?
I haven't tried them yet so no personal experience but they seem to get good reviews from what I've read so far.
Lazermilk said:
Did you look at the link I posted above about yeast infections, maybe its more along those lines?
Not sure how reliable that link is though but does go into some detail about it. The fact they are selling kits and recommending certain doctors for the testing makes me a bit suspicious however...
We are also trying not to bath ours so often now, i read you can end up making skin issues worse as they lose their natural oils etc and dries the skin out more.
http://allaboutfrenchies.com/french-bulldog-skin-p...
I was reading this page earlier, take a look on there at the 'What we use' section, they recommend some lotions there which may help your dog?
I haven't tried them yet so no personal experience but they seem to get good reviews from what I've read so far.
I did read it. The cycle of treatment & the testing for allergies has been discussed with out vet. Not sure how reliable that link is though but does go into some detail about it. The fact they are selling kits and recommending certain doctors for the testing makes me a bit suspicious however...
We are also trying not to bath ours so often now, i read you can end up making skin issues worse as they lose their natural oils etc and dries the skin out more.
http://allaboutfrenchies.com/french-bulldog-skin-p...
I was reading this page earlier, take a look on there at the 'What we use' section, they recommend some lotions there which may help your dog?
I haven't tried them yet so no personal experience but they seem to get good reviews from what I've read so far.
What they did say was that this sort of condition can be either a lack of oil or over secretion, bot result in similar conditions. Our chap definitely has the latter. Also surprising was giving an oil supplement may restore the balance where something is out of whack.
We're on the food regime now, as it was worth trying. He's still secreting the oil but not as much & the bathing helps. The scratching is reduced also but we need to give it a few more weeks. He also had the mucky ears too but that was cleared up under the treatment he got in December.
It's a difficult one, but pales compared to our other dog who is epileptic.
We may have had a breakthrough with a new vet that was recommended by a neighbour who had skin issues with their golden retriever.
The vet said in his experience it is usually down to mites that causes the symptoms our dog had, so he recommended an injection against this and some antibiotics to help clear up the rashes/spots, this was on Friday and he has not had any apoquel since and hardly scratched all weekend and the rashes/spots have mostly gone!
We go back this evening for a checkup and a follow up dose of injections which he said should last around 3/4 of a year, so fingers crossed this lasts!
The vets thoughts were that if it is mites, then doing these injections will help and if its not then they wont do any harm, but would rule it out anyway, it was also much cheaper than at the other vets we have visited as an added bonus! Although i'm not concerned about cost, more important is having our dog healthy and relaxed...
I am actually pretty annoyed at the other vets we have visited for not trying something similar though, we have been countless times and spent a lot of money trying to find a solution and they never really helped, then one visit to this vet and just 58 euros later it (hopefully) seems to be diagnosed!
Still early days so will have to see how it goes, but looking promising so far anyway.
ETA - One other thing he recommended was about half a teaspoon of Becel (http://www.becel.at/produkte - Basically like Flora etc) added to his food to help his skin, we haven't tried this yet but will give it a try this week also.
The vet said in his experience it is usually down to mites that causes the symptoms our dog had, so he recommended an injection against this and some antibiotics to help clear up the rashes/spots, this was on Friday and he has not had any apoquel since and hardly scratched all weekend and the rashes/spots have mostly gone!
We go back this evening for a checkup and a follow up dose of injections which he said should last around 3/4 of a year, so fingers crossed this lasts!
The vets thoughts were that if it is mites, then doing these injections will help and if its not then they wont do any harm, but would rule it out anyway, it was also much cheaper than at the other vets we have visited as an added bonus! Although i'm not concerned about cost, more important is having our dog healthy and relaxed...
I am actually pretty annoyed at the other vets we have visited for not trying something similar though, we have been countless times and spent a lot of money trying to find a solution and they never really helped, then one visit to this vet and just 58 euros later it (hopefully) seems to be diagnosed!
Still early days so will have to see how it goes, but looking promising so far anyway.
ETA - One other thing he recommended was about half a teaspoon of Becel (http://www.becel.at/produkte - Basically like Flora etc) added to his food to help his skin, we haven't tried this yet but will give it a try this week also.
Edited by Lazermilk on Monday 3rd June 09:22
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