Allergies

[Ninabeana26]

Very true. I found a place online for $11. I'll see how expensive it is with shipping v. the local pet store [if they even carry it] Thanks for the tip! I'm sure him having dry skin is not helping with Mark's allergies one bit considering dander is dead skin which comes off more when their skin is dry. Duh! LOL

[tanza]

@Ninabeana26:

Very true. I found a place online for $11. I'll see how expensive it is with shipping v. the local pet store [if they even carry it] Thanks for the tip! I'm sure him having dry skin is not helping with Mark's allergies one bit considering dander is dead skin which comes off more when their skin is dry. Duh! LOL

I have never found them in pet stores, at least not in California… so usually you can find places on line that do not charge sales tax, so the shipping turns out to be a trade off..

[mauigirl]

quick question, tanza. How is dry skin related to blowing coat?? You said you give the 3V for when your bitches shed alot, and Nina's getting it for Dallas' dry skin. Is a heavy shed a symptom of dry skin? I wonder if our humidifier helps with that at all…
Also, Nina: Does Mark consistently wash his hands after touching the dog? That has helped me with my cat allergy. And when I'm home on Maui they're not allowed in my room.

[tanza]

@mauigirl:

quick question, tanza. How is dry skin related to blowing coat?? You said you give the 3V for when your bitches shed alot, and Nina's getting it for Dallas' dry skin. Is a heavy shed a symptom of dry skin? I wonder if our humidifier helps with that at all…
Also, Nina: Does Mark consistently wash his hands after touching the dog? That has helped me with my cat allergy. And when I'm home on Maui they're not allowed in my room.

It is not a symptom of a heavy shed (dry skin), the blowing of coat after whelping a litter is usually due to hormons, but the skin can become drier and more "flakly" when shedding. Spayed bitches have hormon changes too and I have always found that spayed and/or neutered will have a heavier shed then in-tact at least every couple of years. The 3V caps are just a good skin supplement.

[Ninabeana26]

Dallas doesn't shed I just can see his dry skin in his ears & if I part some of his fur away. He scratches his & I can actually see the skin flaking off sometimes, although not always.

And yea we have germ-x all over the house & so not only does he wash his hands after playing with Dallas but he always is using germ-x after doing anything at all, including just sitting on the sofa. We did talk about not allowing Dallas into our bedroom but Mark doesn't like the idea since we do plan on allowing him to sleep in bed with us after he's housetrained since he spends his days in the crate & we don't want him crated during the day & at night. I am getting a purifier for our main living space & a second one for the bedroom

[tanza]

Puppies will typical shed their baby coats… so if Dallas is not yet, he will be at about 10 months or so...

[nala121498]

@Ninabeana26:

Not yet. His allergies were the worst ever the other day when I posted this. They have calmed down so he isn't sneezing every 2 seconds like the other day. Not sure why the other day he was so affected but it's been better. I'm going to buy a HEPA air purifier tomorrow, we have officially switched Dallas over to Merrick's to help with his dry skin [which he LOVES by the way], Mark's taking Allegra daily now , & I plan on buying the allergen wipes tomorrow too . So we'll see how much it improves. I really think he'll get better with time since the body is very adaptable to things like this. But only time will tell…
Zyrtec is also available OTC. Lots of people have great results with that one!

[Ninabeana26]

Yea he tried that before it was OTC & didn't have any results…maybe if the allegra doesnt work we can try it again. So amy pills to choose but so little money...lol

[nala121498]

@Ninabeana26:

Yea he tried that before it was OTC & didn't have any results…maybe if the allegra doesnt work we can try it again. So amy pills to choose but so little money...lol

Darn. Sadly, it's true…so expensive. :eek:

[amgin]

I read this in an allergy article the other day - people said it really helped them and it's holistic (Drugstore.com has reviews of this product so you can see what people have to say about it).

bioAllers Animal Hair & Dander Allergy Relief, Liquid 1 fl oz (30 ml)

They sell it at Drugstore.com

Hope it helps!!! Take Care

[Robin_n_Jack]

I have some pretty severe dander allergies to dogs….like tanza, I hate it when people advertise a dog as being "hypo-allergenic" it really is unfair advertising.....next thing you know, you are working at Barnes and Noble with moderate to severe dander allergies and some Paris Hilton wannabe comes in with her little Chihuahua in a purse and when I tell her I won't help her until she leaves the dog outside, she throws a little hissy fit about how her dog is hypo-allergenic and what is my problem, but I digress....

That is not your fault that this era of designer dogs has led into false advertising. I too thought that certain dogs were hypo-allergenic when I started looking. MANY MANY KUDOS to you for looking for a solution to manage the allergies.

I have found that my allergies lessen over time as I get used to a dog (or cat's) dander. ie- I go out of town for a while and come back, my allergies to Jack are worse because my body is less used to combating the dander. In the meantime, the pills work (but they are pricey). I have taken FloNase as well, which is a nasal steriod (think turning your nose into Barry Bonds- knocking that dander right out of the park). Zyrtec makes me drowsy, but you can find store versions of claritin and alavert OTC at walgreens or CVS which are less expensive than the name brands.

How is it going, though- have you found anything that helps?

[Ninabeana26]

Well actually Mark became immune to Dallas totally about 2ish months ago but we broke up recently & I moved out…and back to Maryland. So now I don't care if he is sick from dog dander. Although of course Dallas is with me!

[jerremie]

Cool… an allergy thread! HOORAY! I just posted my intro yesterday as a new Basenji owner (with apparent Basenji allergies.) Tiger has really dry skin with lots of dandruff, so I'm slowly switching him from Canidae to Timberwolf Ocean 6 (grain-free/single protein source) and adding salmon oil to the kibble. Since I'm the one who appears to have some allergies to his dander, my partner brushed Tiger vigorously outdoors last night and then took a cloth with some pet enzyme solution and to wipe away dander afterwards. Of course, Tiger protested pretty severely to being wiped with wet stuff and actually tried to nip Alberto last night. Here's to hoping that he adapts to his new regimen (and/or stops producing so much dander in the first place.) I've ordered some special shampoo and the Allerpet/d liquid which should arrive next week. Although, I'm not looking forward to trying to bathe Tiger after Alberto's experience. I know I don't NEED all ten fingers, but I'm still kind of attached to them (and find them rather useful when typing and playing the piano).

I'm going to look into allergy shots for myself and am currently trying a semi-natural approach, taking Quercetin (a bioflavonoid), Vitamin C, Stinging Nettle capsules, and BioAllers homeopathic Animal Hair and Dander formula. I just started the last two this morning and am feeling pretty good (of course, I'm out of the house at work which is at least 50% of the battle.)

I just started back studying as an operatic tenor in February after many years off and have been thrilled with my progress RIGHT UP UNTIL our basenji adoption. Now my nose has been runny and draining into my throat leaving my vocal folds red and raspy. I think Tiger is great though, and he and my partner are totally two peas in a pod (they both love to sleep-in late together and then go freaking wild running around the park.) I'm committed to seeking a reasonable solution... there USUALLY is one. Time will tell. PLEASE keep posting other ideas and suggestions, different things work for different people and since I'm unlikely to "break up with myself," Nina's solution probably isn't going to work for me (Sorry to hear, Nina. At least you've got your Basenji though... that's one heck of a consolation prize.)

Thanks again...

--jerremie

[Robin_n_Jack]

Jerremie-

I studied Musical Theatre through college and my voice teachers and Ear/Nose/Throat doc recommended Flonase and Zyrtec. I loved the Flonase, but the Zyrtec made me really drowsy….although it didn't dry me out as much as the other pills.

Sudafed also makes a pretty good non-drying formula of their antihistamine. I know you are working the homeopathic route right now- hope that works for you, since that it definitely the best for us singers. Only other thing I can say is that Once I was around the pooch for about 6 weeks, I noticed a definite decline in the allergy area.

[renaultf1]

Jeremie…I'm with you about going the homeopathic route...If you should decide to use Flonase at some point, the only thing I would warn is that I had nose bleeds that were bordering on hemorrhaging. If you are prone to nose bleeds, be careful going that route.

Oh, and one thing on the Timberwolf, they changed their formula recently and added chicken fat into a previously all fish based food. In fact, my favourite pet store stopped carrying it because of the change and no advanced warning or advertising of the change (a problem when your pet can't tolerate chicken and it caused some of their customers pets to get sick). Anyway, as soon as the food changed, my boy wouldn't eat it anymore.

[jerremie]

Thanks for the replies.

Robin - I do avoid most prescription and over the counter meds (especially if they'll have to be taken long term) they almost always cause me to dry out or become hyper and jittery, etc. It's cool to find another singer on here! Do you still sing much?

Renault - Thanks for the info on Timberwolf. I specifically bought it after reading TONS and TONS of labels online and making a list of those that didn't contain any chicken products. GREAT… now I'll have to go home and double check the bag I bought to see if it was produced before or after the change. I'm finding it so hard to locate foods that don't have chicken or grain in them in the hopes of reducing Tiger's dander. I'm just not quite ready to go 'raw' yet, but I can't believe how many higher quality feeds still mix lots of different protein sources. I'd much rather rotate through a number of single protein source foods in order to avoid allergies than to have every kind of meat known to man crammed into one food thereby giving my dog the potential to develop allergies to all of them in one fell swoop. SIGH Then again, his skin issues could all be stress related... we'll have to see how he settles in... I'm just trying to be proactive with addressing dietary issues.

[jerremie]

UPDATE: The bag of timberwolf Ocean 6 that I have doesn't list chicken fat in the ingredients. Maybe I should stock up if the store still has more? I'd really like him on a chicken-free, grain-free diet until we get the dander cleared up.

[tanza]

Another one that is grain free and you can get without chicken is EVO

[renaultf1]

Jeremie…lucky that you have one of the ones before the change...I think the chicken fat is about the 4th or 5th ingredient on the label on the new batch. Innova EVO is a great food as Tanza said and they have a non chicken version but they don't have fish. A lot of people here feed their kids EVO with great success. When I switched off Timberwolf Ocean, I put Ruby & Brando on Orijen 6 Fresh Fish...awesome food and BOY do the kids LOVE it...but very expensive.

[jerremie]

Well, thanks for the suggestions renault. I apologize for having listed his food as Timberwolf Ocean 6 (it's really Timberwolf Ocean BLUE)… apparently I've been investigating too many dog foods and they're all blurring together. I may look into the Orijen 6... I went back and found it on one of my lists from when I was trying to narrow this all down. Orijen ranked highly for me, I think it was just that my local specialty store carries timberwolf but DOESN'T carry orijen I may have to order it online (even though I prefer supporting the local guy whenever possible). I'll probably call Timberwolf and give them an earful... I at least like to let a vendor know when they've messed up and lost a customer. It isn't likely to change anything, but it can't hurt either. You never know which complaint will finally put it over the top and pique their interest on any given issue.

Thanks again,

--jerremie