Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 10/5/2006

Question
My 1,5 year old Yorkshire Terrier started having coat and skin problems around February this year. The vet diagnosed her with oily seborrhea at that point. A few months later she started getting very itchy and had some red spots on her belly. The vet said she had spring allergies. After months of antibiotics (2 different kinds - ceta drops and something else), benedryl, food changes, using natural/allergy laundry detergent, putting shirts on her, bathing her with vet prescribed shampoes (2 Virbac ones - Keratolux (with Humilac spray) and KetaClor), and now an antihistamine/steroid (trep/pred) medication, there is no improvement, in fact it seems to only get worse. Her belly is red and the pores have turned black all over her belly, chest, and legs. And she'll get breakouts (like pimples) even on the steroid medication. There are days where she is still very, very itchy; licking her paws (she's not biting her nails anymore), and digging at her sides and behind her ears until it's all raw. Her breeder says there are no allergies in her line. I'm at my wits end. I don't want to keep her on steroids too long. What is wrong with her? What else can I do?

Answer
Many dogs with allergies show these symptoms.  There are a couple of recommendations that I would have.  If your vet thinks it is allergies, then increasing the steroid dose for a week or so should decrease the itching and redness.  Also, I would keep the dog on an antibiotic like cephalexin for at least 30 days to keep any infection down.  Benadryl will not really help, but the shampoos will help if you do them for 20 minutes twice a week.  In some young dogs, food allergies are a problme and if you have not had the dog on a hypoallegenic diet for 3 months with no other food, then I would try that.  Sometimes we need to switch from dry to canned foodss to see if there is an allergy to something in the foods.