Just wondering if others have experienced skin allergies with their Vizslas, and if so what was causing them and what solution you found. Captain has been having on-again off-again little bumps mostly on his back and now a few on his head- they are sort of white and small, and if scratched the fur comes off and leaves a little bald spot or scab. For the most part they go away with an antibiotic our vet gives us, but not very quickly and they've been coming back. This has been going on for about 8 months I think. At first our vet thought it was a bacterial infection but now she thinks it may be a food allergy and has Captain on a special food he doesn't seem to like very much. I know V's can be prone to skin allergies so thought I'd ask if anyone has had issues like this. I may take him to an allergist because I can't handle not knowing and want to be able to feed him more options! Some people have suggested it might be an allergy to pollen or fertilizer, which seems like it would be hard if not impossible to control exposure to...
Insight appreciated!
More hiking to come this weekend :-)
*Update: Captain's allergies went away completely. He had allergy issues for about 9 months, on and off, from about 1.5 years old or so. Looking back, I think the problem started when he was around a year old and not eating his breakfast consistently- so I began "bribing" him by mixing in different things. Sometimes it would be peanut butter, or cream cheese, but then I started giving him Primal brand raw nuggets fairly consistently. And then the bumps started. We took him to the vet, would get antibiotics, and the bumps would go away, but then they'd come back. Since I wasn't always giving him the raw food, it wasn't so simple to identify what the problem was. The vet suggested 2 different kibbles, each of which we tried and Captain would not eat- he was losing weight, and since he had never had issues with his usual kibble or with peanut butter from the time he was a puppy, I switched him back to the basics of what we knew worked for us from the start. Ultimately, we found that the allergies went away and stayed away when we didn't give him the raw food nuggets. Now, I also try not to give him lots of different things all the time; he gets Iams with a little sweet potato (or sometimes pumpkin) mixed in for his meals, and some treats (peanut butter, frosty paws, homemade and store-bought biscuits, every now and then a raw hide or chew), but we don't give him raw meat anymore. I know this is contrary to what some others have experienced, but for us, the raw nuggets seemed to set off his allergies. Like people, different dogs have different allergies; it can be helpful to keep track of what exactly you're dog is eating and what has changed in order to help identify the problem. For severe issues that don't seem to go away, definitely go to a vet and/or allergist, but keep in mind your dog's history with different food items.
**SEE ALSO:
Updated post on allergies & bumps.
One of my favorite parks in the area is Point Pinole. This East Bay regional shoreline is absolutely beautiful and has a little bit of everything- water views, city views, a number of different trails with shaded woody areas, wide open fields, and beach areas that are great for some doggie swimming. There are even picnic tables and grill spots in some parts of the park. We love Pinole because Captain can get great exercise here and play with other dogs, but it's not just a dog park- it's also a great spot for people too. And it's pretty close to San Francisco which makes it easy for us to get to.
Beach buddies:
I caught the tail end of Captain swimming:
And there was some crazy running in the fields of course:
