German Shepherd with skin issues- ideas?

[Melissa]

Hi everyone ! I just thought I would ask here for ideas, because I know there are many folks on this board with German Shepherds-
A very good friend is struggling with her 3 year old GSD- He has been on apoquel for over a year now. She would love to work with his diet, or alternative supplements., and get him OFF this product.. He has terrible itchy skin, but a gorgeous coat and he is the epitome of health otherwise.
Would anyone be able to suggest a forum, or group that has a focus on GSD health-

Thanks so much!!
Melissa and Koda

[Olesia711]

Hi Melissa,

Not sure if this will help or not.....my non-EPI dog has SEVERE environmental allergies..... Storage Mites, Dust Mites, etc.
We too were on Apoquel for 5 yrs, we have just switched to Cytopoint..... Cytopoint is working better than Apoquel... but still not good enough, so unfortunately we have to also supplement with an extremely low dose of Prednisone....

SO.... just sharing this to give you a little background of the on-going nasty case of allergies we have had to deal with. SO to answer your questions..... some of the things that did help us (just not enough or only temporarily)

1. Allercept antigen (Dog was tested, discovered the severities, did under the tongue antigen drops... got REAL bad the 1st month and then she started improving and did very well for 2 yrs.
2. Alternating with Virgin Coconut Oil & Quality Fish Oil (daily) in the food help with the dry itchy skin
3. Giving a rinse bath with baking soda & warm water, let sit on skin a few minutes then rinse... this actually stopped all itching for 2-3 days..... but then i got tired of the constant rinsing. Vet told me to do this, said Baking soda actually kills a lot of bacteria
4. Because my dog struggles with environmental allergies... especially from outside.... my current vet also recommended that every time the dog comes in the house that i wipe her feet down with Chlorhexidine (you can buy it on amazon) every time she comes back into the house. THis also has helped and safe for a dog.

Not sure if any of this is useful, but hopefully some of it may be useful.

[Melissa]

Thank you Olesia....this is interesting, and some of these products I have not heard of, so I will pass it on.
Also interesting about the baking soda, I have been washing Koda's muzzle with warm water and a tad bit of baking soda since we've started enzymes, he was getting a bit smelly, and this has helped alot, I thought it would be mild enough for his face daily., AND , great that it reduces bacteria too.
I really appreciate your time!

Melissa

[Olesia711]

the funny thing about baking soda killing bacteria...... when i was a little girl, i remember my mom used to fill my dad's thermos bottle with hot water, pour in some baking soda and let it soak... when i ask her why she said to kill the germs. I had forgotten all about that conversation until about 50 years later, when the vet told me the same thing....only in more clinical terms :):)

The nice thing about baking soda when used on fur/hair/skin... and then rinsed off...your dog's fur/hair will feel luxuriously soft !

[Madelon]

Oh the skin issues with a German Shepherd - boy can I relate! So just to give you my experience: after Doc was diagnosed with EPI I switched his food to meet EPI protocol - he began itching and licking and had horrible hot spots and shaking ears, etc. - he had yeast infection all over his body and yeast and rod infections in his ear - I suspected a food sensitivity because I had changed his food - I took him to a dermatologist because it wasn't getting better - he was given 6 weeks of a very strong antibiotic and was told to use Duoxo (chlorhexadine) shampoo bath twice a week, Chlorhexadine 4% spray on any affected area and wanted a food trial. I opted for the NutriScan food sensitivity test which confirmed my suspicion of a fish sensitivity but apparently my boy is sensitive to A LOT of stuff LOL. As soon as I switched his food according to NutriScan suggestions the issues resolved and he did great for several months - until Spring. He started to itch again so I suspected environmental allergies - I opted for a blood allergy test at the vet and also did the blood food allergy test - well my boy is allergic to everything - probably even me as I know I'm allergic to dogs LOL. Anyway the blood food test confirmed the NutriScan test but both tests have a few things the other test doesn't so I was glad I did both but he's also allergic to everything in the environment. I've been able to manage his allergies with food, Zyrtec, Chlorhexadine 4% spray, athelete's foot cream until this year. Between allergies being the worst ever and my having to change his food he became one hot mess - literally looked like he had mange. This time I in addition to food change and antibiotics I got him a cytopoint injection - not sure which one work or if it was a combination but he's finally healing and growing his hair back.

I say all of this to say I for one am a big supporter of getting tests done to find out what the cause is - it's expensive up front but will save you money in the long run and save your sanity.

So if you suspect environmental you might start with getting the blood test from the vet or if you've already had that done since the apoquel isn't working try the cytopoint injection.

Let us know how things go and what works because like you said there are a lot of us on here that deal with these issues and you might find something that works for someone else.

[Melissa]

Thank you for your comments on this, I will pass this on to my friend. Must be so frustrating!

[Olesia711]

Excellent suggestions Madelon!!!!! Thanks for sharing those details.... i swear, Allergies are the absolute worst to deal with..................................

[RobRi]

Have you figured it out? I have almost the same issue with my dog, she had dermatosis on her armpits and we didn`t know much about allergies, and somehow we found out that the problem was actually in dust mites from our old sofa.. we cleaned it out with some menacetopests.com/best-dust-mite-spray/]agents and then his skin became much better.