QUESTION

Our one-year-old Lhasa Apso has terrible itching problem. He also has an odour even shortly after he is bathed. The vet wants to run expensive tests to determine allergies. Is this common for this breed? His scratching is driving us crazy, and him too. He's been on steroids, though the vet didn't think it was a good idea to continue with them. What can we do to stop the itching? And the smell?

DeeAnn

ANSWER

Dear DeeAnn,
Lhasa Apso's in my opinion are not great sufferers of allergic skin disease. If you have eliminated parasites and also done a food elimination trial then it may be worthwhile looking at doing allergy testing. I would be using a shampoo called Malaseb every 2 days and leaving on for 10 min to get rid of the smell as this is most likely caused by a yeast called mallazzesia. This should get rid of the small and a large part of the itching.

If you have not looked for mites and other external parasites then use of treatment against these with Stronghold should eliminate both scabies mites and fleas. Food trials should be done using a diet manufactured by Hills called Z/d. This is the only available diet that is truly allergy free and can rule out or confirm allergy to food when used. It would need to be fed as the only food for 6 weeks.

Food would include any treats as well as any supplements that may contain animal proteins. Supplementation with combinations of evening primrose, fish oils and vit E can help desensitise dogs with allergies but are not as effective at doing so as steroids. They do however have none of the side effects. If the dog has an allergy to an environmental agent that is worth testing for then it should also have been highly responsive to the use of steroids.

Paul Wilson