I have a two year old mini Aussie that continues to have issues with allergies. Several times a year he will get to itching and chewing on his feet. We use Benedryl to help with the symptoms and have had him on salmon purina pro plan for a good while now and it seems to just flare up periodically. We are likely going to switch foods and see if it helps. Any suggestions? Is there anything more effective for treating the symptoms in the short term until we get the food figured out?

Thanks in advance.

Not a short term fix, and not cheap, but go to your vet and ask about Apoquel. It's worked wonder for dogs with allergies.

If you want a short term fix, go get a depo shot from the vet.

Other than Benadryl, I don't really know of any at-home solutions.

Changing foods from over the counter food to another one otc isn't likely to help. Dogs with allergies either have seasonal (environmental, or atopy) or food. The food allergic dog is typically itchy year round, and needs to undergo a prescription, hypoallergenic food trial for 8 weeks while receiving no treats, people food, flavored heartworm prevention (I use Advantage multi so they are still covered during this time) to see if they respond. Usually dogs are allergic to the protein source (chicken, beef, etc).

Atopic dogs (environmental allergens) are itchy off and on, tends to be worse in spring and summer (although in Houston it can be year round). 75% of these dogs respond to immunotherapy, which takes a while to kick in (upwards of 6-8 months) after performing allergy testing. In the meantime, doing antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, medicated shampoos, wiping the feet daily, etc. will help manage it.

Antihistamines are fine however off-label, benadryl is 1mg/lb twice daily, you can also use zyrtec and claritin, at different dosages. Main side effect is sleepiness.

Apoquel works wonders for most dogs though not all. It will relieve the itch about as well as Prednisone with less side-effects. However is a little pricey.

My dogs also have allergies. I finally took them off Apoquel and changed their food to Prescription Diet Derm Defense. It is suppose to help with environmental allergies.
It took about a month for both my dogs to get better and they like the food. I just didn't think keeping them on drugs long term was a good thing.
I'm currently purchasing the product from Chewy's. It is slightly less expensive than buying it from the vet. I have 2 large dogs and they go through their food fairly quickly.

Thanks for the input. I think we'll just keep him on Benedryl for the short term symptoms and maybe look at giving him Zyrtec or Claritin on a regular basis to help avoid these flare ups.

Our basset would scratch her neck till it was raw. We finally.had to put her on Rachael Ray's no grain salmon Dogfood. All fish and that did it. Jot itching but 26 dollars a medium sized bag.

After months of shots and diet changes, we went the Apoquel route for our dachshund. Started out with 1 pill for the first 10 days and then 1/2 a pill for long term. It really has helped her. She could not eat, sleep or sit without scratching - she was miserable. It has been a miracle pill, even though it's pricey.

prednisone works wonders on seasonal allergies. you can buy it online from canada or the UK without a Rx. i did this for 4-5 years and gave my dog a shot every 3 months until he suddenly stopped having allergies. Go to youtube if you are uneasy about giving your dog an intramuscular injection. its not difficult

No offense Uncle Gunnysack but that is probably one of the worst pieces of advice....Pred does work wonders for itching but also has a huge stack of side effects that come with it, especially with long-term use. You are lucky your dog did not become Cushingnoid or perforate from a GI bleed. I strongly recommend you ignore this. There's a reason doctors are the ones to prescribe medication, not Joe-blow off the street.