Howdy all,

I've got a nearly two year old Black Lab with a bad case of allergies. Our Vet did the blood test and he is allergic to nearly everything, especially grass. The problem is, his favorite thing to do is catch the frisbee (and he's pretty dang good at it too.)

We've given him the first round of allergy shots (expensive) and are about to go on the maintenance level (expensive). The hope is, over time they'll get better.

But that doesn't help him now. Especially with all the rain I can't keep the grass cut short enough so he has several sessions of obsessive paw licking a day. And some in the middle of the night, which will wake us up because he sleeps in our room.

I'm hoping the shots will make it better over time, but I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck with any of the other kinda-sounds-like-snake--oil products that come up in a Google search. There are tons of chews and pills and stuff that one can buy, but I hate to throw more money at it without a positive review from someone I trust - like the OB.

I know we can get him going on steroids, but my wife had a dog with skin problems twenty years ago that was on steroids for his whole life, and he still itched all the time. He only lived to be 10 and we believe the lifelong steroids played a part in shortening his life. That said, the chewing and itching seemed to get better over the winter, so maybe putting him on temporarily for the summer season where the grass is higher and thicker would be an option.

Is there anything else we can do?

TIA and Gig 'em.

P.S. Here are pics of Kekoa for your trouble.

How much grass we talking here? Fake grass is pretty nice...

Have they tested thyroid? Had similar issues with our lab and exhausted allergy med before discovering a minor thyroid issue (easily treated).

Btw- great looking lab!

Have him tested for low thyroid.

A lot of things are blamed on allergies but if his thyroid is low treating allergies won't do much.

Wash his feet off every time before he comes inside.
Assuming it's not a food allergy (which it could be), Cytopoint and Apoquel may help. They aren't steroids, are usually as effective, but they are more expensive. Topical betamethasone spray may help as well.
Also make sure there isn't a moist dermatitis type of infection between his foot pads.

My boxer has terrible allergies. She used to rub her face and chew her paws like crazy, especially in the spring and summertime. We tried periodic steroid shots for a while but ultimately put her on Apoquel about 3 years ago. It changed her life. Such a happier dog now. They aren't cheap, but if you can afford it, I would try it.

+1 for cytopoint. Only thing that helps my german shepherd

Definitely consider food allergy as a possible culprit, especially if the itching is just feet or feet and ears.

Let me ask a dumb question. Are the allergies being caused by his paws contacting the grass? Or the paws get inflamed cause he's breathing in grass pollen.

I always assumed it was a contact thing on the paws but not 100%. If it is, then I would buy him some of those dog booties and get him used to those. Funny as **** the first couple of times but they get used to them pretty quick (got mine for retrieving with cut pads or if it was an area prone to oyster beds)

Can you get him 'dog shoes' so his feet aren't coming into contact with the grass?

Apoquel or Cytopoint would be what I'd recommend. I prefer Cytopoint, but in a large dog it may be cheaper to do Apoquel. Pred will work, but the side effects are definitely not ideal. Before Cytopoint and Apoquel came out that's about all we had to use. Atopica is another option, but definitely not my favorite - usually use that for immunosuppression.
Weekly bathing with medicated baths (chlorhexadine), wiping paws when coming in from outside with pet wipes/Malacetic wipes, fatty acid supplementation (omega 3) can all be helpful too.
Allergies are never going to go away, but be managed.
Your allergy shots are going to take the better part of a year to start kicking in, if they do at all. Only about 70% of dogs respond enough they can be managed solely with antigen injections.

I'll just chime in and say that while hypothyroidism is involved in some dog's skin problems, it would be extremely rare for a 3 year old dog to have hypothyroidism. Not going to become a possibility until 5 or more years of age. Apoquel, cytopoint, and atopica would all be go-to options before prednisone or other steroids. We have some great anti-pruritic drugs available to us now that we didn't used to have. Managing allergic skin disease has gotten a lot easier (notice I didn't say less $). But we still have to manage it (you can't cure it).

Thanks all! You've given us some great options to look into. I'm ordering some of the wipes now and will be researching the other options as well.

Update: I ordered the wipes to wipe off his paws and for some reason he is freaked out by them. Like, I opened the jar and got one out and started walking towards him and he high-tailed it in the opposite direction. It was comical how scared he was of the stupid thing, he wouldn't let me get anywhere near him.

After consulting with our vet, we're trying the Apoquel. Going to get the script this afternoon and if it works I'll put it on autoship with Chewy. Yikes though, $2.33/day (and two pills a day for the first ten days). Not cheap, but he's worth it.

We considered the Cytowhatever injection, but Doc said it burns and a lot of dogs hate it, and since we are also giving him the allergy injections a couple times a week we decided to avoid anything that would make him not want shots. Right now as long as he has a bowl of food he takes the shot without even flinching. My wife is pretty good at jabbing him quick and getting it over with.

I'll keep you posted. Lots of positive reviews of the Apoquel so we are hopeful that will get him fixed up.

Cytopoint rarely burns(we give10-20 injections a day), may be confusing it with Cerenia which definitely can burn. Apoquel works similar to Cytopoint but not exactly the same. I've got an environmental allergy dog that is pretty much year around. He's on Hill's Derm Complete which works great for him. It is both a food and environmental allergy diet. I was skeptical about a diet working on environmental allergies but decided to try it. He's had a few infections since I started him on it (originally Derm Defense), and each time I ran out of the food for a few days. I now bridge that gap with Apoquel if it happens and has worked well.

Not every allergy dog responds the same and often requires trying a couple different things to find what works best. As mentioned, we've got a lot better options than we had 5-10 years ago.

I'm having the same issue with my 6 year old lab.
Just yesterday the vet said to try 40 milligrams Zirtec 1x per day in the evening.
Going to try this for a while & see if she gets any better.

Two days in, and this stuff is a miracle drug. Itching and chewing has come to a halt. I sure wish we'd found this a year ago.