[Amy E]

Hello, I’m new here.
5 months ago I adopted Moby, a 9 year old miniature schnauzer. He was from a puppy mill and weighed 7 lbs. when I got him. He now weighs 12 lbs and the vet says he’s a good weight. He came to us with ear infections, which we treated and cleared up.

He developed some small itchy bumps on his head, neck, legs and chest, which he licked, scratched and rubbed his body along the furniture. Vet diagnosed skin infection due to stress or allergies. Rx: zeniquin & clemastine for 10 days with KetoChlor shampoo followed by Allergroom shampoo daily for 3 days, then twice weekly for 2 weeks.

At 10 day recheck: All bumps healed and went away during the 2 weeks, except for one new bump on chest so 3 more days of zeniquin prescribed and continuing clemastine until winter arrives. Also supposed to bathe with the 2 shampoos once every 2 weeks.

Well… the bumps have returned on his head and neck. They started with just one here and there and have increased daily over this week. He’s starting to itch, rub and lick more again, even though he is still taking clemastine.

I feed him Eagle Pack Holistic Salmon kibble, but he also gets various treats (chicken based) and yogurt daily along with various other things like pumpkin, fresh veggies, fruit and sardines.

He came from Oklahoma and now lives in Minnesota. It just so happened that winter ended and spring began around the time we got him…the same time he started a new diet at our house…so it’s hard to know if his allergies are environmental or food based without testing (I’m considering doing a home-based test like Immune IQ). I suspect a life of poor diet and low exercise has weakened his immune system and now he’s more susceptible to everything, causing skin reactions. Besides the bumps, he has no other issues with his skin or coat (no hair loss, raw patches, etc). He has no digestive issues either. He’s a happy little guy, always wagging his tail, eats voraciously, sleeps like a log, potties on schedule (output looks good).

Do you think I should switch to a different food with fewer ingredients? If so, what? I’m going to eliminate the yogurt. We have another [senior] dog so feeding completely raw is cost prohibitive for me.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

[Amy E]

I just had another thought…

Could these bumps be a reaction to Frontline? I just applied that last weekend and this week the bumps multiplied noticeably.

[Leah12345]

There are more knowledgeable folks on here so I will be waiting to hear their thoughts about diet and Frontline! My two cents: My Molly too suffers from a poor beginning, but has made SO much progress. She is a rescue pup too with a variety of skin problems that stopped after changing her to a grain-free food. We went through a number of these before realizing that poultry and white potatoes were a big problem for her. She now eats Earthborn Holistic with Bison being the one protein she can tolerate. She also has a variety sensitivities to shampoos so I bathe her at home now and process of elimination has led to Pet Head easy rinse shampoo and leave in conditioner. It gets some poor reviews, but she has to be washed and this doesn’t cause problems for her.

If you do try the at-home allergy test, will you post a new thread? I would love to hear the results.

[Amy E]

Thanks for your reply, Leah.
I’ll continue to bathe him with the 2 medicated shampoos by Virbac that my vet prescribed and that should help. I’ve now got another 2 week round of antibiotics for him to clear up the bumps again. I won’t be putting Frontline on him anymore, but if he keeps itching and breaking out into next month, I’ll know it wasn’t from that. I’m going to cut out dairy and look into some grain-free foods just as a start.

I will probably end up doing the Immune IQ test if this itching continues, even with him on antihistamines (which I am going to try to up the dosage of to if it helps more without making him too drowsy, per my vet). It doesn’t really tell you conclusively that they are or aren’t allergic to things, but at lease it could give me an idea where to start with things he’s sensitive to (or may be sensitive to) and things he does not appear to be sensitive to.

Amy

[Susan]

Hi Amy, its not the Frontline, frontline only penetrates the first 1-2 layers of their skin, My boy had a reaction to Advantage DO NOT USE the Advantage penetrates thru the skin to their blood, within 24hrs one side of my boys head swelled up his ear & his bottom lip swelled, & he was vomiting blood early hours of the morning, at first I didnt think the Advantage until I rung his vet. the best way to know whats happening is an elimination diet, for 1 month you just feed 1 new protein & say boiled pumkin or rice nothing else no treats nothing, thats if you think it could be foods, I used chicken in Patches elimantion diet but now I think Patch cant have chicken as the lumps on his head that look like hives got worst, Patches vet said that he has seasonal allergies & cause I just rescued him 19 months ago she said I’ll start to see a pattern, I noticed last winter Patch was good, no itch but the end of summer Patch got all his hive like lumps, itching & rubbing along the wall, this winter Patch has his hive like lumps again, so I look in Patches diary & last winter I wasnt feeding him chicken, this winter I was feeding chicken, so Ive stopped the chicken…Ive heard all these test are no good as they give false readings the best would be if you could try him on raw, Im just starting a new kibble called Wellness Simple it has limited ingredients, also watch his carbs, no potatoes, no sweet potatoes, no carrots no high carbs that turn to sugar that makes yeasty itchy skin.. If he can handle it i’d feed raw.. & google a good Raw diet for itchy skin..Ive been thinking of putting Patch on Raw but he has IBD & I have enough trouble trying to find a low fat kibble, so raw would have to much fat for Patch..also there could be a plant or grass in ur garden or on his walks that he’s allergic to, I’ve changed Patches walking route to see if that helps….Its winter here in Australia, so if Patch has enviornment allergies or seasonal allergies like his vet said, why is he getting them now being winter & he didnt last year, thats whats making me look at his food this year, I use Malaseb Medicated shampoo, & I use a cortisone cream when he gets some of the red itchy sores, I found the cortsone 1% cream is excellent Im just using my cream…just look at the ingredients in his kibble & see if there’s Potatos sweet potatos carrots, lentils any high carb foods…A friend from the dog park had a staffy that was so itchy he was red & losing his fur she tried the vet diets they didnt work then she tried the Holistic Select Adult health Anchovys sardines & salmon & her boy is looking excellent not scratching fur all grown back..so a few people from the dog park are using the Holistic Select with great results… Im also given Patch tuna & pumkin for breakfast to replace the chicken & his hives have gone. sorry for the book..Oh a good dog probiotic this will help too…good-luck

[theBCnut]

I would only suspect it to be Frontline if there was a severe reaction at the application site.

[USA]

Hi Amy E

It would be relatively simple to figure out if it is the Frontline that did caused Moby’s skin bumps. Stop using it for a while. ALL of the commercial topical’s penetrate the skin to some extent so I would NOT use any flea control that is applied directly to the skin until you have figured this out.

Commercial spot-ons Like Frontline are neurotoxins and I don’t use them at all! They also penetrate the skin by using pretty powerful solvents that scare me!

There is a topic in the forums on Natural Flea Control and you might want to take a look and see if any of the less toxic choices are something you could try.

/forums/topic/natural-flea-prevention/

Good luck and keep us updated!

[Amy E]

Thank you for all of your replies. I suspected it wasn’t the Frontline b/c my vet said the same thing, it would be a reaction at the sight of application usually, and that was not the case. And, that had not been the first time I’d put Frontline on him either. Fleas are not a concern in my area, I use Frontline for the tick killing power. Ticks are plentiful here and the ones that carry Lyme disease are too small to be seen, especially on a black dog.

Thanks for the heads up about starchy foods. I’ve been feeding him a lot of raw carrots! I will stop that to see if it helps. He’s already on Eagle Pack Holistic Salmon so I won’t switch foods just yet. He’s now on another round of antibiotics and more antihistamine. I’ll be giving him more frequent medicated baths again as well.

If the problem continues after this round of antibiotics is done, I’ll have to think about eliminating more ingredients. One thing….what are things that will boost his immune system? I fear due to his history he’s got a weak immune system so improving that may be a big key here.

Thanks again.

[Corinne M]

Hi Amy,
I’m sorry to hear about your pup’s troubles. You asked about things that can boost his immune system – here’s a link to an excellent article on the subject: http://www.victoriabenda.com/articles/jDodds/immune.shtml

You can have testing done to pinpoint immune issues; I had Dr. Dodds do my dog’s testing because I was referred to her by my vet. Based on the test results, my dog was taking
* Plant Sterols (Moducare, Thorne Labs)
*Turmeric/curcumin supplement (Merina)
*Vitamin E d-alpha tocopheral
*Vitamin C / Ester C
The daily amounts were specific to my dog & based on weight, so you would need to consult a vet for correct dosages for your dog. There is a list at the end of the article that includes other immune support supplements.
Good luck!
Corinne

[Debbie L]

I keep reading about the good luck people keep reporting about using coconut oil, both for themselves and their dogs. Some rub a small amount into the hair and skin of the dog and some add a little to their food. One lady said she added about a teaspoon to her dog’s food daily and it was flea and allergy free.

[Amy E]

Thanks Corinne and Debbie.
His itching has decreased. He finished his second round of antibiotics (in 5 months) last week so the bumps are now gone again. Hopefully they will not return. I started giving him some daily Echinacea after first posting this question. Since then, I have learned about Neem Tree Bark powder and I’m giving him that twice daily now with his meals, instead of the echinacea. I’ve been researching Neem and it appears to have many beneficial uses, having been used in Eastern medicine for centuries. The tree bark powder is supposed to be an effective immune booster. Some people in dog rescue that I spoke to have had great success with it in rehabilitating sickly rescue dogs.

And it may be just coincidence, but after about a week of giving Moby the neem powder, the hair has begun to grow back on his hairless leathery ears! They are now covered in fuzzy black velvet and I’m so thrilled because to me it signals that his health is really improving.

Amy

[Amy E]

Oh I forgot to mention that I have been giving him coconut oil for quite awhile now. I use it for many things myself too. Love that stuff. 🙂

Amy

[Melissaandcrew]

Amy E-

Try wiping the bumps with a touch of witch hazel twice a day. It tends to soothe the itching. Schnauzers can have comedone syndrome, but it typically affects the topline of the dog and neck areas only. I have never seen it on the chest. Comedone appear like little black heads, can be rather itchy, and go in cycles.Its genetic, and no cure, but typically not a huge deal. The witch hazel helps a lot, so guessing perhaps it might help the itchness he is having now..

[Author]

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