Dog allergies driving us both crazy.

[giddyup]

We have a five year old mongrel male dog, looks like he has a bit of poodle/schitzu in him, but has suffered from allergies since he was a pup. His allergies are particularly ear problems and paw licking. We have tried everything, expensive dry food, change of diet and many different lab tests done by local vets, but nothing seems to work. He seems particularly bad lately, shaking his head as though he has something in his ears, licking paws to the point of creating a limp. Vets we've used here are pretty much useless, usually want to sell some expensive ear drops etc that still don't work. We love the little guy, but he has us tearing our hair out trying to make life more comfortable for him. Anyone have similar problems?

[faraday]

The head shaking reminds me of the poodle we had, when I was a child.

 

He had a small piece of straw in his ear, but due to a dog's ear canal having a sharp bend, it wouldn't come out.

 

As for his paws. Is it all four, only just one that he licks?

 

I do wonder if there are two issues here, both unconnected.

 

This picture illustrates the sharper curve in the ear canal:

 

 

[giddyup]

This head shaking and paw licking has been on and off again for 5 years, not a recent thing.

[el torro]

Unfortunately many dogs here suffer from allergies that cannot be specified, even by good vets.  The best they can come up with is it must be an environmental allergy.

 

One of my dogs has the same problem re. chewing her paws - but it seems to be related to different 'seasons'?

[jak2002003]

One of my dogs get itchy paws and will chew and bite them, as well and lick them for hours at a time... its a white dog and all the licking made his paws go an orange colour.

 

I got a tip on the internet that has stopped his paws being so itchy.

 

Dilute some Iodine in water so its the colour of ice tea.  Pour this into a shallow tray and stand you dog in the mixture for a few minutes each time the dog comes in from outside.