food allergies to ringworm to food allergies

[noxy]

hey there,

.my beagle mix aged 3 has just finished treatment for ringworm(went undiagnosed for months thanks to the VET(the 1st one who got over 3000$ off me last year thought it was just food allergie) so he has been on flucanozole for the past 2 months and most of the itchyness has gone.. bar his face.. the marks have cleared up and vet thinks he is over it, but now they think its food allergy adn he is on z/d top of the costs food.. we have been thru allergies before and no such luck..

anyone been thru ringworm with their beagle and is there any sense in me asking what beagles are normally allergic to, food wise?

[Dawna]

Back in the 80s I had 2 Persian cats that battled chronic ringworm. I remember the vet first prescribed some kind of shampoo dip,thing, that I had to bathe them in a let it on for several minutes before rinsing(which is a lot of fun with cats!!!) Then he wrote a script for the oral meds which I had to get at human pharmacy and that eventually cleared it up. My friend is a vet tech and she is fostering an abandoned Pitbull who had ringworm. They treated it with the flucanozole and the dog is now better. One of my Persians would have flareups at intervals. Ringworm is a fungal infection, and most common in humans and animals with a low or immature immune system. Food allergies are very "trendy" right now. So many humans now have "gluten" allergies,etc. And you will be told in this group that the dog's diet is probably the culprit. Ringworm can be diagnosed with a skin scraping and tentatively diagnosed by shining a special light on the lesions in a dark room. Ringworm is a FUNGUS and in my humble opinion unrelated to food allergies.

[Beagler]

Sorry, I don't have any experience of ringworm. But I do have a very allergic beagle.
Dawna does have a point about food allergies being the "in thing", and in my opinion (and experience from spending a lot of time with specialist vets) a food allergy should only be diagnosed after all other allergies have been ruled out. For some vets, it's too easy to put itchiness down to a food allergy without exploring the other possibilities - which was one of the reasons why Buttons spent so long on steroids.
According to Buttons' dermatologist, food allergies are rarer than allergies to things in the environment, so Buttons had skin-prick testing first. It turned out he is allergic to pretty much every insect he's ever come across, but the biggest problem is the house dust mite - unavoidable really.
There's a pic in my album of him after he had his allergy box taken off and you can see all the red blotches from the skin-pricks.
If skin-prick testing doesn't show any results, then food allergies should be explored (or if treatment for environmental allergies isn't producing the desired effects, then it's possible the dog has food allergies as well).
Unfortunately there is no simple way to establish which foods a dog is allergic to - other than to put the dog on an expensive exclusion diet for a period of months and see if there is any improvement, then gradually reintroduce different foods to see if there is a reaction. This was the really difficult part for us because Buttons flat out refused to eat exclusion food - it must be pretty nasty because we're talking about a boy who will eat almost anything.
We do suspect he has some food allergies, but we've never had them identified. For us it was a case of taking all his needs into account (his allergies and his cruciate disease and subsequent lameness and finding a food that didn't aggravate him but helped his maintain his weight - trial and error. Fortunately for us, the obesity management foods seem to help with the allergies as well).

It may be worth your while requesting skin-prick testing to rule out environmental allergies. It may also be a good idea to ask for some yeast swabs to be taken - dogs who have bad skin (Buttons' is caused by inflammation from allergies, but I should imagine ringworm may have a similar effect - i.e. leaving the skin open to bacterial or yeast spores) are very prone to patches of yeast infection. Yeast infections are easy to treat - Buttons always has areas of yeast infection but we keep on top of it with topical meds.

[brandypup]

Some good advice. I deal with ringworm alot. I do cat rescue and many of them come in very sick. My very first rescue was Ringo. A ringworm kitten from a eptstore that was going to be sent to a shelter to be killed. She is find and happy cat in a happy home now. Yes my dog at the time had cuaght it also, I have had several bouts with it. My entire clan caught it once. My baby caught it at one time as well. Yea I have prretty much delt with it. Knock on wood, I havn't had it in several years. But I have treated cats for it.

In any case here is what *I* do for ringworm. I use a sulfer dip. However since I deal with deral cats and cats that can not be washed I use a cotten ball. I dilute a little dip and dab it onthe spots. (no eyes). I do that several times a day. It stinks, no it really stinks but works well. I also use supplements. Colstrum, astragalus and sometimes echnicia. This boosts the imune system which is why ringworm advances. A week immune system. I also use bleach in the house. I wash cloths, bedidng ect daily. I vacume daily and get rid og the bag/bucket dirt daily. Washign is very important. Spores can live 18 months and reinfect. I wiped down the walls and confie the critter when possible to the bathroom to leave contamination a minimum. I have used RX drugs the one you mentioned I think. But I dont do it often. Washign and dabbing is what I do mostly. It's a pain. And you have to continue even after it's gone becuase it can still be there. So continue at least a week after it all clears.

As for allergies. What I dont get is why vets say it's allergies but do nothing further except treat the sympoms without the cause.

Definitly lok into enviormaental allergies, no more vaccines, and food. WHile food may not be the allergin and weak immune system can not fight off allergies and a healthy diet is the first step to a health immune system. Since your puppers is dealign with 2 issues that deal with a wekend immune system I would look into fixin that.

A New Look At Canine Allergies | Dogs Naturally Magazine

Solutions For Allergies | Dogs Naturally Magazine

Vaccinating Unhealthy Pets: Beware Reactions & Vaccine Failure | Dogs Naturally Magazine

Boosting Your Dog’s Immune System | Dogs Naturally Magazine

Canine Allergies and Your Dog's Health - Whole Dog Journal Article

Whole Dog Journal - Search Results

DogAware.com Health: Ear Infections in Dogs


Good luck hugs to you and puppers.

[brandypup]

Amazon

Amazon

hmmm that didn't work
http://www.jefferspet.com/lime-sulfur-dip-16oz/p/DD-LA/