Pollo-Dermatitis....My Poor Little Chicken Feet Pete

It's actually podo-dermatitis, but when the vet said it, I swear she was saying po"y"o-dermatitis, as in two L's that make the "yuh" sound.

Regardless, this little tail of allergies in dogs begins this past winter.  Poor Petey Pete, my troubled little soul and now a full time member of my household, has dog allergies.  It manifests itself in his feet and in his mouth.  We first noticed the issue this winter.  Pete's feet got so raw from being outside in the snow and cold that they bled.  At one point, John had to carry him the two blocks back to our apartment because he couldn't walk.

During his yearly check up in January, the vet said she thought it was more of an issue related to all the salt and dry air and to just make sure we rinsed his paws off to make sure the salt wasn't sticking in his pads.  Then in March, John and I drove down to North Carolina and noticed that Pete's right back paw was hugely swollen.  He was limping all around and licking it non-stop.  Coop was also licking Pete's paw.

We took him to a vet in North Carolina who said it was likely just an infection picked up from a small cut that he licked too much.  On top of that, Petey had picked up whip worm at doggy day camp.   We had whip worm food crystals, benzoyl peroxide solution, and 2 kinds of antibiotics to give Pete.  Within a few days, the swelling had gone down a lot and Pete seemed to be feeling better.  The antibiotics knocked him out, so we tried to give it to him right before we left for work and right before we went to bed to maximize on time when he was already sleeping.

Things seemed to clear up, and then it happened again, except it was in his left back paw this time.  This time we were home and went to see our vet.  I'll make a recommendation now that if you haven't done it before, go see the Point Breeze Veterinarians.  They are wonderful! They really take the time to love on your dogs and talk you through your problems.

Our vet took a look at Petey's feet and determined he still had yeast in his right paw and had a new infection in his left that was likely caused by licking.  And, as it turns out, he was licking due to allergies.  Like humans, dogs suffer from 1 of 2 types of allergies- contact or inhaled.  At this stage, she told me she thought he suffered from Podo-dermatitis (or pollo, whatever).  Basically, a contact skin allergy. 

We had a new round of antibiotics and this time we had antiseptic cleansing pads for his feet and belly.  She also recommended giving him people Benadryl in small doses whenever he seemed particularly itchy  It seemed to work again and Pete was fine after he finished his antibiotics.  Although the Benadryl really knocked him out, it did work.  But, this being a record year for allergies, Pete's paw started getting swollen again.  John and I watch for Pete to lick his paws, but as dogs do that naturally to clean themselves, our big sign was when Cooper would start to lick them.  Plus, Pete had started randomly peeing in the house, even when we were home.

We took him back to the vet a fourth time and this time the vet said it was likely that Pete had allergies from inhalation.  We were back on antibiotics, this time for 6 weeks!  She also prescribed an antihistamine that wouldn't knock him out like Benadryl did and gave us a spray to use whenever we saw a hot spot on his feet.

Ultimately, though, we had to think about long term and what Pete might need.  Although he hadn't suffered from allergies last year, this has been pretty bad.  Pete just finished his antibiotics yesterday, and we'll be waiting to see if he gets an infection again.  If he doesn't, we can skip the next step, which is allergy testing. If he is allergy tested, the benefit is that they'll be able to create a special serum for him and we'll just need to give him shots.  That's also the disadvantage.   He's a young little happy puppy and we'd hate to have to stick him with a shot everyday, you know?

We've always suspected that Pete was a beagle/boxer mix based on his appearance, sounds, and liberal use of his paws.  Being from a shelter, it's really hard to know 100% what he's got going on in there, but the allergies confirm that he's probably part boxer. 

In any case, we can only hope that our Petey le Poivre gets through the rest of this summer and allergy season unscathed.  It's so hard to watch him try to relieve the itching only to have him get an infection. 
Once I started sharing his story with fellow dog owners, it turns out that a lot of other dogs suffer from the same issues.  My friend Melissa's male boxer has terrible allergies! And my family friend Ginger's dog Windy suffers from food allergies that manifest in a similar manner to Pete's.  Fellow allergy-suffering dogs & owners, we feel your pain!