Flea prevention favorites?

Because our dog has allergies, we had to stop using a flea prevention skin treatment (Frontline). It irritated his skin (causing flaky, itchy patches where we’d applied it, even though we tried not to apply it in the same spot twice) and made my eyes water both to put it on him, and also to be around him for several hours after application.

So, we talked to the vet, and got a prescription for Sentinel instead. This has worked really well for us. It’s a once-a-month flea and heartworm prevention tablet, and from our vet, the cost is comparable to what we were paying for both heartworm and flea medicine before.

Because we try to keep things as chemical free as possible, we don’t use any chemical flea treatments, and have yet to have any fleas at all, which is really wonderful. This year, we are planning on using some of the suggested all natural flea abatements to eliminate mosquitoes (some all natural products do both but are marketed more for flea control). I’ll definitely let you know how that turns out!

Today, though, I’d like to know what you use for flea prevention. Do you use something applied topically? A flea collar? An all-natural approach? And how do you (and your dog!) like it?

Allergies and the dogs we love

Canine allergies are frustrating–it can be difficult to diagnose what the source of the dog allergies and even once the source is pinpointed, it can be hard to avoid the allergens.

For instance, many dogs are allergic to certain ingredients in dog food. (The most common source of dog health allergies when it comes to food is the protein source, so often switching your dog to a single protein source food can make a big difference.) Other dogs are allergic to pollen or other environmental elements, or even everyday household chemicals like laundry detergent.

In short, if you can be allergic to it, chances are good so can your dog. And, given that even though allergy tests for people have come a long way in the last few decades, doctors can still have trouble isolating exactly what’s causing your watery eyes or other symptoms… Well, let’s just say veterinary medicine isn’t much better when it comes to diagnoses.

So, what can you do to help your dog be healthy with allergies? Three things my vet recommended:

1) Start by talking to your vet, but explain that you’d like to avoid medication if possible. Vets often assume pet owners want the easiest solution, and that’s usually allergy pills, so be clear that you’d much prefer resolve the problem than mask it.

2) Reduce allergens in the home. It’s a lot easier to determine the cause of allergies if you restrict as much as possible for a little while–keep your dog home from doggie day care, keep him inside as much as possible, and wash everything he comes into contact with with the simplest detergent you can find.

3) Simplify your dog’s diet. Talk with your vet and find out if you can feed your dog rice and chicken for a few weeks (that tends to be the easiest choice–but any two-ingredient, home-cooked diet would work). Do get your vet’s guidance on this as portions will vary widely by dog, and for some dogs, restricting their diet can be harmful in other ways.

Getting to the root of dog allergies can be a little time consuming, but improving your dog’s health and resolving those allergic reactions is well worth it! Do you have an allergic dog? What have you done to help reduce allergens?

Dog health allergies and dog food-an update

I’ve mentioned before that we were feeding Vance Canidae dog food because it was high quality and one of the less expensive premium foods. Unfortunately, they changed the formula about 6 months or so ago and the new formula exacerbated the dog allergies (itchy skin, especially) that Vance suffers from.

It was a difficult decision to decide to switch to a new food because we’d been really happy with the way that Canidae alleviated ear infections related to dog food allergies that Vance had been suffering from.

So, what are we feeding him now? And how’s he doing on it? We tried California Naturals, but that had something in it that still bothered him as he kept rubbing his face on things which made his eyes red and irritated.

Now we’re trying him on Evo which is really, really expensive, so I don’t want to recommend it until he’s been eating it for a while longer.

If you suspect your dog’s food is exacerbating allergies, talk to your vet about your other options. I like foods with as few ingredients as possible, but there’s not a lot of evidence that that’s necessarily healthier–lots of healthy ingredients would be healthier than a handful of bad-for-you stuff–so go with your vet’s recommendations, and your own instincts on this one.

I’ll post an update when Vance has been eating the Evo for a while longer–I’m hopeful so far and though I’d definitely prefer something cheaper, am willing to spend more to keep him healthy.

**Just a heads-up–Evo, Canidae, and all the rest have never heard of me and certainly didn’t sponsor this post. These opinions are my own. I know online it can be hard to tell the paid reviews from the genuine ones and want to reassure you that this is 100% about our experience and not swayed or influenced by any monetary benefit. If you do buy dog food using the link in the sidebar (which also gets you a nice discount), we may receive a small referral percentage. They’re the lovely folks we get dog food from, and I’m happy to recommend them, the affiliate commissions make a nice bonus for me.**