I have a question about allergies and skin conditions.

I have a friend whose Jack Russell is allergic to her environment. Meaning, certain trees and grasses. She needed to take allergy eye drops plus other medication. She also had hardly any fur and scratched and made herself bleed. She took the dog to a veterinarian who does allergy tests on dogs.
Sometimes dogs get yeast growing on them from the damp, or from carbohydrates like potato. My Maltese cannot have potato.

Good luck! Hope you find a solution. I have a 3 year old yorkie that has the same problems. I am in the process of changing her food. After reading your post I’m wondering if that will help. I have taken her to the vet several times We also use benadryl on the bad days. She has very long hair so I have to brush her several times a day or she will be matted badly. This allergy only happens in the late summer through fall. Hope you find a solution. Sorry I’m not much help.

My 7yr Old Yorkie Bella, has the same problems ffrom puppy. I’ve taken her to the Vet. And he says that it come from within this breed. She takes eyes drop almost on a daily basis, her meds work for a little bit and then a couple of weeks later it starts up again. Her vet as referred me to a allergist. Thats my next step with Bella. If anyone else have more helpful information. Please share. Thanks Bella’s Mom

Hi Cody,

Our Frankie had the same problem ever since he turned 1 year old last June. He began scratching incessantly until his skin started to scab up. We tried 2 different veterinary recommended hypo-allergenic diets with no change. The only thing that helped him temporarily was steroid medication which he would take for about 2 weeks, however 2-3 weeks later the itchiness would re-appear.

We decided to take Frankie to a dermatologist who informed us that this condition is very common with the Yorkie breed. She provided us with a medicated spray (Cortevance Spray) which contains a lighter dose of steroids and Burrow’s Hydrocortisone 1% ear drops. We used the spray once a week and the drops twice a week for 1.5 weeks and Frankie is all better now! We also now make sure that he wears a t-shirt most of the time and we found it really helped protect his skin from whatever was causing this reaction.

We do also have the option of having Frankie take an allergy test. This can be done through a blood test or intradermal skin testing. We were told that the intradermal skin test would be most accurate, however, it was not 100% guaranteed either. The intradermal skin test is very similar to the skin test they conduct on humans for allergy testing.

It seems like your dog has been suffering quite a bit from these allergies, so it may be worth checking in with a dermatologist. It is quite costly but definitely worth it in the end.

Hope that helps!

Laura & Frankie

My now 3 yr old Yorkie started losing her hair on her back & close to her butt and under her chin she dug a hole from the itching. Very dry, flaky skin, odor. After a year & a half, the end result was a mite that lives in the hair folical called Demadex. She 1st started w/ meds called ivomec, scary med that could affect her neurolically. It took 2 tries, cured it but came back after meds stopped. Now she is on Nexgard, & it is so far working very well. Still working thru it. Have ur vet do some skin scrapings to check for these mites. All dogs are born with this mite, but as long as their immune system is strong enough, it can fight it off. If not than it will drive your baby girl nuts & get worse. Especially if she is not spayed. Hope this helps & your baby gets better.