September has been a rough month for allergies in our house. My sinuses have been harboring an unwelcome infection for most of the month, and Gidget has upgraded her usual anxious paw licking to her special irritated paw chewing. I’ve been keeping a close eye on her paws, and they don’t look inflamed. Bruce, however, is a different story.
We are ending his steroids after his last heartworm treatment, and his allergies are on full display. When we adopted Bruce last year, he had a small reaction to some kind of plant in the back yard, developing a rash on his paws and under his belly. The vet prescribed an oral antihistamine, and I used an antimicrobial spray designed for dog allergies on his paws. Together, these two things kept his reaction under control.
This year, nothing is working. I think the higher dose of steroids might have staved off the worst effects, but as we end the steroids, Bruce is turning pink all over, glowing through his white fur. His little paws are the worst. His eyes are red and goopy. We’re keeping an inflatable donut collar on him day and night to keep him from chewing his paws until they bleed. I’ve been washing them and using the spray, but his little hairless red paws still look terrible. The vet has authorized me to use Benadryl to see if it helps him any more than the pills he prescribed.
This isn’t my first bout with dog allergies. When I used to be involved in dog rescue, one of my early fosters was a female Jack Russell Terrier named Sadie. She was almost entirely white, and I’ve found that white dogs are more likely to have allergies. There’s a whole genetic thing that causes the issue to be carried on the same gene that controls coat color. It controls hearing and vision as well. I might write about that one day.
Sadie had terrible allergies. Her problem was related primarily to her food. She required a grain free diet that was restricted to only a few types of protein. Chicken was one of her allergy triggers. She was adopted by a lovely family who worked with a holistic vet to create a special diet of homemade food to keep her allergies at bay.
Bruce doesn’t seem to have any food allergies. This issue flared up at the same time both years, in conjunction with my own seasonal allergies. I think we would both be happier in a plastic bubble right about now. He has an appointment scheduled with the vet in a few days, and we might try an injection to ease his allergies if they have not subsided by then.
In the meantime, enjoy a video of Gidget and Bruce opening a gift sent to them by one of their admirers. If you’re on Facebook, they have their own page called “Gidget McFidget, Bruce Wayne, & Friends.” Because of course they do.
Dawn Levitt, Author 