Skin Disorders

I have a 3yr old Frenchie, we have battled with itchy, yeasty skin for as long as I can remember.  For a while she was on Apoquel & Cytopoint which we have stopped. She is being fed raw (we switch between beef, pork & turkey) with goats milk ice cubes and cheese as treats. She has lost about 6lbs since the change to raw and that’s even with giving her double the recommended serving.  we have removed all “perfumes”, no candles, plug ins etc from home, changed laundry detergent, clean our home with natural ingredients, only give bottled water, she’s bathed with Lucca, and we put shirts to cover skin afterwards. We have her on the Adored Beast first we gave her yeasty beast protocol, then leaky gut protocol, now back on yeasty beast.  Please help us heart broken parents, it’s I will add her picture in comments.  Thank you so much for your time 

-Daisy’s desperate mom

Dr. Steve's Advice - The inability of a dog to hold its weight on raw signals a 'carb dependency'. That same dependency exists at the microbiome level, since the species most responsible for producing metabolites that control our immune system need carbs in the diet to function. Without carbs in the diet, they die off, even when you give them as a probiotic every day. Please make sure 1/6 of the food in the dish consists of vegetables, beans, berries or even cooked whole grains. 

You may be reluctant to use carbs because of the yeast on the skin. In those posts, I explain how a skin problem could get attributed to yeast, yet not be due to yeast at all. In brief, the priming of the systemic immune system by dysbiosis and a leaky gut means ANY irritant on the skin will turn from a mild, even subclinical, problem into a conflagration. The problem, though, is not usually the irritant. It is the excess response to it.

Leaky gut protocols won't work if the food source to support an ideal microbiome is not present, which means plant material is necessary. Bacteria use the soluble fiber in the plant material to manufacture butyrate, which helps seal the gut. No plants means no butyrate which means lots of holes. 

Once you have plants in the diet, you can also supply a probiotic already mixed with its favourite foods, to expedite it getting established, so it can begin the work of normalizing your dog's immune system. For that I would recommend https://gussysgut.pxf.io/c/4643206/1738316/19832

Along with those two changes, I would suggest Cessorex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Cessorex-85g-p647327434) by Gold Standard Herbs. Together, all three changes should start to improve your dog's skin within the first couple of weeks. How long it will take to resolve your dog's issues is up to them. If just the face is involved, I would use Halscion from the same company at the same time.

Hopefully this helps you out. It should. Please get back to us with what you tried and how it went

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My pup has been sick with a serious skin infection since March. She had her teeth clean and had a cytopoint injection at the same time. She has always had skin issues but after sedation I think it got worse. She had been on kibble her whole life until April of this year. I tried Dr. Harvey’s Allergy food. She still had problems so I starting making her food at home. Never did get better. I had a Nutriscan Saliva/ Cell Bio test and found out she is allergic to turkey, chicken and white fish. Now she is on All Provide raw beef and pork only. She gets Four Marvel, Pea, Bromase Enzyme,L-Glutamine and a soft chew vitamin. She also takes 0.1 Levothyroxin because she has hypothyroidism. I don’t know what else to do. There are only traditional vets in our state. I’m afraid to go see a my vet for fear she’ll put her on antibiotics again. In the last year she has been on three rounds of it for ear and uti infections. Thank you for all your advice and I hope to hear from you soon. Here is a photo of her this morning. Oh, she also threw up this morning. 

Dr. Steve's advice - since your pup is on a real food diet and still has skin issues, it means she is truly allergic as opposed to just having runaway inflammation tendencies. Four Marvels is for runaway inflammation.
I think the two main things I would try are to keep the diet the same, but add in Cessorex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Cessorex-85g-p647327434) by Gold Standard Herbs and a Lactobacillus probiotic. Please continue to avoid kibble and canned foods for her. The upshot is that allergies are first and foremost a problem with the microbiome. As long as you are feeding a real food diet containing at least 1/6 fruits and veggies (avoiding grapes), then the stage is set for helping good guy bacteria (i.e., probiotics) thrive. When they thrive, the produce a compound that calms the immune system down (in both animals and people) called propionate. Cessorex helps compensate for that lack of propionate while supporting the colonization of the gut by the good guys. Cessorex also helps markedly improve the quality of circulation to the skin so all that dryness and lichenification showing in that photo goes away.
Hope this helps. If you try this approach, please let us know what happens

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I have an almost 5 yr old Chihuahua mix with really bad environmental allergies affecting her eye area. Her semi-holistic vet recommended putting her on steroids eye drops which I declined cause I don't want to have her on meds indefinitely. She's fed a part baked and freeze dried diet, she gets the regulars: omega 3 fish oil, probiotics, sardines, colostrum.  I'm wondering if you can give me a recommendation for her? Somethib i can add to her food or if one of the gold standards herbs would be good for her?   Here's her photo so you can an idea of how irritated her eye area gets. 

Dr. Steve's Advice - my go-to for inflammation around the eyes is Halscion (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Halscion-85g-p647327436) from Gold Standard Herbs. It usually helps a lot. 

Note that baked foods still would be expected to have a lot of inflammatory AGEs (advanced glycation endproducts). You can only avoid those with raw, freeze-dried, and moist cooked foods (like you would make yourself or get from the refrigerator of a usually boutique pet supply store). If the Halscion works, but not enough, consider making a more complete move to those kinds of diets

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We are hoping you can help Spooky to stop being a donut hole.

Spooky came to us as a stray in 2014, we don’t know her age but assume she is around 13-14 due to the dental disease she already had. She is very active and eats well.

Since about 2017 she has had a series of health issues - bladder stone (2017 - treated w/ Hills SD), ongoing seasonal VERY itchy skin condition (2017 - present, started after Hills food treatment - have tried antifungals, antibiotics, steroids, misc skin creams), asthma (2018 - treated w/ cordyceps, have Flovent, only use when she’s flaring), IBD and chronic pancreatitis (2021 - changed to rabbit and duck diet). 2021 ultrasound showed some kidney degeneration that has not shown up in labs yet. She has a heart murmur that seems to be situational (BNP levels fine). One vet also thought perhaps she has feline hyperesthesia. Last year she had a full dental extraction and her itching seemed to subside after I added colostrum to her regimen.

We had hoped that no teeth would equal no more seasonal allergy sores, but this February she had a major breakout of eosinophilic granuloma bumps all over her torso and hind legs (eosinophils were at 10,000!). Regular vet checked her for other causes of the eosinophilia and determined it was definitely the skin so we took her to dermatologist.

Dermatologist declared flea allergy, declined to do ANY skin testing and insisted on steroids and flea poisons. That didn’t sit well with me so I took her to a local holistic vet who did a blood test for environmental allergies. She did come up positive for several allergens (oak, scale, horsefly - NOT FLEA), and we have been offered immunotherapy (quoted cost of $10 a day, vet thinks only 50% chance of being effective!). 

I started her on Dr. Judy’s PEA and the granulomas finally subsided, but the itching did not. We added a surgical suit to keep her from going after her hind legs. In desperation I ordered a 5Strands test that basically said she was reactive to literally everything she was eating, almost all her supplements and everything I was putting on her skin, cotton (the surgical suit) (also NOT FLEA). I changed her food and removed as many of the reactive things as possible. She’s wearing a bamboo baby onesie now.

I came across your group and decided to give Cessorex a try. It’s been a month, and I can’t say for sure if it has made any difference. I also bought her an earthing mat since she is indoors only (fights w/ other cats). She is currently on a freeze dried pork diet (Primal), gets Cessorex, quercetin, Adored Beast Felix Flora, Dr. Judy’s PEA, ubiquinol. 

She’s still frantically scratching at her face and overgrooming any time I remove her “clothes” and waking us up in the night trying to groom. 

If you have any other suggestions we would be grateful. Would you try the immunotherapy? Is the 5Strands test accurate? 

Dr. Steve's Advice - I like the steps you've taken so far. Cessorex may not be strong enough to deal with over-the-top itching in your cat, though. I would suggest you add Cool the Blood from Kan Essentials (Rx needed) or 'ImmunoBalm' from Gold Standard Herbs (no Rx necessary). You can source a genuine version from Aleksandra Topic at aleks.topic.1@gmail.com. It treats a similar Chinese medical diagnosis to what Cessorex addresses, but is perhaps more useful when itch is absolutely out of control. 

Regarding the 5Strands test, I personally don't subscribe to it Nor do I really do blood testing of any type. Probably only intradermal skin testing holds any hope of identifying allergens that might respond to immunotherapy. Even then, as you said, the response rate is low, and meanwhile, the injection of antigens can drive your cat wild. 

Why don't I test for allergens? Pretty much all allergies are traceable to an issue with Leaky Gut, where the immune system gets primed from too much exposure to bacterial antigens and then sends the whole immune system into a tizzy. Any inflammation going on at all suddenly gets ramped up. As doctors, we'd go to the site of inflammation, and mistake whatever is causing it as the actual problem. The reality is that without that leaky gut priming the system, that inflammatory response may not have even appeared on the radar. Inflammation is not all or nothing, in other words. There are plenty of episodes that are subclinical, visible ony under a microscope. We shouldn't mistake those that do suddenly show up on the radar as being the actual problem. Rather, we should also look to see if anything is 'fanning their flames' from within our system itself.

I'm glad you made the move away from kibble. It's also possible that if you moved to actual cooked or raw diets, you'd see inflammation drop down another notch. Something to consider if the above doesn't help.

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Shade, 3 yr Australian Shepherd presented with sudden Ataxia and fever after I returned home from a trip.  Traveled to a neurologist within 2 days, who called her a mystery as all vitals were good. 

He doubted Encephalitis, however I agreed to the Spinal Tap which to his surprise, came back positive.   We opted to do all the test to determine cause, all negative.  Just a side note....we had horrible winds for a solid 3 months prior to onset, not sure if something there caused this.  We live extremely rural, farmland.

Originally this was idiopathic, now DX as Mediated Autoimmune.  She has been and currently raw fed.

She is MDR1...one gene. All genetics great!

On 10Mg..Prednisone BID which is making her crazy   She weighs around 43 pounds.  Starting Atopica next week and tapering Prednisone. 

Supplemented with Adored Beast Chaga drops, Love Bug Probitics, Turmeric a few times a week. Was on Mushroom support as well for 30 days along with 2 types of antibiotics.   She responded quickly!

Any advice or other supplements would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you so much for this page!!  She is a intact female, no other health problems ever.  This was a shocker!

Of course the million dollar question...anyway to know when this is resolved or go the full 9M?

Dr. Steve's Advice - I'm glad your dog responded quickly. For immune mediated CNS disease like meningitis and meningoencephalitis, I use a herbal formula called Augmented Bupleurum and Kudzu Clearing Formula, which you can often find on Amazon if your vet doesn't want to carry it. I've found it to work as well as immune suppressant drugs and to be curative.

I would say if you were to try it, start the herbs then after 5 to 7 days, instead of switching to Atopica, begin gradually weaning off the pred. If you get off the pred with no symptom recurrence, then that is promising, but I'd still continue the herbs for a month or so before trying to reduce their dose (if you want to - some people just keep going at a low dose). 

If you can't get off the pred, then those herbs aren't going to work for you, and you'd go with the Atopica. I've never seen that happen, though.

Note that it's been my experience this kind of thing can sometimes happen every six months, and for sure is a very common problem in August. I'd make sure to have some of the herb around next July and just start her on it prophylactically until late September. I'd do the same the following year. If it doesn't show up again in a couple of years, then you're probably free of it.

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My Mini Sheltie is 9 years (11 lbs) and she’s had a chronic gagging / hacking reflex for years that happens almost every time she drinks (even when she takes just a few sips). And about half of the time she gags up some water onto the floor. Her trachea was checked with a scope at the University of Florida Animal Hospital, they said it looks to be normal in structure, no signs of collapsing, no tumors and normal blood tests. Her vet has noticed inflammation in her tonsils during the last two dental cleanings and thinks it’s likely attributed to allergies and also thinks this “might” be the cause of the gagging but is unsure. Lulu also has a combination of food and environmental allergies and pink skin syndrome as well as occasional hot spots and inflammation on her paws. We haven’t done any specific allergy tests because our vet doesn’t believe they are reliable but we have her on Apoquel for allergic disease which does somewhat help with the pink skin. We’ve tried hydroxyzine and something for reverse sneezing to treat the gagging but they haven’t helped. The vet prescribed Science Diet Derm Complete (for skin allergies) and I add Omega 3 oils and a daily probiotic to her food. We’ve been on this food protocol for a few years. 

We are also careful to not feed her snacks that could aggravate her allergies. She loves frozen green beans and cucumber bits. I also wash her paws after returning from outdoor walks or ramps around the backyard. Although all of this does seem to slightly improve the pink skin temporarily, the gagging continues. I understand living in Florida makes allergies a common problem for pets but I’m still very concerned about the gagging and not having had any luck in treating it. I can’t help but think we are possibly missing something.

Dr. Steve's Advice -Sometimes an intolerance of liquids can be the mildest version of a sort of laryngeal paralysis. Lar Par is believed by nutritionists to be caused by AGEs, which are pro-inflammatory compounds abundant in kibble. I understand why you might feel locked in to the hypo-allergenic diet. Just know it may be as much the cause of your problems as it is a palliative measure. To understand my own perspective and approach to dogs with multiple allergies including those of a food and environmental nature, please check out the abundant posts at #skindiseasedogs

Meanwhile, from a Chinese medical perspective, your dog appears to have Damp Heat, which is an inflammatory tendency driven by the consumption of processed foods. One of the cardinal signs of Dampness is an inability to ingest water without bringing it back up. It's certainly the top rule out anyway. There are many formulas that can help, but an easy gentle one to test the theory is Three Seeds Combination by Kan Essentials. You can get a bona fide version from Aleksandra Topic at      aleks.topic.1@gmail.com. Dose according to the table at https://nphc.ca/using/dosage. Give that amount twice daily. It may help her skin, too. If it does, even somewhat, you'll know that the processed food is at the heart of everything, and that to cure your dog, a change will be needed. If it doesn't work, circle back, as I have another idea that might work. 

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