Allergies?

[Chinchi]

Lately Darla has been scratching alot which has resulted in clumps of fur being left on the carpet. I'm brushing her everyday and getting a huge amount of fluff off of her (about the size of a fist), is this normal or excessive? I am using a regular double line comb to groom her. She is taking oral flea treatment once a mouth and had a check-up recently and she doesn't have fleas so I am wondering about a possible allergy. She also got uncomfortable recently when I was brushing her fur and got nippy which would indicate not everything is as it should be.

She is also rubbing her nose with both paws alot. She isn't sneezing and doesn't have watery eyes or nose, but I am not sure whether the nose rubbing is considered excessive or not. She does it everyday at least several times. She also chews on her nails and fusses over her feet everyday. Does this all sound like a possible allergy?

I am going to take her to the vets for a check up too and a chat about all of the above. Are allergies common in shelties?

[Jess041]

It sounds like a food allergy to me. Have you tried switching her food to a different protein?

[Chinchi]

Not yet. At the moment she is on Pro Plan sensitive which is salmon and rice and Butchers Puppy wet food which is various flavours. Could be tricky finding out exactly what is causing it.

[Toffee's Mom]

Originally Posted by Chinchi

Not yet. At the moment she is on Pro Plan sensitive which is salmon and rice and Butchers Puppy wet food which is various flavours. Could be tricky finding out exactly what is causing it.

Oh allergies are the bane of many a Sheltie owner's existence! I am not sure if it is more than other breeds? But I still don't really know what T is allergic to, but changing food definitely helped, I feed raw now and make my own training treats or get dehydrated stuff from source I know and trust. Next up my own dehydrator, lol, so I can make my own dehydrated tripe or liver, yummy, what? lol

Might be a good idea to stick with just one food, although I doubt Pro Plan is the best you can get, but that's your own choice, but I would definitely stay away from any type of that kind of wet food, myself... I think they hide a lot of fillers and stuff in there.
Also makes it easier to kind of determine what it could be, to just get one kind of food, and nothing else... to see IF it is food bourne allergy... and above all stick with whatever food you decide for a few months... I didn't stick with it long enough in the beginning...

So stick with the dry maybe and no wet and see if that makes a difference?

[Chinchi]

Thanks, for the advice. We do want to get her onto a dry only diet, we only have a few more cans of food to use up then we won't buy anymore. Then, as you say, it will be easier to pin point the food that is not agreeing with her.

[Toffee's Mom]

IF it gets really bad you'd see it very fast if there is hairloss.. so I would definitely go to the Vet

[Charliebear]

believe me, we've tried EVERYthing. I've posted for the first time on this site about "Charlie" our sheltie, and hope I did it right. See "Itching, licking and smelly" I've posted on March 5, 2013.

[The Quahog]

Just for what its worth, a version of my 'allergy lecture' which would be considered the 'traditional medicine' view, is posted below in the archives/reference section in a thread called 'While we are on the subject.'
-Dr. Mac