German Shepard Skin Allergies

[Wookie]

I have a 3 almost 4 year old German Shepard who out of the blue last summer started to get light skin allergies and the vet notified us that he will have to be put him on really expensive medication that we cant afford , the condition has gotten extremely worse and we try to keep it at bay with over the counter food addatives that sometimes seem to work but not to completley erradicate the prob , does anyone have any advice or home remedies that could possibly work, my dog is completly miserable as are we , this problem seems to make him have ear infections too

[Dax]

Can you provide more info please. Dog is allergic to the sun? This might be a case where diet is more to blame than anything else. Can you tell us as much info as possible. What does he eat? Is the dog an albino?

[Wookie]

from the time he was a puppy we fed him only purina products , when he got off puppy food we started to feed him purina pro dog food , weve even tried the kind for sensitive dogs , right now he is eating Mainstay chunks brand as we cant afford expensive foods any longer , his skin at first started to be red splotchy and little hair loss, but now his skin is in awful shape dark reds and really dry loooking and hes losing alot of hair mostly on his underside and inside of his legs and on his chest is were the problem is and his ears also , our vet offered to sell us some hypo allergenic food but 38 dollars for a bag that was 10 pounds or less is a little outrageous , hes an active german shepard , as most are , i dont know what else to say , hes a normal dog except for this problem

[eXile]

Im really sorry to hear about your situation. It affects me alot when i hear people say they cant afford treatment, because ive been in the same situation with no money and needing vet care You could try calling a dog homeopathic, they may have a home remedy that may not fix it totally but make it managable money wise, and for the dog. Could try explaining more thoroughly?

[eXile]

Thank you for explaining a bit better wookie. Can you please call and ask your vet if adding a bit of vegtable oil to his meals would be safe? Usually i would never call a vet to ask him that because it causes no problems to a normal dog, but im not very experienced with your situation so anything i suggest could a risk. lol. The oil will help soften up skin so its not as dry. I would assume he scratches quite a bit and that can become extremely annoying so this could help out a bit. Call him and see what the vet says, then update us.

[Wookie]

The other day he scratched his chest up so bad that a little bleeding was involved and also a extremely awful odor , we gave him a bath promptly after with a little bit of prescibed hyrdro cortisone shampoo we had from our vet

[Wookie]

Thank you Exile , I appreciate your help , my vet is closed right now but i will call him 1st thing in the morning to ask about the oil

[Wookie]

yes hes scratching an awful lot , we have to be constantly watching him , he often goes to the other side of the house out of site to scratch himself , which then his skin gets torn up badly

[eXile]

Wookie i just did a quick search for a cream that may help your dog an his condition.

http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/Shopp...th/dryskin.htm

Theres various products on that site that you can most likely pick up at any larger franchised pet store such as Petsmart. Can he die from this condition or its only extremely annoying?

[eXile]

Also, i forgot to mention (lol sorry for all the posting) natural aloe can help too. Gives a cool sensation on the skin which im sure your dog would like too.