My Golden Retriever has a skin allergy. Possibly food related. Benedryl has been suggested. Any experience?

I've changed his food to single-ingredient, vet. food, and that helps, but is Sooo expensive. If I do use benedryl, what should the dose be? He's about 95 pounds.

My Golden Retriever has a skin allergy. Possibly food related. Benedryl has been suggested. Any experience?
have you tried a premium food such as Canidae or Inova?Most cheap foods contain corn,soy,and other not so great ingredients.Corn and soy are two good and easy places to start.Find a food thats corn and soy free,and see if that helps.While not the only allergie causing foods,they are 2 of the upper tier culprits.If it keeps dragging on it may be best to have the vet test your dog,and see what is causing the alergic reaction.It could be anything.I know someone with a Lab,that eats Lamb based food,because chicken and beef both caused problems.
Reply:I would ask your vet. They should be able to tell you the exact dose to give your dog. Better to be on the safe side I think ;)
Reply:If your dog does indeed have a food allergy. All Benadryl can do is to minimize the itching that may occur with a allergy but it won't cure the allergy. And In some cases that may not be enough to stop the itching. The best thing to do is to find out what are causing the allergies (what type of food etc.) And have that addressed. He still will have hairloss an irritation even if on the benadryl.
Reply:Dose would depend on size and weight. Check with your vet for the proper dose for your dog.





Our vet recommended Benedryl for our allergic puppy, but even half the amount makes her very sleepy (one of the side effects). We use it very rarely, only when there is no other way to relieve the scratching. Remember, the Benedryl doesn't cure anything, it just a temporary relief of the symptoms. You should continue to pursue other, more permanent remedies for your dog's allergy.





If the food you are using is too expensive, check out other brands - canine allergies are very common and there are a lot of options on the market.





Do a google or yahoo search on 'canine allergies' for more information, and good luck!





Note - when trying new food or other changes for the allergy, keep the dog off benedryl or you won't be able to tell if the changes are working or not!
Reply:My suggestion. Yes the Benedryll will work, BUT why medicate all the time when there is no too.





Rather than feed your dog the vet diet. Make your own diet. A lot of people think I'm nuts when I say this, and believe me I thought the same thing when I heard about it. Raw diets. Awesome. I've switched my dogs over to a raw diet, and I will NEVER go back to a commercial dog food again. The benefits are tremendous.





What I would recommend is to keep your dog on the vet diet for now, while you do research on a raw diet, and then switch to that. It is a little scary at first, but once see the results and get used to it, you'll be amazed.





Here is a portion of my dog food article that talks a bit about raw diets and has links to get you started with research.





There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.





http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm





http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...





http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html





http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html





http://www.rawdogranch.com





What's Really In Pet Food


http://www.api4animals.org/79.htm
Reply:Ask you vet about a home-made diet. Ours had recipes for good foods that are less likely to cause allergies. Be sure to avoid treats that have corn and wheat unless you have tested your golden retriever for food allergies. Other things to avoid are soy and yeast.


We use Benadryl for itchiness in one of our goldens. It is low in side effects, except for drowsiness, available in generic, and relatively inexpensive.