Staffordshire Bull Terrie Skin Issue

Minidee07

Hi Guys,

Hopefully someone out there will have the answer for this.

I have a 6 year old Staffie and she has a skin condition. The condition varies from bad to chronic. The irritation is mostly on her belly and under front legs (the arm pit area???) but when it's at its worst it effects her paws and eyes. She has little to no hair on her belly from the irritation and constant scratching. She is always rubbing her eyes off her bed, the side of the couch, people's legs, etc. and could spend hours licking her paws. The skin on her belly is all thickened from repeat bouts of the issue.

So far over the years we have had her on antibiotics, steroids and antihistamines (as one vet thought it could be an extreme hayfever). I have tried topical sprays including 100% natural sprays with all the good organic stuff and also medicated steroid spray. I have tried 2 different shampoos; again a medicated steroid based shampoo and a antifungal/antibacterial shampoo. I have bought natural remedy things to add to her food to try and reboot her immune system and we have tried her on a diet of meat and veg. Still the issue continues. She was (up until we tried the meat & veg diet) on Beta Sensitive. She gets very smelly too from the skin issue, and it isn't a dog smell cause it doesn't come from her coat, it comes from the sore areas.

Has anyone out there the same issue with their staffie? I'm at a loss here, I can't think of anything else to do and lately she seems so run down, exhausted and sad. It's breaking my heart as I'm sure all staffie owners will understand.

Please please please if anyone has any ideas of treatment let me know.

andreac

Has she had bloods done at any stage?

What is her current diet? She could have an allergy to a certain meat and if you are still feeding it, that could be the cause.

Minidee07

Hi Andreac,

To my knowledge she hasn't had bloods taken - she was my cousins dog until the age of 2 when he emigrated and we adopted her. It is possible that she had bloods taken when he had her as a pup as the skin condition was an ongoing problem even then and he had racked up a serious amount of vet bills.

I'd be very surprised if it's a food intolerance as she was on a different dog food to begin with and was switched to the Beta Sensitive specifically because of her skin. When we tried the meat diet recently we were told to avoid chicken to begin with so she was getting beef mainly and veg - nothing at all processed and at no point did her skin improve.

andreac

Minidee07 wrote: »

Hi Andreac,

To my knowledge she hasn't had bloods taken - she was my cousins dog until the age of 2 when he emigrated and we adopted her. It is possible that she had bloods taken when he had her as a pup as the skin condition was an ongoing problem even then and he had racked up a serious amount of vet bills.

I'd be very surprised if it's a food intolerance as she was on a different dog food to begin with and was switched to the Beta Sensitive specifically because of her skin. When we tried the meat diet recently we were told to avoid chicken to begin with so she was getting beef mainly and veg - nothing at all processed and at no point did her skin improve.

Well then i would def get her bloods done. If you have explored all other avenues then you need to get them done too.

The Beta wouldn't be great food at all, even the sensitive one. If you look at the ingredients of it, its made up of cereals and derivitives, all of which cause issues in dogs, so even though it says sensitive, it could have been doing more harm than good. Here is a list of their ingredients and as you can see, its mainly cereals, which is a big no no for sensitive dogs or ones with skin issues.
Cereals (wholegrain min 4%, rice min. 4%), Meat and animal derivatives (meat min. 14%), Vegetable protein extracts, Oils and fats, Fish and fish derivatives (salmon min. 4%), Derivatives of vegetable origin (beet pulp min. 0.5%), Vegetables (chicory min. 0.5%), Minerals.
Not even sure how they can claim its a sensitive type food really.

How long is she off the Beta now, as it can take a while for it to leave her system.
Is there anything else that could be causing an issue in her life? Anything that's used around the house, products or shampoos that could be causing it?

seamus

Yeah, our Staff has had chronic skin issues most of her life. Tbh, I'm not sure what much I can suggest that could help you.

We've given up trying to cure it and instead have settled with keeping her happy and comfortable. Provided that she's eating and sleeping and not constantly at herself, we're happy to roll with it. We went through many theories before we decided that it was easier to "fix" the dog than her environment. Food, oils, shampoos, dust mites, fleas, pollens, you name it, we looked at it.

Her paws and her ears are the worse affected, though sometimes she'll bite the inside of her back leg and cause it to get very damaged and thickened. We did get an allergy test done once which revealed she was basically allergic to all types of plant pollen.

So we have her on a strict diet. She eats Royal Canin Skincare (which we've found worked very well), and the odd bit of protein scraps from the table (though there rarely are any). Strictly nothing with wheat or sugar in it - even leftovers with breadcrumbs on them go in the bin and not in her bowl. We found that things like bread or biscuits tended to result in a flare-up, even when it was just a bit of crust or half a biscuit that fell on the ground. In general we basically just don't feed her anything except her own food, but the odd time there'll be something benign like a bit of egg left over.

We have a rolling prescription of prednisolone (steroids) from the vet. She gets half a tab every morning, though we vary the dose based on how she seems. In the height of summer she might get 1.5 tabs if she's going nuts. The vet checks her bloods every six months as that's tough on the liver. We went with thes because every time she got a flare up, she'd go on a high dose (3 tabs or so) for a couple of days and she'd instantly feel better, and a few days after stopping the course, she'd get bad again. So we discovered the sweet spot at 0.5 - 1 tab and convinced the vet to let us stay on that long term. It will shorten her lifespan and eventually cause heart or liver failure, but we're opting for quality over quantity.

Every so often she'll manage to cut her ear from scratching it so much, so she'll go on a course of antibiotics and cream which clear it up nicely. The rest of the time we just try keep her ears clean.

She too does tend to smell, not doggy smell more of a sweaty, saliva-ish smell. Allermyl shampoo every couple of weeks takes it away, but again we've generally just lived with it. Wash the dog, wash and rotate her bed(s) and then do the same again in 3 or 4 weeks time.

Minidee07

Hi Seamus,

Oh my God you could be talking about our staffie with the description you gave thought thankfully her ears are ok, it's just the eyes are the issue.

I might give the royal canine a go and see if it makes any difference to her skin.

I'm shocked with the information you provided about the steroids 'It will shorten her lifespan and eventually cause heart or liver failure, but we're opting for quality over quantity' as we have never been told this and we have never had an issue getting the prescription for them and have often had her on 2 a day, lowering the dosage as she improves. The only reason we ever took her off the steroids is because she seems to gain weight while on them and we also noticed she needs to be let out to wee a lot more too.

We wash her every few weeks already and get her a new bed too.

Andreac - I will check if her bloods were taken in the past and try to switch from the beta food. She was off it for 2 months and there was no change. There really isn't anything else that could cause it because we don't wash her bed usually we buy a new one so it can't be the washing powder and we don't allow her on the couch so it can't be anything we spray on that or use to clean either I don't think...

seamus

Minidee07 wrote: »

I'm shocked with the information you provided about the steroids 'It will shorten her lifespan and eventually cause heart or liver failure, but we're opting for quality over quantity' as we have never been told this and we have never had an issue getting the prescription for them and have often had her on 2 a day, lowering the dosage as she improves. The only reason we ever took her off the steroids is because she seems to gain weight while on them and we also noticed she needs to be let out to wee a lot more too.

Peeing and weight gain, check and check. Don't be concerned about the effect the steroids have on her if you do them in short bursts and properly reduce the dosage when she's coming off them. Ultimately any long-term effects then are negligible.

It's only long-term persistent steroid usage that can lead to health issues later on.

bazmc35

I've a golden retriever and he has the same issues, firstly it started out as hot spots under his neck so got his fur shaved and the vet put him on a course of antibiotics, this cleared it up for a while then we had to go back id say every 3weeks. Bloods showed up he was a 5 is relation to house hold mite which are everywhere, so the vet had him on injections every 3 weeks which made no change, also got his thyroid checked and all was OK.changed his diet to BARF which didn't work, then to a company called slaneypetfoods, they have a great choice of foods and a good prices but that didn't work either. When ever he breaks out we give him cortozone tablets 5 (5mg) for 3 days and then reduce the dose.tried him on steriodes aswel and nothing works, his belly would be bright pink and espicially under his (front arm pits). So long story short changed his food back to pedigree chum and hes a lot better hav'nt been to the vet in nearly 4 months, but I wash him any chance I get.

Minidee07

Hi Semaus - I think you might be right, the steroids might be the only option. Do you keep your staffie on half a tablet full time and only up the dosage if he/she gets an inflammation?

Regular washing seems to do our staffie good too even though most dogs shouldn't be washed regularly. Every up side has its down side too it seems.

seamus

Minidee07 wrote: »

Do you keep your staffie on half a tablet full time and only up the dosage if he/she gets an inflammation?

Yep, every day. We don't really watch out for an inflammation, we can just tell by her when she seems particularly itchy or otherwise wound up, so we'll up the dose for a day or two.

Minidee07

Hi Seamus,

Thanks for the advice. It's reassuring to know that others have the same struggle and that it isn't anything we are doing wrong. I'll try the half a tablet a day and switching her to royal caine and see if she improves.

Fingers Crossed!

borderlinemeath

Just for those who have tried raw food or a homemade diet for skin issues - how long have you maintained this? And have you followed a full exclusion diet for a few months at least? It can take 2-3 months for intolerances to completely work their way out of a dogs system, and the dog will also be conditioned to scratch and to do it as a form of stress relief. You don't see instantaneous results such as with medications such as ABs or steroids.

did you stick to one particular protein? Dogs tend to become intolerant to the most commonly used protein, usually chicken or beef, or even poultry so including turkey and duck. Fish tends to be the best for skin issues, the oils in particular should help. An exclusion diet of fish, vegetables and potato would be the easiest on an intolerant dogs system.

Jen Pigs Fly

My staffy X and Labrador are the Same, very bad skin rashes, hair loss, spots and hot spots and feet being chewed off them.
Vet tried to sell me all sorts of shampoos, steriods etc but didn't buy into it.

Put them both onto a grain free, high meat content dog food and after a few months the symptoms went from severe to non existent. Now my two look great, the Labrador has grown his hair on his back again and my staffy has grown back the hair on her belly and her feet are no longer discoloured from how often she was at them.

I fully believe what food is being fed is the cause of most skin problems. My two are great now, don't smell, lovely soft coats! So glad I didn't let my vet sell me hundreds of euros worth of steroids, medication and shampoo.

aonb

Our dog developed a skin irritation when he was about 5 years old.
He was tested for allergies, he was on steroids, he was on anti-histamines, he had bloods done, he was on a special diet, he was on all sorts of treatments, but everything was inconclusive, nothing helped - the condition would flare up, go dormant, but always come back.

We finally got his itching/inflammation under control by switching to home cooked food only. He was fine when on a diet of brown rice, chicken or fish, carrots/peas/potatos, boiledto which we added coconut oil and a half spoon of this:

http://poochandmutt.co.uk/product/bionic-biotic-supplement-for-digestion-skin-coat-and-condition/

He would have a raw bone a couple of times/week, some scrambled egg 1/week maybe some tinned salmon too. (He also had glucosamine as he aged but that was for joints)

DBB

OP, have you had the dog's condition diagnosed by a vet?
You need to know what you're dealing with here, and I would strongly urge you not to mess around with the steroid dosage... it's not just long-term use of steroids that cause problems, it's sudden changes in the dosage that's particularly harmful.
In addition, depending upon what the underlying cause is, and bearing in mind that Staffs are particularly prone to autoimmune skin problems (not food related), there may be other medications that can work very well to keep it under control. Steroids alone don't always hit it the more common skin conditions, and they tend to become less efficacious as time goes on. You also need to ask yourself if you'd rather your dog lived a potentially shorter but happier life, or a longer life interspersed with bouts of the misery she's experiencing now. I'd also add that if this is one of the commoner skin conditions, she needs to be washed with the specialist medicated shampoo every 2-3 days, not every few weeks. Everything you've said has me concerned that there's a lot of tinkering around the edges going on, when you need to really grab the bull by the horns with this one.
And that's why you need to talk to your vet, not mess about with advice from people whose dogs may or may not have the same condition as your dog does. No offense folks, but really! Some vets are better than others on skin issues too, so you need to tread with caution.

Minidee07

Hi DBB,

I take you point but yes, I have taken my dog to the vet, yes she has been to more than one vet, and yes it was our vet who prescribed the steroids and told us about what dosage to give and to lower it and increase it as necessary. Every time we ween her off them the skin condition flares up. Please don't think I am 'tinkering' with my dogs health, I have done everything in my power to try and help her. The biggest problem is that no vet can give a definitive answer or diagnosis for this issue.

DBB

Minidee07 wrote: »

Hi DBB,

I take you point but yes, I have taken my dog to the vet, yes she has been to more than one vet, and yes it was our vet who prescribed the steroids and told us about what dosage to give and to lower it and increase it as necessary. Every time we ween her off them the skin condition flares up. Please don't think I am 'tinkering' with my dogs health, I have done everything in my power to try and help her. The biggest problem is that no vet can give a definitive answer or diagnosis for this issue.

You have indicated that there hasn't been an attempted diagnosis via blood tests, skin scrapes, biopsies etc?
It is standard practice for vets to throw steroids at an itchy dog in the hope it works. When they don't work, it's time to forget about creams, oils and a scatter-gun approach from the vet, and really try to rule in or rule out reasons why your dog is so itchy. If that means you have to go to a skin specialist, so be it, but remember that anything said on an internet forum about your dog's condition or how to deal with it, needs to be taken in the context that people here, myself included, have less of an idea about what's wrong with your dog than your vet does.

bazmc35

Has anybody got a definite reason as to why or what is causing this condition, my retriever has broken out again and the Vet has no idea what is causing this.

Cherry Blossom

bazmc35 wrote: »

Has anybody got a definite reason as to why or what is causing this condition, my retriever has broken out again and the Vet has no idea what is causing this.

If your dog is allergic to dust mites all you can really do is be vigilant with house cleaning and keep him out of rooms that have carpet and don't allow him on couches or beds. Wash his own bedding frequently and wash the dog frequently.

I don't know if it's a good idea or not to feed dogs garlic as I think the jury is out on whether or not it is toxic to them, but I had a horse with sweet itch which is an allergy to midge bites and garlic did wonders. It makes them taste bad so flies don't bite so much.

Eta: Sorry strike that, I've just read that they don't bite, it's the facaes that causes the allergy so garlic wouldn't make any difference.