Pit bulls and their cousins are known for skin allergies, and a lot of it is due to food and our environment. I could not begin to tell you how many pits have come through our clinic with stomach rashes, red and swollen feet, gooky eyes, and so much more. If the vet did the appropriate bloodwork and skin scrapping, more than likely it is an environmental allergy or food allergy. It could also be very dry skin, but I am sure the vet would have told you this.
Food allegies are hard to diagnose, unless you spend several hundreds of dollars on allergy testing. You can do food testing on your own, but it is time consuming and VERY difficult. You would need to do what we call the “elimination diet” and eliminate common ingredients that are considered allergens to many dogs. This consists of beef, grains, chicken, lamb, etc. You would need to find a limited ingredient or grain free food. Treats should also be this way, and you would want to eliminate this same ingredients from table scraps. There are many high-quality dog foods out on the market that are geared for dogs who have food allergies. Natural Balance, Orijen, Canidae, Taste of the Wild, etc. You may pay a bit more for these, but you will be able to feed less (since it is a higher quality food) and it will help your pittie in the long run. The higher the quality the food, the better it is for your dog’s health for their life.
There are MANY dog foods out there that are for dogs with allergies that cost $40 for 30lbs. Science Diet can be a total racket when it comes to speciality foods, and many vets promote them for reasons that I won’t get into here.
Does she scoot across the floor on her belly like she is army crawling? If she does that a lot, her belly could also be red and inflammed from that.
Without allergy testing and all kinds of things, it will be difficult to determine what is actually going on. Environmental allergies are even more difficult. It could be anything from the carpet fibers to the paint on your walls. it could be dust. It is just something that we get used to. Talk to your vet about Benadryl for your dog. Sometimes that helps tremedously, along with a good diet.
Welcome to pittie skin issues! 🙂
