Allergies: Boost Immune System? Or Not?

[Sue]

Not all homeopaths do the traditional chinese medicine (or herbs), some only specialize in things like acupuntcure.

A good source to find out about immune modulating herbs would be a human herbalist. They work the same, whether human or canine. For the most part, anyway. If you can contact a herbalist, or a vet that does TCM, it would undoubtedly be helpful. Or you can research for yourself, about immune modulating herbs. Just be careful, as not everything you read online is accurate.

A good link to help you separate the wheat from the (online) chaff: Herbal - please be careful! - The Possible Canine

Atopica, being an immune suppressant, is probably the reason your vet doesn't want to go there with alternative treatments, that directly contradict what the atopica is doing. I bookmarked this link a long time ago, since I have an allergic girl.

Is Atopica Safe ? - Should I Give Atopica To My Dog ?

And honestly, I wouldn't want to give it long term. The good news is, most of her itching and skin infections is gone, with her being on some herbals, and even her ear infections have lessened. So, it can be helped herbally.

[janedoe]

Our Fran gets colostrum in addition to other supplements for allergies. She's doing great. I was under the impression though that colostrum is a natural antibiotic and we're giving it to her to combat issues with ear infections and chewing on her feet.

[Snowshoe]

The reason my Vet didn't want to go there was, he said, with homeopathy or allergy shots you might have to keep trying and trying till you got it right and in the meantime the poor dog would be scratching himself raw. Since Oban was already badly off this sounded reasonable to me, at the time. And there is no doubt in my mind that Atopica is safer than Prednisone, the lesser evil if you will.

Right now it's mid June and the only thing bothering Oban is his ears. I don't know what the heck is going on. He's off of every med and has been for just over a week now, maybe too soon to tell. Maybe I jinxed him by even typing this out. Allergies typically get worse, not better.

I'm still reading stuff but I don't recall seeing anything so far equating colostrum to antibiotic. I'll look out for that.

[Snowco Labradors]

This is why I love late fall winter and spring ! for environmental allergies . Broke down finally and took some benadryl myself last night . Giving colostrum for allergies ..... not real sure about that one . I feel comfortable taking and giving Max raw local honey , benadryl if needed . Ran across this article has a few tips its geared towards people but I think some can be related to dogs as well . Towards the middle of article is mention of quercetin , quercetin slipped my mind I believe Patty and Black Labies ( sorry if I spelled name wrong ) have given this for environmental

I used it for a specific issue with Miya's ears (on the outside) and it worked great. Get Q with Bromelain for better uptake by the body. Here is the one I used.

Vitacost Quercetin & Bromelain -- 250 Capsules - Vitacost

I think Lisa may use it for environmental allergies but not sure.