Truant19

Hey guys,

I need some advice. I grew up around dogs my whole life, currently my wife and I own 2 daschunds, and our parents own a few muts (retriever, husky, malamute, shepard). I have never had annnnny problem with allergies, ever. Maybe in the spring Ill get dry eyes or if I sleep at a house that owns cats Ill get a runny nose but thats it.

Yesterday we bought a basset hound from a breeder a few hours of town. He is 9 months old, and perfect. Never seen a better behaved dog, and I love him already.

Problem is, within minutes I had a headache and stuffy nose. After an hour or two my throat hurt, my ears hurt, nose is clogged and eyes are watering. When I woke up this morning, I felt terrible. The worst I have ever felt from allergies.

Normally I would just suck it up, but I actually can't live like this. Is this possible? I understand that basset hounds are high risk for allergy sensitive people, but so are daschunds and I sleep with them right against my face (sometimes) and never had a problem.

Before I bring him back to the breeder, can you guys think of anything this could be?

Is it possible to just become used to it?

Thanks,

Swimming-duck

I don't know. A similar topic came up recently on another dog board that I participate in and someone had posted that they had better luck with breeds with lots of hair because the short-coat breeds the dander is right on the surface instead of buried down into the hair. That being said though, if that were the case in your situation, I would think you'd have a problem with the daschunds also. Isn't their coat similar to a bassets or am I mistaken on that? Another thought that popped into my head is contacting the breeder and seeing if your basset was recently shampooed prior to you bringing him home. Is it possible that there could be an allergy to something like that? It'd be nice if it's something else so that you can keep your new love.

Barney'spal

I was wondering that too...maybe in the shampoo they used...why don't you try giving her a bath and see if that helps. Should be someone on here who can be alittle more definite and help you more. I know bassets have oily skin but would think the doxies do too.

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Truant19

We gave him a bath last night and he was really dirty. I am going to try and groom him today and get rid of everything that came from the breeder (bed, collar etc..).

It seems so weird, but I hope I can control this, I really don't want to have to give him up, hes wonderful.

Swimming-duck

Awww. I really really hope it works!

Mikey T

it likely you are allergic to all dogs but some dogs produce more dander than other so called hypoallergenic dog do not shed produce some but very little dander and hence people with dog allergies have less problems


Specifically may basset have a skin condition called seborrhea which is a ketinization disease, Which cause the dog to produce excessive amounts of dander. It is characterized by a either excessively dry coat but more typical in bassets a greasy coat with flaky dandruff. There is no cure but the treatment is freaquent ie 2-3 times a week baths with an anti sheborrheaic shampoo like selsun blue provide it contain selenium sufide the shampoo muust remain on the dog for 15 minutes before rinsing and you need to rinse thouroughly usual defined as time how long it takes to rinse till the water runs completely soap/suds free and then double the time.


frequent bathing general helps with all animal allergies as it reduces hair and dander in the air and about elsewhere,

jaleely

Why do you think it's allergies and not just a cold or the flu? When you traveled to get the pup, did you notice any blooming plants or anything at the breeder's house?
Can't you just take some clariten (sp) or allegra? If you take one, and feel better, than yes it was allergies. If you take one and still feel bad then you just have a cold.

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Truant19

I thought about this today while at work. Problem is that symptoms are so similar, so I made a chart. To make matters worse, antihistamines can actually reduce cold symptoms as well.

Evidence its allergies:

Sudden onset of symptoms.
No family, friends or co-workers are sick

Evidence its a cold:

Never been allergic to dogs before.
Still sick, even after 9 hours of being away from the dog.

Jnfr

My first thought in beginning to read this was maybe the shampoo or other element from the breeder. Personally, I would try a bath with simple baby/puppy shampoo. Something nice and gentle. Get rid of anything that "came with the pup", bed, collar, blanket, etc.

I would go with sick if you don't feel better after being way for 9 hours. Don't give up on your new love. (BTW, when I got married, I had a cat, which my husband was allergic to. He took claritan to control it... however, once Punkin passed, I did promise no more cats)

ruhnayers

I'm allergic to all dogs, but the fluffier the hair the worse it is for me, which is why bassets are so great for me. Their hair falls quickly to the ground and doesn't float in the air. However, I have to bathe my dogs once a week to keep all the environmental stuff off their hair so that that doesn't bother me too. I take benedryl and zyrtec like crazy just to control it (I'm allergic to a ton of stuff, not just dogs). Hopefully you're just sick (not that I want you to be sick...) and don't have to get rid of the new pup, that would definately suck! Goodluck!

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