• Your dog can be allergic to anything that it is exposed to, wether it is environmental, or ingested. It only needs to happen once for the body to have a histamine (h2) response to it. That h2 response known, as the allergic reaction, can happen in various degrees and stages. The problem arises when the dog has a fast immediate reaction and the airway begins to close, this being worse case, many owners keep Benadryl (diphenhydramine hcl) on hand for this very reason. Most allergic reactions start with itching as the body realeses histamine, generally it will begin in the more tender areas, ears, between pads of their feet, belly, and groin area. They can start off small, but with continued exposure, can begin to look like welts. In worst cases, the face will swell as will the throat, and eventual airway will close if immediate intervention is not given. Basenjis often have food allergies, mostly to grains. I recently bought new salmon treats and about 30 minutes after giving it to our male, he became very restless, then he started licking his feet, then he started chewing between the pads of his feet. I gave him some Benadryl and kept an eye on him the rest of the night, but 45 minutes later he was sleeping just fine, but no more salmon anything for him. Once the dog is exposed to an allergen, every time they are exposed, you risk more histamine being released into the blood stream which could result in a bigger allergic reaction than the first time. It's best to check with your vet for the correct dosage you should give your basenji in that 'just in case' moment, and how often. Hope this helps.


  • couple times he has gotten red spots, once he broke out in hives..It was around 7-8 month ago. I am using homeopathy ( under control of my homeopath doctor) and balancing his raw pray model diet..


  • @emu12 My vet tech friend says it's often either a miracle or not useful. I know several using Apoquel that swears by it.


  • @tuts said in Allergic Reactions:

    I am using homeopathy

    What type of homeopathy, tuts?


  • our B has a sore on her inner back leg. It actually looks like an eye white outside circle and dark inside.
    We started noticing she was shedding a lot and gave her a bath and now found this. Any thoughts. I wish I could post picture, but says error when I try.


  • @chellmulcahy said in Allergic Reactions:

    I wish I could post picture, but says error when I try.

    Please try again... we really do need to "see" this before we can give you an idea of what it might be.

    • If the picture is online (dropbox, opendrive, goodle drive, etc), you can link to it.
      Type in: ![image name](url or location)

    • If the picture is on your desktop or laptop use the upload icon... the very last icon when you are typing your question. It will open the file browser on your computer. You may have to look for it before you can select the correct file to open.

    • If the picture is on your phone.
      * You can upload it to the cloud and then link to it, or
      * You can go online (via your phone's browser) and try to upload it from there.
      * If those don't work, (use the USB charging cable to) transfer the picture from your phone to your computer and try to link or upload the picture again.


  • Wow, my B guy, now almost 12 has always had allergies, but I would welcome ANY info on quarter size cysts that have been appearing all over his little body. My vet says the are nothing to worry about and not needing to remove them if you can wrap your fingers all around them, they are not attached. He did an extraction from one and told me they are just benign.
    Has anyone ever seen these on there B's? I think they are environmental...???
    Does anyone know of a Holistic method to get rid of these? I have him on a VERY clean diet and he doing great other than this. Thank you!


  • @branch - Typically these are fatty lipomas. These happen in all older dogs, not just a Basenji. As your vet recommended they do not need to be removed since showing benign. If they are really unsightly for you, if you need to have something else done that he would need to be put under, you can have them removed then. Other than that, I would not worry about them. Just keep an eye on them. You can always have your Vet check by doing a needle extraction


  • Thank you for advice...that is exactly what I am doing....


  • @debradownsouth it's called her itching down quite a bit.


  • @elbrant my homeopath doctor precribes.. I do not recommend do it on your own


  • @tuts said in Allergic Reactions:

    my homeopath doctor precribes

    Yes, but what is it?


  • @elbrant it does not matter what was prescribed for my dog, because all have diffrent symptoms and every remedy schoud be selected individully.


  • @tuts said in Allergic Reactions:

    it does not matter

    The point is that we are sharing information about Allergic Reactions, if you have experience with it, I'd love to hear about it. You mentioned that you are:

    @tuts said in Allergic Reactions:

    using homeopathy ( under control of my homeopath doctor) and balancing his raw pray model diet.

    I'd love to know more. What type of homeopathy therapy/treatment was recommended? How exactly are you "balancing his diet"? Was the exact cause of the allergy ever determined? Your experiences might be useful for another member/reader, now, or in the future.

    If you aren't going to tell us what happened and how it was handled, then why bother mentioning it?


  • @elbrant said in Allergic Reactions:

    @tuts said in Allergic Reactions:

    it does not matter

    The point is that we are sharing information about Allergic Reactions, if you have experience with it, I'd love to hear about it. You mentioned that you are:

    @tuts said in Allergic Reactions:

    using homeopathy ( under control of my homeopath doctor) and balancing his raw pray model diet.

    I'd love to know more. What type of homeopathy therapy/treatment was recommended? How exactly are you "balancing his diet"? Was the exact cause of the allergy ever determined? Your experiences might be useful for another member/reader, now, or in the future.

    If you aren't going to tell us what happened and how it was handled, then why bother mentioning it?

    Sorry, I just do not know what exactly helped. For last half year I read a lot and changed a lot.. I have started from this article https://www.rfas.uk/allergies?fbclid=IwAR3uekcwrNC3vmpJhSbaZqhuNZHz8uzr5Do7ousmXjE4cBIwQDnjKyWub_s Hi is on Raw Prey Model. I have exluded pork and reduced the amount of beef. Chicken is only organic or from the farm. Also, I am adding marine phytoplankton to his food. During this period, my homeopath doctor has changed the precriptions also. There is no quick solution here.


  • When there is one single well done peer reviewed study supporting homeopathy, instead of a thousand from every major country in the world blatantly pointing to it being fake science, I'd be interested. Most dog allergies are animal protein related, so the diet change may have logically helped. Sadly they often then become allergic to the new protein. That said, much as I loved feeding raw, the last several years of well-controlled research finds no evidence it is beneficial over just kibble. If your dogs love it, feed it. Otherwise don't feel guilty that you are depriving them.


  • Because one of our dogs was always licking her paws we did the allergy tests. Interesting results. Among the things she was allergic to were grass and cotton. My wife ditched her cotton nightgown, we kept her off grass as much as possible, and washed her paws after walks. Seemed to help.

    One funny part is that they test for allergies to humans. I found that funny though if we can be allergic to dogs why not the other way around?

    My own pet theory -- no studies to back it up -- is that we see more allergies in dogs because the environments we provide are too sterile. I think their immunological systems are very robust -- necessary from an evolutionary POV. This is good but we make sure that they don't really encounter any filth, which makes it hard for a ramped up immunological system to acquire the experience needed to distinguish the benign from the threatening.


  • @donc Actually it's not just your opinion. Some serious research is coming out about humans and animals and gut bacteria. We have truly over sterilized to the point our bodies are losing the ability to defend ourselves.

    LOL on testing for human allergy. I never thought about that! I wonder how often that comes up?

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