bulliemommi

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Please advise, so frustrated.
Our guy has been on allergy shots for over a yr now. He has about 1-2 doses left on his 2nd set of serums - yes, he gets two shots and every 2 weeks as opposed to 1x a month. A few months back he got so terribly bad (horrible skin crust creeping all over him that didn't respond to antibiotics/prednisone) even with those, he had to go on Atopica which he still takes.
No more crusty skin but now his eyes are always watering and have to wiped daily to the point now he's got the brown ring going on around the eyes and brown goo on cloth when I wipe, pretty often. He is on grain free food, supposedly nothing he is allergic to, frequent baths, probiotics. He gets a claritin at night. Benedryl seemed to do nothing. This eye watering is new the last month or so. Eyes are white and clear though! Tried Nutrisca then they eye watering started so went back to Earthborn. He does sneak into the cat food at times but it's grain free as well. Ugh!

The allergy test he got is older now and the vet spoke about doing a new one at over $300 again. I didn't see any difference with him until we started Atopica. They wanted to do Apoquel for him but just can't get any. It's also a blood version which I hear isn't even reliable. I don't know what I should do at this point?
Any advice??? HELP!
 

nycbullymama

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We're in the same boat except we do the oral version of shots. Blue's been on it for about 6 months now. While there's definitely a difference, (much less pred.) it's not the miracle cure we've been hoping for.

Apoquel should be available next year (or so they keep telling me). Can your vet get get any at all? Blue's dermatologist gets it, the issue is the amount isn't consistent. So was told he can only put him on it intermittently. But in the case of a serious outbreak, it can help. Ask your vet about this option.

Regarding the blood test- was told it's just as good as the skin these days. Hell, it better be as Blue's immunotherapy is based on the blood tests results.
 
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bulliemommi

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We're in the same boat except we do the oral version of shots. Blue's been on it for about 6 months now. While there's definitely a difference, (much less pred.) it's not the miracle cure we've been hoping for.

Apoquel should be available next year (or so they keep telling me). Can your vet get get any at all? Blue's dermatologist gets it, the issue is the amount isn't consistent. So was told he can only put him on it intermittently. But in the case of a serious outbreak, it can help. Ask your vet about this option.

Regarding the blood test- was told it's just as good as the skin these days. Hell, it better be as Blue's immunotherapy is based on the blood tests results.


Thanks for the reply! When I look on the internet and talk to people, they always poo-poo the blood tests and say they are no where near as accurate as a skin test. There's no one remotely close to me who can do that and I'm not sure if it'd even be worth it. I need to get him in to the vet anyways so was hoping to get opinions before we go. Just stinks his skin is under control and now his eyes look awful. And I don't know if I should bother ordering more serums as he's due, or just giving up on that and continue with the Atopica.

And sadly, no re: the Apoquel. They have never had the right dosage for him and then couldn't get their hands on any more. I was mad they never thought to try it on him when available. I just went every 2-3 months for antibiotics for a few yrs until they stopped working. :( They at one point thought it could be MRSA when last time he didn't get better but all cultures showed it was not, thank god.
 

2BullyMama

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Try to get the cat food in a place he can not get to it.... could be soething in it that just bothers him.

As for the blood tests... the big thing is to make sure there is no predisone in the dogs suystem for a full 30 days before that blood is drawn and sent for testing -- if pred is in the system the results can be false positive/negative
 
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bulliemommi

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Try to get the cat food in a place he can not get to it.... could be soething in it that just bothers him.

As for the blood tests... the big thing is to make sure there is no predisone in the dogs suystem for a full 30 days before that blood is drawn and sent for testing -- if pred is in the system the results can be false positive/negative

Lucky for me he's only been on pred once and it actually didn't seem to do anything. And yes, doing our best about the cat food. It's hard bc he's sooo sneaky and my SO has a thing about cats on tables/counters so no help there. :no:
I just wonder what I should do re: allergy shots. I think he needs a new test but it's hard to spend the money when I really saw no help with the first 2 rounds. :pissed: (at over $700 I'm in them for)
 

2BullyMama

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Lucky for me he's only been on pred once and it actually didn't seem to do anything. And yes, doing our best about the cat food. It's hard bc he's sooo sneaky and my SO has a thing about cats on tables/counters so no help there. :no:
I just wonder what I should do re: allergy shots. I think he needs a new test but it's hard to spend the money when I really saw no help with the first 2 rounds. :pissed: (at over $700 I'm in them for)


i am not a fan of the shots either.... i did the test and then just worked on avoiding the allergens best we could. Environmental, I used benedryl and wiped them after each outing.... does not eliminate it, but it was a great help.
 
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bulliemommi

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i am not a fan of the shots either.... i did the test and then just worked on avoiding the allergens best we could. Environmental, I used benedryl and wiped them after each outing.... does not eliminate it, but it was a great help.
it stinks, where we live we have tons of woods surrounding us and I know it has to do with all the oak and weeds etc in our area. He didn't have any of this when we lived in a different climate with next to no trees/weeds like here. I worry his are all environmental and I was hesitant to start the shots but when his skin continued to flat up after all the food switches, I thought I'd give them a shot. But nothing has working until the Atopica. Otherwise it was staph every 2-3 months. :(
 

nycbullymama

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Interesting about the pred not working. I'm sure your vet checked for it, but gonna mention it anyway.. Was told that when prednisone doesn't work, provided the correct dosage was given, it could be mange. Was he checked for it recently?
 
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bulliemommi

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Interesting about the pred not working. I'm sure your vet checked for it, but gonna mention it anyway.. Was told that when prednisone doesn't work, provided the correct dosage was given, it could be mange. Was he checked for it recently?

Yes, the vet (along with us!) was very concerned when he didn't clear up this past summer after a month of antibiotics and his first time ever on pred. He did scrapes in three places and all kinds of tests. He had chewed one side of his paw raw as well. I was devastated, esp when he mentioned it could even possibly be MRSA. When vet called me back, all he said were all tests were negative and his skin issues were just superficial. He was covered in the crud though, so that's when we started the Atopica. It took a good two weeks, but he's been crud free since July or so. And I only have to bathe him every 3 weeks or so, though I think if I did weekly like I used to, it would help him, I just can't get to it all the time as it takes a lot of time to do and clean up after.

One thing I just realized, I did stop the 3v Caps - they hit like $90 a bottle (and he needs 2 a day) and I had to order online, and not seeing result (or so I thought?) I've been doing coconut oil here and there just recently since I noticed the eye rings.
Could it be due to no longer giving him the 3v caps?
 
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bulliemommi

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Well to update if anyone is reading, the vet is now recommending entropion surgery. We know he's always had it - but they have always said it was mild enough to not need surgery but maybe since he's gotten older it's gotten worse? I don't know, but he's almost 8 and this has me thrown for a loop. Got an ointment to put in his eyes for 7 days - they do not think it's allergies causing this, but his eyelids. :( Also, the may be able to get me some compounded apoquel and are going to email me the estimates in the next few days as they had to close up for the night. The apoquel will cost $2 or more a dose than the Atopica so not sure what to do. All of this when I just was going in for a Bordatella dose and an eye check. :( He's almost 8 yrs old, I am worried about putting him under but just as worried as his poor eyes hurting him. Even weird when he examined his eyes again he swore it looked like something had been done with his eyes before, possibly tacking. He was about 4 months when we got him and of course the breeder never said a thing and we had no idea then what entropion was. :(
 

minibull

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Hope his entropion surgery goes well and solves the problem. Barring that, I hope you're able to get the Apoquel. I have been told that in general allergy testing is pretty accurate for the environmental allergies but not always accurate for foods. Multiple vets have also told me that proteins, not grains, are the major problem in dog food allergies. I know many here have had good luck with grain-free, though.
 

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