Food vs Environmental allergy

[minibull]

@2BullyMama that's why we did the oral version. But now I wish I did the shots. The oral version requires he gets drops twice a day and he hates the way they taste. It's a fight each time.

With shots, I know Blue doesn't even feel them, or at least he doesn't care as his face is too busy licking out each and every last drop of baby food in those little jars while he's getting a shot. It's a great trick.

Can we give the drops with kibble? Just spoke with our vet and tentatively planned to order some immunotherapy oral drops but now I'm wondering if the shots would be easier for both us and Buttercup! Twice a day is a lot!

 

[nycbullymama]

Can we give the drops with kibble? Just spoke with our vet and tentatively planned to order some immunotherapy oral drops but now I'm wondering if the shots would be easier for both us and Buttercup! Twice a day is a lot!

Nope. They can't eat or drink for 10 minute before and after the drops. That's why I wish we did the shots. He hates the drops, fights us the entire time, and they need to go under the tongue and I know for a fact more often than not they don't.

 

[minibull]

Nope. They can't eat or drink for 10 minute before and after the drops. That's why I wish we did the shots. He hates the drops, fights us the entire time, and they need to go under the tongue and I know for a fact more often than not they don't.

Oh wow, I am so, so grateful for your advice. Thank you! I will ask our vet if we can do the injections as there is NO way we are going to be able to reliably get yucky-tasting drops under Buttercup's tongue twice a day. I'm just happy that she lets me clean her folds/paws/tail pocket, flush her ears, and give her a bath! I don't think she can take too much more manhandling. :-)

I really hope the injections work for her environmental allergies as we can somewhat control dust mites in our home but we're out of luck for ragweed and pollens! It is a relief to know that our perceptions of her environmental (and food, too, actually) allergies correlate well with the testing. Now I feel more comfortable that we can trust our observations in the future.

 

[nycbullymama]

[MENTION=12744]minibull[/MENTION]

You're welcome.

I was also told by our current dermatologist that the shots hold more allergens as well. So if Buttercup has quite a few allergies, the shots would be better. You may want to discuss that with your vet. Our first dermatologist never mentioned this though.. so who knows..

 

[minibull]

[MENTION=7457]nycbullymama[/MENTION]

I called and they are going to look into ordering the shots. She only had 11 major environmental allergens and the vet's office is going to see what the dermatologist would recommend. I'm not sure we have all of the items in our immediate area (e.g., mulberry, cedar, sage) but we definitely have dust mites, ragweed, and corn pollen.

Buttercup is doing pretty well right now given the food change we made a few months ago -- as long as I'm aggressive about dusting/vacuuming. So I wonder if I'll be subjecting her to needless discomfort by initiating the immunotherapy, but I guess corn pollen and ragweed season are coming so maybe it is worth a try.

 

[minibull]

Update - the immunotherapy company doctor apparently said that for younger dogs the sublingual therapy is faster and more effective than injections. She said that molds in the mix can make the other allergens less effective in the desensitization process. I don't know whether all this is really true, but I think if I couldn't get the drops under the tongue that would negate the benefits.

I also noticed that the pricing for injections from the company is 3-4 times the cost I've seen cited on vet web sites. I had called their customer service yesterday to ask if there is a relative cost difference between sublingual and injected versions of their product. They were unwilling to give me any information even though I wasn't asking for specifics on pricing. I know that is their right, but the lack of transparency and the double-speak language they used in the conversation made me wary of relying on them for Buttercup's health needs.

But in doing a little more research I found an immunotherapy product called Respit which seems promising and may be more cost effective as it is not made specifically for each dog -- though I'd guess pricing information is unavailable to consumers except through our vets. I might ask our vet about it if Buttercup's allergies worsen when summer hits.