He's not itchy? Itching is the usual first sympton of atopy.

You might want to read this material:

QUOTE:
Sarcoptic mites are nasty critters! Also called scabies or red mange, they create very intense pruritus, alopecia, and inflamed skin with multiple small scabs often present. Sarcoptic mite infestation, more than any other entity, is frequently misdiagnosed as Allergic Dermatitis by even very competent and experienced veterinarians. There is a good discussion of Scabies in the Exam Room of ThePetCenter.com. Many veterinary dermatology specialists will not accept an uncontrolled “Allergic Dermatitis” referral case unless the referring veterinarian has first ruled out Sarcoptic mites by actually treating the dog for scabies. .... Unfortunately, many dogs are treated with cortisone for a supposed allergic dermatitis when in fact these Sarcoptic mites are the cause of the pruritic, inflamed skin... the unnecessary cortisone eventually worsens the situation.END from http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/itch.html

About the fish oil:

No, it doesn't contain enough E for the dog, so you would want to get both. Fish oil (not fish LIVER oil) is indeed sold at natural foods stores, probably with the flax oil.

Also, http://leerburg.com/47.htm

The bottles of liquid are less pricey than the gelcaps. A therapeutic dose is 1 gram (1000 mg) per ten pounds of dog weight, so that would be about seven 1000-mg capsules or about six of the 1200-mg capsules. Seven grams of the oil is about 1.5 teaspoons. I usually start with 1/3 of the dose and work up to the full dose over three days or so.

I use Vitamin E (ideally in the form of mixed tocopherols) gelcaps, and I have discovered that my dogs (who are all pigs) will eat them whole in their food; no need for me to pierce them.

I use 200-400 IU for dogs that size.

P.S. Thank you for the nice words, BTW.

Here's a recent thread about fish oil and Vitamin E:
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=12&Number=143738&Searchpage=1&Main=15249&Words=%26quot%3Bvitamin+e%26quot%3B&topic=0&Search=true#Post143738

Hi Connie,
Just a quick update on Nickie's skin problem. A week ago I was throwing out some old medications that we had on hand for our dog Buster who died last November. I found a bottle of 100 capsules of Hydroxyzine that had been prescribed for Buster in March of 2006 (expiration date is not until 2008). The bottle was almost full so I figured I would start Nickie on it (you had mentioned that drug might be more effective than Benadryl.

I've been giving Nickie one capsule twice a day with his meals. (I take a slice of pepperoni, put a small glob of peanut butter on it, anchor the little capsule in the peanut butter, fold it over like a tiny sandwich, and he takes it with no problem).

Over the weekend my order of the Grizzly Salmon Oil arrived (got the 32 oz bottle), and also bought a bottle of Vit E capsules (400 IU strength). Nickie and Roxie now get the salmon oil and Vit E each morning along with their two spoonfuls of plain low-fat yogurt. They love it!

Might be my imagination, but seems like the hair on Nickie's face is coming back in nicely and his coat is even shinier than ever!

Just wanted to update you on our progress . . .