Quote: connie sutherland

This is the kind of conservative but thorough approach I would hope to see.


"She wants to treat his paws so that the infection and fungus goes away, but she thinks it's too soon to do an intradermal. "


This is exactly what I would hope to hear: Deal carefully with breaking this infection and finding out if there's a malassezia component, and then re-assess.

Me too. It is so nice to see careful evaluation of the problem at hand first.

Glad to hear this news John! I am sure Gus's paws will heal up soon. Very happy you found a good derm vet!!

ETA; let us know how he does with an update too later down the road!

Thanks for all the help. I'll update down the road.

Of course, it's early days to start any enthusiastic raving about the new vet, but still --- each step you describe is just what I want to read. Not only is a step-by-step eval happening, along with treating that infection, but no one tried to "sell" you anything beyond what's needed right now.

I agree. We'll have to see how it goes. It turns out that this derm vet is pretty new. I found out that apparently she's one of two in the entire Birmingham MSA. It's hard to believe that in an area this populated there are only two derm vets.

You're right that she didn't push anything on me. She also didn't look at me like I had a third eye when I told her I raw feed. And she didn't seem to mind that I hadn't vaccinated recently. She just focused on that task at hand, which was the infection. Although it wasn't exactly a cheap visit. It was a little less than $300. The tests and all the meds ran pretty high. They charged me double the cost of the Zymox compared to some web sites ($10 more). I guess next time I'll know to ask what meds are over-the-counter and what are prescription.

She also had to aspirate a cyst that recently showed up on his elbow. It's not cancerous, but it's something to keep an eye on. Anyway, that obviously contributed to the cost. At least she did a good job detailing all the costs before she did anything. I kind of felt like it would cost a couple of hundred going into it.

One of my neighbors was asking me about the derm vet because her basset has a lot of allergies. After talking to her I feel lucky! She has a basset that is allergic to every meat except duck and venison. That's rough! She's having trouble finding food for the dog. Of course, I told her to raw feed.

 Quote: john saad

.... One of my neighbors ... has a basset that is allergic to every meat except duck and venison.

I would put money on that "diagnosis" coming from a blood test.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=298239&Searchpage=1&Main=27664&Words=elisa+Connie+Sutherland&topic=0&Search=true#Post298239

QUOTE:
"There is no evidence that blood tests are accurate for the diagnosis of food allergies. Veterinary dermatologists insist that there is no merit in these tests whatsoever in the diagnosis of food allergies. The only way to accurately diagnose food allergies is with a food trial as detailed above. While the intradermal skin testing is excellent for diagnosing atopy (inhalant allergies) it is ineffective for food allergies. While specialized blood tests can be used to help in the diagnosis of atopy, they have no benefit in diagnosing food allergies. In our review of all the current books and articles on veterinary dermatology and allergies, we could not find a single dermatologist that endorsed anything other than the food trial as an effective diagnostic aid. If you want to diagnose and treat food allergies you must do a food trial."

haha... I'm not sure she told me what test it was. I doubt it was intradermal - I would have noticed if her dog had that done recently. I don't know how you reach a diagnosis like that. Maybe I'll ask her tomorrow. Now I'm curious.

There is one way only to identify food allergens for a canine patient, and that's a strict food trial.

Not blood tests, and not intradermal (which is the gold standard for atopy, after ruling out other things that can present like atopy, but useless for food allergies).

I betcha right now that she tells you blood tests.

I betcha that a GP vet sold her on ELISA or RAST testing and that she is avoiding all but venison and duck based on a test that cannot ID a dog's protein allergies.

It's kind of nasty to be so sure .... but my experience with allergic dogs, my research on the subject, and my reading of the hundreds of posts by folks with allergic dogs who spent a zillion dollars at the GP vet's office before they finally turned to a specialist (if ever) tells me that it's a very safe bet.

Connie, you are correct... blood tests. Although she admits that she knows they are not reliable. She's having trouble determining what the dog's allergies are because the dog seems to have so many. It's a very old dog. She was asking me questions about the derm vet because she wants to try her out. So maybe she'll go by there soon.

 Quote: John Saad

Connie, you are correct... blood tests. Although she admits that she knows they are not reliable. She's having trouble determining what the dog's allergies are because the dog seems to have so many. It's a very old dog. She was asking me questions about the derm vet because she wants to try her out. So maybe she'll go by there soon.

I hope so.

Update:

The antibiotics are definitely working. His feet are looking great so I'll just finish off the Rx and go from there. However, that doesn't really solve the cause of the allergies. So I guess I'll just have to wait and see if/when it comes back. But so far so good. Thanks!