Can you just link it, if it's a web page?

Connie, I just saw your previous post. The vet exchange I saw was a printout I scanned, not a web page. I'll try to think of a different way to post it.

Things were looking better for a couple of weeks (ear fur was starting to grow back), but now my dog has started tail chewing, hock chewing and is raw in between a couple of toes in addition to his usually scratching and biting. Normally, I'm a "must find the cause" type of person, but now I'm debating going back to derm vet and just asking for a 3-6 month supply of prednisone. As Betty said earlier, lots of people are relieved just to have the symptoms go and prednisone will do that. Maybe this is the best thing for my dog.

Could also be Trifexis which lists pruritis as a side effect He had his first dose in a year 3 weeks ago. It definitely made dog #2 lethargic on her first dose. Very frustrated and I just want a healthy dog.

 Quote: Jessica Walsh

Connie, I just saw your previous post. The vet exchange I saw was a printout I scanned, not a web page. I'll try to think of a different way to post it.

Things were looking better for a couple of weeks (ear fur was starting to grow back), but now my dog has started tail chewing, hock chewing and is raw in between a couple of toes in addition to his usually scratching and biting. Normally, I'm a "must find the cause" type of person, but now I'm debating going back to derm vet and just asking for a 3-6 month supply of prednisone. As Betty said earlier, lots of people are relieved just to have the symptoms go and prednisone will do that. Maybe this is the best thing for my dog.

Could also be Trifexis which lists pruritis as a side effect He had his first dose in a year 3 weeks ago. It definitely made dog #2 lethargic on her first dose. Very frustrated and I just want a healthy dog.

Can you please re-scan that text (just the text ... those photos that show up with it crowd the text)? You can email it to me if it still isn't visible/readable and I can enlarge what you send me. PM me and I'll give an email address if it still isn't readable online?

I'm pretty strongly thinking that the flea problem has to be resolved no matter what else might be happening (JMO), but I sure would like to read what the derm vet gave you as being relevant to this dog.

Are you following all the mechanical pollen-mite-etc. removal steps (paws through clean water on the way inside, frequent rinse-baths and real baths, etc.)?

Is there any odor between his toes?

Are his ears (inside) still clear?

The chewing on the feet is really suspicious for environmental allergies - Kasey does this a lot when he is itchy. And this time of year with the warmth and humidity, you can easily get yeast and bacteria going in small amounts when they chew - and yeast and bacteria make them itch even more and the cycle continues. I would make sure there is no yeast or bacteria at this point again, before starting any prednisone if you decide to do that.

I think you have 2 choices (and this is just my opinion from experience) - you can treat the symptoms with meds, zyrtec and steroids and make sure you have zero fleas, or you can do the skin testing and see how many things he's allergic to. If he's only allergic to a few things, 12 or less, then the allergy shots are really very effective in a lot of dogs. If he's like Kasey and is allergic to a lot of things, then you could decide whether you want to try them or not. Kasey is allergic to 43 of the 75 things they tested, so the shots aren't as effective because they can only put 12 allergens in a vial, so they pick the things they feel will be the most helpful. But even that can help a lot - we tried doing without the shots for a couple months and he was definitely worse without it.

We are able to keep the steroid down to a low dose only a few times a month by using the shots and zyrtec. It has been worth it to us, but everyone has to make their own choices!

I am working on the anti-mite procedures.

Still doing anti flea. I did his bath about 10 days ago (which was 10 days after his topical flea) with Calmcoat which he handled much better than whatever shampoo I had used previously. It's probably been in these last 10 days that I have really noticed the licking though. These last 10 days, he is doing his 1 step back from our 2 steps forward. This seems to be the pattern.

For anti-flea, I've only been doing one bath/month since I've kept in mind the issues with bathing and topicals. This is why I added the Trifexis, but it's possible now the Trifexis is what is inflaming his skin to where he cant' stand it. I really am considering possibility I have a dog that is incredibly sensitive to flea stuff.

Sleeping is good-nothing I can't wash and wood floors. Sadly, mostly carpet downstairs where we spend all day, but I can't rip it out because I'm renting.

His toes and hock look like they might be clearing up with the Vetericyn. The tail is another matter and will probably send me to the vet. He's chewing that and I just can't seem to get him to stop. The licking and chewing have been markedly increased the last 10-14 days.

Toes do not smell. Ears look good.

Anti-pollen procedures are new to me. I missed this. I will "google" on Leerburg for these.

Edited by Jessica Walsh (07/11/2013 05:41 AM)
Edit reason: post didn't show

Back from derm vet again. 3 inches of tail shaved. The hot spot there was worse than I thought and definitely would have worsened over my upcoming trip next week had we not gone in.

Fenris skin hot spot pics in there

Derm vet does not think Trifexis could cause enough irritation to cause this hot spot. Not sure if I agree, but I suppose she's the vet.

Followup in 3-4 weeks. She thinks we may need to try Atopica, see if he responds and if he does, skin panel.

I'm pretty bummed going raw didn't magically fix his skin issues.

I'm not sure what else to think. Remembering back to last Sept when he was all peachy and wishing I could get that back. ON the plus side, his ears have been looking a little better.

In the meantime, I'll keep working on anti-flea, anti-mite stuff. I just keep thinking I must be doing something wrong and I want to figure out what it is, but maybe he's just a dog with allergies.

I'm in the middle of a new e-book (Whole Dog Journal's e-book) that re-states something that bears repeating:

Whether he is having a lot of flea bites, or just a few but has developed a fleabite allergy, fleas have to be eliminated before any further diagnoses can be reliably pursued.

One exposure can turn a dog who has developed a flea saliva allergy into a mess.


"Anti-pollen procedures are new to me."

I'll post links and quotes on this late this afternoon, in case you don't find them right away. We have several extremely detailed threads about it.

Here is the specific photo, if anyone else is looking for it:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/111550152090917339585/albums/5887161238028945377/5899400357115891746?authkey=CL3Ey_G-_ZOVogE&pid=5899400357115891746&oid=111550152090917339585

Atopica is really expensive. I'm not sure why the vet is recommending doing that first? I would find out how much it will cost for the Atopica, and then decide whether to just go ahead and do the skin testing first or not. We used the generic of Atopica from Costco for a little while after the skin testing, and it was STILL really expensive! It might be less for the testing than the drug, or at least close. If you're going to spend the money, I'd rather know what he's allergic to than spend it on a drug, and then have to do the testing anyway. That drug makes a fair amount of dogs throw up too, so if you do go that route, ask for a few pills to start with so you can see whether he'll tolerate them or not. That way you aren't paying for a bunch of pills you can't use.

And I'm with Connie on the flea thing. But it's hard with a dog that may be allergic to flea bites because the flea preventatives don't keep the flea from biting, so you could be doing all you can for flea control and he could still get bit and have a reaction. The skin testing usually tests for flea and mite allergies, so that would help to give you knowledge about that.

But most of all, don't make it harder on yourself by thinking you aren't doing something you should be! An allergy dog is a hard thing to deal with! and it sounds like that's what we're dealing with. Even now after I know what Kasey is allergic to, and I know what to do, I still can't prevent all his itching! That's why I would rather go the dermatology route and let them figure it out so I don't have to spend my life thinking about it.

I feel your pain...

Lori, the vet did say Atopica was really expensive. She just wanted to see if it would help him and to possibly try it for a month. She said if it did help, she definitely would want to do a skin test because she wouldn't want him to have to take Atopica long term. On the other hand, she said if Atopica did nothing for him, that might not mean anything. Considering that, it might be worth it just to go straight to a full panel. She said you know, if he flares 3 times a year, that's still cheaper for me to treat topically and sporadically. If he gets past this hot spot and then gets another, then another and it just doesn't stop, then I really need to do a panel and possibly a food trial. I guess assuming fleas and mites are under control at that point

The derm vet did skin test him for fleas and mites on our 1st visit. Fleas came back mild and storage mites and one kind of house mite showed a very strong reaction. Much worse than the flea reaction actually. Big hard red welts.

I don't think he had any allergies this time last year but he's older now. He's 18 months so he's in full-on adolescence for what it's worth.

I do still believe the raw diet is helping him though. It might be the only thing not making it a million times worse.

And thanks for the moral support..it's needed and appreciated.