Thank you for your routine and information. I have a lot information now to take to vet and afterwards, to implement at my house! You all are fabulous!

And, one last observation. While scratching the pinneal (?) part of her ear, she didn't thump her hind leg. However, when she chews the back of her pastern on her left paw and paw pads, her left leg jumps and twitches like its possessed. I am going to bring that to the doc's attention.

Vet report: NO yeast. No fungus. NO sign of mites. Bacterial infection=positive.
Supposition: allergic reactions to environment.

She is on a course Cephalexin for 10 days for bacterial infection of her feet.

Chlorpheniramine@ 4mg 2-3X daily<---antihistamine.

Betagen spray 2-3 times a day on top of paws and on pads<-----Doc P did not want to use an oral steroid on Lucy since her problem is primarily localized.

Baby wipes to wipe down paws everytime come in the house. (I think I will wipe the remainder of her down with distilled water and paper towels.)

Suggestion of blood work to be done if this doesn't resolve the problem or at least make it manageable. The fear is chewing will become a compulsion with Lucy, so I try to redirect her or distract her if possible.

Bloodwork won't show food allergies reliably --her words.

She does agree Lucy needs to be grain free from now on given her reactions to grains in the past. If it gets worse, bloodwork will give idea of what she is allergic to in the world and then decide if derm vet is in order. OR if it gets worse, she will recommmend derm vet (knows a great one) and get us an appointment. Then, we might be able to make a vaccine for her to reduce the reactions.
Right now, mostly localized to her feet and some on her belly.

Ears are clear (Yes, Lucy let her look in her ears with a scope!!), and we also got a needle aspiration of a mushy lump on her chest--to rule out mast cell tumor among other problems.

Doc P let me hold Lucy. She followed my protocol about touching Lucy and went slow and gave Loose a break when she needed it. Doc P is now Lucy's doc for good!

Lucy is also on Meloxicam for her arthritis so we need bloodwork in 6 months. New training goal: to get Lucy ready for a needle in the leg or throat to draw blood. I will think that one through and work out a plan. Wish us luck!

 Quote: Jo Harker

.. Suggestion of blood work to be done if this doesn't resolve the problem or at least make it manageable. The fear is chewing will become a compulsion with Lucy, so I try to redirect her or distract her if possible. ... Bloodwork won't show food allergies reliably --her words. ... If it gets worse, bloodwork will give idea of what she is allergic to in the world and then decide if derm vet is in order.

They would do blood (RAST or ELISA) tests rather than intradermal, and then send you to a derm vet?

It's true that a derm vet might use it as a pre-screening for intradermal testing, but that would be the derm vet's call.

It's not just food that blood tests don't show reliably (although it's correct that they are useless for food allergies).

The RAST and ELISA tests are false-positive-heavy, having been developed for humans (with different antibodies in the bloodstream). A derm vet probably won't recommend blood tests unless there is a reason the animal cannot have intradermal testing (or, again, as a pre-screening, although this is not common).


There's a very good reason for the derm specialty. It's a lot for a GP vet to keep up with, no matter how good s/he is.

I would read up before continuing along the road the GP vet is recommending, and get the info needed to ask the right questions.

I'll dig up some material about blood (particularly RAST; ELISA is slightly better) tests versus intradramernal (IDST).

 Quote: Jo Harker

... OR if it gets worse, she will recommmend derm vet (knows a great one) and get us an appointment. Then, we might be able to make a vaccine for her to reduce the reactions. ...

The derm vet is likely to do IDST for the compounding lab, from which to develop the dog's desensitizing shots.

That is, any RAST or ELISA tests might well have been done for nothing if the dog does end up with a derm vet who will want IDST done. So I'd at least ask questions about the derm vet's procedures (will the derm vet want and use blood tests?) now before okaying blood tests.

 Quote: Jo Harker

... Ears are clear (Yes, Lucy let her look in her ears with a scope!!), and we also got a needle aspiration of a mushy lump on her chest--to rule out mast cell tumor among other problems. ...

Excellent!

I am so glad you found a good vet!

I had this saved:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2144&aid=504

Thanks for the link! I think I will ask her to conference with the derm vet prior to any bloodwork if we need to go that route.

I do want to say, which I should have put in the original post, there was an odor from Lucy's paws the night prior to the vet visit. I kept smelling something that tingled a memory, but couldn't place it. I finally did. The odor from her paws was the same odor I would smell when I would skin squirrels<---hadn't hunted for years. One not only incises, but pulls the flesh from the muscle.

When I smelled it and figured it out, the description of Thor's odor came to mind and I was terrified to say the least. Lucy had pulled flesh off her toes and only had muscle showing. Granted, they were very small areas and I could be forgiven for not seeing them, but still...I SHOULD HAVE NOTICED even if she didn't allow me to touch her paws, I could have stood her and LOOKED!

Lucy doesn't have Thor's problem, but it is worth noting:
If we can look at and mush the dog's poop, we can sniff our dogs regulary to dectect any odor NOT normal.

Odors do contribute to a diagnosis of problems.

Betcha I sniff Lucy's feet at least once a week from now on.

I second Connie's suggestion on intradermal skin testing.

My 3.5 yo GSD had both done. We started out with the GP vet, who recommended using blood-work to test for allergens. We started allergy shots based on the results of the blood-work, did that for several months. I didn't see any difference.

Later on, I read about intradermal skin testing here (Thanks to Connie :grin so I took her to a derm vet. She had the intradermal skin testing done and started allergy shots based on the new results. The derm vet said that it would take 3 months for 1/3 of the dogs to respond, another 1/3 by 6 months, and an additional 1/3 by the end of the year. It has only been a couple of months, but we are definitely on the right track because she is doing really well right now.

If I were to look at the results of the blood test and intradermal testing (I have copies of both results), they matched maybe 50 to 60%.

Oh, one more thing, the derm vet specifically recommended 1170 mg of EPA daily for my girl (she is 63 lb). I have been giving her 10 pumps of Grizzly Salmon oil daily since Jan. 09 (I used to do 3 pumps daily) anyway. If I am doing my calculations correctly, I think she is getting about 2200 mg per day. I don't know if that's also a factor in her improvement as well.

Hope this helps

I second the blood test comments. We've been taking Kasey to a derma vet for a year now and the derma vet said the allergy blood tests are really a waste of money - not reliable at all. She doesn't even do them. Skin testing for environmental is the only way to go, and elimination diet for food (although only a few percent of dogs really have food allergies).

Going to a derma vet is really the more cost effective way to go because they know their stuff and don't waste time and money 'trying' things!