Different treatment options for allergies

skittledoo

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#1
I took Cricket to the vet the other day to do a follow up from her extraction and asked them about her allergies again.

She has both food allergies and seasonal. I think we have narrowed down most of her food allergies... no chicken, no duck, no fish, grain free and gluten free... we are still not 100% sure about everything else but tends to do better on lamb limited ingredient foods.

As far as tackling her allergies... we were doing benedryl for a while. It helped for a bit, but after a while it stopped really having any affect on her seasonal allergies. My vet switched her to chlorpheniramine 2x day. When that stopped helping we bumped her up to 3x day. She did well for a little bit, but now is chewing up her paws again. Some days they look ok, but the hair is thinned out... other days they are really red from her biting at them. She is super itchy all the time and constantly scratching herself. We also do aller911 baths

My vet wants to switch her onto atopica which I've heard good things about, but it is super expensive. It's going to cost me $110 a month for the atopica.

If I have to I'll try the atopica, but I wanted to first check to see if there is anything a bit less expensive I can try first. I'm using hexachlor wipes per my vet on her feet to keep them from becoming infected since she has a couple spots my vet is worried about becoming infected, but that isn't going to stop the itch.

I've never dealt with these kinds of allergies in dogs before. I don't know what else I should do. :(
 

PWCorgi

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#2
Atopica is really really good stuff, it's crazy the difference it has made in some of the dogs at the clinic I work at. That being said, I know we also prescribe a stronger than benedryl anti-histamine as well. Or stuff like Pred :/
 
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#3
Frequent bathing or wiping with wet cloths can physically remove allergens. And if it's at all in your budget, I can't say enough good things about allergy testing and shots. Along with regular bathing during his allergy season, they have virtually eliminated Pip's symptoms over the course of several years. Honestly this summer I forgot to give them a couple of times for a couple months at a time (supposed to be every 3 weeks) and he did great (and he used to be miserable). When I run out I may just stop giving them at this point.

Back in the day the skin testing was more reliable but it's my understanding now that depending on the lab, the blood testing can be just as reliable and so no pesky sedation and the cost is lower.
 

Saeleofu

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#4
I'd try steroids before I tried Atopica. That's some potent stuff.

Benedryl doesn't do anything for Logan anymore, either. I have been giving him Zyrtec, and it's definitely helped some. But he's also growing in his winter coat now (protects him from contact allergens) and the seasons are changing (we've had a couple frosts by now), so that's probably the biggest difference I'm seeing.

If his allergies are as bad next year as they were this year, I'm definitely going to pursue an allergy blood test. I can't have him out of work long enough to do a skin test, and I have seen several dogs first hand respond to treatment after a blood test.

If you are uncomfortable giving injections, the allergy serum is now available in a sublingual form.

Allergy testing and desensitization is going to be MUCH cheaper and MUCH healthier long-term than Atopica. There are virtually no side effects with desensitization when compared to Atopica or even steroids.
 

sillysally

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#5
I have nothing to add other than I feel you pain. Sally is allergic to life. She got a cortizone shot a little while ago and it has become very clear that she needs another this week. I just noticed today that her chest and paws are very irritated.

We had planned on doing the allergy shots this winter but now with the bird vet bills we are going to have to rethink the timing.

Poor itchy dogs.
 

*blackrose

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#6
I can't afford Atopica OR allergy testing, so Gracie's horrible allergies are maintained on Temaril-P, which is a prednisolone/trimeprazine combination. She does extremely, extremely well on it. She's been on a maintenance dose of 1/2 tablet every other day for almost a year now and we've seen zero side effects. During peak allergy times she can go up to 1/2 tablet twice daily, but even then we typically don't do more than 1/2 tablet a day. Just ran blood work on her and it looked gorgeous. Yey!

We also just don't use the Temaril-P, however, in part due to the low dose we have her on, I think. We use Betagen spray on her armpits when they break out, my mom bathes were weekly in a medicated shampoo, she wipes her down with hypoallergenic wipes after she comes in from outside playing in the grass, and she wears t-shirts to prevent her belly from rubbing up on the grass as well. (Se's a Dachshund, so even short grass makes contact, unfortunately.) We still have to do rounds of antibiotics when it is REALLY bad in the summer, but now that winter is coming we're hoping not as many extra care techniques will be needed.
 

*blackrose

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#8
What kind of hypoallergenic wipes are they?
They're non prescription. I think Mom bought them from Petsmart...maybe a Martha Stuart brand? Because Gracie has such STRONG environmental allergies (one of which is grass), Mom used it as a bath replacement for when she had been out in the grass in the hopes that she could wipe off any kind of pollen/residue that may have been causing any kind of irritant to her skin.
 

DJEtzel

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#9
I used allerderm spot on (large dogs for a month was ~$30) for a year or two with Frag. My vet recommended it instead of steroids. Frag has food and seasonal allergies. Apparently more seasonal than food. He used to lose all of the hair on his face during the cold months and itch and itch for hours on end. Skin would get inflamed, he would growl at people, antibiotics for secondary infections, whole nine yards. The product is supposedly meant to restore the lipid bilayer of their skin or something like that. So technical, I know.. :p

Anyway, after using these for almost two years straight along with vitamin c, antibiotics, and benedryl, he is off of all medications (for a year or year and a half?) and doing fantastically. A *little* itching this year, but allergies were bad I heard and there has been no hair loss or return of aggressive tendencies.

I recommend the product because I think that's what worked for him, when foods made no real difference. He's even on grain-in food when he stays with Jon with no issues!
 

Saeleofu

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#10
I used allerderm spot on (large dogs for a month was ~$30) for a year or two with Frag. My vet recommended it instead of steroids. Frag has food and seasonal allergies. Apparently more seasonal than food. He used to lose all of the hair on his face during the cold months and itch and itch for hours on end. Skin would get inflamed, he would growl at people, antibiotics for secondary infections, whole nine yards. The product is supposedly meant to restore the lipid bilayer of their skin or something like that. So technical, I know.. :p

Anyway, after using these for almost two years straight along with vitamin c, antibiotics, and benedryl, he is off of all medications (for a year or year and a half?) and doing fantastically. A *little* itching this year, but allergies were bad I heard and there has been no hair loss or return of aggressive tendencies.

I recommend the product because I think that's what worked for him, when foods made no real difference. He's even on grain-in food when he stays with Jon with no issues!
How often do you use it, and how do you use it? This sounds like something that might get Logan over the last of his allergies for the season.
 

DJEtzel

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#11
How often do you use it, and how do you use it? This sounds like something that might get Logan over the last of his allergies for the season.
IIRC (I have an absolutely terrible memory) it was once a week, and there were four topical tubes in a pack. You can buy it over the counter on amazon! So one pipette would be applied like a flea/tick topical, except I put it all the way down his back, on the skin. Not just on the neck/shoulder blade area.
 

Saeleofu

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#12
IIRC (I have an absolutely terrible memory) it was once a week, and there were four topical tubes in a pack. You can buy it over the counter on amazon! So one pipette would be applied like a flea/tick topical, except I put it all the way down his back, on the skin. Not just on the neck/shoulder blade area.
Sweet! I'm ordering a box now :D
 

Saeleofu

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#14
Awesome, good luck! Let us know how it works- I don't think I've ever heard of any other testimonials from anyone I trust with their dogs, lol. I tried it on a whim and it just happened to work!
The reviews on amazon are really good.
 

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