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Old 10-04-2010, 07:16 AM   #1
Vinniedoggy
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 280
Question Allergies - Atopica, Prednisone, etc

I adopted Alex, a 4 year-old yorkie, a couple of months ago. He is the sweetest little guy in the world, and unfortunately suffers from severe skin allergies (I've posted about him several times before). To make a long story short, he had skin testing done, which confirmed allergies to various molds, grass, and trees. He started on allergy shots the first week of August, but the allergist tells us that it will take 6-12 months before we will know if the shots are working.

In the interim, I've been trying to keep Alex as comfortable as possible. He is on a completely raw diet (raw meat, bone, pumpkin, egg, plain yogurt, etc) and takes a whole body support supplement prescribed by the vet. He takes one Zyrtec each evening and I give him Benadryl as needed if he's having a really bad day. We do aggressive skin maintenance, with oatmeal baths and washing him down whenever we come in from being outside (to remove any allergens). In the house, he wears cotton baby onsies to prevent him from tearing up his skin too bad. Finally, we have prednisone on hand for really bad periods of time - I've only used it once (5 mg for three days, as prescribed by the allergist) and it really helped. But, of course, once it was stopped, the itching came back.

Alex has good days and bad days. The last few days have been particularly bad and I cannot figure out why. I'm assuming that it has to do with all the rain we've had here in the DC area, and mold being one of his triggers. He has been scratching to the point where he is making his skin raw. It is horrible to watch, and more horrible when he actually cries out in pain from his scratching. But he can't stop. We barely slept last night as a result and I'm exhausted. But more than that, I just hate seeing him suffer.

Sooooo....I have been avoiding prolonged use of prednisone and use of Atopica, as I'm really concerned about the side effects of both. But I cannot let this little guy suffer this way. I am really curious to hear from anyone who has used Atopica long-term and what side-effects have been experienced. Also, anyone else out there who has dealt with such severe allergies? Any advice?
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Andrea,
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