[HannaBananasMom]

Hello Everyone-
I am new to yorkietalk and unfortunately my first posting is about "allergies." I have a 3-yr. old yorkie/poodle mix and she is my life, of course. My little baby has had severe skin problems since she was a puppy. Her constant scratching and chewing is unbearable to watch. There was a period of time when she was so bald from chewing her own hair out that people on the street would ask if she was a chinese crested Other times her chewing was so intense that she got skin infections and would bleed and not want to come out from under the bed. It's just heartbreaking. We tried the initial diet restrictions, benadryl then prednisone then Atopica. In addition I tried putting a soft nylon cone on her for a while but even that she managed to rub around enough to cut her neck. Then her grammy made special clothes for her that covered her entire body and legs so that she couldn't chew at the skin and cause infection. I didn't want to keep her clothed but it seemed the only way to safely protect her from herself. Then our most recent vet- who suggested Hanna's was the worse allergy case she'd ever seen- explained the cons of clothes; they were keeping the moisture in (greasy irritated skin=moisture) creating a breeding ground for bacteria and yeast infection. I had suspected that she had a yeast infection of the skin because she had smelly greasy skin (or worse-candida, from years of various medications). So she was given ketoconazole as an anti-fungal and it cleared her right up initially, but didn't stop the itching so we kept her on low doses of the temaril. (Note: I had previously tried taking her off all meds for 6 months and tried out the "Nzymes yeast kit that I bought online, with no luck. She just got worse and worse)

We have been to many vets (6) including a dermatology specialist at angell memorial hospital (in Boston). I have also brought her to an acupuncturist and holistic vet. We have focused on her restricted diet for years now, removing all grains and well-everything else too. She’s just very sensitive in general; she had a terrible reaction to vaccines once and I don’t know which one- although I presume it was the rabies- it was my fault because the vet gave her all the vaccines at once and I should have know better. Now I do. She has been eating only rabbit for over a year. I give her probiotics (natural/dervied from plants and not containing any other ingredients such as dairy) and I bathe her 2x a week using Zymox Enzymatic Medicated Shampoo which I will say is the best in comparison to every other one I've tried including the expensive DUOXO calming line of products, and the oatmeal shampoos we've tried. I groom her myself and I use only fragrance free detergent on everything and wash her bed regularly and try to be as clean as possible with regards to dust mites and other potential allergens (like keeping windows closed during pollen season etc.).

She has not been tested for environmental allergies, as the only solution I was given to this problem if the tests came back positive- is immunotherapy and I'm not crazy about the idea from what I know of it. So I have just tried to manage the environmental allergies as much as possible, using a hepa ait purifier, plain water rinsing between baths, brushing, etc. When looking at a history of her medicals, oddly enough winters are always her worst times, I think because of the dry forced hot air heat. So now that it's spring, Hanna is looking great and has a ton of hair all grown back in! She has been on a low dose, every other day (1/2 pill) of Temaril (1/2 prednisone & 1/2 antihistamine) for about 6 months now following the ketoconazole treatment to rid the yeast infection. Without actually knowing what she is sensitive/allergic to be it foods or environmental (likely both) I am tempted to stick with what works, and right now rabbit food, temaril and bathing, etc. are keeping her practially itch free. She has gained some healthy weight (went form 9.5 - 13.5 lbs.) being on the temaril which is normal and manageble with exercise. And of course I have to have her organs checked/blood tests done every six months while being on these meds.
Now, the vet wants to segueway her back to Atopica instead of the Temaril. About 1+ years ago she was on the Atopica regularly, and it worked ok- not a miracle though.

My question is- if Temaril works and it's SO MUCH EASIER to administer and cheaper, is it not just as safe to keep her on the Temaril vs. the Atopica longterm? I was having to special order the Atopica from the lab in a liquid form with a syringe, and then inject the liquid into her food-but she would be so fussy about eating it and it was $85/month! And then she would usually throw it up anyway.

I'm sorry for the lengthy post and it's probably not all in proper order either, but let's just say we've tried nearly everything with the exception of immunotherapy. I have lately also been wondering too if she should be tested for arthritis because her chewing is now targeted at her leg joints and occurs mostly during rainy weather. Any advice and experiences with allergy sufferers would be very much appreciated by myself and more importantly by Hanna banana.