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Originally Posted by capt_noonie  I'm sorry to hear that! I think you are ahead of the game as far as what we have dealt with so far with Uni's itching. At lease she doesn't have the tummy issues. We did discuss with the vet today about the testing for allergies. He said it is about $500 and only about 70% of the time you will find out what it is the dog is allergic too. Sometimes you find out it's something like house dander, or dead skin flakes, or something that you cannot get rid of, which turns out to kinda be a waste of money. I mean you know what it is that triggers the allergy, but you can't get rid of dander from the world you know?
For us, we decided to go the steroid/antihistamine route first to see if that helps. If not, we may just go down the $500 route too.
But for Harley, does your vet think the skin issues are caused by the IBD or separate things? Is he currently on any meds for the IBD and skin conditions? |
As far as my new vet (just got rid of the old one cause she didn't know what she was talking about... loooong story), she thinks that the IBD is separate from the skin allergies, but both could possibly be caused by the same trigger. If that makes sense. I think the majority of his IBD problems were food related, as now that we have him on the vet food they have gone from severe (vomiting, bloody stool, extreme discomfort, dehydration and not eating) to the manageable symptoms above.
He is not currently on anything, but we have tried multiple medications for both the IBD and the skin stuff, mostly antibiotics and steroids, plus this new shampoo and spray (which was working for like 3 weeks :S). So the only thing he's getting now is this spray and shampoo. I'm instructed to bathe him every week, and spray every 3 days.
She did say that if I did 2 tests the results would be more conclusive, but I'm in NS and the nearest place to get the second test is in Ontario.
We are going away to ON for vacation this summer and could consult the doggie dermatologist then but that's still 5 months away. But that would likely be an additional $500
