Thank you for your response, Marhcarter. I am literally going out of my mind here.
I think they'd done some more blood testing and found her levels to be good as far as red cells, he'd mentioned something else but I can't recall what it was now. (I already have a terrible memory but all the stress this last two weeks...I'm shot!)
He said she would only need to be on the medication for two weeks...does that sound right?
He seemed to indicate just a general systemic vasculitis, she doesn't have sores on her ears (at least she didn't when I took her in, they were just red with a rash that won't resolve completely) but the pits of her legs where minimally scabby and red. (Usually that's where she always chews when itchy, but he says she's not scratching anymore.) They actually have gotten the rash, which was body-wide originally, down to just a few places (ears and leg pits) but what worries me is she seems so sensitive to any and all meds she's already been given.
They have to get her off the famotidine she's also been given before administering the pentoxifylline due to drug interactions...THAT makes me feel even more nervous!
She's actually been seen by two vets' offices. One had her on Medrol originally and that caused bloody vomit/stool that she was then put on sucralfate for, then Pepcid AC and benadryl during the whole last ten days or so. She's also had cerenia for vomiting and nausea. She hasn't eaten properly for almost two weeks.
She is eating the hypoallergenic dog food they have given her, but the appetite is still off. I worry this medicine, which they want to administer orally, will make her too sick to eat again and the current vet seeing her says she can go without eating for three days as long as she drinks water. (she is almost 5 years old) But she's already had almost two weeks of not being able to eat properly after first rashing up on 3/11 after eating her breakfast. It's just gone downhill from there.
I am just not sure about all this. We hoped to bring her home tomorrow, but if they give her this medicine (we live thirty miles from town on a bad snowy road) and she has a reaction she could die before I get her back there.
But now I wonder if they know what they are doing? She's had no scans to test the internal damage, if any-that I know of, so how can they be certain this is what it is? The vet supposedly consulted an internist, but I have no idea who that was or if this other doctor even saw Jenna.
They are already closed for the day. I can try calling the first thing and telling them to hold off treatment, but then what??
I am so confused. And angry. I know they care about my dog...but everything I have read so far is very contradictory to their treatment plan.
Arrrgghhh!
ETA: the reason for her problems is supposed to be a food allergy. She cannot take NSAID's like metacam because of her stomach problems since becoming ill, plus she began to have reactions to metacam after throwing her back out a few months ago and that was the treatment given. She couldn't tolerate it after a few days on it.