[matese]

We went to the vet yesterday for Cody’s allergies, and a slight cough he’s had on and off for a week or 2. I was concerned the cough may be start of CT. GOOD NEWS not CT. Trying to avoid “back Lash” so I have to be detailed. Cody had been scratching for months, as many of you I assume know I adopted back in Nov. Cody came to me with several medical issues, unbeknown to my vet. (I adopted Cody through my vet) I saw his scratching the day I went to see him, he had just gotten shaved, I blew off the scratching due to the hair cut, thinking shaved hair could be on his skin causing the scratching. Taking Cody home the first day he had diarrhea with blood and mucus, I took him back to vet the next day, The vet started treating him for Colitis as this is what I thought it was and did not bring in a stool sample. I also told my vet about the scratching, She advised as to not stress out this dog that was just rescued she will address each issue separately, starting with the most severe, the diarrhea, with blood & mucus. After several different meds & treatment and tech big time screw up of stool samples I was bringing in, it was discovered by using a scope Cody had a stricture. My vet used the inflated balloon which worked for one day, so surgery had to be performed. This was in April. Cody has had BEAUTIFUL poop lol. I wanted this poor lil boy to re-coop from all the months he suffered before coming to me, and the time he was with me and had this problem. The scratching continued. In May I called my vet to see can we start doing something about this, she said it could be food allergies, feed him limited ingredients food with either Bison or venison. So he has been on that for 3 months, and still scratching. Reason for vet visit yesterday. 7 days before the visit Cody refused the food he LOVED, the dry food, he LOVES the crunchy kibbles, will not eat if moist. He wouldn’t eat for one entire day, I was feeding limited ing. with venison, I thought he was tired of the venison so I went out and got him the Bison, still not eating. When my dogs refuse to eat I will always buy boneless chicken cutlets, boil them up and feed to them, if they refuse to eat chic then I know they are sick. Cody ate the chic. I didn’t offer the kibbles. When I saw he ate the chic I knew he wasn’t sick. The next feeding (he eats twice a day) I mixed the chic with the dry food, he picked out the chic and left the kibbles. Cody is not a picky eater, he will eat whatever you give him, there had to be a reason he wasn’t eating the kibble that he LOVES so much. I added chic broth to the kibble, added more shredded chic, OMG, he was like a vacuum it was gone in a blink of the eye. So for the rest of the week that is how I feed him, kibble soaked in broth mixed with shredded kibble. I thought there must be a tooth / teeth issue that he couldn’t eat hard kibble only moist. I told all this to the vet yesterday. So this is the results of the vet visit. For the itching he was given an injection of Apoquel, this I was told stops itching for 3 days giving enough time for the other meds to kick in.The meds I was given was (the bill reads Dexamethasone), the vile is labeled Apoquel? And a vile of Cetirizine. My vet said he has nasal drip irritating his throat, dry food is scratching his throat that is why he is eating the moist kibble, the Cetirizine is to treat the nasal drip and controls itching. The coughing is from the allergies, to me it looked like she put her arm under his chest, pushed up and at the same time kinda squeezed pinched his throat and he did that cough, she did this 2 or 3 times, then said cough is allergy related. Since the injection and so far meds were given one last night and one this morning no scratching. The Cetirzine is short term. From what I have read on YT environmental allergies meds have to be taken for life. I guess I have to wait until all meds are finished, close to finish or scratching begins to ask my vet he Cody is to stay on Dexamethasone / Apoquel. I checked out the meds on the internet, I need a couple of asprins. So mush information and I learned nothing about the meds other than Dexamethasone has a lot of side effects these are the ones I see affecting Cody. Increase in food and water intake has been drinking a lot… and Increased urination he has been Peeing a lot. Any thoughts on the meds he was given. Sorry for long thread I just wanted to cover all bases.