Allergies and Allergy shot experiences.
 

Helllo everyone!!!

I have not post on here in a very long time due to a lot of personal issues We relocated from NC to FL We have spent the better part of a year trying to figure out what was going on with Abbie. She has always had seasonal allergies in NC, but the last 8 months and a $1000 later I think we solved the issue.

She was scratching all the time. We were giving her hydrazine when we moved here. It stopped working. Then we try Apoquil with no success. Then we tried benadry with no luck. Then she started loosing hair on her back, legs angled butt from scratching. Then we had two episodes of yeast and bacterial infection which required antibiotic, antifungals and Medicaided Shampoo and no dramatic change. She was pitiful all she could do was scratch. I tried every homemade remedy no change. It was literal driving my husband and I crazy. We tried her on Bravesta thinking she had skin mites nope it wasn't that. Then the whole news
story broke on multiple dogs dying after it was given so we decided that wasn't a option. We changed her food no change. In a desperate attempt I started researching allergy testing. So I found a allergy specialist in Tampa and we went
the same day to be seen. It was $59 for the vet and $500 and for the allergy test. Then 5 vials of blood and another round of antifungal and Antibiotics.

So we got the test results back in under a week. My poor baby was highly allergic to corn pollen, Kentucky / June Blue Grass which is what is planted in our neighborphoods private park and all the conservation ateas, queen palms which are all over Fl, Elm Mix which are the trees planted around the park, perineal rye grass and lastly Johnson Grass. My poor baby was allergic to almost all the plants, trees and grass in our community. So we decided to go with allergy shots and the antigen treatment was $299. We did not see much improvement with vial 1. We just started vial 2 which is a higher consintration of the Antigen. We give the shots every 4 days for the first 10 shots then then 10 ml a week for 3 weeks and then blood work and maintenance therapy. We have noticed a huge improvement after the last dose. Her hair is growing in, she is barely scratching, her eyes aren't puffy and she is much happier. I have been giving her the shots while my husband distracts her. I am so happy we spent the money. So if you have an ongoing allergy issue seek out a specialist. She most likely would have suffered with ongoing shin fungal and bacterial infections with out this.

I have 2 allergy sufferers. For Marcel, we did allergy shots and treatment - and after about 4 vials, gave up on that. It did nothing for him.

But both Atopica and Apoquel are miracle drugs for him, so that's what we've stuck with.

Make sure your dog food doesn't have corn or grains in it! I'm sure you've already done that...a long time ago though :).

my gal, Ziva, has been tested and her results were off the charts for dust mites. There is no
getting away from them. I give her 12.5 mg of Benadryl daily. She still bites her feet but as yet has not drawn blood or anything. Just sad to see her doing this. I don't like the
idea of shots etc. It just doesn't sit well with me.

Benadryl only works for allergies given every 4 hours and even then its not a great treatment. You need to go to the vet and get an actual allergy medicine. Even if she is not drawling blood from her paws she is still miserable if she is licking them. I am very badly allergic to dust might like you should have seen the huge welt I got when I got allergy testing its a pain you need to keep your humidity in your house under 50% and vacuum A LOT.

Skin and hair loss issues
 

Thank you for sharing your story. We have had similar skin issues although without the itching. A bald spot, thinning, antihistamines, antibiotics, prednisone, ointments. Examining products we use. Right now we are on the second half of our third prednisone/antibiotic round. This time we are giving the antibiotic for 30 days to treat resistant bacterial infection. We have also used melatonin with success. The melatonin stimulated immediate regrowth with her ears (which were bald on the backs) regrowing within 10 days.


I will keep your information in mind if our pup relapses. I was not aware of the role allergies could play in repeated skin infection. Hope Abbie returns to full health.

Sorry to hear about your kiddos,I also have a problem with my little girls allergies,her symptoms are really oily hair(just day after bathing she looks like she is been dipped in oil),hair thinning,small red pimples filled with water substance,watery eyes.We done allergy test she is allergic to both food and environmental allergies😢.We started Atopica 9-10 days ago but I can't see any improvement in her hair yet?I don't know if Atopica is going to work or not?Im waiting for Monoclonal allergy shots to be approved in Uk,my vet said that is the safest treatment for allergies,did anyone tried this injections?Is oily hair normal symptom of allergy or we are dealing with something else as well?

Our yorkie had the opposite - very dry skin and hair. She's been treated with antibiotics and prednisone. We are finishing a 30 day course of antibiotic to treat resistant infection.


What WORKED for the thinning hair is Melatonin. We were told to give her melatonin for a couple of months (we are still in progress) but within days the back of her ears had regrown hair and gradually the rest of her thinning areas (mostly chest, front of legs, and underside) are regrowning a nice coat. She's looking like a hairy yorkie again. We chose the smallest dose capsule we could find with the fewest offending ingredients - 3 mg timed release vegetarian capsules. We give them with a little banana squished around them and they slide down easily so no problem swallowing.

To be therapeutic, you MUST give Benadryl 4x a day (every 4-6 hrs) bc it has such a short half-life. So, if you're only giving it once a day, you may as well not give it at all, really.

If you really want to try an OTC allergy med, which almost never work for moderate/severe allergies btw, then then use a 24hr med - either Zyrtec or Claritin.

Allergies are *miserable* for dogs - and you're describing a pretty miserable dog here, with the irritated paws. PLEASE treat for allergies properly...your kiddo deserves it.

Since there is a year-round allergy - your options are injections/allerdrops, Atopica, or Apoquel.

More about allergies here: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...tart-here.html

I guess I wouldn't really be expecting hair changes just 9-10 days after starting a systemic med...?

Remember, skin is the *largest* organ of the body - so when it gets out of balance, it's going to take some time to heal.

If she has "small red pimples"...was a skin scraping done on those areas? Bc most likely, that's a skin infection called pyoderma and can only be treated with antibiotics from your vet.

Also, the full "ramp-up period" for Atopica is about 6 weeks, and you're not even at week 2 yet. So, you have to give it time to modulate the immune system as intended.

Yes, I've done the injections - I think I told you that in another thread, so I won't go over all the details here again. But, it didn't work for us. We went back to Atopica and then to Apoquel for Marcel, both of which work amazingly!

Thank you Wylie's mum for your reply,my vet said that her hair will start growing in 15 days from taking Atopica so I was surprised that I couldn't see any difference in 9-10 days since starting Atopica.I don't have any experience with this condition,she had skin scrape and results came back no infection or backteria 😳.You did mention in my previous posts injections but you didn't state if injection was Monoclonal which is fairly new medicine as well.There is difference between normal allergy injections which vets make specifically for the type of allergy which dog has and Monoclonal allergy injections.

The other information we were given by Wylie's mum was to ask if they did a back up culture on the scraping to make sure nothing grows out. So, as we've been treating our pup, if she relapses we'll be asking for a back up culture. Our scraping results from the quick test came back negative but it is antibiotics that seem to have successfully treated the bald spot.

Our little Gabi Lou has the same "problem". She is, virtually, the first animal that we have had in well over 55 years that has ever had allergy problems! We recently did the same thing as you did. I discovered that through our Vet we could have her blood tested for allergies. She is allergic to a lot of things so we are working on the food part of the problem. She is allergic to dust mites also, as well as many other things. :-) I am sure we will probably be getting her the allergy shots also. Today I am ordering some Probiotics from Mercola.com. Dr. Becker explained that dogs' intestinal tract is different from humans' intestinal tracts and therefor need different probiotics. We need to "boost" their immune system to help overcome the allergy problem. I have been giving my pets the same probiotics that we take. Good ones that are kept refrigerated and that I know work well, from experience. However, I am glad to know now that they aren't helping my pups.
I am very happy that your doggy is getting relief from the allergies.

I talked to our Vet about treatment for Gabi's allergies and of course illuminating the allergen is the foremost step, but like your little guy, Gabi is allergic to dust mites. I talked to him about treatment and told him that I didn't want any steroids or anything that suppressed the immune system. (That can cause a whole lot of other "problems".) The allergy shots "work" with the immune system. They are designed to make your dog immune to the specific allergens that are introduced into the shots. We are game to give it a try and see if it will work. Like your pup, Gabi chews her feet and legs, back side, etc. Hasn't damaged her skin from that though, but certainly has from the scratching!

The problem with steroids, from what I understand is that they suppress the immune system. :-(

I am doing the human version of the allergy shots. They give you small doses of the allergen hoping to eventually make you non reactive but its a long process and you have to treat the allergies with medicine in the mean time while you are boosting the immune system. You should be using something like apoquil. I imagine she is on a prescription diets since she has food allergies too?

Currently we will not use these drugs. They suppress the immune system which is not good IMHO. If we aren't able to help her some other way we may be forced to try them, but they will definitely be a last resort. This is an interesting and informative article if anybody is interested. Why I Wouldn't Give My Dog Apoquel - Dogs Naturally Magazine

You can't just let her suffer until the allergy shots work because that could take months. You really have to becareful with what you read. Many of us on here have our dogs on apoquel and it is an amazing drug and it is actually very safe.

Thank you.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

TOTALLY 1000% agree!

I have used both Atopica and Apoquel on my kiddos, and they are miracle meds for dogs with allergies. They can give quality of life back to a miserable, suffering, allergic dog.

ALL meds have *potential* side effects - every single one. That doesn't translate, for me, into withholding meds when they're so clearly needed. It means balancing the risk with quality of life.

Allergy shots didn't do a single thing for my Marcel, so we stopped. Shots only work in around....I think it's 30% of dogs, isn't it...? So, the chances aren't really all that great.

If your dog is suffering, please always consider using meds that *work* - even despite potential side effects. Remember, the key word is "potential".

Thank you. :-)

How long did you use them on your dogs and have they had any noticeable negative side effects?

Gabi isn't as bad as many I have read about, but she definitely is not comfortable a good portion of the day. Her skin is beautiful. Doesn't flake now that I found the correct shampoo for her. She can sleep well, eats well, exercises with glee, plays with Baxter, LOVES to be brushed. When she starts scratching and I see her I take her up and brush her and/or just rub different parts of her body and she relaxes and goes to sleep for a while. We DO want her to be comfortable and will probably end up compromising her immune system which I HATE to do!
I appreciate all the input I get from members of Yorkie Talk.

Ann, what she is talking about is not the allergy injections that you have tried. This is a new injection. I just posted about it in her other thread. It is a new thing.....Cytopoint. It is a monoclonal antibody therapy. So far, it is amazing in the relief it has provided for Hannah.

https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/cytopoint/

Oh, wow, COOLNESS :)!!!

So you've used this? How much was it?

Allergies
 

Thanks for all the information from everyone on various allergy treatments - meds and shots. Our pup just had her chip removed due to a reaction and it looks like we may have solved the problem. But, if issues continue this information is very educational.

The injection was $56 .... it will be really great if it lasts 8 weeks. TXVicki is who told me about it....she has had good results with it, too!

It looks like a very good drug with very few side effects. It was effective in over 80% of cases of atopic dermatitis. They also show before and after photos from case studies. Be sure to check out all of the drop-down tabs for details on the Cytopoint page: https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/cytopoint/

Thank you so much for posting this, I'm having a hard time with Callie's skin right now so I'm thinking of making an appointment and talking to my vet about this as soon as I can!

We just took Gabi to the vet again and got her the Cytopoint shot. The vet told us that from what he has seen so far, it works VERY well. He told us that you give it once a month but if there are good results, then you drag the time out more and eventually you may be able to quit them all together. So that is what we are doing. I find that Veterinary Silver spray works really quickly for healing wounds and it also give good temporary relief.

Keep us posted on how it works. BTW, I have a sister who lives in Wenatchee. We had a family reunion there last year.

Yes my Allie is getting this injection and has done great on it and have had no problems at all.