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Treatment & Preventative Meds / Max's allergies are driving me nuts, sorry this is so long
« on: December 20, 2007, 08:47:48 pm »
Help! I am at my wit's end and poor Max is pathetic. The base of his tail and his lower back are bloody again today from his chewing. Since January of last year, we have been fighting his allergies trying to find a solution. On the advice of our vet and our vet allergist we have done the following;
Given him 5 generic benadryl 3 times daily. Small improvement. The brand name benadryl don't help since we can only find caplets and they apparently don't dissolve quickly enough to be effective. We have tried a slew of other antihistamines to no avail. We have had numerous deep skin scrapings done to see if there is anything else going on and each one has been negative. We have used numerous shampoos, conditioners, etc. Some helped for a few hours, and some did nothing. We have used Benadryl and other anti itch sprays as well as gold bond powder. They help for a few hours at most. We had him tested in June for allergies. He is allergic to dust mites, fleas, fungii and mold. We started him on the allergy serum in July. As per the instructions we gradually worked him up to 1 ml, but never saw enough improvement to get past the 7 day interval. In October, we were told to back him down to .4 and gradually bring him back up to see if that made a difference. No, it hasn't. We have had the A/C ductwork cleaned, removed the dining room carpet and replaced it with tile, scraped down all the popcorn ceilings and had orange peel texture sprayed in. We vacumn the bedroom carpet every other day and clean the carpet weekly. I sweep daily and steam clean the tile weekly. I wash all the dogs bedding, including the stuffing twice a week. I have not seen fleas in 6 months and have the house and yard sprayed monthly. We use the dust mite spray on the carpet. I wash our bedding weekly and we have a waterbed, so it is not the mattress. Cody is allergic to most all grasses, trees, dust mites, fungii and mold, so I do not let the dogs play in the yard or stay out on the deck. Cody is on allergy serum and once a month is working great for him. No itching, etc. Currently we are giving Max .7 ml weekly of the allergy serum, giving him Atarax twice daily, using the powder and sprays and baths and he is still chewing and itching. The vet and allergist and I agree that he is still too young to be put on Prednisone. Has anyone dealt with allergies? What did you do? Any ideas or comments will be appreciated.
Kathy
Given him 5 generic benadryl 3 times daily. Small improvement. The brand name benadryl don't help since we can only find caplets and they apparently don't dissolve quickly enough to be effective. We have tried a slew of other antihistamines to no avail. We have had numerous deep skin scrapings done to see if there is anything else going on and each one has been negative. We have used numerous shampoos, conditioners, etc. Some helped for a few hours, and some did nothing. We have used Benadryl and other anti itch sprays as well as gold bond powder. They help for a few hours at most. We had him tested in June for allergies. He is allergic to dust mites, fleas, fungii and mold. We started him on the allergy serum in July. As per the instructions we gradually worked him up to 1 ml, but never saw enough improvement to get past the 7 day interval. In October, we were told to back him down to .4 and gradually bring him back up to see if that made a difference. No, it hasn't. We have had the A/C ductwork cleaned, removed the dining room carpet and replaced it with tile, scraped down all the popcorn ceilings and had orange peel texture sprayed in. We vacumn the bedroom carpet every other day and clean the carpet weekly. I sweep daily and steam clean the tile weekly. I wash all the dogs bedding, including the stuffing twice a week. I have not seen fleas in 6 months and have the house and yard sprayed monthly. We use the dust mite spray on the carpet. I wash our bedding weekly and we have a waterbed, so it is not the mattress. Cody is allergic to most all grasses, trees, dust mites, fungii and mold, so I do not let the dogs play in the yard or stay out on the deck. Cody is on allergy serum and once a month is working great for him. No itching, etc. Currently we are giving Max .7 ml weekly of the allergy serum, giving him Atarax twice daily, using the powder and sprays and baths and he is still chewing and itching. The vet and allergist and I agree that he is still too young to be put on Prednisone. Has anyone dealt with allergies? What did you do? Any ideas or comments will be appreciated.
Kathy