# Help deciding



## Ruthi (Nov 10, 2011)

I know there has been discussion on here about allergies, but, cant figure out how to find it. My daughters hav, is about 2 yrs old, and she has allergies. She took her a few months ago to the vet, and she gave her a steroid shot. Did better, but now is itching and licking like crazy. Took her to the vet again this morn. and vet said that doing blood work really isnt necessary. She gave her another steroid shot, and said she wont give more than 3 in a year. Said there is some kind of new pills you have to give your dog daily, Atopica. Any ideas, or advice for help, please?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Steroids are wonder drugs when needed, but they are NOT something you want in an animal's system for prolonged periods unless there are no other options. 

I'd look for a consult/second opinion with someone better versed in dog allergies.


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

I think there are different thoughts on the allergy testing. While many say/think it is not necessary and that they may not give you an accurate picture, we did go that route with Finn. He was having continual yeast ear infections, and it started before he was a year old. I contacted his breeder and found out that his daddy was having some allergy issues - after she had changed his food - he had been perfectly fine before that. She went the allergy testing route, changed his diet accordingly, and he has been doing much better. So, I decided to go through the expense of having Finn tested too, and changed his food. He also tested positive for grasses, trees, molds. And he does much better if I wash his face well and rinsing his paws after bringing him back inside. We have had some success with keeping his ear infections under control since changing his diet and I put drops in his ears a couple of times a week. Our vet told us that while sometimes the allergy testing and treatment sometimes isn't too successful, she has seen a fair amount of success with treating allergies with desensitization shots following allergy testing if avoidance of the offending allergens does not offer sufficient relief. She felt that in Finn's case, because he was so young when the allergies made an appearance, that it would be worth going this route.


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## Ruthi (Nov 10, 2011)

hmm. Her pup, fiona, hasnt had other infections like that. She is also an inside pup, uses pee pads. Has anyone had any experience with Atopica?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

motherslittlehelper said:


> I think there are different thoughts on the allergy testing. While many say/think it is not necessary and that they may not give you an accurate picture, we did go that route with Finn. He was having continual yeast ear infections, and it started before he was a year old. I contacted his breeder and found out that his daddy was having some allergy issues - after she had changed his food - he had been perfectly fine before that. She went the allergy testing route, changed his diet accordingly, and he has been doing much better. So, I decided to go through the expense of having Finn tested too, and changed his food. He also tested positive for grasses, trees, molds. And he does much better if I wash his face well and rinsing his paws after bringing him back inside. We have had some success with keeping his ear infections under control since changing his diet and I put drops in his ears a couple of times a week. Our vet told us that while sometimes the allergy testing and treatment sometimes isn't too successful, she has seen a fair amount of success with treating allergies with desensitization shots following allergy testing if avoidance of the offending allergens does not offer sufficient relief. She felt that in Finn's case, because he was so young when the allergies made an appearance, that it would be worth going this route.


My horse had BAD allergies when he was younger, and got hives all over him on a regular basis. He also had a problem with "stocking up", which means his lower legs would swell like stove pipes. He had to be on steroids several times to calm his system back down. They say the same things about allergy testing with horses as they do with dog... it can be a hit or miss solution. But regular use of steroids on horses is REALLY bad for them. So we went ahead with the allergy testing.

It turned out he was extremely allergic to alfalfa, almost every grain, fly bites and mosquito bites.We could avoid MOST of the food issues, (especially his worst trigger which was, and remains to be, alfalfa) and of course we kept bug repellent on him, but there's just no way to TOTALLY avoid bugs if you're a horse. So we started him on the allergy shots. It takes a LONG time to build up immunity, but it work very well! He was probably on the shots for 5 or 6 years, and then we decided to see if it would hold without the shots. He's been off them for 6 or 7 years, and unless we have a particularly bad mosquito year, or if we get a load of hay where alfalfa has gotten mixed in with the timothy (and the barn staff doesn't notice!) he's done fine. The shots worked better than I thought they would, and I do it in a minute with another animal with significant allergy problems.


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## Ruthi (Nov 10, 2011)

Never really ever thought about a horse having allergies, but then, I really dont know much about horses.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

just read an interesting article last night on allergies . Without going into too much detail and not all allergies are food related but the no. one step they mentioned was "remove sources of oxidized fatty acids from the diet by illiminating processed foods.,including rancid treats. A move to fresher whole sources of nutriton helps improve cellular balance, which improves tollerance to allergens and illness in general" .... The number one most processed food is kibble.


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## LochTess (Aug 22, 2009)

Ricky has SA and was taking Cyclosporine (Generic Atopica) for about 6 months.Ricky would frequently get sick with this medication even though we gave it with food but we stayed with it because it seemed to help a little...After 6 months he developed an over growth of gum tissue that almost completely covered his lower anterior teeth and the medication stopped working so we stopped giving it to him.

Ricky's dermatologist recommended this medication and I know it works well for a number of dogs but after reading these articles I was glad we stopped giving it to him.

http://www.2ndchance.info/atopica.htm

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/atopica-dangerous-dogs/



Ruthi said:


> hmm. Her pup, fiona, hasnt had other infections like that. She is also an inside pup, uses pee pads. Has anyone had any experience with Atopica?


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## roxie2519 (Jan 9, 2013)

omg my puppy had the same reaction! she tends to scratch and lick too much! It must have been from the vacciness


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