At last

[J20]

As some of you know I have had lots of problems with my 18 month old Mabel. Well at last after months of steroids , anti inflams etc etc , her tests are back and she is allergic to not 1, not 2, but 12 ! things. :eek:

Some of the things she is allergic to, and may never go near but just in case
3 types of bread moulds
3 types of cheese moulds
2 types of grass
dust
soft toys
some pollens

thankfully no foods
so the next step is a speacial injection has to be made up of all the things that affect her and then she will have these once a month for the next 10 months. it should help to build her immune system against them. If not she will be on steroids for the rest of her days and I will have to live with a bald frenchie :rolleyes:

[gmacleod]

Well, it might be 12 things... but at least you now know what they are! That's at least the first step in helping her. I hope the allergy injections are helpful also (it's not always the case, but it does seem to be for a good percentage).

[J20]

I wonder how many have had success with this treatment. It is very expensive and may not work? :( there must be some thing some where. Apparently there is a tablet in the U.S but it's not offered here because of the lack of knowledge of side affects :(

[Piperloo]

I have been giving Hudson allergy injections since last November. I had already noticed a significant decrease in her itching by the beginning of April. appicon While April was not quite the height of allergy season here things were starting to come into bloom already. Unfortunately at the end of April she herniated another disc and has been on a course of prednisone so we are unable at this point to get an accurate guage of how the allergy vaccine is helping for her first full blown allergy season. :eek:

Hudson also has allergies to ragweed, grasses, many different tree pollens, cats, fleas, wool, dust mites....:eek: I have encased her dog bed insert in a plastic garbage bag and then put the cover over it. I wash the cover every week. She sleeps with us so we have dust mite mattress covers on our bed and also our pillow cases. I wash ALL the bedding every week. Throw rugs, and anything fabric that's not nailed down - literally ;) - gets washed every week. For that reason I have switched from curtains to blinds and when we replaced flooring in different rooms we put down hardwood rather than carpeting.

We keep her inside right after the grass is being mowed. We use flea protection on her. We don't have a cat but she does come to work with me right now where she is exposed to cats. Honestly I don't see a difference in her comfort level. ;)

I feel like life is better for her since she's been allergy tested. Now I feel like I have a better handle on things and can help make her world more comfortable since I know what will be a potential trigger. :D

As for the pill that you are referring to...I believe you mean Atopica. It is very expensive and treats for general allergens - nothing specific. It is cyclosporin.

[J20]

The injection does not sound all doom & gloom then. I suppose it also depends on the dog.
it will be 4 weeks before it is ready but it can't come soon enough for me. I have just ordered Pillows, bedding etc and we only have carpet in one room, but she rarely goes in there.

Thanks for the info appicon

[kasia]

for what it's worth, i wanted to share what i'm doing with my dog's seasonal allergies. mooi (11 months old) has developed all the classic allergy symptoms as soon as things started growing in spring: sneezing, runny nose, red itchy paws. i wanted to try avoiding steroids or strong antihistamines, so have done some investigating into natural remedies. at the suggestion of other frenchie owners who are using naturopathy to treat their dogs, i ended up choosing the naturopathic antihistamine quercetin, and use colloidal silver on the actual paws. the reason for these two options was that quercetin is supposed to boost immunity to allergens and colloidal silver is an anti-inflammatory and an antiseptic. both are available in health food stores in canada, and i imagine elsewhere. in addition, i've increased mooi's fish and fish oil intake.

i have to say that either one of these or the combination seems to have helped. he's much less sneezy, and his paws, while still red (but no longer raw and sore), don't seem to bother him (he's not licking them, or showing any signs of being annoyed by the itch). he still goes on grass (i live in the city and all the dog areas are in neighbourhood parks, and i'm not going to limit mooi's access to dogs). it may be coincidental (ie. he's allergy may be confined to spring only and it on its way out), but the treatment certainly didn't hurt and may have helped.

i realize that this treatment may not work for all allergies, and i would concur with removing allergens as much as possible for household and food sources. so this might be best for outdoor plant-based allergies. it's worth a try, and it's a lot less expensive than conventional medication.

kasia

[Piperloo]

I forgot to mention....Hudson also gets twice weekly baths in an antibacterial/anti-yeast shampoo. I also clean her ears weekly to keep the yeast down.

I can't remember if Mabel was getting secondary skin infections due to the allergies...but Hudson does and that is the reason for the baths. I have noticed a HUGE difference if I miss the baths. In this course of time with her spinal problems I haven't been able to bathe her for a number of weeks and she developed a pyoderma. She is now on a course of antibiotics to get her back under control until I can restart her baths.

(Yes, it does sound like she is falling apart, doesn't it? :lol: She is actually doing quite well. appicon)

If Mabel has secondary skin infections also it may be advantageous to bathe her in conjunction with the allergy vaccine. :)

[J20]

I forgot to mention....Hudson also gets twice weekly baths in an antibacterial/anti-yeast shampoo. I also clean her ears weekly to keep the yeast down.

I can't remember if Mabel was getting secondary skin infections due to the allergies...but Hudson does and that is the reason for the baths. I have noticed a HUGE difference if I miss the baths. In this course of time with her spinal problems I haven't been able to bathe her for a number of weeks and she developed a pyoderma. She is now on a course of antibiotics to get her back under control until I can restart her baths.

(Yes, it does sound like she is falling apart, doesn't it? :lol: She is actually doing quite well. appicon)

If Mabel has secondary skin infections also it may be advantageous to bathe her in conjunction with the allergy vaccine. :)

Ahh poor little thing hope all goes well :) .

Mabel keeps shacking her head and has torn her face and ears to bits, but I had her ears checked and they are ok, they must just itch. I was told by the vet to squeeze half an evening primrose & fish oil caplet on her food as this should help releive the itching :confused: She squeals when she catches her face with her nails and ends up with bloody wrinkles. I just bathe them in cold water with alittle witch hazel i have to bath her once a week to remove pollens/dust. lets hope the injections work :rolleyes:

[AKFrenchieMom]

We had the shots developed for Bean. We did them at home in gradually increasing amounts. Unfortunately, they made her very ill, and after consulting the vet we decided to discontinue the program when even in the most minor doses she reacted.

She is also massively allergic to dust mites and mold spores (we live some place where it rains 13 feet a year!) not to mention the pollens she is allergic to. I find that cleaning and washing bedding helps a lot. I also make sure to keep her bathed regularly in antiitch soap. She is currently on prednisone every other day, but that is due to some strange muscle dengenerative disorder that afflicted her last August. We actually almost lost her. She lost a third of her body weight in less than two weeks, and all of it was muscle. We also found out that her kidneys were shutting down. However, she is now doing well; she goes on hour long walks again. She has regained some of her body muscle, but her head will always remain skeletal. Our vet tested her for everything under the sun, (including calling in from his vacation because he had an idea for a new test) but we never pinpointed exactly what it was. We thought maybe Addisons, but not everything pointed in that direction. More than likely it has something to do with allergies. Luckily, she improved and is doing well. I learned that every day with her is a gift!

[J20]

We had the shots developed for Bean. We did them at home in gradually increasing amounts. Unfortunately, they made her very ill, and after consulting the vet we decided to discontinue the program when even in the most minor doses she reacted.

She is also massively allergic to dust mites and mold spores (we live some place where it rains 13 feet a year!) not to mention the pollens she is allergic to. I find that cleaning and washing bedding helps a lot. I also make sure to keep her bathed regularly in antiitch soap. She is currently on prednisone every other day, but that is due to some strange muscle dengenerative disorder that afflicted her last August. We actually almost lost her. She lost a third of her body weight in less than two weeks, and all of it was muscle. We also found out that her kidneys were shutting down. However, she is now doing well; she goes on hour long walks again. She has regained some of her body muscle, but her head will always remain skeletal. Our vet tested her for everything under the sun, (including calling in from his vacation because he had an idea for a new test) but we never pinpointed exactly what it was. We thought maybe Addisons, but not everything pointed in that direction. More than likely it has something to do with allergies. Luckily, she improved and is doing well. I learned that every day with her is a gift!

Hope all goes well, can not wait to start the injections fingers crossed. She should get it in 2 weeks