Paws to Save Pets

PAWS TO SAVE PETS
http://us.merial.com/pawstosavepets/home.asp

This is a consortium between Merial (the people who make Frontline and Heartgard) and Petfinder to help lost pets. It's a wonderful program. Please support it.

new rescued dog update

The dog we took in a few weeks ago that I posted about earlier...the one who broke INTO my fence....has now been spayed. The vet said she was not pregnant so that's a blessing. She's also, thankfully and blessedly, heartworm negative. She is now updated on her shots, and her personality is beginning to show. She's sweet, super inquisitive, playful, and a velcro dog. The velcro dog part is likely due to her mistreatment so that now she's seeking protection and recognizes me as alpha of this pack and, therefore, her protector. She's learning to be a good dog and smart enough to get it pretty well. Her only drawback is that she'll counter surf. The danged dog ate half a wheel of brie! I left it on the table, stepped out of the room, and came back to the whole thing in her mouth. Fortunately, I was able to get her to drop it before she swallowed and made herself sick. I am the idiot who left brie on the table, but none of my dogs would ever touch it. They know better. Oh, well, she's learning and will make someone a great dog once she realizes that not everyone is going to hit her I shook paper at her to get her attention, without thinking that it would scare her, and she crouched down to the floor, braced for a blow. Stupid idiot previous owners must've hit her with newspapers or something. I hate people.

veterinary dermatologist helped

We've had our visit with the veterinary dermatologist. My poor baby has multiple instances of both bacterial and fungal infections, caused by the excessive licking/biting/scratching which is induced by allergies. We have to clear up all of the infections first before we can really do anything about the allergies. However, the doctor prescribed hydroxyzine 3x daily at 50 mg/dose to control the allergies for now. She's also taking antibiotics, antifungals, and ear drops plus a 1x weekly bath in two different medicated shampoos and an ear cleanser. She actually seems to be feeling better in just two days of medication and, especially, after the bath. Somehow my regular vet never even checked for the infections, even though I've taken her several times, and just kept giving her prednisone. The prednisone has caused her skin to be very thin and wrinkly and her hair to become very thin/sparse/dull/dry and just plain awful. I didn't know that was a side effect of prednisone until the vet derm told me. Great, thanks regular vet for being incompetent. My regular vet also did check for the dermatitis that is present in the webs of her feet or tell me how the bronzing in her fur is a sign of dermatitis. So many things the vet derm showed me seemed obvious once I knew what I was looking at and for. Shouldn't a trained vet know these things? Perhaps, perhaps not as a vet is basically a general practioner. Women go to specialists just for the annual gyne visit so why do we expect a general vet to be a specialist in everything. We can't. However, my regular vet also did not recommend the vet dermatologist. By chance, I found out that these specialists exist (also for cardiac, internist, etc) and happened to find one somewhat near. I'm so glad I did! Atleast now someone can help me figure out what is wrong with her and try to fix or manage it. They sent a blood sample to a lab for allergen testing. We can only hope something will pop that we can begin to manage with allergy injections. Otherwise, she'll have to have a whole panel of skin allergen testing, which is awful. One other possibility in this is hypothyroidism, but the tests for that are expensive and difficult so we're trying the allergen test first, but, also, the vet derm thinks it's allergies rather than her thyroid based on the symptoms and clinical presentation.
If your dog has very itchy skin, I highly recommend taking him to a vet dermatologist. It's not cheap, but it's worth it if the dog's issues can be managed and they aren't chewing themselves raw. Many people have suggested a food allergy, but she's been eating fish and potatoes vet food for 4 months with no change. That's not to say that she doesn't have a food allergy, she might, but that's not the only allergy she has if so.
We'll be going back to see the vet derm in a few weeks to see how she's progressing with the current therapy and to discuss the results of the allergen test. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

PS Of course, just today, I stumbled on this website
http://animal.discovery.com/guides/healthcenter/dogs/diseases/testing.html
that talks all about the allergy testing, etc. Would've been nice to find this a few months ago.