Anyone have experience with cyclosporine on your doxies? Hallie's immunotherapy shots aren't doing the trick this time of year and I'm wondering if they are even helping at all. Benedryl doesn't work on her and just makes her sleepy. A friend just told me her daughters lhasa was put on it for bad allergy itching and she is not itching at all now. I read it can cause tummy upset and it is not an antihistamine or a corticosteroid but I don't know how safe it is to use and if you can use it as needed or if they have to stay on it, mainly afraid of how hard it might be on an 11 yr old system, liver, kidneys, etc. I will be talking to the vet about it but hoped someone here may have used it and knows about it first hand. I'd love to get her off the shots if she doesn't need them she's always so good at the vet when we go every 3 weeks for her shot but she shakes like a leaf, I hate it for her!
Dee Dee looking at the write ups I'd still want to know the long term effects, as it seems to be a cure all. One site says 6 weeks till you see any effects and has gastro side effects. Have you tried the sardines ..........
With Emma, I know years ago now we were told by the skin test guy you had to rotate antihistamines as they get used to then so we used to give her say Benydryl a few times then another then another then start the rotation again.
Let us know how you go.
roberta
ps another we used was phenirgan...and with that we also found sometimes the antihistamine in another form ie the tablet form did not work of phenergan but the liquid did.
Thanks for checking it out Roberta! I didn't see the part where it took up to 6 weeks to work. The immunotherapy shots take up to 9 months so we can't take her off them for a while to see if she'd be worse because if she was, she'd have to go months before getting some benefit again. Grrrr. I forgot about Papbouv's sardines darn it! I was excited when I read it, and of course it left my old brain immediately. I will try that!
I didn't know about rotating antihistamines either. I have only used benedryl twice, years ago, and it was just a couple doses each time as she still would itch and would sleep. I will talk to the vet about that again too. I have not heard for phenirgan...will look that up also. I imagine there is some combo of things out there that will help, frustrating trying to figure it out while she is still scratching.
Never heard of this....so sending non scratching rays to our Hallie Berry Butt...... this year has been awful for allergies..... Rudy has been itching and he never has....I tried Benedryl with not much luck. I got some Chloripenephrine (sp?) from the vet and is seems to help...just praying for the next season to kick in...and hoping the itching will abate. Keep us posted !
Remember the sardines were packed in water and for Hallie size I would think one or two would work when i wrote it I got it from Doberman talk. Might try honey but it has to be from a local area that is the bees visit local plants.
Dog Fancy magazine Oct 2007 remedy for hot spots & Itching equal parts of Original Listerine, baby oil & water shake it up spray on itchy area on dog.
When I had Gizmo my old Papillon she had a skin problem three vets local did not know what it was went back and forth with them about 3 months. I finely took her to a dog dermatologist she said to bathe her in Chlorhexi Derm 2% Shampoo let her soak for 5-10 minutes also give Clarition I think or the Benedryl. Of course there is always )Porky's oatmeal rinses where you take oatmealuse a food processor gind it into a fine flour mix in water let dog soak 5-10 minutes do not rinse just pat dry lightly with a towel. Good luck hope something helps. Also go to Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar web site has more information about the Organic Apple cider vinegar some times that helps also.
Thanks Barb we hope the itchies get wrangled for both Rudy and Hallie soon too! It makes them so miserable!
Papbouv I did buy a can of sardines today but as usual I'm afraid to give her something noew. :verdict: I'll start with a tiny piece to be sure it doesnt' upset her tummy. I have been giving her fish oil so am wondering if there is something additional in sardines or is it the same omega 3s that will help, if it does help?
I have tried local honey, apple cider vinegar, oatmeal baths, you name it, nothing makes a dent. I have to admit, with all 3 of my dogs I always tried tons of natural things to help them and not one thing ever did. So I am kind of skeptical about anything natural since I have not seen it work on my kids. But I am always open to try as long as it doesn't hurt! I have tried many different shampoos also plus antihistamines, now I've been just soaking her feet in cool water and that will help for a short time. I was hoping cyclosporine would be a miracle drug but it is sounding too hard on her system to try.
Remember when using herbal type medication they have to be on it long term before you see any results. Also if you want to use the herbal rout look up Rescue Remedy s Bach flowers they have allot of different flowers that might help. Have you tried using a Herbal type vet ? Holistic vet is what I was trying to come up with. Of course there is Acupuncture but not sure if it helps with itches.
My Buddy is still bald on his right side after going to the vet twice 1st time a shot & Antibiotics, 2nd vet visit Predisone pills & antibiotics
Thank goodness we finely had our 1st cool day Buddy outside all day Patches out most of the day too.Hope the weather will make the itches go away. My sister s Boston Terrier Spike has been to the vet 4 times but she feeds Beneful I think that maybe part of his problem she does not see how since he has ate it for years.???I did read something about how some dogs are becoming allergic to chicken because of what they are feeding chickens now days something about antibiotics in the chicken food but I'm not 100% on that.
I had always given the natural stuff a long run for it to work but it never did in our case. I took my last 2 kids, Fred (Dane) and Jessie (LH Doxie) to a Holistic vet, Dr. Pitcairn in Oregon, he wrote a book (complete guide to natural health for dogs and cats) and he sent me home with lots of recipes and nux vomica etc etc I did that for a long time but didn't see any results. They both got acupuncture also, we drove with a friend who took her dobie, almost 2 hours each way twice a week for a few months for that and again didn't see any difference. Tried chiropractors also. That was before I had a computer so I wrote to every vet in the country I could find that I thought might help with all the health problems they had. My vet saved all of her vet journals for me and I would tear out any article that was something my 2 had, I still have them all in folders in a filing cabinet behind me here. I tried everything under the sun, my poor Fred only lived to 6, I put over $10,000.00 into vets, naturopaths, different products to try, even took him to an acupuncture symposium in Seattle and crashed it to talk to the vets that had come to see if any could help. I got one to go out to my van with me and give him an adjustment. Paid her of course.
Poor Buddy I hope his itchies go away soon too. Allergies are no fun. Glad it is getting cooler for you guys. We are finally warming up a bit!
The oncologist visit we went to Wednesday, she said beef is the strongest for allergies, followed by chicken. So you are right. She suggested I switch Hallie to lamb or duck thinking I would try salmon but worry about the mercury. I can't see how it can be food allergy anyway as she is so much better in winter but like the oncologist said could be underlying and push her over the edge this time of year so worth a try.
I'll let you know how the sardines work out! Fingers crossed. :xfinger:
Dee Dee, if you are worried about ie mercury only ever buy human grade................you probably do...........your FDA is the highest in the world for those things. Our pair would kill for salmon, smoked preferably, also try beef from anther source ie say europe or OZ fed on diffrent food, as our wee mites don't really eat that much it may not be that expensive.............can you get kangaroo there as its low fat. Do you get much lamb there.
I will send you a bottle of that Alpha kerri stuff even helped Jamies patooooti (another story).
Roberta
I didn't know our FDA was the top ranking, that's cool. I don't eat much salmon myself because they tell us no more than once a week in case of mercury. I do get her fish oil that has whatever the certification is that says it's safe, etc. I did some more googling on sardines and it said they are small and have a short life span so the mercury isn't as big of an issue. I have some freeze dried salmon treats for her do you guys have that? Tell the kids I would kill for smoked salmon too. Hee!
Good idea about beef from another source, I noticed some australian treats at the store we go to the other day I'll take a closer look and see what it is. I actually have some kangaroo treats also!! First time ever, got free samples at a pet fair, was thinking of getting more she loves them. Yes we do get lamb here she is on lamb now, both treats and food, but I am not being 100% strict with it so I know it's not a good test for allergies but I hadn't started doing a food trial yet with her.
I would love some of the alpha kerri stuff, is there somewhere I can order it online (the right stuff I couldnt' find it before) then you won't have to go to the trouble of sending it? If not and you do send it do you have PayPal and I will reimburse you plus shipping. Awesome thanks!!! Hug the kids for us and you know that we need to hear the Jamies patootie story now LOL.
My friend is about to try Schatzi's best buddy, Murphy with the sardines. He has horrible allergies and when I told her about them, she thought they were defnitely worth trying. She just had to wait until her son left for school in California again since he thinks anything that is people food should be off limits and she didn't want to hear him complain about it. I had picked them up at the store for her and she had actually forgotten about them until today. Hopefully she will remember to start him tomorrow. I'll know if she does since she will probably text me in the morning to ask me again how much to give him! If they work, she will be thrilled since he often wakes her up at night scratching.
What type of doctor is the oncologist ? Hope the Sardines work was just something I read on Doberman talk of course I believe in trying anything once so hope they work. Know sometimes it pays to go to a specialist It did when I had Gizmo but I had spent allot at our regular vet first.Good Luck to everyone.
cancer or tumour, at least in humans,
Roberta
I will be very interested to hear how Murphy does on the sardines. I hope they work! Please let us know? If I find out anything further to try too I'll let you know. Thanks Teresa.
Papbouv an oncologist is a cancer doctor, she gave a talk on preventing canine cancers not long ago that I went to and we went to her to get one on one advice for what best to do for Hallie. Hallie does have a dermatologist, since she was a year old, but they won't give any information out over the phone and he has moved to more than 2 hours away from us. So we haven't been up lately, last time I took her clear up there to see what more we could give her, he just said benedryl but that doesn't work with her. I called his office about a month ago and the lady said she couldn't give out any info over the phone, I'd have to come up, I told her I didn't want to put Hallie through that if all he has to offer again is benedryl but didn't get anyhwhere with her. So taking it into my own hands and trying to learn some new stuff. I think I will take her up though to talk about changing her shot schedule etc although he didn't offer that before either. :dontknow:
That is what worried me did not think either of you had cancer or I had missed something hoe you can come up with something for the itching on Miss Halie. Rays & Hugs ,Patches,Buddy, & papbouv
Ah shoot, yes I'm sorry I should have clarified! It did bother me to be taking her to that kind of a clinic but I was glad to learn a few things to do for her. The cool water soaks seem to help her too at least for a while. We are finally lighting down and will be home for a couple of days so will try the sardines! Her itchies do seem to be taming down a little last few days, but still more than I like to see her go through. We'll keep trying things until we get something to work!