stormie

That's it hey. The thing is, our dogs don't worry if they're on cortisone like we do. For me personally, I'd rather Orbit live a shortened, but healthy, happy and relatively symptom free life of say 5 years on cortisone, then live a miserable, itchy, uncomfortable life of 10 years. I just enjoy every day I have with him and glad he's not ripping himself apart and up all night crying cause he's so damn itchy!

Yep I use it and love it. Keeps skin hydrated which helps with the itchies, and I have also wondered whether it can help to create a bit of a skin barrier to reduce the amount of allergens absorbed/coming into contact with the skin

This has come up in plenty of topics before (I'm getting sick of posting the same thing ) but the triennial vaccines are not exactly the same as the annuals. One of them has a higher amount of adenovirus particles and the other one I think has a higher amount of parvo and something else? Can't remember exactly but one particular virus was more than 3 times the amount than the same company's annual. The annual vaccines have been proven to last 3 years in most cases, so if I were you and you weren't in or travelling in high risk parvo areas, I'd just be vaccinating my dog every 3 years (or less) with a standard annual C3.

Erny, I totally understand where you are coming from. But what if, for example, the hives were due to an excessive staph infection (dogs can be allergic to staph) and something like a long course of one type of antibiotic were enough to fix the issue and break the cycle, and thus resolve the problem? I guess the way I see it, is that Dermatologists are specialist in that field and do it because they love it. There's a process of elimination because it works. And I'm not saying that alternative treatments don't work, because I'm sure in many cases they can be of great benefit. But wouldn't it be more helpful to get a proper, correct diagnosis first so that you know where you stand with treatments? I know many people are very against cortisone, and used incorrectly, it can be a nasty drug. But it can also be very useful to break cycles and in many cases just a simple short course can be enough. I've seen plenty of itchy, hivey dogs come in that are a mess and the owners have been washing in all sorts of concoctions to try to help but the problem kept getting worse. In most cases, it was that the dog had a reaction to a plant and started a cycle of inflammation and infection, which after 1 simple course of cortisone and some AB's, was fixed and never recurred. Sure there are probably lots of vets out there who throw their hands up when dealing with allergic, itchy dogs, and just put them on cortisone because its cheaper, easier and it works. It may not be ideal, but I can tell you from experience, most owners prefer it to the thought of spending thousands on testings and just want the problem fixed, for the sake of them and the sake of their dogs. I've even seen people go through the whole Derm process and at the end of it, just go back to pred, because for them, it was the only thing that worked. This certainly isn't a pro-cortisone post, more just offering a different opinion. I just don't think it should be painted as such a nasty drug, because it can be of great benefit and really improve quality of life.

The reason the vet may have suggested the stay was because puppies can dehydrate quickly, so vet would have been able to put her on a drip to replace fluids...

If you'd read from the start you might see that i didn't just drop him off and pick him up within 50 mins. You said you left at 10am and he was desexed and ready to go by 10:50am. I'm sure your vet is great but I still find it odd that any vet would send an animal home after such a short period after desexing. Thats JMO.

Am I the only one who thinks its completely bizarre and unheard of for a vet to do all the things mentioned and have the dog ready to go home in 50mins? Sure, removing the testicles takes about 10mins, but that doesn't include all the pre surgical stuff?? How long did the vet spend giving the dog a check over prior to its vaccine? Pre meds are usually given 15mins prior to induction, then there's clipping the area, prepping it etc? Was the gas turned off and the dog carried into the owners car or something?!

This is Orbits crate when he first came home. He had bedding, toys and his food/water bowls in there. Eventually it was mostly just bedding and the odd toy when he'd take them in.

hmmm interesting!! I've only ever seen overgrowth kind of similar to that (though not that excessive) in dogs that were on immune suppressants. Thats probably not very helpful though!

The Eagle Pack Anchovy is the only dry food I know of that doesn't have chicken in it. Could you feed this and add a fattier red meat? Tucker Time have a poultry free roll too which you could use with the Eagle Pack? My dog is allergic to chicken and fish and I've searched far and wide for a dry that contains neither, with no luck.

It's probably just an injection site lump, but if you are worried I would say go see the vet just for piece of mind. With regards to the cancer (vaccine/injection site sarcoma), this is something that's only seen in cats, so not something you have to worry about.

Why on earth would a vet give meloxicam injection for skin irritation It does nothing for skin inflammation! Souff - I understand that cortisone is not always the nicest drugs, but there are times when there's nothing else that helps. So yes, I've spared that thought, but I've also spared a thought for my dog's quality of life, and in fact his life in general. We've tried everything - natural remedies, herbs, homeopathics, done the desensitizing injections etc etc. The only thing that gives my dog relief from the constant scratching is cortisone and cyclosporin. Without it, he'd have been put to sleep long ago because of the severity of his itching. So yep, his life might not be shorter than other Danes, but in reality, cortisone has lengthened it. And at about 30-60cents a tablet, they're hardly going to pay for the vets new car. Anways, sounds weird to me. The OP said the dog gets itchy seasonally. Yet the vet prescribed what was likely a 10 day course of antibiotics for the skin, and gave the dog a NSAID which would have been of no benefit to the skin/allergy whatsoever. If this worked, then the allergy is likely to be mild and that secondary skin infections were what was making the dog itchy, rather than severe skin inflammation. So I would be using a medicated shampoo more regularly through the allergy season and see if that helps. Otherwise I'd be going to see a different vet who knows a bit more about skin/allergies.

Ah yep, we get those occasionally too. Or the ones who ask what time you close for surgery and then show up half an hour after that closing time.

Ah yep - Rilexine is the generic name for Cephalexin which is an antibiotic used commonly for skin infections

It'll work great for now, because it's a new chemical so there's no resistance. I did some research on this about 12 months ago now and I'm certain it was the same stuff that researched showed insects were quick to develop a resistance. I think for people who have had poor results with all the other spot ons, it could be great, but if everyone jumps on it and starts using it, its only a matter of time until it joins all the others and starts to fail...

I'm surprised that the clinic has previously been operating on a walk-in basis for the last 20 years. Mind you, I do wonder if the reason it coped was because it wasn't really that busy, and perhaps that was because those who came in and had to wait, never came back. The more we think about it and the busier we get, the more we're realising that appointments really are the only way to go. The sign out the front which was put up when they moved in says to phone for an appointment, so most of our new clients are quite a few of our previous clients are starting to book a time. But there are still plenty of others who are just walking in, and on saturdays when it's really busy, makes it quite hard, but atleast we can demonstrate to those who just walked in, why its now essential to make an appointment. Our previous boss was a shocker for running late. I think he'd just been in the job too long and was a bit over it, but if someone made a 9am appointment and arrived 5 mins earlier, he'd still happily make them wait 15mins or so. I think in his mind, it made the place look busier than what it really was. In reality though, it just made the clients frustrated and the nurses too, who had to cop the humphs from the annoyed clients. We're going to organise a Meet and Greet BBQ in the new year, just as a bit of a thing to advertise the place is under new management and let the people come by to meet us and see what we're about etc. Would be great if a few DOLers could pop by to come meet us and our doggies!!!

One of our clients is a breeder. They're not recognised by the ANKC yet I don't believe, but I think they're trying. They imported their adults - they are stunning dogs.

I use Phenergan with Orbit at a rate of 1mg/kg twice a day - so he gets 2 25mg tablets in the morning and then 2 again at night. I also give him Megaderm oil once a day - it actually improves the efficacy of the antihistamines, which then means you can lessen the amount of cortisone needed. It makes me sleep for days if I take just 1, but it doesn't really make a lot of difference to him even with taking 4! He is a little sleepier maybe, but I don't really notice it. The older generation antihistamines seem to work a little better, that is, the ones that make people drowsy such as Phenergan and Polarimine, though there are people who have had success with the newer, non drowsy variety like Zyrtec and Claratyne etc... I'd really stay away from the long acting injection. It stays around in their system too long and doesn't let you adjust the dose. Not sure what the blue pills would be though, most of the blue pills I know are cortisone, which generally don't make dogs sleepy, and I don't know why the vet would be giving them to you to use at the same time as a long acting injection?

Google 'Atopy' and have a read up about it. You're lucky if it's mostly seasonal - my boy is allergic 24/7/365 as not only is his pollens, but it's also dust mites and many other things. He also has contact allergies to many different plants and grasses, but he is worse over the spring/summer 'allergy season'. The wandering jew wouldn't be helping, and might help to reduce the itching, but I'd still be looking at atopy... I'd be looking at an antihistamine trial to see if you can find one that helps, as well as incorporating some omega oil supplements to assist with the inflammation. A good medicated shampoo wouldn't go astray either, to help keep the secondary skin infections, which increase the itchies, under control during the itchy period.

I was always under the impression the only true way to rid your garden of this plant was to rip it all out and dispose of it quickly. With Wandering Jew, its more of an irritant to the dogs rather than an allergy - similar to how plants like stinging nettle hurt us. There's something in the chemical make up of the plant which irritates dogs skin for some reason. If your dog is getting yearly seasonal flare ups, I would be considering that your dog is actually Atopic - that is, suffers allergies from pollens in the environment. Wandering Jew is around all year, and obviously wouldn't be helping with the itchies, but if the itchies subsides over winter, I would say there are other causes. I would be getting this investigated with your vet a bit more. Once you have a proper diagnosis, then you can look at different treatment options. eta: is the cortisone injection your dog is getting the long lasting one (about a month)? If so, I'd be asking for cortisone tablets to get you through the allergy season if that's the case - much better for them and you can control the dose a lot better. My dog is on regular cortisone for his allergies and has been for 2 years - he has minor side effects on the days he has his pills, but other than that it's managed very well to keep him on the lowest dose possible, every second day.

I think I read the same article and would be interested in people's replies too

I totally agree awww thanks! It's so great to be apart of something that's not about the money and with someone who's completely open to new things.

Thanks for all the replies. The clinic has always been a single vet clinic (with the previous owner there was another vet who worked 1 set day a week but now it's just the soul vet) so there's not really a problem with people not getting to see the vet they want. I don't think the place was as busy with the previous owner as it seems to be getting now, so I don't think the existing clients have ever had a problem with having to wait too long and with crazy animals in the waiting room! But you've all confirmed everything we had thought, so in the new year we are going to put up notices and start encouraging people to make appointments where possible in the future. Thanks! Your input is very much appreciated - sounds corny I know, but we really want to make the clinic something special and do what we can to help our clients.

Thanks for the responses so far - agree with all. Interestingly when we told one of our clients yesterday, her response was "goodness, I've never heard of having to make an appointment for a vet before", but glad to know that doesn't seem to be the normal attitude!

Ok I hope this works.. My new boss and I have recently taken over a new clinic. The previous clinic we worked at together operated by appointments only, obviously with the exception of emergencies. The new clinic never had appointments, just consultation hours, and people were able to just walk in at any time during those hours and would wait to be seen. We prefer the appointment system and feel that it's particularly important for clients when they are having their pets pts, as you can where possible, arrange for the time after to be quiet, so they don't have to face a waiting room full of people when they are upset. We haven't put up any major sinage encouraging people to make appts yet though, as we are still a little bit unsure whether it's the right way to go. We are becoming increasingly busy and I feel people would appreciate having a set time to be seen, rather than walking in and potentially be waiting a very long time to be seen, particularly on weekends. So the point of the poll - which do you prefer? Do you prefer to make a scheduled time to be seen, with the idea that you won't have to wait around an awfully long time and also not be faced wth a waiting room full of other animals? Or do you prefer the option of being able to walk in at any time without minding the wait? (obviously I'm talking about non emergencies and anything that needed to be seen asap could be rushed in at any time). Thanks!