zayda_asher

Yep... but at least we can discuss it at every opportunity! I don't let the people around me forget! lol Oh dear! Hope he is doing better today!! Zayda found a bloody platter of party food that had been dumped in the middle of the dog park yesterday ;) Fortunately I think she only got a bit of cheese, which she is fine with and maybe some egg (which she is not)... so we are resting for a couple of weeks before we try the next trial, which is tofu.

I'm sure you'll be right!! You'd never know with Zayda now, she uses that side of her mouth more and everything, much better without it in there!

Good idea, and good luck with it! In that thread there are pics of Zayda having the op done, so be warned if you don't like that stuff or go look if it's interesting! ;)

Here is the thread where HH and I discussed our dogs' tooth extractions.... http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...l=tooth+removal Should have lots of info. Soft food for 7 days and no bones for 14 were the deal here.

It's hard with the sensitive ones hey? One tiny kibble sized piece of food will give Zayda a reaction - I have to keep her nose off the ground at training and stuff because people drop treats! Hope the new schedule works out...

<sigh> Thanks guys... just having someone to listen and empathise helps!! I just feel really bad for her... :cool: TOTALLY!! I even see people who don't realise what it is that is happening with their dog!! We've got to get this to be a more public issue so more dogs and owners don't have to suffer... Ah, crap! Hopefully you can do lower doses and build up slower and be ok!! Good luck!! Has the poor boy been itchy / uncomfortable with the hives? I hope their settling down now. for both of you... :D

Sorry, repeated myself a bit with that rant.... just upset...

Well I just thought I would pop a quick update on Zayda... We're still doing her elimination diet, and will be for a few more months: we have veg/fruit/cereals and her supplements left to test before we can formulate a new diet plan for her. We started this new testing back in November. And unfortunately we've had two new adverse food reactions pop up: goat and mackerel. I have to retest a couple as well as other allergies interfered and we're not 100%. So my poor girl has been sick again... It's just not fair! We shouldn't have to be doing this AGAIN at 7.5years old. She should be allowed to enjoy her life without this shit :cool: Excuse my foot stamping tantrum, but it just sux... If I have to go through this again with Asher in a couple of years I'll really crack it! And it compels me, once again, to remind people that this stuff is heritable! That dog someone breeds that "only itches in summer" or seems to react to "just X" is the parent or grandparent of a dog like mine: Lets get serious about allergic skin disease and not set up the next generations for this sort of bull shit! Thankfully we haven't had a major hive episode since March: but current symptoms include itching (both Zayda and me as she triggers my allergies when she has a reaction), runny nose and eyes, ear infection, hypersensitivity, yeast infection, colitis and GI tract pain, nausea, ADD behaviour and lethargy. Here's a couple of pics of her last episode of hives. Hopefully we can stave these off, until summer at least: Asher, thankfully, has been a bit better, although he too it itchy and runny eyed / nosed. He has yeast infection atm too, and we have, thankfully, been able to stave off a major Staph outbreak... Although we have had a couple of bad Angioedema episodes, which for him are in his mouth and lips. I'd just like my guys to be symptom free for a while... I don't think that's too much to ask

Ah, elastic would help... I can see where you mean on the pics... I'll bear that in mind when looking at size. Good about his skin... We just went to see our derm the other day and they are having a conference with some human derms soon and are going to be looking into all the cross reactivity stuff with foods and atopic allergens in humans... apparently they are finding now that tweaking atopic dog's diets can help as well! She's going to find out some more info at the conference and let me know... It's part of why they suggest testing fruits now in the elimination diet, as they seem to be common for cross reacting. Research hasn't been done in dogs (and probably wont because it's all expensive and involves molecular imaging and such), but it gives us something new to test and trial.

lol Maybe we run as a small egalitarian consensus! Funny that we have similar issues to our dogs... Have you found those jimjams good Stormie? I've been thinking about getting some for Asher. Zayda's got a vest coat that she wears, but Asher gets his willie caught in his and ends up peeing on himself, which he hates!

I'll have to hunt some down... I think mine a floating around on phones and things too! lol

FTPO and I will fight you for it: we're both allergic to stuff our dog's are allergic to! Cool. That might be a little signal to keep an eye on as atopic season ramps back up... I've often seen missing fur on AmStaff tails, but it's normally further up, near the glands. Reports from people suggest fish oil helping with that... But given her's is lower on the tail I wonder if she's rubbed or chewed it... might be something to watch for too if she starts chewing... BTW, I'm sure Trixie and Asher must be related... they are both heat seeking missiles and I have photos of Asher the same!

Thanks! Hey, I noticed in the photos you posted of Trix on LAST that she looks like she's got a bit of fur missing on the tip of her tail, or am imaging things?

I still say we should get frequent flier points!! Interesting to hear how different places do it... we were every 3 days to start with and I know FTPO's regime has been different again... hope it goes well for you! Thanks! Hopefully we wont have reactions to this lot! anaphylactic reaction is very uncommon, my Derm said she's only ever seen a couple. We don't have them in for observation when we do ours... We've seen the increase in itchies / hives / contact reaction here... we've swapped protocols for some reactions, and discontinued Asher's because of his reaction, but they weren't life threatening.

Tell me about it! That''s how we've been getting the venison for her elim. diet. Yeah, it's a bummer... goat is cheap and they like it... but hopefully that is all we will find to add to the list! I've got a couple I want to re-test to make sure, though, so we'll see... She really is my million dollar dog!

Well our latest: Despite having everything crossed for no new food allergies, we've got one: goat. Which is a bummer because that's been a staple here... We've only got mackerel left to do in meats, then veg / fruit, cereals and supplements to retest. So keep your fingers, toes and whatever else crossed for us that we don't find any more!!

Well you know I'm officially jealous now with that price! How's he going? What schedule are you on for injections? Ours are going well.. we're out to three weeks regular now (and still 6 weeks for her old alternaria one) and no more hives!

Not so much the wealthy, but only for those who can afford it - like anything in life really. I'm sure there'd be tonnes of people out there who'd love to have their own horse, but they don't, because they can't afford the costs. My agistors don't give me a discount on my horses board and feed, they offer a service for those who can afford to use it. That's their price and if I can't afford that weekly cost, then either I shouldn't have a horse, or I need to find somewhere else. Is that not reasonable? Is it fair for someone to take on the responsibility of a pet knowing they can't afford it? I do belive it is a privilege to own a pet and not everyone's given right. Either you can budget for the costs, or you can't - it's really that simple. If the average person owns a pet, what is the most costly vet procedure they could be expected to pay? Would anyone out there know this? They could pay anything! In this day and age with the things that specialists can do, they could pay up to $20k! The average person should have insurance, that way, when something unexpected occurs, money won't be too much of a problem Insurance what a solution. The vets will charge more because you have insurance, the insurance company needs to make a profit. Great for the consumer. There really is no pleasing you is there. We don't know of our clients who has insurance. We charge them for what we did and many send the forms away themselves. So no, we don't charge those with insurance more. Paranoid much? Indeed... you can't please some people! Put aside the $25 a pay in a special account for the animals if you don't want to give it to an insurance company... that way you have a slush fund.... also have a credit card that is for the animals for emergencies... that way you are covered... easy as!

I've never left a vet consultation without knowing exactly what drugs etc. I was going to walk out with... the need for them, how to use them, their interactions with other medications etc. etc. all explained. If you don't know when you walk out of the consult, or don't like anything else about the service, then be proactive: 1) Ask questions 2) Vote with your feet and find a new vet If they aren't explaining meds etc. then you can be seeing very decent vets in the first place... Edit for clarity

And that you'll go onto a forum and tell the world. They're sure to back down then In fact, they'll GIVE you money not to do it! AND not charge you for the goods! All this time I've been doing it WRONG! Who knew?! <head palm>

OMG! People will complain about anything!! Have to say it doesn't really surprise me, as I have had similar complaints in my area...

Indeed! Lots of little materials and things that those costs help cover... apparently they are "hidden" to the "average" person too...

Actually many cafes have a mark up on in house eating as compared to their take away prices... it helps to cover the cleaning costs etc. Exactly! I am always offered an itemized account - no hidden costs at all... You go to the vet, you know you may well pay for medications, it's not that hard to factor into the budget. I've also paid non-PBS prices for meds for my dogs at the chemist and still walked out paying a small fortune... You know what though: my dog, my responsibility. They need those meds and so they have them... just like any other member of the family. IMO if you can't handle that responsibility then you shouldn't have the animal... The "average pet owner" also has no one to blame but themselves if they haven't taken the time to build a relationship with their vet. People need to take responsibility here... if you don't take the time to learn and do your own research and build a relationship with your vet then that's your deal and you wear the consequences of that... ignorance is no excuse. I will always be thankful for the great care provided by my GP Vet, our Specialist and the rest of their respective teams. They've always been helpful, always helped me work out the best treatment plan at the most cost effective way of doing so... Always understood when I have had to juggle things because we lost jobs etc. and always known that I will do my up most for my animals and ensure they have their needs met. That relationship didn't happen over night: it was built over time.

Yep! I just forked over $510 for two... I'm working on staggering them so I can buy all three at different times... got one out separate from the other two, so next time I'll order one before I need it, and then the other one when I do... that will lower impact of cost a bit!!

Yeah, they can only fit so much into each suspension... We have three different ASITs... but when you start you will get 3 vials of EACH ASIT in three different doses: start on the lowest and then build up to the full potency... So I suppose it would depend on how they label them... they might count the 3 of one type as "one" because it's just the one vaccine?? Be interesting to see what you get!! <G> Actually you should be able to have a rough tell from price... but you may not want to post that up... here (and I'm sure it varies from place to place) we pay about $255 per vaccine... Don't mind posting price, but I'm getting it cost price through work so not sure if that will help? Was $250 I think... Hmm, hard to tell then hey? That may cover three at cost price... I don't know... If it does, I'm going to have to start working for a vet clinic to get cost!!