zayda_asher

She's clever, but she ain't that clever!! Thank god! You know I sometimes imagine what they would be like if they could talk or had opposable thumbs and its always leaves me glad that they can't!!! Imagine what you would come home to then!!

Of course they could still be bites if she's managed to scratch / chew them... but I've never seen a bit go scabby on my guys (but often they are bitten on the back so can scratch it etc.)...

Nope Staph bumps will scab up too... Normally they will come up in bumps, and then they almost look like pimples and will burst (but not always, we've had them just come up and go down and dry (so look scabby) with a small outbreak) and then scab after. They will be little round circles after and often get mistaken for ringworm apparently! Asher has little round scars all over from his... I'll try and get a photo of the scars again this weekend too... its too hard without a second set of hands...

Glad to hear that some of those ideas have helped you Can you get a pic? Dogs do get moist dermatitis as well as dry so it could be something like that... is it discoloured or anything? My guys often get a clammy feel when they have the secondary infections like yeast or staph... How's she looking now? Keep an eye on the bumps as that is what staph often look like to start with... fingers crossed it is bites... I use a solution of neem and lavendar oil in water for insect repellent. Cool... as long as she is comfy! That's the main thing hey?

Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later for you and Orbit

Cool... interesting to see... be good to see the HESKA one when you do have it Do you know how long it will take to get the results back? good luck!

Oh and so people know on that test panel 3s and 4s are positive reactions, 1s & 2s low / borderline...

Forgot to say: that's cool news for you... Interesting to hear, I wonder what has made them change their minds on that, very interesting!

Here's the IDT panel: Yeah, I'd be really interested in seeing the SPOT and HESKA panels.... you can e-mail me at nobsl4wa at gmail dot com, thanks I'm a bit shocked at the moment... but making plans and assessing what we will need to do... Thank you!! We will really need them....

Thanks for checking in Well we had mega reactions Basically she responded so strongly to the intradermal testing they didn't need to run the HESKA testing. They test for 69 allergens on the intradermal panel, Zayda was positive for 60 of them and low reaction / borderline for the other 9. She was positive for every grass, weed and tree pollen they test for. Positive for every mold. Positive for most insects & mites (these were some of the low / borderline as well) and also kapok and tabacco. Her test site reacted so much that basically the whole area swelled into one big lump, they took photos to show us it was such an extreme reaction! So we start new immunotherapy, which is costing an arm and a leg because there are so many things she's allergic to we had to have two separate vaccines to cover it all!! And it looks like I'll be doing some of the things I planned around the house sooner rather than later, like ripping out the carpet (now that me and both my dogs are allergic to dust mites that seems like a good plan!) and we are going to have to do things like rip out the grass etc. I'll type out the full panel later if people are interested in seeing it, actually I might scan it :D And we started elimination diet Sunday so please send "you are not allergic to any more food" thoughts our way because we don't need any more allergies!! We're all amazed that we've kept her in as good condition as she is, Asher is allergic to some of the same things, so they were already eliminated and that would definitely have helped. Good luck with the HESKA for Orbit! The dust mites and stuff are a pain...

Thanks! Let us know the results from the SPOT test, it certainly will be interesting to compare when you can do the HESKA... I'm really interested to see the comparison results we will get from doing the IDT / HESKA We've started elimination diet as well... and so far so good, no hives since... we did have one more bout last Friday before we started... so hopefully we will be well on the road to getting things back on the rails soon!! How have you been going in general with Orbit recently?

Well we go in for our retesting tomorrow, so wish us luck people... I'll fill you in on results when we have them!

Oh and the other good thing was that Derm was very happy about me limiting all chemical usage on my dogs unless necessary (i.e.: no vac, no flea / worm treatments unless needed etc.) and said this was a very tactic to take with dogs who are already sensitive and reacting to things as they certainly contribute and can develop sensitivities to those things as well! We are swapping heart worming meds as a precaution, but it doesn't really fit the pattern for a sensitivity to that (timing etc.).

Thought I'd stick an update in here for those who aren't on the AmStaff forum... We've been going through some new stuff with Zayda and I thought it might be interesting for those doing allergy stuff to see: Zayda had 4 bouts of hives recently (we haven't had any since early 07) on Thursday the 13th November, Sunday the 16th November, Tuesday the 17th November, and Wednesday the 19th November. The Sunday night was awful, worst yet, almost made the dash to emergency as her whole face swelled... but it didn't interfere with her breathing thank goodness. Very itchy, sore and uncomfortable. Double dosed on antihistamines as per our regular plan all 4 episodes. These were from her Thursday night episode. Not as bad as sunday night, but after I took these pics, they did all join up so most of her mouth was swollen: And this is sunday night... photos don't really show the full extreme... she looked like a shar pei in the end around her face!!: Well we got in to see the other Derm in our practice (ours is away on leave at the moment!) and I was proved correct in my suspicions about what might be going on: Zayda was tested at a much younger age than normal when she was done as her development was early and extreme. Also there have been a lot of improvements in testing since she was done. So there is a good chance that she has developed more or some things weren't able to be tested for at the time of her original testing. Also now they are doing both intradermal and the Heska ELISA bloods at the same time: dogs can react to allergens in different ways and these two tests give them the most information when used together. So she will be retested using both procedures (done at same time). Given that she also has chronic food allergies we have to go back and do another full elimination diet as she may well have developed more food allergies too! I've just been trying to work out what we can use as an novel protein for the diet.... seeing she was allergic to all the "normal" stuff so she's had the "not so normal" cheaper pet meats, so we are now into the truly exotic (read expensive )... although I've just found a place we can get donkey from for cheap, but no bones... so I'm working on bones she can have now (might end up being venison or rabbit bones)... So we are booked in for IDT and the blood panel next week and start the elimination diet ASAP. Zayda is 7yrs in Jan and was originally tested at 7mnts of age. If these come back with no positive results then we look to other things...

Do they show any other (subtle or not) symptoms of allergy? My boy gets a red, swollen mouth (painful) with drooling as a part of his reaction to atopic allergies. His breath will also change in smell to coppery (like you get with blood, but there is none).

Good news! Here's looking to a speedy recovery then!!

Blimey, you guys have had a rough trot.... take care! Will keep you in our thoughts... Edit: cos I can't type

Thanks... that's interesting to know... be nice if they did an unflavoured version for all the food allergic dogs!

Cephalexin is good for Staph Jen... how long is the course? You should see it start to clear pretty quickly if it is staph (and vet could've done the cytology to confirm this)... I've never dealt with papiloma, but again its something that could've been tested for... so I don't know what specifically might help. Be careful with immune boosting stuff, some things like olive leaf extract, will interfere with antibiotics... ETA: How long is he on the phenergan for? Is he itchy?

I'm glad it helped your dog In theory its a nice idea, as many of the things are things you use to help allergic dogs, however, I would be careful with this or any other "throw the kitchen skin at the dog" approach. Here's the list of ingredients: http://www.oztion.com.au/vshops/item.aspx?...amp;shopid=5733 Top of the list is brewer's yeast, which many dogs (even those non-allergic) are intolerant of (like flax and alfalfa) and it makes intolerant dogs ITCHY! Also its flavoured with beef and pork and has unspecified fish powder, so that will be an issue for any dogs food allergic to those products. I'd also like to know what the vegetable oil is from as well as many dogs have allergies and intolerances to things like corn and soy. Its easier I find in the long run to supplement directly with good, high grade products like salmon oil, vit e, MSM (although those sulfur intolerant may need to be careful with this... a friend who is allergic to sulfurs was looking into this) etc. and know you are giving the dog nothing they are allergic to! I'd also like to know how much iodine they get out of the Povidone as too much iodine in a diet can cause thyroid issues as can not enough... if you were supplementing with other things like kelp that could push you over...

That's exactly what I was going to say! Any one with a dog allergic to dandelion / daisy family wants to avoid this!!! What a ridiculous thing to have in a product for atopy!! Several daisy family plants are used in liver / skin care things, but as its a common atopic allergy so that's just naff to have it in a food for atopy!! I'd also wait until you know the results of the intradermal testing as he may come up allergic to things like storage mites too, which live in dry foods... in which case you need to look at alternative diets or freezing the food to kill the mites etc. Edit for clarity...

It could've been separate, or related... Often the skin becomes very inflamed and rashy looking as the pimples break out... Its worth doing a bit of a google and reading up on allergies in dogs... there's some good info out there...

One week for Staph is def not enough! What made them think "allergic rash"... if they do think allergies, then you need to start looking into that... good luck with him!

It could be something in the food, there's always a heap of stuff in those diets.... or a total coincidence too: I've seen that happen before... looks like it was definitely one thing, but you get them settled and retrial and it wasn't at all... Once you have the atopy sorted (as that seems the big thing) then maybe you can retrial and see Glad the phenergan seems to be helping! That's great for you... and good luck with getting to the Derm... let us know how you go

So if there was no change on elimination and probably not food allergies then maybe the salmon wasn't the cause of his hives, but just a coincidence...