Hi everyone!
Jack is a 2-year-old chocolate lab who's had skin problems since I rescued him (his previous owner had him chained to a tree 24/7 for the first year of his life). He's happy, affectionate, slobbery, smelly, loud and annoying... everything a good lab SHOULD be -- except for the fact that his skin is constantly itchy and irritated (bright pink). He'll just sit there all night and scratch and scratch and scratch. We all feel really bad for him. We've spent about $3500 trying to figure out what's going on and, out of 4 vets, none of them have a clue. The next step is putting Jack on Atopica, which would cost around $500/month. I wanted to post here to see if any of you have any additional advice that might help us help Jack.
Here's what we've done:
- Food change (including vegetarian grain-free as well as a medicated processed pure protein) -- no change
- Fish oil supplements (in many forms) -- no change
- Medicated baths (twice weekly) -- no change
- Skin treatment for that mite that's really hard to detect (forgot the name) -- no change after a month
- Benadryl -- no effect at all
- Simplicef -- no effect
- Anti itch spray -- no effect
- Allergy testing from animal dermatologist -- 65 allergens tested, none showed positive
- Growth removed from abdomen and biopsied -- results: eosinophilic granulomatous dermatitis (allergic reaction to... something)
The only thing that does make a difference is steroids. He'll get a steroid shot and be completely itch free for a full week.
Anybody have any thoughts, experiences or suggestions?
Thanks so much!
Jack is a 2-year-old chocolate lab who's had skin problems since I rescued him (his previous owner had him chained to a tree 24/7 for the first year of his life). He's happy, affectionate, slobbery, smelly, loud and annoying... everything a good lab SHOULD be -- except for the fact that his skin is constantly itchy and irritated (bright pink). He'll just sit there all night and scratch and scratch and scratch. We all feel really bad for him. We've spent about $3500 trying to figure out what's going on and, out of 4 vets, none of them have a clue. The next step is putting Jack on Atopica, which would cost around $500/month. I wanted to post here to see if any of you have any additional advice that might help us help Jack.
Here's what we've done:
- Food change (including vegetarian grain-free as well as a medicated processed pure protein) -- no change
- Fish oil supplements (in many forms) -- no change
- Medicated baths (twice weekly) -- no change
- Skin treatment for that mite that's really hard to detect (forgot the name) -- no change after a month
- Benadryl -- no effect at all
- Simplicef -- no effect
- Anti itch spray -- no effect
- Allergy testing from animal dermatologist -- 65 allergens tested, none showed positive
- Growth removed from abdomen and biopsied -- results: eosinophilic granulomatous dermatitis (allergic reaction to... something)
The only thing that does make a difference is steroids. He'll get a steroid shot and be completely itch free for a full week.
Anybody have any thoughts, experiences or suggestions?
Thanks so much!