Elimination diet question - HELP!!!

Happy to see Jaime was able to get you back in the swing.  As someone who gets turned around when I come out of a closet [], I totally empathize.

Okay one question I forgot to ask ... I have to login everytime now?
 
I will update you on Alley when I get back. Im getting ready to leave. I will say it was a lick a thon all night lastnight even after her accuputunce treatment...and the holistic vet said we are doing about as much as we can do with her right now as she is so sensitive to everything and we are starting to add the bonemeal into her food.
Can you hear me from your computers... VERY BIG SIGH
Kim
Again Cathy thank you for getting ahold of Jamie for me...

   It's great to have you back again Kim. I've been missing you. I'm sorry to hear about your surgery and I hope you're up and about soon. It's a shame the holistic vet hasn't been able to help Alley. We didn't have any holistic vets in our area when Jessie was having problems with her allergies, but I read  Shawn Messonier's book and Martin Goldstein's book also and tried the nutritional and topical therapies they suggested, but it wasn't enough. I hope you can find a solution for Alley soon. They cause their skin so much irritation with the licking and scratching. I'll check this evening for a report on Alley.

Thanks for the welcome back...I was having withdrawls and in a franic panic to get back on the board... I missed you guys too.
Im recouping well thank you Today was my first day back to driving in 3 weeks so that was kinda scarey...
 
Okay as for Alley... The holistic vet feels everything that can be done has been done buy looking at all that she is allergic too and all the prior treatment she has had done to her....
 
As much as I hate doing it I give her a pred 5 mil about 2 times a week and when she is really bad I do it 3 times a week but no more. Im to the point of quality of life instead of quanity.
 
Alley sleeps with my hubby so he gets no sleep when she does this all night long. I don't know how in the world he stands it...I need my sleep .... I love her but I want my sleep. He gets up exhausted and I tell him to quit letting her sleep with him but he is such a softy. We love Alley and she gets so very stressed to change of any kind. My sugery but her over the top with anxiety.... she went into such a mess ..her skin was nothing but a staff infection... UTI ..... now that things are back to normal she is feeling a thousand times better....
 
This all makes me so crazy... I just can't believe there is nothing that can help with this itching. We are still homecooking... I swear I have a duck or a rabbit going every other day. Hubby said we need to hire a chef just for the dogs. LOL
 
I love reading everyone elses post cause Im always and will continue to search for something I haven't tried. But I feel like Cathy does with Sassy.... your head just spins when you take them to the vet cause its a list of what is all wrong.
 
Awe it feels so good to be back
Kim

What's become the most darn frustrating thing is when even the things you don't want to resort to using (antibiotics and prednisone) don't work!  It boggles my mind (and scares me) to think that after two 21 day rounds of antibiotics (Cipro, Clindamycin and Ketaconazale), one week of prednisone, and 14 more days of Ketaconazale...and she's still infected!!!  They started off (smartly) with the culture & sensitivity which told them to use the Cipro and Clindamycin, so what's up with that???  When you're vet looks perplexed and worried, it's hard to keep a cool head.  The one blessing, and it's a biggie, is that Sassy rarely bothers the area.  Every now and then she licks down there, but will stop if I tell her.  However, you may remember, way back in Sept when they put her on the thyroid meds, she quit wanting to sleep in the house with us.  I still have her doggie bed next to my side of the bed, but she's never once stayed in the night since Sept.  She'll sleep on the couch next to me until about 8 or so and then wants to go to her bed in the garage.  My husband says it's cause I bugged her so many times when she was in paw licking mode last summer [].  It used to upset me that she wanted out, but I figure if she's happy and we get a full night's sleep, it's probably for the best. 

   I really feel bad for both of you. I remember when the left side of Jessie's head swelled, and her eyelids also swelled and developed pustules, and her nose turned red on the top and had pustules too, and my vet had never seen anything like it before and had no idea what caused it. It can make you sick with worry. Right after that, the treatments I used at home when the skin between her toes turned red stopped working, and she had to have antibiotics to clear the infections up, and they would come back within two weeks. Her toes also would swell around the nail beds, which hadn't happened before. That was in the fall and winter of 2004. In March of 2005, I went to see a veterinary dermatologist and that is when things got better for Jessie. Cathy, I hope when you get the results back from the biopsy in a day or two the results point to something that can be treated well enough to either be cured or give Sassy a good quality of life. Kim, I 'm glad that your recovery is going well. I guess you've tried fatty acids with antihistamines, and tried many types of antihistamines with no success. Besides the one the derm vet prescribed, which was Doxepin, Tavist worked the best for Jessie. It took me a few years to learn that because my regular vet never mentioned Tavist, only Benedryl and chlorophenaramine(sp.?).  If you keep looking I know you'll find a way to help Alley.

I got home from work about 10 to 6 and there was a msg from the derm vet saying "hi there, we have the results of Sassy's biopsy and I wanted to go over treatment options, so give us a call".  I knew it was past closing time (they close at 5:30), but called anyway and of course, got the answering machine.  I left a message to call me at work tomorrow....but, geesh, knowing they know and I don't is almost worse than not knowing anything [:@].

  You probably won't get much sleep tonight thinking about it. Only one more day till you know, though. I'll keep you and Sassy in my thoughts tomorrow. I hope that her condition is easily treatable.

Hey Cathy
 
I know how you feel... Alley was all cleared up and off the antibotics and got the green light from my holistic vet and then I had surgery and in less than 4 days she went to pot... UTI...staff.... and yes sometimes I feel the pred doesn't do much on some days...
 
As for her sleeping in the garage....its better you get a good nights rest....but again I know how you feel. I use to sleep with my Scottie boy all the time ..Max... he is so much happier sleeping in the dogs room with the other guys than with me..LOL OH well.... guess he felt he was missing out on something...
 
As for the Vet calling... don't you wish they would leave you a lengthy message...grrrrrrrrrrr I hate those messages that leave you hanging...
 
Can't wait to hear what they say about Sassy...