Allergies round 2

[Stacy]

I interviewed a new vet today - who I really liked. Unfortunately I interviewed a vet because we needed to go! Katie just turned 3 and she has decided to follow in her mother's footsteps and struggle with allergies. Darn it! I was hoping one of them wouldn't be a problem child. Katie has been chewing at her front feet and scratching her ears for a while I guess, but I think I was in denial. Her ears were intermittently red, but I was treating them myself. Finally they were red enough that I decided we needed a professional opinion.

The professional opinion was that I'm doing the right things - I just wasn't doing them consistently enough because I wasn't 100% sure I was doing the right thing. The good news is that she didn't have an ear infection, just inflammation.  And we started her on Apoquel too. I guess the next step will be to get her an appointment with the dermatologist and get her started on allergy shots as well. 

Maybe by this time next year I will have two dogs who aren't itchy! It's such a bummer. I just wish I could fix it for them. In better news, that no pull harness is amazing!

Life with doodles! 

Stacy

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sorry Katie has inherited her Mom's Atopy and hope the immunotherapy will work as well for her as it has for JD. Who says to tell Katie that she is in good company, lol. :) 

[Stacy]

I have to tell you - one dose of apoquel and a couple good topical ear treatments and she's like a totally new dog. Allergies are just miserable for them - and us too. It just makes me sad to think about how many children and grandchildren Ava has out there who suffer with this. It's not responsible breeding. So much for hybrid vigor! It just surprises me because the papillons were always so healthy! They had their problems, but the breed seems to have done a good job keeping some of these genetic problems out of their lines.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, we know "hybrid vigor" is bunk, at least when it comes to doodles, lol. 

In general, the rarer the breed, the fewer genetic illnesses they have. Labs, Goldens and Poodles, on the other hand, are among the most popular and common breeds around, and among them, you have just about every genetic illness known. Labs are the number 2 breed affected by Atopic Dermatitis, and Goldens are over-represented in that disease, too. 

And of course, where the dogs come from matters a lot. The very best purebred breeders, those who put titles on their dogs before breeding them, wait til the dogs are over 3 years old to do so, and never breed any dog whose genes aren't simply too good not to pass on, those who are aware of the breed databases for various genetic diseases, do a pretty good job of keeping these things out of their lines. Those kinds of breeders are not selling puppies or sperm to doodle breeders for the purpose of making mixed breed dogs, lol. So with doodles, you are not starting out with the best genetic specimens to start with. :(

[Stacy]

Hybrid vigor is totally not a thing! At least not in this house. 

The next time, hopefully a very long time from now I think I'm going to find the very best standard poodle breeder with the healthiest dogs and get a puppy from that person. I will have to compromise on the tail thing, but I think it's a small compromise to find a really well bred, healthy dog. One who I know their mother has been loved better than Ava was loved. The trick is finding the right breeder! I am very gullible. I always want to believe that people are telling me the truth. If I had known the truth I wouldn't have gotten Katie from the place I did. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's much easier to find a top notch purebred breeder than it is to find a good doodle breeder. You start with referrals from the breed clubs, which don't even really exist with doodles, lol. The worst way to to get any puppy is to google "name-of-breed puppies for sale", but unfortunately, that's what the vast majority of people do. :( 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We are using the new Allergy Drops instead of the injections for our Lucy now and they seem to work much better for her.  We did not have much success with the injections.  The drops are basically the same concept, a compounded formula made just for her base on her allergy tests results, but just come in a little squirt bottle and we give her 2 in the am and 2 in the pm under her tongue.  They don't have to be refrigerated either so it is easier when we travel.  I agree with the Apoquel ... we just use it sparingly.  If she is having an itchy day she gets one.  Otherwise not.  Hope you find something that works for you. 

[Stacy]

It's so interesting to me that you've had so much better luck with the drops. I asked the dermatologist at the time which one was better, and she said one was not better than the other, but I'm sure individually some dogs will do better with one than the other. But it makes me wonder if Ava would show more improvement with the drops over the injections. I feel like we have to give the shots a full year to see what improvement she makes, but it is definitely something to consider for the future. Or maybe do a very unscientific study and put Katie on the drops once I get her allergy tested. The only thing that makes me hesitate is that while I don't love giving her a shot, at least I only have to do it once every two weeks compared to twice a day. Definitely something to consider. 

Apoquel is a wonder drug! If only I didn't worry so much about the long term effects of it I would just leave them on that forever. I just can't stop thinking that I may be hurting them as much as helping them with it.