Winston's allergy test is done: He is allergic to...

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

...Kitties, Dust mites, feathers (my duvet) and the yeast that grows between his paws and in his ears when they get infected from all the chewing/scratching (viscious circle).***Update - forgot to Add Pigweed ?!?! What the heck is pigweed???

Here are some pics of his test patch and him in his Bluesfestival Volunteer t-shirt :o) He may not look happy, but he does look super cute and it keeps him from licking his 'patch'.

He's quite irritable from the testing and is snapping at Sophie a bit. I really wish the vet would have sedated him or at least given him some valium. Anyway, what's done is done, and we have a plan for treatment. His bacterial infections (ears, paws and skin) haven't improved despite the two week course of antibiotics he was on earlier this month. She suspects he's become immune to the antibiotics he's been getting. She's doing cultures to learn more about the bacteria. I'm not quite sure I understand this part but she says the cultures she's taken will tell her what kind of antibiotics are going to be most effective for him. She did send me home with drops for his ears and instructions to clean them out with a vinegar and water solution before putting in the drops. On the car ride home I was thinking about how when I went on a yeast free diet I was told to avoid vinegar as it is fermented with yeast. I am thinking that washing his yeasty infected ears with vinegar might not be so great....

I'm to take photos of the patch where the skin test was done in case there are any delayed reactions. That way we can be 100% sure to cover everything in the immunotherapy treatment, which will cost about $700 and she says is 75% affective. So basically, it better work!!

The visit cost me $850 plus a $200 speeding ticket :( but I'm so glad to have taken this step and can now move forward with treating him. Could have done without that darn ticket though.

One more thing, the vet remarked on how well informed I am and was surprised by some of the questions I was asking-I even stumped her once. I have only Karen and the rest of DK to thank for that! Thanks everyone for all your support, and mostly thank you Karen for guiding me through this process! I don't know what I would have done without you!!!

Ok, I'm going to take Sophie to the park, she needs to burn some energy and Winston needs a rest.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

JD is allergic to that one, which is known as the European dust mite as well as the American one, and he scored a 3 on both. The immunotherapy works great for him with the dust mite issues.

Here's some good info on Malassezia: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_yeast_infection_of_the_skin.html

You can see in the article that some dogs do have an allergy to those yeasts themselves. And often the Atopy can cause the proliferation of the yeasts on the skin. So it sounds like treating the Atopy will take care of the yeast infections.

I am soooo optimistic about this, I really think the immunotherapy will make a world of difference for Winnie!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Pachydermatis... sounds like Winnie is allergic to elephants. Better not take him to the zoo. Sorry. I couldn't help myself. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It does have to do with that, Bonnie! It's related to the thickness and appearance of elephant's skin.

[Bonnie and Kona]

hee hee! I was just being silly. Love the photo of Sherri and her Pachyderm

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

See, silly begot silly! If not for your being silly, Sherri wouldn't have posted her photo!

[Bonnie and Kona]

If you have been following Laurie's discussion about F and her husband... there's a whole lot of silly going on DK today! Soo much fun! I have a list of things to do but I keep reading and laughing and commenting. Oh my!

[F, Calla & Luca]

The dermatologist's love comparisons like that. There's peau d'orange skin to get back to French. And many others, none of which I can think of right now.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Isn't that French for cellulite?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ha, unfortunately not. I think that is cellulite. Peau d'orange occurs when skin gets dimpled such as in the breast with inflammatory cancer and other things.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Okay, then wouldn't the French be Le Cellulite? ;)

[F, Calla & Luca]

Okay you got me to look it up. And of course, since it's unflattering it's La cellulite. They did also mention peau d'orange : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Unflattering, so it's feminine. How typical of the Romance languages. ROFL