Allergies: How effective is washing paws in a basin each time your doodle comes in the house from the yard?

[Marianne Kay]

While there was snow on the ground for 6 weeks, Pierre, my 4 1/2 year old goldendoodle, had no problems with his paws turning red. His paw problem began when I had a larger area of the yard fenced for him, in the autumn. Due to health issues, I have been unable to walk him like I once did. The yard is grass with a chipped wooded area. Last fall the vet used antibiotics and prednisone, to help him heal, a few times. We also switched his food to Limited Diet Rabbit. I was using a wash cloth to rinse his paws. From your groups I have learned this issue can pop up at 4 years of age, and that diet may only be the problem, 10% of the time. Also I have been told to bathe him once a week. Has all the water rinsing help solve anyone's problem? The vet thinks he may have a grass allergy and I may want to make my fenced lawn, a totally wood chipped area.

What has worked for you? By the way I am slowly switching Pierre to a prescription duck diet ( He really likes this better than the rabbit!).  Poor Pierre! I just want him well.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Prednisone has to be tapered down rather than stopped cold. Your vet will verify that, I'm sure. It shouldn't have any lasting effects. 

[Marianne Kay]

Yes, I was doing the tapering. I have had experience with that myself, but this was just too long a taper. I checked with the doctor's staff. They said it was okay to go out to May 15th. However Pierre had an emergency yesterday and the vet said, no, the other vet must have given me extra for another occurrence, but the prescription never stated how long the last taper should be. Gee whiz!  Yesterday, Pierre developed a huge heat spot behind the ear with a "slight" ear yeast infection, and a smaller spot started in the opposite site on the other ear. This is while he is on a taper of 1/2 prednisone every other day. My neighbor took us to the vet and Pierre needed to have his hair shaved, Otiobiotic ointment applied, and a steroid shot. He was panting. He had a bath the day before, so technically his coat was clean of pollen, so maybe be its the inhaled pollen. I found what looks to be a more precise dermatologist who says on her site that dogs given a steroid shot must wait 42 days before they can be tested, or 4 weeks for regular prednisone. The staff from the other vet said only 2 weeks, and her website is not specific at all about any of the issues which could invalidate testing. I told my regular vet I want to go to a dermatology specialist and she suggested the specialist who has the better online information about testing.  I brought up the Atopica because I don't think Pierre is going to go without prednisone or antibiotics for that long. She told me she rarely has clients who choose Atopica because of the cost. Pierre would need 150 mg. and she told me to look online, for cheaper rates than she has for it. Online, it's $300 a month! She said most people try the Abequel because it is only $43 a month, to see if that will work. I told her it's such a new drug, that I don't know if I should trust it. So, the question is, if he is on Atopica, can he still go through allergy testing? Because I could easily spend $300 in a month just on visits for steroids, antibiotics, etc. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Apoquel is less expensive than Atopica, but it is very new, and it also has considerable side effects. It's the veterinary version of the biologic drug Xeljans. 

Personally, I feel the testing and immunotherapy should be the first option. It may be that your dog is one of those who doesn't respond well enough and you do end up having to go with the drugs, but that will always be an option. The immunotherapy, when it's successful, "trains" the dog's immune system to better tolerate the allergens. The drugs simply suppress the immune system so it won't respond to the allergens.

There is also a generic version of Atopica, cyclosporine, which is considerably less expensive than the name brand. 

The steroid shots are several times more powerful than oral prednisone, and stay in the system much longer. (Dexamethasone, which is often what is given, is 10 to 20 times stronger!)  In emergencies, you have no choice, but Jack's dermatologist has cautioned me against letting a vet give him a steroid shot in any situation other than an emergency. 

I have known of dogs who did have skin testing done while on Atopica, but that question should really be addressed to the dermatologist. This is why I preferred to do a consultation prior to making the decision to do the testing; I wanted more information and to fully understand my options. I paid for the "new patient" consultation, and then when i did the testing a month or two later, I was not charged for a second office visit, only for the testing. So it was not really significantly more expensive doing it in two visits rather than one. 

[Marianne Kay]

Terrific idea, Karen, to do a "new patient" consult now! The sooner I get some answers on how to proceed the better. One resource I read stated it is a good idea to get a complete blood count and a urine analysis before starting Apoquel, and then to have those labs performed at 3 and 6 months to see how the drug is affecting his system. I looked up cyclosporine on 1-800 ped meds and it was $20.00 cheaper, but vetrxdirect has it for $100.00 cheaper! Thank you for letting me know about this. I will try to leave a message with the dermatology vet and find out if she can do testing on a dog receiving Atopica or Apoquel.