Allergy Injections

[JadeLynn]

Has anyone had any luck with allergy injections for their dog?

My Boxer is 1 1/2 and has bad allergies. We've had her on allergy injections for almost 9 months now. I don't see any improvement, of course we have had her on so much for the last year, that I don't know that I would know if it is working. However, I do know that she is still scratching and digging badly. We have been giving her .5cc weekly. This week, she decided she doesn't like this anymore. All of a sudden she is really bucking us on it. If its not working, I would really just like to stop them. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[lorishields]

What are you feeding her? She's been on injections for more than 1/2 of her short life, so there's something else going on! A lot of vets just treat a symptom w/out digging deeper for the root of the problem.

I'd start with her food. She also could be allergic to soaps, grass, ANYTHING!

Have you done allergy testing on her? It's probably money well spent vs. weekly shots.

Good luck with her....she must feel miserable! :(

Lori Shields
Boxer Luv Rescue
PHX, AZ

 

[JadeLynn]

oh yes, we have tried it all. We have tried different foods, we've tryed meds and lotions and shampoos, etc. We did do allergy testing. She is a plus 4 on grass, horses, dust, dust mites, maple trees, mold, cotton.

We just tryed her recently on medrol. When we took her on vacation with us at the beginning of the month, she started having head tremors for the first time. So I took her to the vet and they said it was probably triggered by her vacation. (something new probably stressed her). We ran bloodwork to make me feel better. However, unforntately something showed up in her kidneys. Not sure what. It was very, very slight. Could be as simple as kidney infection, the medrol could have dehydrating her, or could be much worse. Very worried about that. So we took her off the Medrol, ran a antibotic through her system, and now have to wait for two more weeks. Then we are going to re-run the bloodwork to see what it says and pray.

She drinks a lot of water, but we crate her during the day. I leave a huge bowl of water in her crate but she refuses to drink water in her crate. Any suggestions there may help too please. But thats the whole situation.

 

[SC's Mom]

Hi! My guy 2 yrs. old has been on allergy shots for awhile (this is marking 1 yr.) I'm seeing improvement. He's still scratching but not making himself raw and bloody.

I have a ? Why is the shot only .5cc weekly? Is that her tolerence level?The way our shots work (I understand different shots/different method) is we have 3 vials (200 PNU-2000 PNU-20,000 PNU) We start with vial 1 and on day 0 we give 10 units and double that every 3 days till 100 units=1 cc. Then the same for vials 2 and 3 but once we reach HIS point of tolerence (for C this is vial 3 at 10-20 units) we inject that every 10 days for about 2 months then we can gradually extend injection time based on his response.

Last year I saw no change but this year I'm seeing a change.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Good luck!

Tracy

 

[Jazz&Thumper]

We also had our first boxer on allergy shots. No improvement over a 2 year period. He was allergic to everything you mentioned and then some. We tried different food. They finally put Bark on prednisone and he was on a lot of Benedryl. I just seemed to hit him out of the blue one day he was fine and one day he was allergic to everything. When he finally passed due to a brain tumor his poor sides were scarred and thick skinned from all the scratching. He also was continually licking his paws. I just felt so sorry for him. In the beginning Claritin actually helped relieve some of his symptoms. Good luck I hope you find something that works.

I really hope that the two boxers I have now don't run into the same problems.

Steph, Jazz & Thumper

 

[Rocky Hoya]

Hi there. Just wondering how your fur baby is doing on those allergy shots. We just had our fur baby allergy tested we opted for the skin test and sure enough he is allergic to dust mites, grasses and molds etc. He starts his injections on Monday.

 

[cl2ysta1]

Im not a big fan of the shots. Nor the allergy tests, because they are so inconclusive and youw ould be doing the same thing anyways. My dog is on cephalexin and prendisone... but we do not give the prendisone unless she has a REALLY itchy day. She also has special medicated shampoo.. if we use regular shampoo it doesnt work. The shampoo seemed to be the REAL miracle but im sure it was a combo of all three. IT cleared up all her bloody raw spots along with her hot spots and she wasnt itchy! i dont think she knew wut to do with herself. We also kept t shirts on her while she was on her meds to keep her from tearing herself up more than she already had been. she also has ear "goop" to clear her ear infections.. if u want anymore info feel free to Pm me

 

[Dakodas Mom]

I have no problem with the allergy shots with my baby. For the first for few times there was no improvement, I decided to test for one more thing. I had her tested for Malassezia.(a normal flora of yeast on a canines skin) and sure enough she was allergic to it. I brought her special shampoo called Malaseb. No problems after wards. Allergy shot every 4 days, Malaseb baths every 3 days = NO MORE SCRATCHING
good luck with your baby...

 

[Rocky Hoya]

Hey there Dakodas mom. I have talked to you before. The testing went really well and we were so happy to finally find out the results. His dermatologists and staff are awesome! His yeast infection has cleared up and he isnt allergic to the malassezia but he does have allergies to the dust some grasses etc. He is doing great right now. Thanks for the postitive feedback we hope the shots work for us....if not the next step will be to find what works for him but it is great knowing we have a team of specialist looking out for him and most importantly our boxer family!!! If anyone else has had improvement with the allergy shots we would love to hear from you. Or anything else that has worked for you. Thanks everyone Oh yeah! no food allergies so he got to eat McDonalds chicken nuggets yesterday as a treat

 

[Dakodas Mom]

Oh I am so happy for you and you furbaby RockyHoya...Dakoda is doing excellent with her shots, she is now on the Maintance(not concentrated) Yes, my baby is also allergic to dust, pollens and molds. Unforntuantaly she is allergic to malazessia, and a lot of foods and food ingredients, so there is not a lot I get to feed her..No biscuits or table food for her :( But my husband and I decided to get her a pal...I got another fawn boxer, a male this time. I pick him up the second week in October from the airport..As soon as I can figure out how to make the pics smaller I will post some in my gallery..If not you can check my aol profile, to see my new baby.. Take care. Glad all is well