Got Oscars Allergy results. Serum Questions

[elbykitty]

Hello. I am back with more boxer questions. Well I got the results from Oscars allergy testing. I think it was well worth the money. Poor baby was just miserable with ear and feet allergies, and skin issues. Well he is allergic to so much, Various foods, grasses, weeds, trees, fungi, cat hair, feathers. You get the picture a lot of allergies. My question is has anyone tried the serum shots. My Vet is strongly recommending it for all the enviromental allergies but all you can do is cut from diet all food allergies. He says with this many allergies that it will get worse and that he may need steriods at some point which have health consequences in the long term. He says it does not always work but worth a try. It is fairly inexpensive at roughly $200 a year. But I am just not sure he is such a baby and a whiner. I can't imagine giving him shots regularly without him throwing a rebellion. I am just wondering if anyone has done it and any tips they may have about injections. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Cerberus2]

$200 a year is actually not too bad. Especially if you look at it in terms of how many vet visits he may need if he doesn't have them. At my vet's it is $120 just to walk through the door after hours, any treatment thereafter is additional. So, say he has an allergic reaction during non-office hours, you could end up spending close to $200 in just one night.

Are the allergy shots subcutaneous or intramuscular? I've never given allergy shots.

Do you mind if I ask how much the allergy testing was? I'm thinking of getting it done as well.

 

[Cerberus2]

oops, sorry, that's what I get for reading quickly. You said INexpensive, and I read it as expensive. You're right, that is a pretty good deal

 

[Ronin1]

I too took Ronin to a doggie allergist and he's allergic to just about the same triggers that Oscar is (except all of his are environmental). I did give him the shots for about a year and I remember that I had to literally sit on him to give them. They did work as he stopped having the staph and ear infections all the time. Luckily, because I knew exactly what items he is allergic to, I was able to remove him completely from one of them. Turned out that this trigger was a big one for him and although I haven't given him the shots in a couple of years, other than a little "break out" on his tummy (if he lays in the grass) he's been fine. I hope they work for Oscar as I know how frustrating it is trying to get it all under control.

 

[elbykitty]

Allergy testing only consisted of takin a small amount of blood and sent to a lab were they tested his blood. Now Oscar is a wimp so it was a hassel withdrawing the blood, but the testing is the easy part. But I think it was well worth it because there are many allergens that I can take out of the picture now that I have a full picture. Such as no smoking in house, he is allergic to tobacco smoke. And Jute which I had many rugs that are made of it. THese are just a few example. So as you can see just getting the testing made it easier. I have not seen or done the injections yet. I think they are just subcutaneos, but I only know that from my own experince with allergies. For me just having the knowledge of the allergies will make our lives simpler. Good luck

 

[richard26wd]

my white boxer riley had the exact same problems. i have been giving her the shots for almost a year and have had no problems at all the shots have worked wonders for her. i also got rid of all feather pillows and covers and she eats a dog food called (inova evo) which has no grain in it. i dont recomnd the steroids. they changed her personality (not for the better) and she would have to go to the bathroom every 15-20 mins.

 

[Net45582]

I asked my vet about allergy tests. he stated the environmental test results were dependable but the food allergy tests results were pretty much useless since they return a very high percentage of false positives. I did some research on my own and came up with the same info unfortunately. My Chancey has a lot of allergies too. We do not use the serum injections -yet. While some of the environmental allergens have been identifies and verified we are still working on the food allergens issues using the elimination and reintroduction process-which is very time consuming and frustrating.
Good luck!

 

[elbykitty]

Thank you for your response. It was my understanding that yes the enviromental testing is reliable. But the food testing is not as reliable because of it will not show all food allergies and some will come back negative when it should be positive. So I may have misunderstood but I thought it was more of a false negative problem with food testing .And if it comes back positive then you have a pretty reliable source that that is a true food allergy. Myself it has been helpful because it has came back positive on many so I know that those need to be eliminated and a shorter list to experiment with on the negative results. So less foods to have to eliminate and reintruduce. Since it cost me $250 for both the food and enviromental testing which I find to inexpensive for what you get. And less hassel of trying to experiment with various allergens and having a miserable dog in the meantime. Myself i am for the allergy testing. Surprisingly there was many enviromental allergens I could eliminate immediately. I will let you know how he does as he hopefully improves. And since I am really considering the shots I will keep you posted on that too to see how that goes. Thanks Again

 

[Cerberus2]

I haven't really done any research on this yet, but maybe others have and can offer some advice or correct me if I'm wrong. It is my understanding that dogs (and cats) are apt to develop cancer at injection sites if they are used repeatedly. Some vets have even switched to giving vaccinations in the leg because if cancer does develop at injection sites, it's easier to amputate a leg than to have to deal with cancer at the usual injection area.

So, that is one thing I would ask my vet if I were you, if you can give the allegy shots in the leg instead. Hopefully someone on here is more knowledgable about this. Maybe start a seperate thread or search the archives about cancer and injection sites? I'm new here so there may be a topic somewhere about this already.

 

[elbykitty]

sidhewl. On your prompting I did more research and you right it does have a high amount of false-positive results on the food test. Sorry I must have misunderstood what vet was telling me.
I have never heard of higher instances of cancer at the injection site. But I would love to hear from others on their thoughts on that. Myself have to give myself injections on a daily basis, and it is stressed to choose different sites not to prevent cancer but to prevent irritation at injection site. But I would love to hear about others thoughts on this.