Monday, March 28, 2011

I Promised!

 

Hi Y’all,

To this point, I’ve only mentioned a food allergy.  However, I’m just an example of how difficult it is to find an answer to your allergies.

My Human noticed when we were in obedience, despite having me on Frontline and the typical Heartworm tablet that I’d just plop down and start scratching. 

(The picture was taken during this early period.  We were hiking on a mountain path.)

Puzzled, off to the vet I went.  The vet decided to start with the assumption it was a food allergy.  We tried a number of foods.  We never got half way through a bag before I’d get worse. 

Then my Human decided to try to cook human food for me.  She fixed stuff like chicken and rice.

The vet instructed my Human to give me 4 Benadryl, each dose, because of my size and weight.  I got LOTS of rest! 

When I’d break out I had to go to the vet and get an antibiotic.  My ears kept getting infections.  My butt kept itching. 

Now, let me point out that I have 2 “family” vets.  One here and I go to a different one in the mountains.  We were in the mountains when we started trying to figure things out.

Finally, the vets put me on a special ultra anti allergen food.  Nothing else had worked, and we had given away about 12 different brands of dog food that I’d tried and rejected.  Neither of my Humans were happy about this new food, but felt their hands were tied. 

The new food helped some, but I kept getting the rashes.  The Humans and the vets decided to have an allergy test run.  In the meantime, every time a rash started, into the bath I went and was bathed with special oatmeal shampoo. 

I seemed to be getting worse, not better.  In order to take a picture of me, my Human had to be sure she was on an angle where my huge bald spots didn’t show. 

Finally, the allergy results came back. 

Tune in tomorrow for the results and what happened next.

 

 

8 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about you food allergy. I hope you get it all figured out!

    Did you do a skin or blood allergy test?

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  2. Allergies are no fun at all! I hope you aren't allergic to humans!

    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com

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  3. What a cliffhanger, Hawk!! See ya tomorrow!!

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  4. This is very disturbing. I hope the next post is a positive one. I couldn't stand to hear that there's nothing to help you!

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  5. Oh no, allergies are ruff! That's Mama's area of focus in her nutritional studies. If you don't have a fish allergy, has your Mom tried giving you an Omega 3 fish oil capsule every day? It helps alleviate the skin inflammation that makes you itchy :( Poor Hawk! I hope your vet has it all figured out - if not, give us a bark. Mama can tlk for HOURS on canine allergies :)

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  6. Ahhhh! A cliff hanger! :)
    PS: Thank you very much for your very thoughtful comment yesterday. It was fantastic advice.

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  7. Good luck, Hawk. I had a Sheltie once who was thought to have food allergies. Turned out that he had an autoimmune disease that just looked like a food allergy because of the hives.

    There are some terrific foods on the market that can help you out if you have allergies. I'll give you the web address to one of my very favorites, should you need it. I've been buying food from them for a long time now and it's been great. Paws crossed that tomorrow's installment of "As the Hawk Itches" is a happy one.

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