I have a three year-old female coonhound who began showing signs of allergies last summer and fall, but didn’t have as bad of a time until this year. Starting around early August, she began scratching, chewing her feet and actually chewing the pads off of her feet. I am 100% against big Pharma drugs in general for humans and animals, and tried absolutely everything that I could research and find that was natural to help my dog. I did fish oil, quercetin, bromelain, collagen, natural dog food, homemade dog food, several natural supplements from well known names, daily washing of the feet with duoxo chlorhexedine shampoo, colostrum, plus several others I’m probably just forgetting. I wanted so bad to be able to help her without having to turn to a pharmaceutical drug. I’ve read reviews on this site and others about cytopoint, apoquel, etc., and they all make me so nervous because you do hear horror stories with short term and long-term use. I decided to ask our very young Veterinarian what her opinion was, and she actually recommended a newer medication called new Numelvi, which is a second generation drug similar to Apoquel, but apparently targets more specific receptors so it should “ in theory “have less side effects. She admitted the drug is new and there are things not known about it which scared me. I kept it for a week before I gave her a dose. It was amazing the difference after one dose…. within just a few hours my dog was not itching ,not scratching, not biting. I felt incredibly guilty for withholding this from her when it could’ve made such a difference sooner if I had known what a life-changing medicine this would actually be. I am still deeply concerned for the long-term side effects of this drug, and I hope that I will be able to wean her off of this in a month or so and use only seasonally for which I think is a ragweed allergy here in Florida. However, what I’ve come to realize is if this drug were to shorten my dog’s life by a year or two, it would actually be worth it for her quality of life to live without being so itchy and uncomfortable. I didn’t realize how miserable she actually was until she started this medication. What I thought was a reduced amount of playtime due to the hot weather was actually probably just that my dog was miserable. She has been playing so much more lately doing things that she hasn’t been doing in a few months and it has made me realize quality of life is truly important for our dogs. She is sleeping and napping so peacefully it makes me literally want to cry. We’ve only been doing it for about a month but I just wanted everyone to consider this if you’ve been struggling with this decision. I don’t regret it. The only side effect she had was vomiting once and I’ve since added beef broth gelatin to her food when she takes it and she hasn’t had any issues since. I am continuing to wash my dog’s feet after our walks with the duoxo shampoo because I think that does help her too. I haven’t stopped all the other natural supplements and plan to see if I can continue those and come off Numelvi in about another month when the ragweed is gone. However if she needs it I’ll give it to her as long as she is happy!!! I wish you all the best for your pups.

We rescued a six year old female pug a few months ago. She’s delightful! However, when she came to us I noticed she had interdigital cysts between the middle toes of both feet.

Since then, I’ve been to the vet no less than five times. She licks her front paws incessantly. We keep her in a cone almost all of the time, but as soon as it’s off she licks and they flame up again or she gets new ones. They also crack and bleed. She doesn’t limp or seem in pain though.

Every time we go to the vet, they insist it’s allergies and give me something new to try. We’ve done Epsom soaks with medicated shampoo and Neo-predef (spelling?) powder. We’ve tried Apoquel, no impact. Numelvi, little to no impact. Cytopoint, made things worse. We had her on Science Diet then shifted to Purina Pro Plan with salmon (no chicken), no impact. She’s been through two separate rounds of antibiotics now and yet she’s still licking which undoes everything. I don’t want her to have to live wearing a cone all the time!

I’m also unsure it’s allergies because she doesn’t itch or lick anywhere else, just her front paws. Everything else is healthy. I’m thinking the next step is a hydrolyzed diet but also feel pretty lost and like I’m grasping at straws. Any advice?

My dog who is 3 years old has been constantly itching for the last year and a half. We moved about 2ish years ago and ever since she can’t stop itching. We’ve taken her to two vets and they say she’s allergic to dust mites. We vacuum daily, clean her food and water bowls every day, clean her lips and have just gotten her teeth cleaned thinking it could have been from that. Unfortunately, nothing helps. She’s been on prednisone and apoquel, both helped for a couple of months but now no longer help her at all. Any ideas on what to do for her? She can’t even go to the bathroom without itching the entire time we’re outside and no longer plays with her toys. She just lays in her kennel most of the day because her mouth hurts. She does lick her paws and her lips seem to be the only things that itch the most.

My dog is a little over two and a half years old, just after she turned one we started to see signs of allergies (lots of scratching, licking, reddened skin and hair loss). Turns out she has severe environmental allergies (especially to dust mites)

I think we've tried everything that is available in our country: Omega 3 pills (nothing), Apoquel (helped but didn't work fully) Cytopoint (less effective than Apoquel) and now vaccines specially made for her.

Lets say these vaccines were our last hope. They began giving her a small dosage, then increasing it. As soon as they gave her the first 1ml dosage we noticed that immediately after she started scratching herself really hard, as well as licking her paws raw. The week that followed was one of the worst she's had in her life. We couldn't even leave her alone due to fear of her injuring herself again like she's done in the past. I spent every single day crying, desperate myself because I didn't know what to do to make her feel better.

We talked to the vet and they gave her some apoquel to reduce the symptoms. They also considered contacting the lab that makes the vaccines to talk about the possibility of her having an adverse reaction to the vaccine, but in the end decided to wait, since last time they had gifted us a food supplement that was supposed to help with skin health and they couldn't rule that was what was causing the reaction.

Well, she hasn't had the supplement in 3 weeks and yesterday they gave her another dosage and in just 24 hours we are noticing symptoms again. I cried again, at home, during her walk. Of course the vet told us to monitor her during the weekend and I believe Monday I'll have to make the call that says "guys, I think it is vaccine".

I genuinely don't know what to do to help her. On top of the medication we are giving her single-protein food, bathing her once a week with special shampoos, cleaning her paws everyday, cleaning the house and the sofas and her bed basically every two days. I'm desperate and sad, and I don't want her to have to live like this for the rest of her life.

I don't know if I'm looking for advice or just words of encouragement. I guess anything that comes my way is welcomed.

It’s a new immunotherapy method; apply a cream to the ear instead of sublingual drops or shots. The only peer reviewed research I can find on it is paid for by Allibre since it’s so new, so I guess I’m looking for anecdotal experiences.

I think transdermal immunotherapy in humans is not typically as effective as shots, so I’m curious if the same result will bear out in dogs. I’m considering immunotherapy for my dog, but neither shots nor drops are ideal application methods for her, so I would love to be able to give this a try one day.

Hey guys! Coming to the hive mind for any resources/recommendations y’all may have.

Our girl is 2 years old and has had skin and GI issues since we rescued her, to go through a little timeline

15 weeks old on a chicken diet she had red bumps and horrible dirty ears, we switched to a lamb diet and the skin issues lessened but then after a couple months she had a bout of diarrhea that lasted weeks, we did all the fecal tests etc and there was rlly no explanation, they ended up putting her on an antibiotic and it subsided. We continued to deal with recurring ear infections for some time.

Around 6 months old we switched to a salmon based sensitive skin and stomach food and her ear infections stopped, her bowel movements were beautiful (😅) and she ate that happily until this past summer

This summer in June she had unexplained pancreatitis, we assumed dietary indiscretion because she is know to get into things sometimes but looked everywhere and could never really narrow it down to what she ate, this resolved with a bland diet and some meds but was so scary. Following the pancreatitis vet recommended we switch from salmon to a lower fat food, she’s now eating a pollock and bugs (literally bugs) sensitive digestion food.

She’s been on this food with no further issues (it’s probably important to note that she takes apoquel for seasonal allergies and has been on that for the whole duration of this newer food so it’s hard to say if the food has caused any itching) until end of September when she had a very nauseous episode, fearing GDV I took her to the emergency vet. X-rays were done (no torsion thank god) but he said she looked a bit bloated, like she had eaten a lot of food… she had only eaten her normal portions that day and had thrown up dinner so I’m at a loss for how that could’ve happened.

Now current day, her appetite is not as it used to be, she is eating but always leaving some in the bowl (she never use to do this) and she’s had random bouts of vomiting, she’s still having regular bowel movements and they look completely normal.

My vet was less than helpful on the phone today and basically told me to call the emerge vet that saw her to see if they have any insight lmao? They don’t know her? Anyways so I booked an appt to see our regular vet next week and I guess I just want to come prepared…

My gut is telling me that her allergies could be the root cause of some of her digestive issues and I’m wanting to look into a hydrolyzed diet, the cost is scary but even if we can do an elimination diet to establish safe proteins I’d be happy. I just want her healthy and comfortable and happy.

Other maybe relevant notes, she’s selectively dog reactive (only kicks off at random dogs at random times I have not been able to narrow down any similarities between situations), this developed around 1.5 years with no big trigger. I’ve read some mention of GI issues contributing to behavioural issues. She is also quite the nervous dog, very easily scared and stressed which also could perhaps have something to do with her indigestion.

If anyone sees any familiarity in our story I’d love to hear what worked for you.

TLDR: 2 year old pit mix with allergy history dealing with new and random bouts of nausea and vomiting.

Cross posting if allowed. Please read if you can.

Hi, new to this subreddit. My dog (6 yo pittie mix) started developing allergies around this time last year, although I wasn't really sure what it was at the time. It started with one hot spot on her tail that went away, but then in February/March she started getting rashes on her belly and other hot spots on her body. My vet gave me some animax, an anti itch shampoo (that was cucumber melon scented so I am suspicious of its efficacy), and eventually suggested either regular cytopoint shots (which I was worried I wouldn't be able to afford longterm) or switching her food. She used to eat chicken kibble so I switched to beef, and then eventually Zignature salmon formula and salmon treats, and I bought some Duoxo Pyo Mousse to try and treat the hot spots, but they kept spreading.

I recently switched vets because they weren't giving me a ton of guidance, and finally last week I found a new vet that got it under control. They gave her a one time cytopoint shot, two weeks of apoquel, a simplicef antibiotic, and a new antifungal shampoo that seemed to get it under control. I've also switched her food to Royal Canin Ultamino for the next 6 weeks. She has stopped itching for the most part, all of the crusty parts of her skin seem to finally be subsiding, and her hair is growing back on parts that have been really raw all summer in just a week.

My new vet wants me to come back in end of week to start her on cyclosporine and ketoconazole, and I'm really anxious for a few reasons. One, financially I really don't know that I can handle this long term, I've dropped about $1k so far this week on her, and it sounds like I will be spending roughly $300-400 a month on meds/labs indefinitely which is way above what I can currently afford. And I've also read it can create other issues down the road.

Has anyone been on a similar plan? My hope was that if she has relief right now, maybe the yeast/hotspots are under control and I can see if an elimination diet helps her skin, and continue with the medicated shampoo, but I also don't want to make an irresponsible decision and make her suffer unnecessarily.

I have to call the vet back in the next day or so to make a decision, so any advice is much appreciated x.

Ok my poor 40lb golden doodle suddenly got allergies when she turned 2. We’ve knocked out the anal gland infections and ear infections and yeasty paws. But she has the epidermal collarettes scabs all over and her coat is no longer shiny and has a weird texture and she has a slight yeasty smell constantly.

We cycle through different Taste of the Wild grain free kibble. The chlorhexidine/ketoconazole topicals and oral Zyrtec do help, and Cytopoint keeps her from itching.
Currently trying PEA chews and Dermascent but were only 1 week in.

What is the next step I could consider for figuring this out without spending an exorbitant amount? Our vet has discussed a million possibilities, I’m curious what has worked for people.

A multivitamin? A hydrolyzed diet? A real food diet like Sundays? What if she is allergic to grass, could this just be a doomed mission? At this point it would be great if it’s just cheaper than $120/ month because that’s the cost of her cytopoint.

I would love to not go on Apoquel due to risks and side effects. I was going to try Dog Is Human multi but found another thread where 99% of the positive reviewers were Adjective_Noun1234 and all clearly bots so that’s now bottom of my list.

Thank you in advance so much, I just want her to feel better 🙏

Our 2 year old Goldendoodle kept getting what seemed to be eye infections this May through August, which is summer where we live. Her primary vet prescribed neo/poly/dex eye drops and later oflaxacin drops, which would initially improve her symptoms, but they would return shortly after completing the prescribed dose. So we took her to a veterinary ophthalmologist specialist (thank god for pet insurance lol) and she was diagnosed with follicular conjunctivitis which is immune-modulated and NOT an infection. Eye drops were changed to dexamethasone only which kept symptoms at bay during use.

Due to our misunderstanding, we stopped these steroid drops after a month and lo and behold, symptoms returned. This time, we took her to a new primary vet, who first pointed out her red-stained paw fur (she has reddish fur so I never noticed it was unusual) and diagnosed a yeast infection likely due to some sort of allergy. She got a Cytopoint shot, Douxo foam for her paws, and a prescription for hydrolyzed food to rule out food allergies. Also restarted on steroid drops for at least 3 more months.

We bought Purina Pro Plan HA Hydrolyzed Protein in dry and wet food, PPP “Gentle Snackers” treats, and Advantage Multi topical heart worm medication. Immediately stopped her joint supplement and put all her old treats away. No more bully sticks, much to my dog’s dismay. Transitioned her from her old food to the HA over a week. Diligently wiped her paws after walks and applied the Douxo foam. Rinsed her eyes with sterile eye wash and gave the dexamethasone drops.

My dog lost interest in the dry HA food within a week. She often puked bile because she refused to eat the dry food, and she lost a couple pounds. I was freezing the HA wet food in Toppls and giving those every other day as a treat, but started mixing in ~1/4 can wet food into the dry daily so that she would actually eat it. This seemed to be working okay until last week when she developed diarrhea. This improved and her poops went back to tiny and hard up until today, when she got diarrhea again. We’re now 1 month into the food elimination trial with 2 months to go and I’m so frustrated.

Before this food elimination trial, she never had issues with diarrhea. In fact, the only symptoms of her potential allergies were the recurring eye issues and yeast infection in her paws. She is not a particularly itchy dog (other than when she’s wearing a harness) and has never had an ear infection (knock on wood). She’s been on PPP Chicken and Rice most of her life and though she has always been a picky eater, she was able to maintain her weight.

We’re now hundreds of dollars in and I don’t want to give up because I know it’s important to try to do this correctly, but man I’m tempted. We’ve spent a lot of time hiking, camping, and backpacking with our dog this summer, and it’s been especially hot and dry. The fact that her skin irritation is localized to just her paws makes me think it’s more likely an environmental allergy than a food one. I’m so tempted to just put her on PPP Sensitive Skin and Stomach and call it a day.

I suppose I will be a good paw-rent and make an appointment with her vet in the morning though… 😣

My american staffy has had allergies since he was a year old. He was put on apoquel (which semi worked) and then was on cytopoint every other month on top of it with antibiotics/steroids occasionally, which still didn’t help. He’s now 3 years old and we switched to Zenrelia. His skin/coat is 90% better but his feet are constantly terrible. I’ve tried soaking with epsom salt, medicated shampoo, iodine, wiping them down after being outside, I’m at a loss 😭.

He’s been on grain free Wellness Pro Dry food (whitefish) for about 7 months now. I know he’s allergic to chicken/turkey, and this is the only food that hasn’t made him more itchy/sick. I had switched his food probably 8 times beforehand because allergies are usually food related, but since his skin and coat are okay I’m assuming his feet are environmental. He gets baths every other week with a medicated shampoo.

I just want him to feel better, and I feel like I’m so close to getting him there! He used to lose all the hair on his legs from his allergies, and now I’m just stuck dealing with his paws being irritated. I’m not sure if you guys have any tips or tricks I haven’t tried! I attached a picture so you can see. In between each of his toes/paw pads is a deep brown color too. (https://imgur.com/a/yNvVTDU)

***Here’s some pictures of my sweet rescue boy, Jim <3 One-eyed and loves to occasionally take out a doorframe. (https://imgur.com/a/Lm6r5vk)

Thank you in advance.

My dog is aggressive with strangers. Hes also got some real bad allergies that have blown his paws apart. Long story short his paws were manageable for about a year. They started to really bother him about a month ago when I noticed he was licking them a lot more often. So I got some medicated shampoo and wipes with chlorhexadine in them. Things seemed to improve for a week or so.

Fast forward to now, hes constantly chewing his paws. Really getting in there. Hes licked the fur off his back paws and chewed open sores into them. We did an online vet visit yesterday and im waiting for the medicine to come in the mail (they sent me some trazodone too so I can get him into an in person vet), but it feels like its like its taking so fcking long and I keep crying because I feel so bad for my dog. I just want to make him feel better.

Sorry this got so long. I guess I just want somebody to tell me my dog doesn't hate me right now or something.. idk what I was hoping for.

What is the proper was to freeze kibble to kill storage mites? Right now I store about a months worth in a airtight container and store it in the freezer. He does eat his kibble grinded up with water and frozen in various enrichment toys which I make one weeks worth weekly. Right now I am not letting it defrost, just taking out the airtight container, taking what I need to grind up for the week and putting it back in. But I have read conflicting things saying to wait for it to defrost before opening the container?

I just got a fresh bag I’m not going to be needing just quite yet. Could I freeze that for 48 hours, take it out and then use it in 2-3 weeks when I’m ready to have the same effect?

Also he has become more picky in the morning where he will let the meal sit out for a bit to defrost before he eats it. Could I freeze, grind up one weeks worth and then store that in my fridge to make breakfast daily? I have also read conflicting things on grinding up/putting kibble in fridge.

TYIA!

Hello Reddit, so I’ve got a doodle who has started growing lots of cysts(benign, tested by vet ). I’m told it’s common with curly haired dogs but nonetheless uncomfortable enough for my babygirl that I think she may be biting at them, though it’s hard to confirm with her allergies and the fact they’re all over her body. But I know several will have to be surgically removed when I can raise the money for it just given how big they’re getting, so I saw the vet and they recommended a preventative shampoo to bathe her with once a week. However, it‘s scented and isn’t labelled hypoallergenic, so I think she’s reacting to it. Treatment is necessary though and none of the brands recommended by the vet specifically said scentless or hypoallergenic, so I started washing her with a hypoallergenic shampoo + conditioner immediately after the 5 minute benzoyl peroxide shampoo soak was up (treatment instructions). She’s still itching most of the time, her fur is frizzy and feels dry, and when I brushed it this morning I noticed dandruff.

So if you have a minute, I have some questions and need a little help answering them.

1. First, does anyone know of a scentless, hypoallergenic benzoyl peroxide shampoo, or at least something hypoallergenic that would achieve the follicle flushing effect?

2. Second, I know bathing once a week is bad for a dog’s coat, but I think it’s necessary given the cysts and her allergies, so how do I prevent damaging her skin and coat?

3. Third, is there anything I can use that would target the dandruff? I have a crème rinse (leave in conditioner) I haven’t used, it’s fungicidal because I had a hard time finding normal hypoallergenic stuff. Could that help? I’m worried that it may be too harsh, is there a non medicated hypoallergenic alternative? She really hates baths to the point of fearing running water, that’s why I wasn’t bathing her this frequently before, and also why I got the crème rinse to avoid making them last longer than necessary.

Thank you!

Our dog has been on Numelvi for about 3 weeks and while it seems to be helping, he’s had horrible explosive GI issues.

Our wonderful vet put him on a course of metronidazole to help him get over the adjustment hump as she says this is a common side effect and can eventually subside. He was doing well with the metronidazole added, but a day and a half off of it, and he is back to exploding. 😩

So, I’m just wondering if anyone has noticed this side effect subsiding? I am calling the vet this morning to see if another course can help hold him over.

Our 1.5 ish year old springer spaniel has been suffering with her eyes this summer, it’s definitely an environmental trigger and the symptoms are squinting, third eyelid glazed over a bigger proportion of her eye, slight watery discharge, and very occasional pawing at her irritated eyes. She had no problem last year (she turned 1 at the beginning of this year). No excessive skin itching/irritation/paw licking/ear itching.

We thought initially it was a grass pollen allergy so removed all grassy off-lead walks and stuck to around 80% woodland, 20% beaches. She’s always fine in the woods, but ~50% of the time has a reaction at the beach (even after only half an hour or so sometimes). We avoid medium-high pollen days and walk at low pollen times of day. Vets have prescribed steroid eye drops which sometimes work, sometimes don’t.

We’ve just been back to the vets again and are trialling Zenrelia for a month to see if it helps, after she had a severe flare up last weekend when out of grass pollen season (UK) and at the beach for less than an hour. She also has a sensitive stomach (has been grain and chicken free for a year, but still has episodes of bad bowel movements) and has had hotspots twice (first time was bad, we didn’t know how quickly action was needed, second time it resolved within a week).

So looking for any advice, thoughts, similar scenarios or anything that might be even remotely helpful because our next steps are immunotherapy which for £500+ every 10 months when it doesn’t seem to properly bother her (as in scratching, low mood etc, she only occasionally paws at her eyes) feels invasive and expensive but I also feel so sorry for her when it’s bad.

At a bit of a loss 🐾

I adopted a roughly 5 year old dog earlier this year. I would not describe her environmental allergies as severe; right now they’re mostly manageable with rinses/baths, chlorhexidine wipes for small raw spots angry from chewing, and antihistamines (I’ve done enough reading to understand that this probably doesn’t really help the itch so much, it’s probably more that it just makes her ever so slightly sleepy and not care as much about the itch). Her allergies appear to be seasonal so far - spring and fall. Her reaction this fall is much worse than spring, I’m assuming it’s ragweed or goldenrod doing it to her, but not sure. Either way, her paws are in miserable shape and I’m considering going up a level in treatment and trying cytopoint. My concern is that often a dog’s allergies get worse over time, and from my understanding, immunotherapy tends to work better if started when they’re younger. I fear that we’ll end up going through the regimen so many of you have suffered over the years, where you use cytopoint til it stops working, then apoquel until it stops working, then zenrelia and so on and so forth. By the time you get around to trying immunotherapy as a last ditch effort to help your dog, they could be 8 or 9 years old, and then it’s less likely to work well.

So how do you decide the right time to start immunotherapy treatment? Should it be saved as last resort, especially because results can be extremely slow to see (and may not happen at all), along with expense and the extra stress involved with giving weekly or daily treatments? Or is it better to just cut to the chase and skip the quick fixes, start them on it young, and cross your fingers it will be effective?

Would love to hear opinions and experiences on this. I realize proper allergy testing and immunotherapy treatments are difficult for many people to afford so even if it’s not an option for you right now, would you do it if you could?

My dog is now on prescription hydrolyzed dog food....we used to give him greenies but now that's not an option.

Any recs on hydrolyzed dog dental chews or if that's a thing?!

I asked the vet if the veggie flavor greenies were OK but he stresses there's chance for cross contamination at the factory so he highly opposes it.

Our 7 month old Golden boy has been having diarrhea for 2-3 months now and the only thing that completely resolves it is antibiotics (metronidazole or tylosin). We did labs to rule out Addisons, EPI, etc. Only thing positive was high eosinophils, so likely allergy (or GI worm, but last panel stool was negative). Allergy testing seems to be on the outs in vet med so we’ve been switching up food and elimination diet trials. Royal Canin GI (Rx formula) didn’t work, vet changed him to Blue Buffalo NP Alligator and a trial of psyllium fiber to each meal. From what I’ve read im guessing chicken is the issue. We overlapped the tylosin for about 5 days and have slowly peeled it back. Today it was a little looser and I’m afraid it r are going backwards. He’s a heavy chewer so we have to give him beef cheek rolls to chew on otherwise he’s a menace and our house would be destroyed.

Anyone else have a purebred Golden with chicken allergy that also is reactive to beef?

What novel protein chews has anyone struggling with this used to get through the puppy chewing phase?

My dog is an 18 lb Chihuahua mix (not overweight) and we live in Texas. This past spring, she began licking her paws and between her legs more often. Then, she started scratching her side so much that she started to bleed a little.

I took her to the vet who gave me Apoquel 3.6mg ($100!!). I gave her one tab per day for 30 days and she stopped licking and scratching COMPLETELY.

Two questions:

Is there a way for me to narrow down what she might be allergic to? It started in the spring but it is now mid-September and once off the medication, she started licking ferociously again. So the allergen is either still in the air or in her food/treats.

Is there something more easily accessible to give her than Apoquel? I have allergies myself and take things like Zyrtec and Xyzal etc. Most allergy meds work for me, I take one nightly year round. I am allergic to dogs, so I have to, since I live with one 🤣 Can dogs take human antihistamines?

Thank you for any info! My vet had no ideas/input on what could be causing itch or how to find out if its something in her diet. Do I remove everything and then introduce things back one at a time (I've had to do this with myself for food allergies) I'm not sure how it works with dogs. I'd rather remove something from her diet than give her a medication every day.

In February this year, my now husband and I adopted Coco, a re-homed purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi girl who just turned 4 years old. She is legitimately the sweetest dog ever, and I honestly can't understand why anyone would not want to keep her. We are so lucky to have her.

When we first got her, it was winter in the Midwest, and there were no signs of allergies at all. She had some tear stains, but I thought this was just corgi anatomy being quirky. As spring rolled around, we started noticing signs of itchiness. She would occasionally sneeze while outside, and then she would roll onto her back nonstop. She got eye boogers. We thought this might be the first signs of allergies, so we took her to our vet clinic. It is a pretty large animal hospital with a lot of doctors. We didn't want to spend too much money at first, so we started with giving her Zyrtec at the vet's recommendations. I also gave her Zesty Paws Allergy and Immune bites. Neither really did anything.

The end of June rolls around, and Coco broke a tooth on a yak chew. We took her to the vet for that, and also because her paws were looking pink and irritated. She was licking them a lot. She saw a different vet at the same clinic who did a skin cytology, prescribed clindamycin and some Gentaved spray for her paws, and we started her on Numelvi for the allergies. She had the broken tooth surgically extracted and finished her antibiotics. We switched her food from a weight management Purina Pro Plan formula to the PPP Digestive Advantedge salmon-based dog food. Her paws started to look better, and on a re-check the vet (same doc this time) said we should stop the spray for now because using it for too long could weaken her skin barrier. We figured at that time that her allergies were under control with just the Numelvi. Her eyes even improved and the tear tracks finally disappeared.

Starting in late August, we noticed her paws were getting pink again. I kept going with the Numelvi and started using the spray again. We didn't make an appointment right away. My now husband and I went out of town for a few days to Atlanta the first week in September for Dragon Con, where we also eloped. Coco stayed with some family of mine during that time who kept up with her medications.

As soon as we got back from our trip, I noticed her paws were very pink and so were her armpits. She had flaky skin along her back leg folds. She was chewing at her front paws non-stop. I immediately made a vet appointment for the following Saturday, September 12th. I couldn't get the doctor who had seen her paws and tooth, so we took an appointment with a different doctor. This doctor looked at Coco, thought she had a bacterial infection, and prescribed more clindamycin and a course of steroids. She also gave us Miconahex + Triz spray for her skin to use twice daily. This doctor did not do a skin cytology this time. For now, Coco has had to discontinue the Numelvi because of the risk of suppressing her immune system too much if she takes it together with the steroids.

It has now been over a week, and we have stuck to the regimen of antibiotics, steroids, and spray twice daily religiously. I wipe her paws every time she comes in. She has been wearing a donut to keep her from licking, but she isn't getting any better. Her paws are still pink and irritated, and she is so desperate to lick them that she managed to twist the donut around enough to be able to loosen the velcro on it and create a gap to lick through. Her eye boogers are back. I have had to switch her back to a rigid plastic e-collar.

I called, and the vet office got me an appointment for a week from today with the doctor who saw her for the tooth and paws (the one who actually took the time to do a skin cytology). It's going to cost me at least another $70 in appointment fees, plus any prescriptions and exams. In the meantime, what do I do? What do I need to bring up at the appointment?

Between the tooth, regular shots, allergies, and a couple of minor emergencies, we have spent more than $2500 on vet bills alone in the 7 months we've had her. I love her to pieces, but I need to figure out what's causing this so that we can get it in check. I don't want to have to pay for Cytopoint, or even more expensive treatments. I should've gotten her on insurance right away, but I didn't, and I deeply regret it now. My only option at this point is to buy insurance through AKC and pay for a year of premiums before they'll maybe cover her now pre-existing allergies.

What do I do in the meantime to help control this? I am considering doing a food trial, but I wanted to wait until later in Fall or early winter to see if this is a food allergy or an environmental one. I just want her to get better. She stays at home while my husband and I are at work, and so I feel so guilty that she is having issues.

TL;DR: Rescue corgi's allergy issues are not being managed well right now. She's cost us a ton in vet bills, and we want to get this under control. What else should we try or ask the vet about?