So we took Roxi in because after checking her for fleas.. washing her.. cutting off all snacks to her.. washing her bed.. giving her some human allergy meds... SHE WAS STILL ITCHY...

so the vet gave us some dog allergy meds and sent us home....

five days later poor girl is still trying to rip her fur off... she's miserable and the vet called to see how the meds were doing.

I explained nothings changed except we now have an itchy.. sleepy.. upset tummy dog.. (and to top it all the stores in the area are out of pumpkin :(   )

So she offered to give us more allergy meds with a hint of steroids... Red Flags Went Up!

I politely told her that I'll talk to Chris and we'd call her back.... She said if not that we can try some other allergy meds until we find one that may work....


So not sure what to do at this point.. I am really really against steriods but not sure if drugging her up with more allergy medication is going to help especially if we don't "find one that works"....


any thoughts on this? am I freaking myself out reading about sterioids on dogs like some people do with WebMD about their conditions?

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Algy was on steroids for years (about 5) and tolerated them well. His system - liver and other organs, did just fine. And he was on some pretty hefty doses for a long time. Perhaps my view is biased on this, but it really helped him, although, his condition that warranted the steroids was much different. He also went in for bloodwork every week for like, 2 years, and our vet was/is awesome.

How much are they thinking? Would it be something you'd be willing to try at a low dose for a limited time? What are they hoping the steroids will do? Is it just for the itching?
It's just for the itching (she's basically starting to eat herself and all she wants if for you to scratch her). Its for seasonal allergies. She'll be normal around fall time :/ Though I'm hoping to find some other way to help her out as well.. looking into the local honey thing and such to try and get her body used to VA.
Allergies can be a viscious cycle and there's some evidence that controlling them aggressively early (at least in children) can reduce the risk of it becoming a big, messy, lifetime problem.

I would not hesitate to put an animal on a short course of steroids to calm the current inflammation, but I'd hesitate to have them on it for a long term unless all else failed. Most of the problems with steroids arise after years of use, and short courses are normally very well tolerates. My last cat, Alice, got a few doses of steroids for cancer treatment. They were very high doses, and the main side effect was she ate more and was thirsty (both good things for a kitty fighting cancer, not-so-good for a Corgi!)
I'm not sure how long it would be for her.. I think it will be a very low dose though. I like the fact the doctor tried other ideas first and she wants to try a very low dose first off and was very appologetic over the phone and willing to try something else instead if we were against it...

I'm just a worried mom I guess.. Maybe I could find something else that will help her next year and let this help for now...

With the controlling early do you mean that they may be less harsh on her next year? The allergies that is?
I saw a study a few years back showing that children who had allergies that were treated aggressively were more likely to outgrow them than children who had allergies and nature was allowed to take its course. The untreated children were more likely to grow up to be adult allergy sufferers, as I recall. I don't have the study at my fingertips, though.
Huh.. that's an interesting thought/find on the idea. I read dogs start showing allergy signs at around her age so maybe this will nip it in the bum if we decide to take this course. Though everyone's reply has been very helpful for a freaking out mom.

It's like testing on humans for animals lol. I don't know why that thought popped in my head.
I believe that my girlfriend had to do this and it worked very well for her dog that was itching like crazy!. I would call her but she's on vacation!
Hope she's having a great vaca :) If she used steroids what was it for? If it was for allergies was it worse the next year or did the first dose seem to help the year after?

Thanks for the help :)
It was for allergies and they took him off of food with corn also. She does have her computer along and so if she's online I will ask her...she may be driving home though! I just remember her saying the itching was terrible! This just happened this spring so I need to ask her more!
my six year old daughter was put on short term steriods for poison ivy... it seems to be a standard thing for those types of reactions. She is all grown up now and healthy :)
This helps a lot to ease my mind. Some of the stuff I read online did freak me out a lot.
We put our corgi on steroids for allergies. She was steadily nawing at the top of her tail. We took her off of all her regular food & treats & fed her fish, deer, etc. (anything but chicken, beef). We got it cleared up & she was eventually able to eat her regular dog food again. Oftentimes allergies can cause other problems, such as a fungus on the skin from being wet from chewing, causing a snowball effect.

If it makes you feel any better, we give steriods to medically fragile infants (both orally & inhaled) regularly (read we pass them out like M&M's lol) as a first line treatment. I've never had a patient with an adverse reaction. Like Judy, I have a daughter highly sensative to poison ivy & I gave her a steriod if I even thought she was breaking out with it when she was younger. She did (we think) outgrow the allergy. She's now 17 & is perfectly healthy.

I hope this makes you feel a little better!

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