# Atopica....



## Terry36 (Jan 21, 2009)

what are your experiences with it? The Vet described this for Kodi's allergies today...

Thanks


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## DenaBear07 (Aug 7, 2007)

I am a technician at an animal hospital, and this is the drug all 3 doctors I work with go to when they have a patient with bad skin allergies. I have not seen in fail, although I did see one patient that had REALLY bad allergies (dog had chewed off hair so badly it looked like it had been freshly shaved) that they could only decrease to every other day maintenance dosing or problem would return.


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## dr.jaimie (Mar 23, 2004)

this is a great med for allergies. can cause vomiting in some dogs do to the carrier of the medicine is castor oil. we typically put a pet on a 5-7day antivomiting drug to get them through this phase. most do great on it.


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## Terry36 (Jan 21, 2009)

dr.jaimie said:


> this is a great med for allergies. can cause vomiting in some dogs do to the carrier of the medicine is castor oil. we typically put a pet on a 5-7day antivomiting drug to get them through this phase. most do great on it.


I gave her the 1st pill with a snack yesterday and of course she vomited w/n the hour.....I felt so bad for her. My Vet did not give Kodi the antivomiting drug? Should I call and ask for it? 

Note: he also prescribed an 8 day supply of Temaril-p as well which seems to not be bothering her.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

My Dee Dee was on it for a year and vomitted everytime i gave it after a year so she could not tolerate it sadly but when it works it is a wonder drug for some. I would give with food and worked for a year with occasional vomitting but after that year she could not keep it down 

It also takes 30 days for atopica to really kick in to see the benefits. DD is a really bad case of allergies she took it every day and then was getting temarilp every other day too so now just doing temarilp as figured one drug is better than two.

Have you done hyposensitization shots? That is safest if it works rather than doing drugs. I never did it and it is the one thing i regret not trying when dee dee was younger and derm reminds me so I may bite the bullet this year and try it as that and homecooking are the only two things I have not done and been dealing with allergies with her for 5 years. 

If you do hypo shots the best labs are VARL, HECKER AND GREER. Our derm uses VARL. They can be on atopica for skin testing but not steroids. They have to be off steroids for 60 days so we are going to do blood with varl lab as it would be torture to take dd of steroids for 60 days. The derm i work with is not big on doing skin testing in toy breeds as she has to shave both sides of dog and it is a lot on their little systems so she said blood is sufficient. She said she gives me the test results then i need to investigate my area to make sure we get the right stuff in the vile. She said also due to my worry she can dose down to 3 viles instead of 2 so it is more dilluted so less reaction. 

The other thing is every drug has a side effect sadly as my dd is on temarilp now and they are tying atopica to cancer in dogs so you may want to look into that further as well but a short happy life is better than a long miserable life is what i had to finally come to with my dee dee.

I will post my info on what my journey has been with dee dee so you can see what things are involved with allergy dogs  It is not fun and the most frustrating thing I have been through and still go through.

I was afraid of doing hypo shots for fear of her getting worse as had been told that be a vet but now i am sorry i did not try it as it is the safest per derm


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

I have been dealing with allergies for 5 years it runs in this breed. They tend to have poor immune systems from inbreeding. I have spent thousands of dollars going to dermatologist, holistic vets, chinese herbs, raw diets, specialist in blood work, two allergy blood tests and yes I am in about 6-7k on all this so here it goes. I also am on an allergy group on yahoogroups.com called allerdog and read constantly on this topic. Also have bought every animal dermatology book on ebay and read them. So I consider myself to know alot on this topic. 

First you need to rule out mites like scabies and demodex so has vet done mite scraping?

Second does your dog bite at back half off dog as that is flea allergy and one flea bite can last up to 3 weeks. I personally do not use flea meds and i live in southern californiais the worst place to live for allergies as we bloom all year round 

Next you need to have a full thyroid panel done to make sure not hypothyroid as that can cause skin issues in dogs and this breed is prone to hypothyroid and yes my dee dee is also hypothyroid and on soloxine. Hypothyroid is all a immune mediated disease - the thyroid panel is t4, t4free, t3, t3free, t4aa, 
t3aa- it is a 6 panel test and it should be done by dr jean dodds who we see for all our blood work or michigan state panel as they are the most accurate- Hemopet/Hemolife, HEMOPET a full animal blood bank, Diagnostic Laboratory, Adoption and Consultation has instructions on how your vet can send her the blood to be tested. 

Next a food elimination diet and i recommend natural balance fish and sweet potato or venison and sweet potato. This needs to be done for 12 weeks nothing else no treats NOTHING. it has to be a novel protein and carb

90% of allegies are environmental and 10% food so if it is food you are really lucky. So once food elimination diet has been completed next is it is most likely environmental so here is what you are left with 

Next step is a antihistamine trial for 3 weeks with each antihistamine - benedryl,etc. The most successful i have heard of is zyrtec so ask vet about it. Also antihistamines respond better when used with omega 3 and i prefer nordic naturals omega fish oil as it is distilled and no mercury and mercury can make dogs itch and some dogs are allergic to fish oil-- Welcome to Nordic Naturals - fish oil is a natural anti-inflammatory and allergy dogs get inflamed, red and *itchy*. 

Coconut oil is a natural antibacterial and antifungal to keep yeast and bacteria infections down in the body so this helps allergy dogs 

you have to be careful with this breed though as they are prone to pancreatitis and i have dealt with that with my other yorkie and he almost died of it so any fatty acid supplement can while rare trigger the pancreas. 

antihistamines many times do not work in dogs so do not be surprised in severe cases where these do not work and benedryl can either amp a dog up or sedate them as it amps my allergy dog so she is bouncing from bed to bed. It has the same affect in humans

Allergy dogs must be bathed weekly and NO OATMEAL SHAMPOOS. Oatmeal is a grain and most allergy dogs are allergic to grains so no grains in food or anything else. The oatmeal is a grain and it is very drying and many allergy dogs are allergic to it - Mine is. If they get red spots after bath and get red after bath they are allergic to shampoo. I only use hypoallergenic natural shampoos and i really like BLUE hypoallergenic shampoo you get from petco in a blue bottle



I am not a fan of flea meds and here is why 

the flea med does not prevent the flea from biting the dog so the allergy dog can still get bit and it only prevents the population of fleas so if you brush your dog daily you should see if there is a flea and you are bathing weekly as well. So putting a chemical on their skin that is already irritated did not sit well with me so i would not use them. If you want to and you have a bad flea area the dermatologist recommends frontline plus 

ok so you ruled out thyroid, food, flea and you still have a problem then it is environmental which is 90% of the time anyway BUT even if environmental a allergy dog should be on a limited ingredient diet as to not over tax the system. 

Allergents are PROTEINS -flea saliva, pollen, and protein in food 

So what can you do with Environmental here are your options

Local raw honey from a farmers market on finger build up tiny amounts on finger daily to build up immunity to the local pollens

Hyposensitization shots from dermatologist by using a blood test and VARL lab is most accurate but blood CANNOT determine food allergy only environmental - skin testing is the most accurate with a dermatologist and you should only pay for these things blood and/or skin if going to do shots. The shots take one year to start working and it works only in 85% of dogs and the reason is your dog could be allergic to 100 things but only 15 things can go in the vile to desensitize your dog so if they do not get those top 15 things right it will not work so it has to be one of the things your dog is most allergic too as well as in the area you live. Some claim it has made their dogs worse but it is the one thing I did not try and sorry i did not as it is the most natural and you should go more natural if you can.

Ok next is Atopica an immune suppressant drug that is safer than steroids but still a drug. It can cause GI upset and may make the dog vomit which it did mine so ideally given on empty stomach but usually have to give with food. It is not cheap will cost about $100 a month depending on how severe your dog is. The bile acids need to be done on yorkies since they have liver issues prior to any drugs i strongly recommend. 

If this does not work all you are left with is steroids. The best is temarilp as it has prednisolone and tavist and prednisolone is broken down so less stressful on the liver than prednisone and less side effects than prednisone as i have used both and prednisone my dog looked like a cushings dog and it was horrible but no real symptoms on temarilp and best if doing steroids long term to use steroids every other day NOT every day and it can affect joints and ligaments so dogs with luxating patella on steroids are more prone to acl tears as steroids can deteriorate the joints and tendons.

ok so now I wash everything in perfume and dye free soap - no air fresheners we have laminate floors now and oreck air purification system and hypoallgergenic a/c filters. 

Dee Dee also wears turtleneck shirts daily to keep pollens, dust and dander off her and it helps tremendously to keep from getting hot spots, bloody elbows and belly. It protects her. The derm calls it tshirt therapy and it works. I buy them from a lady on ebay -the pic in siggy shows her in the tshirts she wears. 

I am not on here much but happened to pop in today and saw your thread so hopefully this will help shed some light on allergies and some options


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

DR J 

Thanks for posting about the Castor Oil as that makes total sense now why they vomit and i had no idea about that. I swear i learn something new every day 

Say Hi to the P's from the D's


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

dwerten said:


> I have been dealing with allergies for 5 years it runs in this breed. They tend to have poor immune systems from inbreeding. I have spent thousands of dollars going to dermatologist, holistic vets, chinese herbs, raw diets, specialist in blood work, two allergy blood tests and yes I am in about 6-7k on all this so here it goes. I also am on an allergy group on yahoogroups.com called allerdog and read constantly on this topic. Also have bought every animal dermatology book on ebay and read them. So I consider myself to know alot on this topic.
> 
> First you need to rule out mites like scabies and demodex so has vet done mite scraping?
> 
> ...



Thanks. this is a very informative post, not only for dogs but for humans, too. My husband was helped tremendously by eating local honey, taking Fish Oil supplements and eating coconut oil. He suffered from severe pollen allergies for years. Now they are very mild.


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## cleex1004 (Aug 2, 2008)

This was very informative. I have really bad seasonal allergies and they are particularly bad when I am back in Washington for some reason. A few years ago, my mom read that raw local honey would help me build up am immunity so she got me some and told me to try and have a little bit everyday building up the amount every few days. The first day I took it, I had a tiny bit, seriously the size of my pinky finger nail and within 20 minutes my tongue was swollen and my throat started to close. Luckily, I live very close to the university hospital and made it to the ER in time. It was a very very scary experience. Though it seems like honey is harmless even in small amounts, I would be very very careful with it.


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