update on Buster's allergies

[chalms]

I want to thank you all for your help. I really think the dermatologist is soaking us as Buster has not had allergy tests yet. This is a very costly and lengthy process. Testing comes next in about 10 days..followed by shots, every 3 months. They are trying to rule food out first as the cause. However she said it's most likely airborn to a # of things. I know it's not food and I know this could have been sooner. Our first appointment was in July. Now the skin test and first dosage of shots are over $500 and our last appointment was $325. We had told her that our vet already had done various food diets for Buster and that's why he recommended her to begin with...but she insists on finding out herself with the food. Anyway we know he'll be on shots and alot more comfortable. But you all beware of these vet dermatologists taking advantage of you $ wise. It's too late for us....after $2500.

[honeybears]

Hi Chlams, glad to hear you are progressing. they always go with the diet first which is quite lenghty changing diets to see if this is the culprit,

Something though is still bothering me about this allergy testing. my cat went thru this, His shots were very frequent at first and at differnt doses, kind of like bombarding the the body and then slowly wean them down. He started at if I remember one a week, the 3 months point didnt hit until months later when it was determined this shots were working and only when he had a flare up

So I am just saying defininately do the testing, but I cant fiure out how the Dr can say he only needs shots every 3 months when he doesnt even know what he is allergic to. I would get another Drs opinion to explazin how these shots work

[honeybears]

Hi again, I was tired when I posted last night so I wanted to give some more info I remembered. My cat started his shots off several times a week, then like every 3 days for ahwile then every 4. It was so complicated, had to have calandar out to make sure he got his doses on the right days

[chalms]

Hi honeybears, thanks again for your info. Buster has been on 100 mgs of atopica daily and we are supposed to ween him off of it and then slowly introduce a new food to totally rule food out before the allergy tests. We are all just assuming over here that his allergies are airborn and I will keep you posted as to what allergy shots every 3months. She did say it is not a cure all but will control the allergies pretty good.

[LuvMyBabies]

Glad to hear that allergy testing in in the future. However, my William was like Honeybear's cat. He started off having shots every other day, then every 3 days, every 5 days, every 7 days, 10 days.......etc. until eventually it comes to once a month. This process takes about 9 months to work up to a monthly dosage.

Anyway, just hope that you can come up with a treatment plan to make life more comfortable!