Well as some of you may know, Buddy our "Rottenweiler" has suffered from allergies since he was about 3 1/2 yo; he had some environmental allergy testing done, which came back positive for dust mites, mold, some birch....nothing overly major. He would get very bad ear infections, hot spots, itching....was on prednisone for several years & his weigh ballooned to 125 - 130 ish....We moved to a larger centre 2 yrs ago; had more options so we went to a holistic vet (expensive but well worth it); said he was doing well keep on doing what we're doing. By this time we have him getting pred only if he gets really bad hot spots then we give him an few days then wean him off again.
Found a new vet.....good experience, she diagnoses him with very bad yeast infection in his ears and on his skin......get that cleared over a series of months; he was doing well on a 1/4 tab of pred every 48 hrs just to keep the infections at bay. Oh he has also been dx with hypothyroidism got those meds figured out too. Bud has now slimmed down to between 96 and 105 lbs (and now has his cute little bum back!!!)
Last few weeks noticed he started getting an ear infection again....so we start the whole regime again surolan, cleaning etc. but he's still itching. Back in Oct. I found a place in Washington that was starting up a canine allergy testing side of things (they do human allergy testing) the best part was because this was going to be a part of a research group it would have been no cost. So I was talking to Anne about the allergy testing that she had gotten done for her precious little Andy and gotten lots of information which I also passed on to the place in Washington. They advised they would be able to do this type of testing and provide us some answers, hopefully.
Off went the blood sample, waiting, waiting, waiting.....call, call, receive email, etc. Well last week I finally called again, told them I needed an answer as it's been some time and Buddy was still itching. Get an email back, the research program has fallen apart and they can not promise me a date or even an answer. Not a happy camper.....
So today....we went and bought some starting fixing for a raw diet for Buddy. Jay & I have talked on and off for several years about doing this....cost it was very price prohibitive. Still is very expensive.....but we're paying almost $80 Canadian for a bag of grain free, allergen free dry dog food!!!!
So as of tomorrow morning we are enbarking on a whole new life style for Buddy. The other two goobers will still get the dry (we can get them a less expensive one; had them all on the same in case Buddy stole some food.....he would never do that????)
So we got him beef; bison; elk some tripe (which has got to be the most disgusting smell on this earth)......gross and according to the sites we've seen and the place we're dealing with a dog of Buddy's size gets 1- 1 1/2 lbs per day. The one we bought has everything in it, so the only thing we have to keep adding is his Omega 3/Fish oils.
Found another place that was actually closed today, but Jay called for the heck of it....and actually spoke to someone who advised that she has dogs, feeds strictly raw and we would like her prices a lot more than from where we purchased this first stuff. We have an appointment with her next Saturday to sit down and talk to her and get some pointers....yay!!!
So if anyone has any other pointers or advice, we're looking at everything. Keep your fingers crossed that this is what does it. I called our vet on Friday and asked her to look into doing a food allergy panel and getting some prices for us. I know we're probably looking at about $300+ for that.
So no more rawhides (add to yeast infections/ear infections....) that may be what is coming out in Bud too. As we had some company over Christmas and they had given Buddy some rawhides.
Sorry for the extremely long post too..........
precious furangels Reiko (2004-11-18),Tecah (2006-02-02) & Mouzer (2004-08-24) 
