I have a dog that must be allergic to EVERYTHING, including me. I have tried every food, medicine, treatment, supplement, etc. possible, EXCEPT allergy shots . It would take nearly $1K to find out what he's allergic to before they could even develop the right allergy shot with an extra $$ price tag for each round of shots. And the % of success was far too low for me to put out that kind of money. In the end, I broke down (broke being the key word!) and finally tried Atopica
http://www.us.atopica.com/. This is an anti-rejection drug used for transplant patients. This has been modified for dog use. It is *very* expensive but it did work. I can only afford to give him a 1/2 dose per day and it costs me $150 a month to do so.
I found though, that I started saving a little bit of money because I wasn't taking him to the vet for another round of steroids and antibiotics every 8 weeks or so...running $250-300 each visit. Sometimes more.
The medicine is not without side effects. My dog has gotten these little "growths" all over. The plan is to continue to use the Atopica until we no longer see benefit. At that point, we'll probably have to put him down. He's 11.
In the last month or so, I haven't been able to pay for the meds and he's in the midst of a terrible flare up. I'm taking him to the vet on Friday to get meds to bring this round under control and then we'll start with the Atopica again (I'll be picking up 2 boxes on Friday as well).
And if that wasn't bad enough, our border collie mix (8) and miniature Dachshund (10) started scratching late last summer. The border collie has really thick, double coated fur and got hot spots. So she too ended up at the vet for a round of antibiotics and steroids. This year, when I saw her digging, chewing and scratching again, I shaved her. It's so much easier to bath her with special medicated shampoo this way and she doesn't get overheated. I think we've managed to avoid having to take her to the vet.
We have no fleas, no other parasites at work...all tested for by the vet for each dog. I'm starting wonder if they're allergic to me!