Horsefeathers! Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 Does anyone have any insight on the use of cyclosporin to treat allergy symptoms in dogs? Devin scratches and gnaws continuously, day and night. He's only a year old and I hate with a passion the thought of putting him on pred longterm. This past week, I gave up and started him on some just because I'd rather see his life shortened by pred than see him miserably scratching and gnawing. He can't even sleep through the night. I did have another one of my Lhasas allergy tested a few years ago and we went through the hyposensitization injections where a serum was made up specifically for her allergies. The success was minimal to say the least. My understanding is that they can only put so many "allergens" in the serum and she apparently was allergic to way more than it covered. Or something like that. Either way, it was a ton of money down the drain because it really didn't help much. I've bitched and moaned to my vet so much about alternatives to longterm pred that he mentioned yesterday something about treating allergies with cyclosporin. I don't reckon he's done it before, but he sent some home for Devin to try. He's interested in the results (which is why he sold this stuff to me at cost, but holy balls, is it still expensive!). He said if it would work, it wouldn't have the longterm problems associated with prednisone. He is getting some kind of new(?) drug called Atopica. My assumption is that it must be similar to cyclosporin since that's what he's starting us on until he gets the Atopica. Does anyone have any insight to offer on this? I'm just beginning to try to find something about it on the web. What we've done so far... bathing him very infrequently so as to not dry out skin. Didn't help, so now I'm bathing him at least twice a week in an effort to control inhalant/contact allergies. Keeping him virtually shaved. It does seem worse when his hair begins growing out, so I keep it very short. That was the one thing that made the most difference in the other allergy Lhasa, but can't tell about Devin yet. He is on Canidae food and gets 3V Caps (fish oil) supplements as well as yogurt, acidophilus and Nzymes and a few fresh vegetables and (cooked) meats. We are very diligent in making sure he gets no processed food like hot dogs, sausage, or anything like that. I'm kind of going away from my original question. I really want to know if anyone has insight on the use of cyclosporin or Atopica in treating allergies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 I wish I could help. I have an itchy dog too so I would be very interested myself to know how this works out for you. I know how darn frustrating it is to know they're itchy and feeling helpless. Good luck with the treatment and I hope someone here has an answer for you. I'll ask my vet about when I take Bentley next week and see if she knows anything about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Cassie Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 Here is some information on Atopica. [url]http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=0&cat=1275&articleid=3069[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsefeathers! Posted February 23, 2004 Author Share Posted February 23, 2004 Thanks! So far, I'm very optimistic. Just the thought of possible improvement without the use of pred is better than I'd hoped for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseatthebusstop Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 I have Gladis on herbel tablets garlick and fenueek---sulpher--mixed vegatable is it working well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.