Shaking head

QuestionEdit

We have a 4 year old Yorkie (Tanner). We have had him to our Vet. for about 3 years for ear infections. They give him Keflex 250mg and Temarl-p and some sort of shot. They say he will be better in about 3-4 weeks. Well the first time we gave him all the meds and he was off the meds about 1 week problems back again. We went back to the vet same thing again. We have been doing this about 3 years. I keep asking the vet to keep him on the meds all the time and they will not. Well the last time I hit the roof my dog is not better so they gave me another round of the meds. to last 2 months (it took me getting mad to get that). They also gave me a 10 lb of Deer and Potato dog food ($29.99) and 3 10oz cans of deer and potato dog food ($5.00 per can). Please note we went to our local pet store and found the same foods for $10.99 for the bag and $1.34 for the can we called the vet and ask if this was OK they said yes. That was the first of Oct. Tanner has taken all the meds. Almost as soon as he finished the meds problems are back. I feel he needs to stay on the meds all the time. The vet helps saying lets see how he does off the meds. I feel after one or two tries off the meds and the problem keeps coming back it should be a clue that he needs to be on some form of meds all the time. I have spent about $3,200.00 over the past 3 years my DEAR Tanner is not feeling well and I hate for him to be sick if being on some sort of long term meds will make him feel better why won't the DR. give them to him. I am also looking for another Vet. Please note I understand the reason for trying him off the meds to see if the problems are seasonal problems but this goes on all year. It is not better in some months and worst in others it is this way all year long. We are in the house he came home to. We are in the process of taking up all carpet (we have hard wood floors under the carpet) and not putting carpet in some rooms back down but doing area rugs that can be washed. Also please note we have another dog (Angle age 8) she has no health problems, but they both have SPOILED PET PROBLEMS and we are to blame. I have read online that Benadryl, Tavist and Chlortrimetron can help and these are over thr counter people meds. They also say the Steroide such as Prednisone can hepl, but the side effect are not to good and can cause behavior problems. He is already a Spoiled Brat Dog I don't need any thing else, but we LOVE THEM DEARLY the are our babies our kids are grown and we have grandchildren yet to SPOIL also. Thank you for taking your time to read this. I hope you can give me some place to look for help for Tanner.

AnswerEdit

The Temaril-P contains prednisone and if he is responsive to that, then he is allergic. You can use low dose alternate day therapy for dogs long term. You might halso have the dog allergy tested and get allergy desensitization shots for him. The antihistamines you mentioned are not very useful for chronic skin diseases of dogs because theyir skin really does not produce much histamine.