Expert: Delores Beck - 1/26/2011

Question
My dog has been on the follwing hydroxine 3 pills a day25mg each claritin 1 daily in am, benedryl 3 daily, atopica 50mg and now trying prednisone at night10 mg every other night.
The aveeno seems to help for a short while and the shampoo I have is Nizoral and also Epi soothe.They almost always turn into a bacterial infection after he licks and bites himself. He had a blood allergy test and is allergic to wheat barley carrots peas certain grass oak etc.. any other suggeations this is really wearing on me and on my lovely dog. I dont know if I can afford to have him on all these meds and the atopica for life...Should I let the vet take over or just try the steroids for now a cheaper but not so safe in the long run route?

Answer
When he's put on an antibiotic - does this all clear up?
Do you leave the Nizoral on for 10 minutes?
What antibiotic?  Dosage?  Length of treatment?

Hydroxyzine is one of the most successful antihistimines - Benadryl is not.  I'd definitely try Zyrtec (OTC) - 10 mg. tablet once a day.

You're sounding overwhelmed and I think it's lucky the vet has offered to take him.  And no, I wouldn't do steroids.  It will just destroy his immune system.