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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our 7 year old lab mix has been chewing all 4 paws till they are raw.  Our regular vet prescribed antibiotics, probiotics, new flea and tick medicine and zyrtec and placed him in the cone with minimal improvement.  Our dog has never had allergies before and always been totally healthy. We took him for a follow up appointment and he said this is beyond his skill set and we should take our dog to a dog dermatologist.  Does anyone have any recommendations? TIA![/quote]

This happened to my dog and it took a while to find a vet to that would take it seriously. The dermatologist I talked to wanted to do a skin prick test, but the vet said it was likely going to throw up a lot of false positives because my dog's immune system was already going haywire.

The vet prescribed apoquel, benadryl as a secondary. Cultured paws and ears. Dog got antibiotics for dog version of MRSA (I don't remember what it's called) and a yeast treatment. I soaked her paws in Epsom salts every night. I had not noticed any seasonality to her problems or reaction to any plants but I did spray her paws when we came into the house. Cleaned her ears every other day, then weekly using a non-stinging ear cleaning thing (malacetic ultra) and she had a gel stuff for a while when we were trying to get rid of the infection.

While this was going on, I did a full elimination diet with the dog. For 6 weeks, my dog ate only the hydrolyzed protein food (which she actually loved) then we added back 1 other food at a time. She was already substantially better from all the other stuff and never seemed to react to any of the foods.

After about two months of the treatment, I was able to touch her paws without her crying. She started to grow fur.

Eventually we visited a relative whose house was sort of musty/dusty smelling to me. My dog had immediate problems again. So I've decided she's probably allergic to dust or mold. I got a few HEPA filters (And I was glad to have them when the pandemic hit!) and started vacuuming every day. My dog improved even more.

At this point, you wouldn't even know she had all those problems. She has fur everywhere, even her paws. The fur there is a different color though! She takes 1/2 apoquel 1x a day and I still clean her ears with the malacetic ultra every other week or so. I try to bathe her a few times a month, because after baths she's less itchy, but at this point she's never problematically itchy. If she seems really uncomfortable I give her benadryl, but that's only a few times a year now.

IF all this didn't work, the vet was suggesting I go see Virginia vet specialists in Charlottesville. I had already been to a dog dermatologist in the dc metro area who was not helpful and the vet knew someone at VA vet specialists and thought they were good. Since the plan above did work, I never did have to go.

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