Posts made by Mongo'smommy

Welcome Dawn! Lol at a "few items" being wrecked! That was an understatement at our house filled with stuffies and plastic children's toys!

The vet gave me this medicine to apply in four spots down his spine once a month for three months. Does that sound like treatment for this?

Yes we have tried Benadryl and it helped very little. We have had him since he was 12 weeks and it started shortly after. We had thought it was from the cold here (can be -30 celsius). The vet gave him keflex and prednisone then and it cleared up. Since last summer it had been getting progressively worse….his coat has thinned except along his spine where he can't reach. IMO this had to be a small part food allergy and a larger part environmental (which we have many environmental allergens).
The prednisone will have to do, despite it's long term side effects, as there is no way we can afford the Atopica. We will just wean him down when we can and try to control the flares.

The cyclosporine that the vet wants him to have is a veterinary only med (I am a pharmacist so I was asking why he couldn't have the human version…..she said it was due to this $$ one being specially formulated for dogs)
The vet didn't recommend allergy testing. Basically said that it wasn't cost effective. Does anyone from Canada recommend a specific raw food brand?

Prednisone is amazing.....one dose and his underside is back to normal color and no scratching!

I will try calling again. The email was off of the Basenji Association (?) website….it did have her new mailing address.
I guess we need to hit up the specialty dOg food store and research their foods. That dog food website is Awesome! What a resource!
We are adding the olive oil, plus we have an rx for prednisone to start and get things under control. I will keep you posted!

Curly tails: what do you mean by novel protein? What food did you end up putting Shiba on?
We are located in Edmonton, Alberta. We got him from Beaubri (which I did email about this issue with no response!!)
He has licked all the hair off his groin and "armpits". He only licks his paws if they are dirty….he has to sleep in the hall as the licking was SO irritating!!! Poor buddy, I feel so bad for him! We don't bathe him often, as per the breeders instructions.....should we bathe him more?
Thanks for all the advice! This is exactly what I have been looking for. I feel vets have a bias towards things that they can sell you, when maybe its not the absolute best for the animal!

Yes it is the hills prescription duck and potatoe. We also have their hypoallergenic treats. I know it must be somewhat or misty environmental as changing the food hasn't helped that much. In my research I had come across a website that evaluated dog foods and they didn't give the d/d food a very high rating. But the vet said that other foods can say hypoallergenic but the companies won't necessarily take the same precautions that Hills does (shutting down plant and cleaning the production line to ensure no cross contamination). Plus this food was $35/8 lbs!
Now she wants to put him on Atopica (cyclosporine - immunosuppressant) which is $150/month.

I want him to be comfortable….but yowza!

Hi everyone!
I decided to join this forum to see if I could get any input on Mongo's allergies. He is so itchy and licking all the time. He is now on the d/d food x 2weeks and prednisone. Just wondering if basenjis are prone to allergies of a specific substance.

Other than that, we also have 2 young daughters…..life is never dull around here! Mongo has finally stopped chewing every toy and stuffy in site.....now we need to work on his aggressiveness!

Can't wait to talk to you all!