Milo poor lad is sneezing like mad, coughing, scratching and biting himself. If you stroke him his whole body shudders. On his walk this morning he was having sneezing fits and couldn't stop scratching at himself.
The steroid jab helped a bit but didn't completely stop it and the piriton don't seem to be doing much at all.
I am taking him back to the vets this afternoon to see my own vet and I think the next thing she will suggest is immunotherapy.
Can anyone who has had it done tell me if it was actually succesful?
Do they have to have more allergy tests?
Do they have to go somewhere else for the tests?
How often do they have to have the injections?
Do they cause a bad reaction in them?
How long does it go on for?
Is it very expensive? (we do have insurance but want to know)
How long from seeing the vet to getting the treatment underway?
How long till you see an improvement?
Sorry lots of questions but I need to know what I am letting myself and Milo in for .

We were looking at it for Moose as she has allergies but the injections are for about two or three weeks every day then less frequently after that for some months.

I can't remember the price but it was quite a lot but weighed up the pro and cons and decided against having them done.

We needed a blood test first - a York Test app £200.  My vet took bloods very quickly and results took about 2 weeks if I remember correctly

Once you've got the results your vet can discuss the options in more detail and it may well be that injections are not the answer for your dog.  You may be able to handle his allergies by changing his environment or his diet.  We finally started injections about 5 months after the test, having tried other things first.  These injections are customised for your dogs allergy profile, my boys issue is pollen.  House dust mites are more difficult to manage I think so fingers crossed for your dog xxx :)

Injections were every 2 days, then 3 days, a week, and so on til you reach maintenance levels and one injection per month.  We are covered on insurance so I don't know the cost

I think it is working for us but it's part of an overall management strategy which includes washing with Hibiscrub after walks and and using some topical creams.  These were steroid creams (Fuciderm) initially but now I just use Dermacton - great stuff and highly recommend it.

Before we started the injections my vet wanted to get the dog back to zero symptoms.  This included a 3 week course of antibiotics to hit the secondary infection and cycle of scratching, together with Piriton as it seemed to work for my boy (we still use Piriton).  She also recommended we use Malaseb shampoo 3 times a week for app 3 weeks.

Injections are done at my vets and we've never had a bad reaction.  I'm not sure of the long term duration as the idea is for the dog to develop a tolerance to the allergens.  We are about 7 months in and I've not discussed an end date.  This time of year is my boys 'hot' time and so far we are managing very well.  His problem has not gone away but it is being managed and is not causing us or him undue worry.  This time last year he was very sore as he couldn't stop scratching himself.

HTH

Hi,

The above is different to how my girls is done.  For the first three treatments she had them every two weeks going up two mil at a time, she then has it twice every three weeks until she is up to her full dose and then she will be having the injections monthly.  I don't know how much it is because it is done on isurance by direct claim but I think it's around £400 for the vial which lasts about a year.  The bloods were about £150.  The vaccine is made in Holland and took about 2 weeks to be made and recieved.  It has made quite a big difference to my girl already, she is only two months into the treatment and is noticably less itchy and has stopped rippling everytime she is touched.  Although she is still itchy and sneezy at times she is much better and I'm hoping when we are further into the treatment she will improve even more, even if she doesn't it has been worth it for her.

They normally ask for the dog to stay in the surgery for twenty minutes or so after the first treatment just to make sure they don't react to the vaccine, Isha was fine.  My cat is just about to start on a vaccine that's been made for her aswell.

How effective this is varies from dog to dog, I know of three dogs who are on this and it has helped all three of them although I know it doesn't work for all.  I goes in approx thirds, a third it seems to deal with the problem completely another third it helps but some symptoms still remain and the other third don't seem to be helped by it.

He will have to be clear of steroids for a couple of weks I think before they can do accurate bloods.  Good luck

Thankyou for all your help and sorry I have taken a while to get back to reply but have been very hectic here.
I found the info very informative and I now know better what is involved.
Milo has had allergy tests but the grasses and pollens he was tested for showed no reaction. Vet said Thursday though that there are so many different types the ones he is obviously reacting badly too have been missed so it would be impossible to do immunotherapy based on that and re testing we could still miss the main ones which would make the immunotherapy a waste of time and money.
For now we have put him on some steroids to see if we can just get him over the worst this year and slowly reduce to the lowest dose we can.
As he is fine during the winter months he will at least have a good long break from them then.
I don't like steroids but at least they are releiving the misery he was suffering.