I am hoping I can get some advice and guidance from you guys with an agonising decision. (long winded post sorry)

I have three lovely dogs, one of whom has become allergic to lots of things, over the last couple of years its got worse and worse, my vets are excellent and she has seen specialists and finally after trying immunotherapy and stacks of steroids and antibiotics we have her on atopica which is changed her life, she is a happy healthy doggie without skin or ear problems.

Trouble is even though we insure all our dogs we are running out of insurance money for her and only have 12 months money left, unfortunately because of the severity of her allergies she is on a high dose atopica which we have been unable to reduce, even online it costs us £170 a month.

My husband and I are obviously worried about how we can continue to pay for this medication when the insurance runs out and feel our only option could be to rehome one of my other happy healthy dogs to try and cut costs down.

I am so upset even at the thought of it but what do I do? Anyone have any ideas? I feel in such a state, I love my doggies to bits.

What would you do?

Not sure if this will help but I'm sure I've seen appeals from these people for vets bills in Dogs Today before.

http://www.tailwaggersclubtrust.com/aboutus.html

Have you tried feeding the allergic dog on raw meat and bones only for at least 6 weeks? Good chance she'd not need any medication then.

As Goldmali has suggested I would go down the raw feeding route and personally I would go to a homepathic vet as I have heard and seen wonders from this kind of treatment.  Also is there any other treatment apart from Atopica that is slightly cheaper?

I know how expensive Atopica is, one of my own dogs is on this daily and it costs around £200 a month or could actually be abit more than that, I never look as my insurance just pays for it.  I have said without insurance there is no way I could afford this treatment and the vets would have to provide something else.

im sure she would have tried different diets already!
im not sure what you mean by when the insurance money runs out? are you saying your dog is or isnt insured? if insured, why do you pay £170 a month for meds?
please clarify

I have said without insurance there is no way I could afford this treatment and the vets would have to provide something else

i dont want to seem snappy but what could the vets 'provide' instead of this drug if this drug is the only thing that works? they are vets not gods

> i dont want to seem snappy

Unfortunately your post does come across as rather snappy whether you meant to or not :-).

I would also try the raw feeding route and see if this makes an improvement to your dog's allergies. Have a look at the BritBarf site - there are a lot of owners who have gone down the same route due to their dogs' allergies and so many of them have seen a huge improvement so it's certainly worth a try.

Would you actually save much by rehoming one of your dogs? The amount saved per month probably wouldn't have a big impact on your outgoings for your other dog.

> im not sure what you mean by when the insurance money runs out? are you saying your dog is or isnt insured?

A lot of insurance plans  have a set amount per illness..once you used up the allotted amount that's it...no more..there are very few policies with lifetime cover.

How much are you paying for your atopica? and are you getting them from your vet?

Your vet can write you a prescription, and it can be cheaper online. Some vets charge for a prescription some dont.

im sure she would have tried different diets already!

I was just making an assumption based on what was said: finally after trying immunotherapy and stacks of steroids and antibiotics we have her on atopica Sometimes (well, often) feeding an entirely natural diet is never even mentioned by vets and it is so easy to try, got to be worth a try when so much is at stakes. Many will think trying a different diet just involves trying a different brand of food.

Tina s - you aimed your response at me...no the vets are not gods, maybe I worded it wrong.  My dog has an immune condition which my insurance pays for all her treatment at over £200 per month, if I did not have insurance I could not actually afford paying that much each month for her tablets (so thank god for insurance) and yes she would have to be given another form of treatment if this wasn't available....the same would be if it stops working for her.  I currently know of 2 other types of treatment which she has been on that was cheaper and worked, she is on Atopica because this gives the least side effects and she has an excellent quality of life on it.

I would get in touch with the PDSA and explain the situation and ask if they can suggest any solutions - even if they can't help you, they might know of a way to get financial help for your dog with the ongoing medical condition.

They have a list of other charities on their website, and again some of these may have vets who might be able to provide the drug for free or discounted:  http://www.pdsa.org.uk/pdsa-vet-care/eligibility?or=1

If you explain the situation, I'm sure they will see that it makes no sense for yet another dog to be added to the many which are waiting for new homes and it makes more sense to help you financially manage your existing dog's drugs.

You might also want to speak to the Citizens' Advice bureau and see if they have any suggestions:  http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

What was the immunotherapy for?   Were you told what she is allergic to?

My old AffieX was allergic to loads of things, the only thing that ever worked for him was to change his diet to a vegetarian one     This was fine, until we were unable to get it any more :(    After that we used Piriton after he had been on steroids etc for a few years with less and less effect.

Had we had access to the information available today, we would have been able to feed a homemade diet, but back in the 80's we didn't have the info and were strenuously advised against it by the vets who thought it a very dangerous course of action   Back then labelling on food was very obscure, it was often difficult to work out what a food actually did contain so not easy working out what it was that worked ;)

Ridiculous when I think about it now, as dogs had survived and thrived for generations on scraps from the table in most families.  But having the confidence of knowing what a dog needs and how to provide it makes a huge difference ;)