Hi All

My westie has been on the Atopica drug for over 1yr now with good results he suffers very badly with atopy and has numerous allergies, steroids don't control him and he had malasezzia and staphlycoccus because of infections getting in his skin, my vet wants to cut him down on the atopica drug now as he said they usually have 1 tablet per day for around 6-9months until the symptoms control then they go on a maintenance dose which is usually 1 twice per week or 1 per week, i have lowered him to one every 3 days but he is starting to bite and lick his feet again now, also if he is not bathed every week his coat gets very greasy and smelly, i know it is not good for westies to be bathed every week but we have no option with him, does anybody else on the forum use atopica on there dogs and have they managed to lower the does to a maintenance dose? My vet said long term he cannot stay on them every day as they can cause other problems but i just wanted to see if other owners had had good results in lowering them and their symptoms not returning?
I have got to take him back next week to see if there is any change in his biting and licking again but it seems it is only the atopica that is keeping all this at bay because as soon as we try and lower him it all starts to kick off again.

Thanks
Helen