Well what a great report from you, pitimpinai!! The last I heard you were still very low in energy and still on a ton of medication and little appetite, and listen to you, helping the neighbor till up a lawn! LOL What a nice neighbor you were to plant tomatoes and Dahlias. :-) I am happy to hear that you've also benefited from a shorter work day. Great that you had all that time off saved up. I bet you really needed it to get your energy back. We have gotten pretty much back to what is normal for us here. The weather has been stupendous in the past month! I have never seen the cover crop in the veggie beds so high. We've also gotten all the leaves mowed and collected in bins, ours and three neighbors. [g] We have gotten somewhat cleaned up for the year in the garden, but I keep adding to my list of what I want to get done before the weather turns. Still have a small amount of bulbs to plant and three shrubs to get in the ground, some pots to clean and put away and that will just about do it. I am actually looking forward to a break from the garden. Not that we don't get outside and enjoy it, but it's nice this time of year, to focus on other things. During the gardening season, the garden seems to push out other priorities. [g] I enjoy the winter garden and by the time spring comes, I am just itching to get back to a new growing season. Glad you are able to enjoy gardening again and hope you stay well this winter! :-)

I've been dealing with this same problem for several years now with my dobie, Ronin. We adopted him when he was 3 years old and he arrived with a healthy, shiny coat, no hot spots . . . but scratching 24/7! It was so bad that he'd routinely wake us up several times a night with his prolonged scratching bouts. At first our vet put him on Prednisone, but he became incontinent within hours, like yours did, having many accidents in the house. We quickly took him off that! As was mentioned here already, that drug can cause many other major problems. I would never try it again. After that fiasco, I took him to a holistic vet who tried acupuncture on him. But, when she told me afterwards that it could take up to one year of regular sessions to see any results, I decided to look for other solutions. Those acupuncture sessions were not cheap! We next tried eliminating all beef, poultry and grain from his diet, in hopes that an allergy to one of those was the problem. We instead fed him Taste of the Wild's "Pacific Stream" which has none of the above. It's basically salmon and sweet potato, plus the needed canine nutrients, etc. He LOVED this food, but after 2 years on that strict diet, there was absolutely no change in his itching/scratching. I'm not saying though, that Taste of the Wild's food doesn't work. It's a fantastic, very high quality dog food and its Pacific Steam works for many dogs with food allergies. We've just come to the conclusion that Ronin's allergies are not caused by foods, but by environmental factors that we can't eliminate. Instead, we now need to do what we can to counteract them. I do need to mention that when we put him on Taste of the Wild, our vet also told us to give Ronin one fish oil capsule a day with his food. He's been on that ever since but I haven't seen that it's made a difference in his itching. After this, our vet had us add Benedryl. It didn't make him sleepy or lethargic, but there was also no improvement, even after upping his dosage. We took him off it after 2 months We next started using a vet-recommended canine shampoo, Allermyl. I couldn't find it locally anywhere and ended up buying it through Amazon.com. It's approximately $27 for a 16 oz bottle, but it lasts a long time as you only use a small amount. We're finding that it does help somewhat and plan to keep using it for the foreseeable future. DH, who's a family practice doc, looked at the ingredients listed and could tell that it was created to counteract excessive seborrhea build-up on the skin, which can cause major itching problems. About 5 months ago, after talking with a local Saluki breeder, I switched Ronin to an all-raw diet that hers are on. It's not for the squeamish, as the best thing you can feed your furkid according to many raw food proponents is green tripe. This is cut up raw intestines from a grass fed cow. But, I was desperate and this is now his diet, along with raw chicken necks, beef bones, lamb, etc. Frankly, it still turns my stomach a bit, but Ronin LOVES it. It didn't happen quickly, but in the past month we are finally seeing some major improvement in his itching. And finally, a neighbor of mine who has two dobies (a blue and a fawn) with major skin problems told me about a canine food supplement called Nupro Canine Formula (gold can). It was recommended to her on a dobie internet forum and has made a HUGE improvement with her dogs. I've had Ronin on it for about 6 weeks now and we've seen major changes for the better with his coat and with his itching. It's not cheap, but even DH is convinced that it's working. Throughout all this, Ronin has had a good, healthy, shiny coat, but with the addition of Nupro to his diet (one scoop of the powder twice a day on his food) his coat has undergone a major change in texture. It's now very soft, even more shiny and his itching/scratching has dramatically lessened . . . thank goodness! In retrospect, I wish that we'd taken a more scientic approach to this problem, trying and then eliminating one thing at a time . . . but in desperation, we didn't. As a result, we can't say, definitively, if the raw diet, the Nupro, the Allermyl shampoo or a combination of them are what has worked for Ronin. All I can tell you is that one or more of them has made a huge improvement in his 24/7 itching/scratching problem. I realize that you didn't ask for all this info, but as someone who has gone through this same (frustrating, expensive) problem as yours, I thought you'd appreciate hearing what I've tried, what's worked and what hasn't. I hope that you find your own solution soon. Best wishes! Lynn

Actually to do a food trial to determine if you pet has food allergies, you have to 1) choose a food with a single protein and single carbohydrate source that your pet has NEVER eaten before and 2) give that food and that food ONLY (no treats, cheese, peanut butter, raw hide, fruits, veggies, ANYTHING) for 8-10 weeks. It takes that long for the body to stop reacting to the allergens and to start showing signs of improvement in the haircoat and skin. If there was improvement during that time, then you challenge the dog with the original diet to make sure it was the diet that caused the problems. It shouldn't take more than 2-4 weeks to start showing the old problems again. Then you put the pet back on the food that you used for the food trial. If you want to expand the variety of what your pet can eat (like treats etc) then add them one at a time every 2 weeks and carefully watch for signs of problems. Else you won't be able to tell what to avoid in the future. To do a food trial any other way is a total waste of money- you won't get the information you need to avoid your pet's allergens. It is very important to completely read the labels of the diet you are going to use for a food trial. Most foods have mixed ingredients, "animal fat" could be any animal including one that your pet is allergic to, many foods have rice which your dog has probably already eaten, etc. That is the hardest part of choosing the right food trial diet IMHO- most foods have very similar ingredients and it is very difficult to find one that has nothing your pet has ever eaten before. The reason that it is so important to use a food that your pet has never been exposed to before is that you can't have an allergic reaction to something you've never been exposed to before. So you also have to consider what treats and such your pet has had in the past when making your food trial decision. All that said, dry flaky skin in not a typical sign of food allergies. It is more of a sign of not enough fatty acids in the diet for your individual dog, or a result of too-frequent bathing, or a very dry environment, or possible a scaling problem. Food allergies generally manifest as GI upset (vomiting, diarrhea, frequent stools, loose stools), chronic or recurring ear infections, itchiness, infection especially around the lips and face, and sometimes hives. As far as short hair dogs being allergic to chicken, that is a bunch of baloney. An animal can be allergic to anything and it has nothing to do with length of fur. But if your dog has had chicken before and you want to do a food trial, you are going to have to avoid chicken anyway. Or you could choose any of the diets you mentioned except Bil-Jac (too many artificial preservatives, flavors, and colors) and add a fatty acid supplement such as olive oil or fish oil (I use fish oil capsules for my dogs) and see if her coat improves. She may just need a little boost in omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Nutro is an OK food, but wellness and canidae in particular are much higher quality. Good luck!

My vet told me that hyperthyroidism can mask kidney disease. The increased blood flow when thyroid levels are high helps the kidneys. When levels come down with medication the kidney disease shows more. Loss of appetite is also a side effect of methimazole. My 21-year-old has days where he won't eat anything but Fancy Feast. In addition to the methimazole, I'm giving him Thyroid Support Gold and Kidney Support Gold from Pet Wellbeing. Both with vet approval and he is doing pretty well given his age. It took a few month to get things on even keel.