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

I also have a 9 year old shihtzu and last weekend she had on sudden paralysis and she couldn't stand up and it took me a few hours to get a hold of a vet , I took her in last Saturday night and the vet said she has something wrong with her spine without doing any exrays , she just concluded that it was spinal and gave her a pain shot and ASPIRIN and another shot for nauseous, well on Sunday she wasn't any better and it appeared to me she was taking a seizure so I called the vet back and was instructed to bring her back in , they gave a shot Of neurontin in pill form and put her on prednisone 5 mg the neurontin is to be given ever 8 hours and the prednisone once a day , I gave her the neurontin for a few days till I seen she's sleeping to much to really be eating anything so I stopped the neurontin and continued giving her the prednisone which through prayers she's doing ok with and of the mornings she still shakes some and she still has a low energy drive , I'm totally suspecting this could be IVVD since that runs in shihtzus and the surgery to fix it is between 3000 and 5000 which isnt affordable , I'm suppose to reduce the prednisone tomorrow at half the dose which I'm totally leery about doing, I just wished they were certain about her spine since to exrays were taken i have been totally devastated over her since last week , she does seem to walk without limping now and she eats good and drinks good , I'm just worried about the prednisone issue 🙏😢💗

Temporal Arteritis is a very serious condition. It can and does lead to blindness and strokes. My aunt and a dear friend of my mom's developed it. My aunt took her medication correctly and she was fine. Mom's friend was not diagnosed in time and ended up blind in a nursing home. This is not a condition to worry about putting on weight or other side effects. The side effects of TA are much, much more serious. My MIL also developed TA. She had been having severe headaches and joint pain without success of a diagnosis. She also tried to self treat. Finally, she went to a new doctor and had a series of tests run. On Labor Day her doctor called her and told her to have someone drive her to the pharmacy immediately and to take some water with her. She was to take a pill as soon as she picked up the prednisone. My MIL complained about the medication, and told me after about 6 months that she was weaning herself off of it. I asked her what the doctor had said, and she said that she hadn't been to the doctor. Well, I flipped out and told her I was going to call her my BIL and SIL who live in her area. She said she would go to the doctor the next day, if I didn't say anything. I told her to call me as soon as she had seen her doctor. Sure enough, her sed rate was worse, so she had to increase her dose. It scared her enough to follow her doctor's orders to the T. Please don't worry about the prednisone in this case. Temporal Arteritis is much too dangerous to mess around with.

Gazania..they started him on antibiotics almost as soon as he got to the ER (once they determined he had bronchitis)on Nov.25 and he was on it until he was dismissed on Nov.29th. He was also on steroids while going through the Chemo. His last Chemo was Nov.12th. I'm assuming they gave it to him while giving the Chemo, because he wasn't taking anything at home. His feet actually got a little puffy on Friday BEFORE he went back to the hospital (He went in for blood transfusion on Nov.20th and was dismissed on on Thanksgiving Day.) I called the Dr. the next day (Sat.25th) and told him his feet were swelling. He phoned in a water pill. He took one that night..and the next day. They also gave it to him while he was IN the hospital...but discontinued it when he was dismissed.