We must have been posting at the same time...... Sable - he does wheeze during his coughing attack. Luckily my FIL is a doc & he has come by daily to check his lungs. That is great about your son taking care of his own meds.....shoot, I'm just trying to get this boy to remember to brush his teeth daily when he wakes up!! Golddust - he has a major sinus infection now. They did a CT scan & showed the cavities or rather not showing the maxillary cavity b/c it is so congested. Segbrown - I am glad Flonase is working for you. My DH uses that also. We are using inhalers that have the fine powder that comes out - he was having a difficult time knowing when to inhale & push the inhaler. I find myself wanting to twist & cock the inhaler for him but he has to be able to do it himself & he does. Total fluke about getting tested for allergies.....I had an appointment b/c of a rash on my arm. Asthma doc & FIL worked together many years ago so FIL tells me to take my DS with me to my appointment just to make sure he was not missing anything. So, I call to ask if I can bring my son & Dr. says yes. Well, after they did that testing on his back - my rash was never mentioned!! I am so grateful that we took him and had him tested b/c this explains so much. I am totally rambling but I really appreciate the support. Smiles:)

palmbob, Just to clarify, the beagle photo IS a sample of ringworm for comparison. Now, in response to your comment about vets and all the opposition. I don't have a problem with the profession per say, the problem is finding one who is on top of their game, truly engaged and good at diagnosing. For example, since July of last year, our 3 year old Lab has had lots of issues with gas and tummy pain. Gastritis was an obvious diagnosis, but once she was diagnosed, she immediately was put on some CRAPPY and expensive Royal Canine for gas dog food, reglan, and allergy medications; there was zero interest about her current diet or what may have actually been causing the issue. Neither the change in food or the drugs helped her feel better and shortly afterwards, she also started having issues with incontinence, so back we went. This time we were told it must be the spay, common problem, happens all the time. Again, with just an assumption and no real worry about the cause, the vet put our girl on a pretty potent drug to help control urine leaks. She was just 3, the whole thing made no sense to me and regretfully I went along with it. Now she's gassy, vomiting, unable to control her urine and not one of the medications or that crappy food were working. We were at the vets all the time for months with the same problems and an expense in the thousands, but our dog was getting sicker, not better. Obviously something wasn't right so I started doing my own research. With in a pretty short time, I came to understand that the original problem, gastritis was actually just the result of the beans added as a protein booster in her high quality Acana dog food. The vomiting and sick tummy was due to her eating too fast and air from drinking a lot of water. And I found lots of feedback from other owners who's dogs had also experienced incontinence after their dogs were put on the Royal Canine prescription food; which by the way has nothing in it to require that it be a prescription, its just a way to charge more for the food since it is sold via the vet. Don't believe me? Research it yourself, IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM! While you're at it, read what is in it and where it is sourced from. It is questionable that Vets even agree to sell it or Hills, both of which are very low quality foods. Without a moments hesitation, I immediately took our girl off every freaking pill they had ever put her on and changed her food to Holistic Select. It's the only Grain Free food (without beans) available that is also made in the USA and locally sourced. I also raised her water dish and bought a slow go food dish to keep her from eating too fast. The difference in her health was almost immediate and its now been 2.5 months without one problem! The food is amazing and with no thanks to any of the vets she saw, she is happy, healthy and has the softest shiniest coat I have ever seen on a lab. No more gas, no more sick stomach, no more incontinence. Why couldn't the Vet have initially just asked about her diet is beyond me (cha-ching!) but it really irks me. We trusted them with a beloved member of our family and paid thousands for one misdiagnosis after another. At least when that plumber comes to fix a broken pipe, I know when he is done, the pipe will be fixed and I didn't waste my money. Since these days most of the kibble foods now have beans in them as a cheaper protein source, I just wonder how many other dogs are experiencing similar issues with gas and are also misdiagnosed. Shame on the Vets who say they are not nutritionists and therefore only treat the symptoms as opposed to actually trying to figure out the cause! This is the bowl I use now, its a bit more pricy but worth every penny because it works!

You're welcome Nicole, I wouldn't be surprised and hope you'll let me know the results. A few years ago, I had a cat that had ongoing problems and was told it was probably mites, yet they never went away...well I'm almost certain now it was an allergy to something in his food. I've done quite a bit of research on dog foods and have learned that the foods we feed them can be the culprit for several different problems. Unfortunately, the majority of Vets don't seem to care about diet. I've been on the hunt for a good vet for a while and have been to a few as a result. To my surprise, the only one that has had any interest in my dogs diet is the one we're going to now and will be sticking with. The first thing he asks every visit is what are you feeding her? He's also more conservative with medications which is a plus. We have a clinic here in SE Michigan called All About Animals Rescue. It's basically a group of volunteer vets who offer low cost services for cats and dogs and the fees they charge go towards supporting their rescue/adoption center. I go there for her shots, flea/heart worm control and dental cleanings. The care they provide is top notch but at a fraction of the cost. It's a win win for everyone. A good site to research cat food is Chewy.com - I get our animal food from there, they carry everything under the sun, are priced competitively and have good ship/return policies. They list all the ingredients for everything they sell as well as reviews. I switched our cats to Taste of the Wild a couple of months ago. It's made in the US, has no yeast and is grain free; so far our two kitties have done pretty well on it.

My dog has allergies to most of the grains and some seasonal allergies, and she gets digestive upset from beef liver and similar (too rich). The vet said it was best to still pick a food with grain if at all possible. She's on apoquel daily, has been since she was young, with no side effects, and it does help; you can always tell if a dose gets missed because sge gets itchy. A red flag that she's getting an allergen is that her ears and tummy skin get more red than pink (she's a bichon). Apoquel helps some with food allergens, but not enough to hide those signs of irritation and itch. We've gone through a number of foods and have to watch out for reformulations that might add an allergen. She can't have wheat, barley, corn, or soy (corn and barley are the worst). She's sensative to quinoa, beef, and organ meat (okay if it's far down the list). Rice and oat are okay for her. She currently eats 3/4 Acana Wholesome Grains Duck & Pumpkin (also looked at Acana Singles - their limited ingredient) and 1/4 Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Duck & Brown Rice. Both are fine on their own for allergies, but the Natural Balance wasn't rich enough for her (she was always hungry and eating grass); our other dog does great on the Natural Balance by itself. My advice: stick to limited ingredient, always keep a copy of the ingredients list (cut it off the bag if you're tossing the rest of the bag), and check the ingredientsof every bag ... We've had multiple foods reformulate on us causing issues (Barley was added in one case, and another increased the chickpeas or lentils or something - I think that brand may have subsequently switched back to its old formula.) I'd be surprised if coconut oil was the issue, but it's hard to rule anything out. We always transition slowly 75%-25%, 50%-50%, 25%-75% between a current food and a new food; we can usually tell by 50-50 if there's a major issue with a new food for her, though sometimes it takes getting to a majority of new to see it (if it's really bad, you can see it within days of adding new). When adding the Acana, we just didn't bother fully transitioning to it for fear it might be too rich ... and it's working, so if you find something working, just go with it! May I ask what the prescription diet is for? Our non-allergy dog was on prescription food for bladder stone prevention, and it was about what wasn't in the food more than what was in it, but she was going down hill on it (because it was mostly corn!) ... we ended up switching her to the Natural Balance, and she improved! She might be slightly more at risk for bladder stones, I guess, but at 14, we're willing to risk it, since the switch caused her fur to thicken, her energy to improve, and her to be generally happier, with less stinky breath. I can't speak to supplements, as none our dogs have had them, though the Pet Vet, Lucky Dog or one of those shows seems to like to give Cosequin to most of their dogs, so there's probably something to it.