My dog is about to start on Atopica

Hi All

My three year old dog Bungle has been diagnosed with an allergy to grass and dust mites.

We've tried just about everything with him but now our vet seems to think that the best course of action is to start him on Atopica.

I'm a small bit worried about starting him on it so I'm just wondering if anyone elses dog has taken it and if so were there any side effects?

Hiya, Tonks has been on it for a few years now with no side effects....apart from nausea and vomiting in the first few days of taking it, but that is normal and wears off. It really helps her.

We have a cat on it. Her insurance covers it.

It's pretty expensive stuff, they wanted to put our younger Boxer on it however it was going to work out at £80 per week which was a no/no. His insurance does not cover it. Instead he is on a low dose steroid again during allergy season

A previous dog of mine with the same allergy (along with numerous other allergies) was put on this for 3 months, prior to me having taken him on at 5, and the cost for him was £10 a day The only reason he was taken off of it was only because it did absolutely nothing for him, so he was put back on his usual steroids.

I did know of a very itchy westie who was put on this and apparently it had a miraculous effect, and she never mentioned about any bad effects.

I once consulted a young Israeli vet who knew about another special treatment he introduced to me, but I'm sorry I cannot remember what it was called (maybe ask your vet about it). He would have needed to take bloods from my dog, and then the company would make up a special anti allergen specific to my dog only and he said it would work 100%. This was the latest development probably back around 2010/11, but at a cost of £500, my dog being 10 years old, I declined, but it might well be worth you looking into, as once the initial amount has been paid, the ongoing treatment was relatively cheap?

Good luck with this Atopy I hope it works for your dog without any bad side effects.

Hi all thanks very much for your replies. Bungle is going to start on it on Friday so fingers crossed he has no major side effects.

Wishing Bungle all the best

I was too concerned about the long term side effects of Atopica. I just give Lexi a short term steriod if the symptoms get really bad. I usually can control the minor itching with an antihistamine. I also found that the majority of her itching was a food allergy in addition to the grass, etc. Now that I have the food issue under control her seasonal allergy symptoms aren't so bad. Did they check Bungle for food allergies?