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2204 days ago

Dog Allergies-Please advise

Maxine from Hospital Hill

Here's hoping someone can shed some light and a word of advice. Our poor dog has been plagued by skin problems and has been on antibiotics and steroids for these since last November. We've tried to narrow down the causes by keeping a food diary for him (no more of his fav treat, cheese), only feeding him raw goat or venison mince. Still, the allergies persist.

Along with the vet, we concluded that it must be due to contact allergens like toxic weeds such as Wandering Willy and all its variants. Back on meds and we kept him away from Pokowhai and any grassy areas. However, the itchiness returned as soon as his meds ran out.In fact, they seemed to come back worse than the previous bout. We took him to Te Mata Peak last weekend, which coincided with his meds finishing, and lo and behold, another bad outbreak. Now we're not even sure if it was the forest walk or the end of the meds. Needless to say, we're at our wits ends. He's been on Apoquel, then Prednil and now on Cephalexin. The vet has suggested we give him a monthly injection (similar to Apoquel, with fewer side effects). This would be a monthly, permanent arrangement. Our dog will be 2yrs in May. I worry that all these meds will eventually shorten his life due to the strain on his immune system. He's part Staffie and we're told that they're prone to skin problems. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this problem. Is there an end in sight? Any advice, please.

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About 40% of the 6.5 million tyres Kiwis use every year are recycled, repurposed, or used as tyre-derived fuel. But the rest end up in landfills, stockpiled or dumped.

The good news is now there’s an easy solution to all that tyre waste. It’s called Tyrewise and is New Zealand’s first national tyre recycling scheme.

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