We've been giving Chlorpheniramine Maleate Tabs with crazy success since the vet prescribed them along with antibiotics at our first visit for the rash.
Up until the last two times she's gotten it the rash went away within a day or two of giving her the Chlor Tabs. Last time took five days before it went down, it wasn't as bad as it had been up to that point but it was more stubborn.
This time though it's worse than it's ever been, she's had it well over a week, it almost went away and then came back, now it's showing no signs of letting up although it has gotten better. Usually it's got a very mild yeasty smell to it, this time Loki STINKS. Before when the area beneath her collar is involved it's very mild and is usually the first area to go away, this time though it's got to be the worst area involved.
We're going to the vet again mid week unless someone cancels tomorrow or Saturday and we're on the call in list if a slot opens up next week before her appointment, but I'm worried about my little goober monster right now! I'm tempted to see if there's an opening with one of the crappy vets just to get her in sooner even though her doctor is the best in town.
Loki had another cool water undercarriage soak today, and an oatmeal bath afterwards to help soothe her skin but it hasn't seemed to help much at all, we've got her on towels washed in hypoallergenic laundry soap and run through an extra rinse cycle anyway. She's inside except to potty and naked unless she's got the Halti on for a potty break since the Halti touches less of her rash than a collar or her walking harness. She's still getting the Chlor Tabs as per the vet tech we talked to when we made the appointment.
We're both going nuts, Loki's itchy and I can't seem to find anything that helps.
Have any of you seen this kind of thing? Is there anything more I can do to try to give her a little relief until vet day comes? Do dogs develop resistances to allergy meds? If so do you think adding in a Benadryl might be a good idea?
I got her to sit still enough to get some pictures so you guys can see how nasty it is this time. We've been having good luck keeping her distracted from scratching and licking the last couple of days, she likes to destroy things and we decided to let her tear up her toys instead of making her play with different ones since she stays focused on shredding the toy and not on itching.
Here's the tummy, it's been more extensive before but it's usually not so bright. It's hard to see in the picture but up by the furthest right nipple on the bottom of the picture there are several little spots that look like tiger stripes where the rash has moved up into the black fur and Loki's licking and scratching is making the fur thin out a little.
Her neck, this one's really bad, there's a couple places where it's starting to weep a little bit but it looks 200% better than it did the other day when we started letting her go naked. Just for the record Loki hasn't had much fur on her throat or the white parts of her underside since she was little, it's always grown in really patchy and thin, sometimes the fur will just rub right off with a wash cloth, there is a little hair loss involved due to the rash especially up closer to the back of her jaw but 90% of the hair that should be in that area wasn't there before the rash started.
Armpits, it's most difficult to keep her from scratching at them and it seems they're the itchiest places of all even though the rash isn't as bright or as ugly in them.
Finally her chin, I can't tell if that's a little spot where the rash is coming up on her chin or if she rubbed herself on something or bonked her chin getting in the car, going to keep an eye on that too.
She's also got a little bit of rash starting on either side of her vulva where the little folds are but it doesn't seem to be getting worse or spreading.
