I have a Male Pitbull named Premo he is 3 1/2, he has been on Prednison for a over year 2 pills a day could not lower his dose or he would itch like crazy cause sores. Premo has never had very much hair and is pink skinned and white hair makes him a target for allergies.
When we first found out all the itching was because of allergies the vet put him on Prednison worked wonders but as she told us its not a long term drug because of all the issues it causes. So we tries Atopica and took him off Prednison, was horrible he was back to his old self sores every where scratching like crazy so we put him back on Prednison.
A year and a half later Premo started to lose his hair, so we took him to the vet. He has early signs of Cushin's Disease because of the prednison, as well as getting skin infections. So it was either we kept him on the prednison and he just got worse and have a short life or try Atopica again. So we desided to try him on Atopica again but keep him on Prednison but slowly ween him off.
for 7 days he took 1 pill of prednison every 12 hours and 150mg of atopica every 24 hours
then 7days of 1 pill of prednison for every 24 hours and 150 mg of atopica
Then 7 days of 1/2 a pill of Prednison for every 24 hour and 150mg of Atopic
( which is fantasic we could not take him off 2 pills a day with out him scratching like crazy)
So today is his last day of Prednison
his hair is growing back again and is doing awesome
so now the plan is 1month of 150mg alone every 24 hours
1month of 100mg every 24 hours
and so on and so on to see how low of a dose we can get away with.
We think the first time he was put on Atopica we did not have time to get it into his blood stream because hes allergies get so bad so quickly. But slowly taking him off the Prednison and pumping him with Atpoica has seem to have worked for us. As well as a weekly bath.
It is quite expensive I know but its worth it.
I have pet insurance for both my dogs through Truepanion (vet insurance) so I get 90% coverage of all premo's pills and treatments
Which as saved me BIG TIME
I do recommend it to anyone who gets a dog (or cat) U never know when or what could happen. It does not go by breed but by age so the younger u get them in the cheaper!!
Anyways I just wanted to share because I could not find anyone else with a pitbull going through the same thing and had success Until recently through a pet convention I found a lady with a pitbull who had the same issues and used Atopica and is now weening her female off the drug because she has had such a positive reaction to it.
It gives u hope I guess in knowing something other then Prednison can help