How long should I stick with Atopica for?

[cassiek]

Hello all.

Any suggestions or advice would be welcome. I apologize that this is rather lengthy.

Approx. 3 months ago, I put Furby on the drug Atopica in an effort to relieve his allergy symptoms. For those who don't know, earlier this year I had an allergy panel done on Furby and found out that he is sensitive to several environmental (many native grasses and weeds) and food (beef, chicken, rice, and some other grains) allergens.

Based on the allergy panel, I have been avoiding feeding the known triggers. The panel said he was negative for turkey, but recently I eliminated turkey from his diet as well. He is allergic to chicken... I wonder if he is sensitive to turkey to, given that they are both poultry? Maybe I am grasping at straws here. Currently, he is being fed Orijen 6 Fish (the panel came back negative for fish). I was feeding a raw diet of lamb and rabbit, but it was too expensive and too hard to get on a regular basis.

Approx. a month ago, my vet and I increased Furby's dosage from 25 mg/day to 35 mg/day. The dosage instructions for Atopica are not entirely clear. Their dosage and administration chart says that a dog between 4-7.9 kgs (Furby is 7.5 kgs), should receive a dose of 25 mg. However, in other places it states it should be 5 mg/kg/day. Given the latter calculation, he should receive 37.5 mgs/day, so it is now at 35 mg/day. We decided to up it after he had been on the drug for 2 months and seen no signs of improvement.

I have seen very little improvement in Furby's condition. The manufacturer claims that following the initial treatment period for 30 days, the dose should be reduced to every 2nd day, then every 3rd etc. until a maintenance level is reached. He is coming up a month on the new dosage, and three months on the drug altogether, and he has shown little improvement at all. The company states if little response to the therapy is seen within the first 8 weeks, to discontinue treatment. Should I?

I am wondering with it being summer and all the weeds and grasses lurking around, if I should seasonally treat him with steriods and Atopica? My vet said you can do this, but I started the Atopica in the first place to get away from the steriods, they made him so letheragic, I hate to put him back on them. But, I do take the dogs running almost every day in the summer, usually in the fields.

Should I give the new dosage another four weeks and see how it goes?

To be honest, I can not afford the $150 a month it is costing... I have also thought about trying the injections to desensitize him to his trigger allergens, but I have heard they can take up to a year before you see any results.

I wonder if alot of the licking is simply habitual and if putting a cone on him would help. But, how long would I wait before taking the cone off and would he likely just go back to licking his paws?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!