Barley has got to go to the vets tonight to try and sort out his itching, he has had this problem for quite a while but it is just getting really bad at the moment, in the past it has been controlled by giving him piriton but it is too expensive to keep him on, it is about £4 a packet and a packet only lasts him just over a week, so that is an extra £16 a month, which is roughly £192 a year, his insurance alone is £111, so it just works out too much. We are going to see if there are any other options we can try and see if we can stop it completely. On piriton it calms his itching down but does not stop it, so it is doing some good but not much. It started about last year and has continued since but it has only been minor until now when it is getting bad and the decsion has been made to book him into the vets to see if they can solve his problem. We know it is not fleas as he has spot on stuff put on regularly, and there is no sign of fleas on him at all
Re: Barley got vets tonight Could your vet give you the largest prescription possible, then you buy it online maybe? Some dogs have minor food allergies, could his food be causing it possibly?
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=tartanmouse link=topic=2402.msg23228#msg23228 date=1377764949] Could your vet give you the largest prescription possible, then you buy it online maybe? Some dogs have minor food allergies, could his food be causing it possibly? [/quote] You cant'e get piriton from the vets, you have to get it from the chemist, but if you say that it is for your dog they wont sell it to you, which is kinda stupid. We have thought about it being his food but we have changed foods from iams large breed to james wellbeloved cereal free, but there has been no difference
Re: Barley got vets tonight What about a supermarket brand of piriton? Check the boxes, but they'll be the exact same ingredients I would have thought. Sainsburys tablets are pennies compared to the actual piriton branded ones.
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=tartanmouse link=topic=2402.msg23235#msg23235 date=1377766465] What about a supermarket brand of piriton? Check the boxes, but they'll be the exact same ingredients I would have thought. Sainsburys tablets are pennies compared to the actual piriton branded ones. [/quote] We have looked at some but they are still about £2-£3 for a pack, we will see what the vet says tonight
Re: Barley got vets tonight Get chlorpheniramine 4mg generic instead, much much cheaper and exactly the same as Piriton.
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=Lochan link=topic=2402.msg23261#msg23261 date=1377774807] Get chlorpheniramine 4mg generic instead, much much cheaper and exactly the same as Piriton. [/quote] That is the latest pack that we just bought, but we just can not keep him on it long term, if it was an occasional thing then yes we would but he has to have 3 tablets a day, and there is not always someone at home at lunch time to give it to him at lunch, we have been able to at the moment as i am on holiday but i go back to school next week
Re: Barley got vets tonight Just had a look and you can buy chlorphenamine 4mg (same stuff) 28 tablets for £0.99 from Express Chemists online. So a months worth is about £3 from them. Chlorpheniramine is best given 6-8 hours apart so you could do 8am - 4pm - 10pm if that suited. Hope this helps.
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=Lochan link=topic=2402.msg23268#msg23268 date=1377775707] Just had a look and you can buy chlorphenamine 4mg (same stuff) 28 tablets for £0.99 from Express Chemists online. So a months worth is about £3 from them. Chlorpheniramine is best given 6-8 hours apart so you could do 8am - 4pm - 10pm if that suited. Hope this helps. [/quote] Thank you for that, we will still see what the vet says, they first suggested to use piriton but there might be some other stuff that we can give him or that can stop his itching completely
Re: Barley got vets tonight Hope the vet is able to help Lochan is also a vet so you can trust her advice on the meds
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=Oberon link=topic=2402.msg23270#msg23270 date=1377776300] Hope the vet is able to help Lochan is also a vet so you can trust her advice on the meds [/quote] i didn't know that
Re: Barley got vets tonight I was just going to blab that too about Lochan .....Puppypal was it you asking about food yesterday?im sure that itching was a factor in Kate changing Sams food....I'm sure that you will bring,that into your consultation ....let us know the outcome
Re: Barley got vets tonight Vets verdict is: he does not know what is causing him to itch, but he had his anal glands squeezed as we thought that was why he was itching his backside, and they were full of blood, the vet thinks that they are infected so a weeks course of antibiotics and he has to go back next week to check them again. He also has told us to up his dose of piriton to 2 tablets 3 times a day to see if that helps. We bought some piriton from the vets as it is 3p per tablet which is even cheaper than the own brand stuff. Stupid vet who recommended piriton to us never mentioned that they sell it themselves. So the visit was quite inconclusive but if his glands are better next week them the antibiotics have obviously worked. Poor boy, he has now got to have 10 tablets a day for the next week, even then it is 8 tablets for probably the rest of his life . Thats 2 cod liver oil tablets a day, 6 piriton tablets and for the moment 1 150mg antirobe and 1 300mg antirobe, poor dog
Re: Barley got vets tonight Oh dear, poor Barley... Do hope the medication works to stop his itching... cant be easy for the poor chap. Or for you, trying to find the best way to help him.
Re: Barley got vets tonight No it is not that easy, with piriton from the vets a 500 tablet tub will cost us £15 and last 83.3 days, so it will keep him going for a while, i think we might buy one when we get him re-checked next week
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=charlie link=topic=2402.msg23357#msg23357 date=1377807608] Poor Barley. Hope you get better soon. Helen x [/quote] i have to say poor vet as well, the smell that came out of barley's backside, well it was not very pleasant and he was right in the firing line ;D, his face was so funny
Re: Barley got vets tonight My Clumber spaniel was very itchy for a while and after ruling out any parasites or anal gland problems I was advised by my friend who is a vet to put him on a completely grain free diet. It worked. The itchiness went completely and his coat and skin are now in really good condition. I don't know what you are feeding but it might be worth a try.
Re: Barley got vets tonight I'm another one who had a terribly itchy dog who was fixed by moving to a different diet. He was horribly itchy on kibble but not itchy on a home-prepared diet. The itching happened suddenly after 5 years of kibble and stopped quickly when we stopped kibble (after trial and error with different kibble). I can't say for sure that it was the kibble that was the problem, it could have all been a co-incidence. Poor Barley - I hope he improves quickly on the antibiotics. Big pats from me! I bet the anal gland thing was appalling to witness....
Re: Barley got vets tonight [quote author=heidrun link=topic=2402.msg23360#msg23360 date=1377809317] My Clumber spaniel was very itchy for a while and after ruling out any parasites or anal gland problems I was advised by my friend who is a vet to put him on a completely grain free diet. It worked. The itchiness went completely and his coat and skin are now in really good condition. I don't know what you are feeding but it might be worth a try. [/quote] He has tried James wellbeloved grain free turkey before and it did not make much of a difference, the vet did not recommend doing a food trial to see if it was the food that was causing it as he is such a fussy eater, he has to have tiny amounts of wet food added to his food to get him to eat it, and you can not do that on a food trial, if it persists then we might consider it, but as the vet also said it is very expensive as well
