Wysolone given for long term to my dog

[purohityogesh2001]

Hi,

My 3 year old female dog is on wysolone for last 2 years. She used to have too much of itching all over the body and used to lick her paws most of the time. Vet asked us to put her on long term wysolone dosage (2.5mg per day) as per her weight and age.

I talked to another vet and he said that we should stop giving wysolone as it may harm her a lot. Can someone please advise that will it affect her if we stop the dosage now?

We will not terminate that immediately. I have started reducing the dosage and brought it down to 2mg now. Please advise.

[purohityogesh2001]

Hi!

There was no blood work done before prescribing. The vet said that this the common problem to the dogs in our area mainly due to environment here.

She has been doing fine with Wysolone but no tests have been done to fine out the side effects as the vet said that its a very mild dose as per her weight and age and can be given for long period of time.  

Whenever we miss on the dose by mistake or just to see what happens, she starts scratching again....

I am just worried that all is fine with her....I am trying to reduce on Wysolone gradually and at the same time I will get her blood tests done to see for the side effects....

Thanks a lot!!!!

[deadgamegrrl]

Have you been seeing any side effects from the wysolone usage? Has the vet been doing regular bloodwork to make sure no organs are being affected? What does the vet think is causing the itching?

Although the drug is treating the discomfort, it probably isn't doing anything to address the root cause such as specific allergies, fungal infection etc.

That said, tapering off with the help of your current vet should be fine.  I had a dog on MUCH higher doses than you (it was for an auto-immune RA type disorder) that was on the verge of medicine induced Cushing's that was fine once we tapered off.

[Ellen038]

I would try changing her food and shampoos too for skin conditions like an oatmeal shampoo. Also missing link and lipiderm are supplements you can add to their food to help too. We had a mastiff with skin that itched till it bled and these things helped him not have any of the problems after a couple months of treatment. You have to give these things time to work. I'm sorry I don't know anything about the medication either.

[Jerry_NJ]

Is the medication (I don't know what it is) helping, better stopping the itch?  

Did the prescribing vet take samples and do analysis on them (test for yeast infection comes to mind)?  

Our Westie has ongoing food sensitivities that cause itch and loss of hair.  He also has had problem with yeast infection.  He is not on any medication/prescription.  He is bathed in a medicated shampoo that the vet and other experts recommend to control (stop?) yeast.