Our rat terrier has allergies. We have no idea what he is allergic to, just that something is causing his little armpits to be red, inflammed and ITCHY. The vet has put him on a variety of antihistimines, as well as steroids. They help temporarily but we find ourselves increasing the dose to fend off the itchies. I'm not a big fan of homeopathic medicine but decided to give it a try after hearing that keeping the dog on steriods the rest of his life could have some ugly side effects, and also shorten his life. So, referred by our hippy-trippy dogsitter, I called the homeopathic vet.
First of all, the consultation visit with this vet was $240 and lasted an hour. She took a very detailed history and said that she'd send us the remedy. She talked a lot about changing him to a raw diet (raw, meaning "not cooked" which I didn't seem to understand until long after the visit was over) and gave me some vague instructions about that. She also had me buy a book on homeopathic theory, which went promptly into the garage sale pile as soon as I got home. (Why couldn't I have said "no thanks, I don't want your $10 book?") Instead of the raw food option I decided to go with a fancy, expensive kibble that doesn't have any grain in it since it was a lot more convenient than butchering a chicken every time I wanted to feed the dog.
The remedy showed up in the mail a couple of days later with more vague instructions along the lines of this: hit bottle against the heel of your hand exactly 10 times, dilute 10 drops in 1/2 cup of distilled water and stir for exactly 30 seconds. Give dog some insanely small dose, call vet in one week. So I stopped the steroids, gave the dog a dose every day and called her in a week to say he was as itchy as ever. Well, apparently I don't understand homeopathic medicine because I was meant to give him one single dose (as opposed to daily, as I had been doing) and who said I was to stop the steroids? My thought was that if the dog was on steroids then how was I supposed to know if the remedy was working? She told me to wean him off steroids and call her in a week. The itchiness continues...
Then I got a bill for TWENTY DOLLARS. For being on the phone with her for five minutes to learn a whole lot of nothing. I was furious! And finished with this homeopathic crap. I'm not saying it wouldn't work but I sure don't have the funds to find out. So tomorrow I am taking him back to the traditional vet, or rather a vet who specializes in dermatology for another visit where I'm sure to be several hundreds of dollars poorer when I leave. Darn dog.
In the meantime the dog is wearing little polo shirts so he can't scratch his armpits to bits and we are calling him "the frat guy."
First of all, the consultation visit with this vet was $240 and lasted an hour. She took a very detailed history and said that she'd send us the remedy. She talked a lot about changing him to a raw diet (raw, meaning "not cooked" which I didn't seem to understand until long after the visit was over) and gave me some vague instructions about that. She also had me buy a book on homeopathic theory, which went promptly into the garage sale pile as soon as I got home. (Why couldn't I have said "no thanks, I don't want your $10 book?") Instead of the raw food option I decided to go with a fancy, expensive kibble that doesn't have any grain in it since it was a lot more convenient than butchering a chicken every time I wanted to feed the dog.
The remedy showed up in the mail a couple of days later with more vague instructions along the lines of this: hit bottle against the heel of your hand exactly 10 times, dilute 10 drops in 1/2 cup of distilled water and stir for exactly 30 seconds. Give dog some insanely small dose, call vet in one week. So I stopped the steroids, gave the dog a dose every day and called her in a week to say he was as itchy as ever. Well, apparently I don't understand homeopathic medicine because I was meant to give him one single dose (as opposed to daily, as I had been doing) and who said I was to stop the steroids? My thought was that if the dog was on steroids then how was I supposed to know if the remedy was working? She told me to wean him off steroids and call her in a week. The itchiness continues...
Then I got a bill for TWENTY DOLLARS. For being on the phone with her for five minutes to learn a whole lot of nothing. I was furious! And finished with this homeopathic crap. I'm not saying it wouldn't work but I sure don't have the funds to find out. So tomorrow I am taking him back to the traditional vet, or rather a vet who specializes in dermatology for another visit where I'm sure to be several hundreds of dollars poorer when I leave. Darn dog.
In the meantime the dog is wearing little polo shirts so he can't scratch his armpits to bits and we are calling him "the frat guy."
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