[duffysmom]

Originally Posted by designerko

Just sharing my experience:
Drove down to TV in June to close on home with 11 yr old dog and noticed before we left her paws were inflamed. Thought perhaps she had stepped in some fresh pesticides on mulch as we live in an urban area where we walk daily.
Called my home Vet who recommended I try Sudafed daily. Didn't seem to get better so took my dog to Buffalo Ridge. Very clean place, impressive. The vet took one look at my dog and said "allergies", she sees it all the time from "transplanted dogs." She did no tests. I had the records faxed from Virginia, so she knew there were no previous allergies and she could see her treatment history. Gave me predinsone and shampoo, she said continue decongestant, it would take at least another week to take affect and recommended Zyrtec instead, asked to see me in 2 weeks. I was leaving in 10 days to go back north, so she said to call if dog didn't improve.

Dog didn't improve, so called for appointment, 2 times. They couldn't fit me in, so I was willing to extend my stay a couple of days to get in, but the particular vet who saw my dog was not in those days. I was tempted to take her to the emergency room, but at least dog was eating and acting normal.

Instead I started my drive home, calling my vet enroute. Dog was still in good spirits, but by this time, losing hair on legs and face, with skin very red. Two days later I walked in to his Woodbridge practice and my vet's jaw dropped (35 years of practice, yes a man, VA TECH grad). His first words were "I don't think this is an allergy". He did a skin test by placing some scotch tape on her inflamed area and as expected he found issues. Then took a scraping and dog has mange. Thought this only happend with neglected dogs, but this can happen when auto-immune system is compromised in older dogs as well. Bad news - prednisone is the opposite of what my dog needed. Good news - she got on the right antibiotics, needed 3 dips each 2 weeks apart, and meds, a prescription shampoo 3 weeks later and her hair is now lovely. Better news, and he had only seen this one other time in his career - no underlying disease in test results. So now my dog gets a squirt of meds in mouth daily that he compounds himself to save me money. His other "patient" has been getting this daily treatment for 3 years.

Just saying - young lady vet at Buffalo Ridge, don't assume. The two tests took less than 3 minutes to diagnose. Maybe they are okay for routine visits.
So, I'll be still looking.

Design, thank you for sharing. Please let the Vet's at Buffalo Ridge know that your dog had mange. They need to be educated and know they badly misdiagnosed your dog and it may help someone else in the future.
A simple test would indicate mange.