Joca's allergy treatment
Donation protected
Hi :) My name is Rebeca and I have a lovely, beautiful and very playful dog called Joca. He is a Podenco mix, a 2-year-old rescue dog from Spain and we live together in Witzenhausen, Germany.
In November of 2023, Joca started showing allergy symptoms. In the beginning, he had some smaller reactions, such as redness and loss of hair in his paws, that would go away in a few days. But with time, his reactions grew stronger and happened more often (e.g. ear infections, skin rashes, itching crises). Consulting with our vet, we have tried multiple different treatments (within my budget) that have also not fully worked.
Our vet thought he had food allergies at the beginning of the year and put him on an (extremely expensive) exclusion diet. Even though the diet helped out with some of the symptoms, it didn't stop the allergy reactions, especially the skin rashes and the itchiness.
As the vet's initial hypothesis was that he had food allergies, it didn't make sense that the diet wasn't working (and yes, we have tried multiple protein and carbohydrate sources - even kangaroo meat!). So, we ran a first allergy test that indicated he was allergic to mites. Knowing now he has an environmental allergy sure helps a lot, however, poses another set of challenges.
First of them being the need for other allergy tests to determine which types of mites he's allergic to (because there are several of them). And a second challenge, of starting a desensitizing treatment, so his body does not react so badly to mites. Mite allergies are tricky to treat, because unlike food allergies (that I could simply not give him the food he's allergic to), mites are everywhere. And I can't exactly protect him from ever being exposed to them.
Today, approximately eight months after the symptoms started, I've reached an impasse: the fact that I can't afford to treat Joca any further. He requires constant visits to the vet, plus allergy medications, on top of the allergy tests and the upcoming desensitizing treatment.
This is the reason why I started this Go Fund Me: I'd like to gather money to help me pay for all of his treatments.
I thank in advance anyone who wants to help us :)
Rebeca and Joca
Obs: Just some idea on the costs of his expenses:
Allergy medication: he takes Apoquel whenever he has allergy crises. 10 tablets cost approximately 35 euros and he takes 1 tablet/day when the reactions are really bad.
Allergy test: each test we perform can cost anywhere from 70-100 euros.
Desensitizing treatment: the cost really depends on what he's allergic to (as the injections are tailored specifically to each dog) and how strong the reaction is, but all in all, the treatment can cost around 800 euros/year.
Organizer
Rebeca Leme Oliva
Organizer
Witzenhausen, Hessen