Kohen's Immunotherapy Treatment
A couple months ago, Kohen had a recheck with his Dermatology Team, and although many of his symptoms were improving with his new treatment regimen, we still didn't understand the root of his allergies. Thanks to your generous donations, we felt confident in moving forward with allergy testing, to determine the exact nature of Kohen's severe allergies.
Unfortunately, the allergy testing showed that Kohen has numerous environmental allergies, along with an allergy to yeast. Allergies in dogs cause increased yeast production, and since he is allergic to the yeast that develops as a results of his other allergies, it becomes cyclical - the allergies cause yeast and the yeast causes allergies, and so on.
While we now knew the triggers for his allergies, avoiding such widely spread environmental allergens makes for difficult lifelong management, and typical treatments (allergy medications, medicated ear and paw wipes, special diets, and medicated baths) reduce, but don't eliminate his symptoms. Because of his environmental allergies, Kohen is limited to walking on pavement, and where there will be limited grasses/pollens/molds. While he's a happy guy just to get out for a walk, we wanted to provide a better long-term quality of life for him, one where he can hopefully act more like a dog!
With the generous donations from his fundraiser, we have moved ahead with weekly Immunotherapy Injections. Immunotherapy aims to build up a pet's immunity to allergens through injections with increasingly larger doses formulated for each pet's specific allergies. Unlike medications that only suppress an abnormal immune response, immunotherapy works to regulate the immune response and change the pet's actual allergic response. Over time, it can become a long-term solution, allowing for longer times between injections.
Kohen has begun an initial 9-week immunotherapy program, with the hopes that this is a tool his future adopter can continue to use to decrease the severity of his allergies and provide him a better quality of life. We are thrilled that, with the help of YOUR donations, we are able to offer this innovative treatment to Kohen in the hopes of setting him up for better success with a future adopter.
Our fundraiser for Kohen raised more than $4000 back in October, which has allowed us to seek specialist care, tailor and pay for a new treatment plan, do allergy testing, and now immunotherapy. Thank you to everyone that made a donation, big or small, toward this life-changing care!
We're on week 2 of this program, and we hope to see a positive response as we continue!