I'm in the same boat with Max so I really feel your plight.

We tested Max for everything. Had him to the vet college in Ames. Had the head dermatology vet look at him. Couldn't pin anything down. He was getting secondary skin infections all the time. The last time we put Max on prenisone, he had a bout of hemorragic gastritis and we almost lost him. I refuse to give it to him anymore.

On the recommendation of the new vet, we changed his diet to Sojourner Farms He recommends either that or Flint River . The Sojos is a mix to which you add raw meat. My dogs LOVE it.

Dr. Van says the processed dog foods have too many additives for Max. He also gave some good advice about other things we had been doing. He gave Max some chinese herbs for the itching that can be supplemented with the antihistamine hydroxizine (sp).

I have to take Max back every 3 to 4 weeks for an acupuncture treatment, but it's really helping. If you're interested in finding a veteranarian who is skilled in acupuncture check out these two links: www.ivas.org or www.ahvma.org