A few weeks ago Abi began expressing symptoms indicative of allergy problems. It started with her rubbing her nose on the carpet as if to scratch it. ALL THE TIME. I expected to, at any moment, walk into the living room and find her nose laying there on the carpet. Then her hair seemed to be falling out at an unusually faster rate than normal, and she was constantly scratching at her ears. Finally, she started getting little bumps all over her body. A few days later these bumps started oozing, and that was when we finally decided we had to do something for the poor dog. We took her to the vet, who recommended allergy testing. This was something we had actually been considering for a while due to all of Abi's food issues, so we decided to go ahead with the testing and treatment. I do not feel comfortable saying how much this cost because, well, it's a number that kind of makes my stomach drop.

It turns out the expensive hypoallergenic food I've had her on for the last 4 years, the one that cost $90 a bag? She's allergic to it. We've switched her food to something she's not allergic to (which is not easy to find), and she does seem to be doing somewhat better. Our pocket book is also recovering quite well from the endless hits it has taken from the ridiculously expensive and impossible to get prescription dog food. It should be fully recovered in a few months. Abi also started on allergy injections for regional air inhalants on Saturday. I also will not be discussing how much that cost because, *gulp*. We learned how to do them at the vet's office, and we will be administering them to her at home from now on. And by we, I mean Otis, because I don't know if I can handle sticking a needle into her.

Soon we will be having her limbs replaced with bionic ones, and then we will be taking her on tour around the country. If this dog is going to spend so much money, she should be contributing to the family in some way. There will be no free-loading in the Otis household.