Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

Last Monday morning Matthew and I loaded Duke up in the car and drove into the city for his dermatology appointment. You read that right - his dermatology appointment.

I'm a 30 year old human and I've never been to a dermatologist. Duke is a 4 year old dog and he now has the premiere canine dermatologist in greater New York on his list of regular medical professionals. If you've been here before you've read about the various expensive vet appointments we've had in recent months because Duke can't seem to kick this rash/skin infection thing he's contracted. With the recent $600 trip to the derm our total for this one issue now totals $1,500. At this point I just have to laugh about it.

Let me tell you, this dermatologist is amazing. I love all Duke's doctors, they're all outstanding people. But this woman, in particular, awes me. She's French, which is always fun for me because I get to use my woefully underused second language. We discussed the diagnosis and prognosis all in French. She thinks he has food allergies. Apparently food allergies make dogs far more susceptible to staph and yeast infections of the skin - both of which Duke is battling. Turns out, he's allergic to the staph bacteria and he's developed an allergy to something he's eating which is limiting his body's ability to combat the infection.

The trick is that there is no reliable allergy test for canines as there is for humans. If you guys have been offered to have a lab test your dog to determine allergen sensitivity this dermatologist insists they're trying to steal your money because not one of the tests is remotely reliable. The only way to tell what's bugging Duke is to put him back on antibiotics again and also start a 10 week cycle of homemade, veggie based food and then introduce various proteins into his diet in intervals to see what makes him sick. The most common food allergy in dogs is an animal protein, so that means for the next 9 weeks (we already have a week under our belts) Duke has to eat 4-5 cups of 50% pinto beans mixed with 50% pumpkin or yams with some peanut oil or molasses for extra calories twice a day. Appetizing, right? Blech! He actually seems to love it.

Most hilarious side effect of Duke's new diet? Bright orange poo. His poop looks exactly like the pumpkin he eats. And there's lots of it. Good lord. 10 cups of orange food every day makes for lots of "side effect".