Expensive dogs

I picked up some medicine for Zoe today.  It is Apoquel and it interrupts allergies in dogs.  At one point Zoe was so bad off with allergies and the results (scratching = fungal infections and microbial infections) that I was thinking of putting her down.  That was when she was maybe 7 years old.  But I took her to a dermatologist and we fought off one after another until we got her back to what became her normal self.  Since then I've given her Apoquel and Zyrtec every day and she never scratches or shows any other symptoms of being allergic.  BUT the cost of apoquel has gone up about 30% since I first put her on it.  I just paid almost $300 for 100 tablets.  I give her half a tablet in the mornings so it is about a six month supply.  Fortunately Zyrtec is cheap.  I'm thinking about going to every other day on the apoquel and see if that works for her.  Or maybe cut the tablets in quarters and reduce her daily intake from 8MG to 4MG.  Regardless if it doesn't work I can go back quickly enough.    

We give Toby a half a Zyrtec in the morning and sometimes half a benedryl at night.  Texas sucks for allergies.  All four of us take Zyrtec every day and the larger two take Flonase too.  The latter used to be free before they 'fixed' the government insurance allocations.  Now it costs about the same to get a covered version of Flonase prescription as it does to get the same OTC.

Dana is on her way back and will be here at 3 today.  Couple of hours from now.  I'm cleaning up a bit and maybe spreading a bit of the mulch I bought then I'm going to nap some.

Another tough day.

The way Toby hangs out

This is his spot. Like a teenager hanging out.