Warning that these pictures are truly hard to look at - Meet Bear! A 2 year old chocolate lab. Bear has always had a level of skin irritation from the day we brought him home. But in October 2024 it got worse. And worse. And WORSE. Bear would itch his skin to the point of red raw bleeding. He developed chronic yeaat infections from the constant contact of his paws with his open skin (and excessive licking from the stress and anxiety of the entire situation). We took him to multiple vets. We spent more money on him in less than a year than I think we ever spent on any other dog. It was to the point my husband was sleeping on the couch at night holding him just so he can sleep and not itch. Countless medications. Countless hours of googling and calling vets. We were told it was mange. We knew it wasnt. We were told its a chicken allergy. We knew it wasnt. We were told to do an "itchy dog panels" which came out clear (and was $400). We were told it was heartworm. We knew it wasn't. We refused to just accept that there was no helping Bear. We pushed for the vet to treat him as "if" he had atopic dermatitis. A vet dermatologist referral was $500 to just look at him and not treat him, 4 hour round trip and booked out for months. But we knew this was our problem. Finally, in February they listened!! His fur grew back, his energy came back, his playful puppy demeanor came back! We finally got our Bear back! He has been on Zenrelia since February and it was absolutely the best thing we could have done. We are so thankful we refused to just settle for the wrong diagnosis. We are so thankful we found some relief for Bear. The very first picture on this post was taken May 16 2025, the other pictures are from October 2024-March 2025