Back to the Vet We Go

Poor Gracie. It's been five MONTHS and she's still suffering with some sort of Milliary Dermatitis (allergy of unknown origin). Tomorrow we go back to see Dr. Larry.

What I've done to help reduce her exposure to dust mites and mold:
• Removed a big wool rug from the master bedroom (where she hangs out), in case 
 it had some sort of chemical treatment on it from the cleaning it got last September.
• Had the rug re-cleaned with no chemicals
• Stored the rug out of the room
• Got rid of mildew/mold in master bathroom with a good scrub of TSP and Bleach
• Decided to have the master bathroom re-painted which involved removing yucky 
 OLD gross wallpaper. 
• Used non-VOC paint!
• Made sure none of Gracie's food has NO beef in it (she has a slight allergy to it)
• Gave her a bath once a week, at least, for the past month

Her torso and belly seem to have improved, but her shoulders and head, especially her face and top of her head are COVERED with crusty and bloody scabs. Last week, after her bath, it seemed to get better right away, then a few days later it got a lot worse. Her shampoo has steroids in it. It's the only way I dare to give her any since she's had two shots and I can't risk blowing out her pancreas with more shots.

I'm at the point where I need to either get her to a Specialist or suck it up and start her on the course of hyposensitization therapy shots. It will mean locking her up in a room by herself or with Petunia for a few weeks. I don't want to do this for a number of reasons, but mostly because it's mean to lock her up, alone, just because I have to give her a shot every few days or once a week and must have guaranteed access to be able to give it to her. She's SO untrusting of me and before she was skittish and now it's even worse with all the Vet trips and baths. I can't risk not being able to treat her on a schedule. If I mess that up, what's the point of giving her shots?

I'm really on the fence. I can also have her blood work redone if we can count her blood as "clear" for no steroids if the shampoo doesn't count. If she has any medications in her blood it will effect the test results. I really want to re-test to see if the same sensitivities come up again. Can a cat REALLy just suddenly become seriously allergic to dust mites like this?

I'm so frustrated and stressed for her. She looks awful and I bet she's uncomfortable. My poor baby!