MABlover

Maybe, I never thought about that, will monitor the pinkness and see if it's associated with over exertion or too much heat etc. Although she can get quite pink at night (which made me think it was food), when she's calm and it's not hot. Though there's still the shedding... but maybe puggy puggy is right, it may be the pug in her that makes her naturally a shedder. I've been feeding her sardines and started on eggs occasionally as well to see if it increases the quality of her coat, as it's pretty dull. But that could be due to all diarrhoea she had and the antibiotics. Gosh she makes me worry! Hate to think what I'll be like with children!

Here's a pic of her face so you can see the redness, and the amount of pigment she has. This was taken this morning, this afternoon she is less pink.

She has one full black rim and one that is half and half - black pigment is in blotches and accounts for about 50%.

Try reading ALL the posts.. .not all are about this. Sorry poodlefan, I was busy writing that message when yours and the other responses were posted - didn't know they were there until after I had posted my response. Thanks again

thanks puggy puggy and poodlefan! Your help and suggestions were exactly what I was after! Yeah bought the orijen puppy because it's grain and beef free - started re-introducing it this morning, but she has the farts today something shocking! Maybe you're right, perhaps I'm just not used to the shedding, it is like tumbleweeds around the house, twice a week I sweep up clumps off the floors. I'm surprised she still has any with the amount she loses. I try to brush her with one of those rubber glove things, but she still manages to shed in the house something shocking. I'm thinking maybe I should go and get some of the barf (chicken) and see how she goes, as ideally I'd like her to have more fresh food in her diet. She has metal bowls as well, I think she'd chew it if it were plastic! Thanks for the claratyne tip, will see if that changes her skin tone.

huh? sorry I'm relatively new to this site, what does op and DD mean? DD=designer dog basically a mutt or cross breed definitely not a pure breed I think you should accept the fact that you don't have a pure breed dog and move on. If you want to get help on this forum that is. Coming back to your original problem: have you tried the elimination diet? Once again I have fallen into the trap of asking for help and having people posting stuff that doesn't help me, just makes me feel like I'm a terrible person for not owning a 'pure breed'. As for accepting the fact I don't have a pure breed if I want to get help on this forum; I don't have a problem with it, just the attitudes I get regarding it. I'm not naturally a nasty person, and there are some things I think but don't say, and I guess I'm a true believer in 'if you don't have anything nice or helpful to say, then it's best not to say anything at all', which is I guess why I get so upset when people post things that aren't all that friendly. Don't we all have the same common interest at heart, the health and wellbeing of our dogs? And are you making a point that if I don't accept my dog is a designer dog, then nobody will help me? I don't want to argue about the breed of my dog which is why I never mentioned what she was in my initial post - if I did, I would have created a post about the breed, instead of her illness. As for the elmination diet, I went back to chicken and rice, no diarrhoea but her face was still pink and she was still shedding - then I switched to roo meat, with no change, if anything more pink in the face. She has had beef mince recently by accident, and her skin was really pink. I don't really know what else to do, which is why I asked how long should I wait to see results (especially with the shedding) - perhaps she is just naturally pink on her white bits? She has a white face with a patch over one eye, and I only noticed how pink she is after she had the antibiotics (when she was on them her face wasn't pink at all, just normal - does that make sense?). She has been pretty good on the Eukaneuba sensitive stomach, just not sure how long to wait and see if the shedding stops. Though today I mixed in a bit of Orijen (no more than 25%) to see if there was any change, and instantly she has the farts...! My other concern is, the Eukaneuba is not specifically for puppies, so I'm worried she may not be getting the nutrition she needs, is there anything I should add or supplement?

huh? sorry I'm relatively new to this site, what does op and DD mean?

I was hesitant to say what breed, as I posted a question in health a few weeks back and got told I had a cross breed (post went something along the lines of 'sorry to burst your bubble...') She is a Miniature Aussie Bulldog, most people have never heard of them as they are a new breed, the breeding program has only been going since 2001. She's 4th generation at least (papers don't go any further back than that), but originally to start the breed they crossed pug with french and aussie bulldogs (aussie has some british lines in it I believe), so I guess her history means she's a combination of any or all of these breeds! Having said that, I hope nobody jumps down my throat as I know if she's not a recognised breed with the canine council then she's a cross breed.... and this is a site for pure bred dogs etc etc..... but I really am just after some help thanks in advance for any help you can offer

Hi everyone, I'm posting here as I'm completely lost as to what I'm doing wrong or what to do next, so I'm hoping someone can offer some advice... My girl is 8 months old and to date I have swapped to my 4th brand of dry food and have tried, beef, chicken and roo mince, and we still seem to have problems. Gosh, such a history, not sure where to start! I will try to make this as brief as possible At about 4 months old I noticed our girl was shedding LOTS for a short haired dog, and her coat was quite rough and scratchy - she was on science diet (breeder recommended it) and chicken mince. After doing some research on the content of dry foods, I realised science diet isn't all that nutritionally great, so decided to go onto Orijen instead. Though when I started trying to find a store who sells it in Brisbane, I foolishly wandered into a pets paradise (at the time I had no idea, sorry guys!), and the guy there talked me into buy Innova Puppy. We went through a few bags of Innova with varying bouts of diarrhoea (about once a fortnight) and occassionally some of it contained blood (though we had this happen once before we switched to Innova and raced her off to the vet who told us she thought it was a piece of bone she had swallowed that was too big to pass freely). When I questioned a store employee about Innova and switching to another brand (wasn't pets paradise this time), she suggested that perhaps I was feeding too much - if the dog gets more nutrients than it needs it can irritate their stomachs, so I perservered through another bag, feeding less (even tried bying a cheaper brand to mix in to water down it's potency: with less frequency of runny poos, but still occassionally. Finally, after an afternoon at the dog park and yet another runny poo with blood in it, I bagged up the poo, raced dog and poo off to the vets and got the poo tested once and for all. Results: no parasites, no guardia, nothing! Then a few weeks later, she develops red raised dots all over her body (ears: inside and out, neck, tummy - though maybe this isn't related to food, as she was bitten by a bee twice leading up to the dots). So she had a bout of antibiotics (tested for mites, none found). I then put all of the symptoms down to the food (not bones) that have been causing all the issues, and went back to chicken and rice for a week until it settled, then started making chicken mince and mashed veggies for a fortnight and bought a bag of Orijen (with rave reviews of other DOLers thought perhaps it was the answer) to mix in gradually, though the poos started to soften again. All the while, my girl's face and eyes still get quite red at times (on all foods) and sometimes her ears are hot to touch (indicating an allergy?) and she's still shedding heaps. I have spoken to her breeder about this, and she suggested I try roo meat, though she still had pink eyes and snout while I was feeding her this, more noticeable than when on chicken. So, we have now bought Eukaneuba sensitive stomach dry food, and poos are great, though the eyes and snout still get quite pink at times and ears are hot to touch, plus shedding HEAPS of hair still! I'm starting to wonder if perhaps she will just always have pink eyes and face at times (could it just be her genetics, when she gets hot?) and maybe she is just a shedder, and maybe I am an over worried mother! Though, my instincts tell me to keep looking, as I have never had a dog shed this much hair before, though some breeds are different to others I guess. The question is, how long do I keep her on any one food before I will see results such as reduced hair loss? Could she be allergic to red meat? I guess if anyone has any advice on their experiences with similar problems and worked out what it was and how to fix, that would be great, as I feel like whenever I go to the vets, if it's not obviously life threatening, then it's not really a problem. Thanks, and sorry this post is so long!

SAS, thanks for your advice on my breed not being recognised in Australia, though that was not the point of my initial post and I don't think it helps solve my problem. I have already been to the vets as per my last post, and we are working on the problem to date. I understand this breed is not yet recognised in Australia as it is still in it's infancy (having only started breeding since 2001), and I am fully aware of that. Initially (at least 4 generations or more ago according to paperwork I have) there would have been the crossing of two or more breeds to get the desired size and facial features of a MAB, but I guess if you go back far enough in time in almost all breeds this would be the case (even Danes, though we are talking hundreds of years!) Anyway, I guess if she's not recognised officially then technically she is a cross breed, technically! But I still love her nonetheless and want to help her rash go away, which is why I'm here! Thanks everyone for all your advice so far, fingers crossed my girl recovers quickly!

We've been off to the vets and she has some kind of infection and now she's on antibiotics the poor little love! She even had little lumps on her ears and on top of her head. The vet wasn't too sure about what caused it, but lets hope the antibiotics fix it. Poor little girl, I feel helpless without knowing what's caused it, I just want to fix it for her and make sure it doesn't happen again. If only dogs could talk! Thanks for your help guys!

I'm thinking it may be something I'm feeding her - I've been using Innova to date but have just ordered a bag of Orijen today. Will go back to basic food I guess and monitor it over the next few days, if it gets any worse we'll be off to the vets! I'll attach a pic of Miss Molly for you to see - if you google 'Miniature Aussie Bulldog' there is a website with pics and breeders etc. It's only a relatively new breed, but we're already hooked! About to get a male pup in a few weeks! thanks for your help

Hi DOLers, just wondering if anyone can offer some advice on what to do about a rash on my 7 month old puppy Molly's tummy. About a week ago I noticed she had a raised red dot on the inner thigh of her back leg, it looked like a bite, so didn't worry too much, though yesterday I noticed she now has red spots (some of them raised bumps) all over her tummy! She is often outside chewing on bones she has left for a few hours that are covered in ants, so I thought perhaps she had been attacked by them, though today when I looked there seem to be more dots and they seem to be more raised. She doesn't seem to be itching at all, and the bumps seem to be on the inside of her front legs now too (where she has lots of hair). Could this be an allergy? She doesn't have fleas so maybe it's something I'm feeding her? I'm now washing all of her bedding incase there is something in there, and not sure whether to bath her (will the dog shampoo irritate it?). Molly is a miniature Aussie Bulldog - not sure if this is a common bulldog specific problem? Thankyou for any help you can offer, thought it best to ask first before racing her off to the vets again!