chuckie500

Forgive me for my lack of knowledge, can some one tell the difference between proplan and purina one? thanks

that sounds better. i hope he continues to pick up. i know when mine aren't well i need to see the doctor myself so i can cope with the anxiety of it all.

Is he better yet?

Mine are on it. One of mine had allergies & it was driving me ( & him crazy). Tried the hill's z/d formula too and other ones for sensitive skin, but it was the eaglepack fish one that has had the best result. I now give it for about 85% of their diet. I avoid chicken , pork, wheat, & corn with mine & it seems to work well. I would recommend it.

I've tried three different oatmeal shampoos: 1. Fidos - the best smelling one i think, haven't used it for a while, but i might re try it again. 2. Avoleen - good smell, my vet recommend it 3. Epi-Soothe S by Virbac -only a mild smell, but the best result for the itchiness i think. either that or it was a coincidence. i use this one at the moment with the Resisoothe leave in conditioner.

How can you say no to that face! Let her sleep on your bed!

I copied this out of an article i found on the net. There were other sections but this part mentions fatty acids: I use "Megaderm" by Virbac. One of mine was on steriods, but i have elimated some things in his diet, am more careful about dust, and paspalam weed in the lawn, and only give him the supplement ocassionally. No more steriods or any medication. ATOPIC DERMATITIS IN THE DOG by Stephen Shaw, BVetMed, CertSAD, MRCVS "Specific Therapy A variety of drugs are now available for treatment. Generally they are used in combination rather than alone. Their use is summarised in figure 6. Essential fatty acids are now widely used for skin conditions. They are known to have few side effects and will help about 25% of allergic dogs significantly. Antihistamines potentiate the action of essential fatty acids (synergy) and so combination therapy would appear to be valuable. Several veterinary products are licensed for use. Antihistamines were widely dismissed as unhelpful in atopic disease until recently when new studies both in the UK and USA have shown considerable benefits from their use. No veterinary products are available and the human drugs , chlorpheniramine, hydroxyine, and clemastine have all shown to be useful. Steroids are widely thought to cause side effects which outweigh their potential for good. Despite this popular view, steroids are the drug of choice in severe cases of atopic dermatitis and, used appropriately, when complicating diseases are under control, side effects are generally minimal. Hyposensitising Vaccines ( also known as desensitising vaccines) are prepared from the allergens identified as important at skin test. By administering these allergens subcutaneously over a long period the immune response to them is modified and pruritis is reduced. They are seen to be beneficial in about 60% of dogs, and take up to nine months to have effect. Allergen avoidance is useful when house dust mites are known to be the problem. Exposure to bedrooms should be avoided by house dust mite allergenic patients to minimise exposure to the allergen. When pollens and moulds are involved avoidance is practically impossible as these allergens travel for miles on the wind, although obviously very large sources of pollens, for instance hay meadows for grass sensitive individuals should be avoided. "

My vet advised raw lamb shanks for mine. My are little fellas about 8kg. He said the getting the meat off the shank is good for their front teeth and they can nibble on the joint end of it for thier back teeth. They don't bite through the shaft of the bone as the my dogs r too small. Bigger dogs might be better off with a bigger bone.

p.s. pls don't stone me.

sorry but i feel bad in saying this, but i use them. I used to give mine more real bones, but one just gulps everything down & then becasue he didn't digest the bone properly, would vomit it back up. So I give the occassional lamb shank (on my vets advice, they r smallish dogs). And I use denta-stick & denta-bone probably every other day. Its true they don't have to chew that much to eat them.

Does ear hair plucking hurt?? I hav e two shih tzu crosses and one is OK with it and the other hates it. I also use leo ear cleaner (but I hate the smell of it actually). I've had them for two years now & haven't had any problems with ear infections.

yes, i go to them & find the the cheapest. I use advantix for fleas (& ticks).

my undertsanding is its an allergy to something airborne eg dust mites, pollens etc. We get hayfever & watery eyes, they get the itches. I guess the first thing is a correct diagnosis. thats elimination of of contact allergy (location of the itch and if there are any possible contact allergens, such as wandering dew), elimination of a food allergy (by strict diet and food trials), elimination of flea allergy (by super strict flea control), and possible allergy test. I have a dog with somesort of allergy and we went throught this process. They tell me that it could be a combination of these factors. He would itch and bite sores etc. He was on cortisone every two days for a few weeks. But with a fairly strict diet (i keep him off chicken/lamb/wheat products), and good flea control, he has the occasional itch or sore spot now. He hasn't had cortisone for over a 18 months. Some would recommend a high omega 3/6 diet (fish oils) & I read an article that said something like this alone will help in about 20% of cases. I feed my eaglepack fish formula & also give them tinned salmon (high in these oils). It also prompted me to be a bit fussier about cleanliness and dust as one test revealed he is allergic to dustmites. I also went and bought dust mite covers for all my bedding (which they sleep on). This might sound insane, but when I replaced the carpet in my bedroom, I went for floorboards too to reduce the dust. Anything to help him. I must say i'm pretty happy with the results in him, generally a happier dog.

In about august i switched to advantix and have only seen one flea on him in over six months. I find advantix much much better. I'm not sure if i noticed that it has affected his coat. I think it might be a bit duller, but there could be numerous reasons for this i guess.

Well its a few days now & he is much better. walks normally again now & the sore part of the paw has gone back to its usual black colour. I actually washed his paw in pyohex shampoo & i think it helped a bit. Its interesting the anatomy of a paw, the vet told me its just dead skin. interesting.

I use eaglepack - fish formula for my two as one I think has allergies. I tried prescription diest and the other premium brand fromuals for senstive skin etc , but the best result has been with eaglepack for fish for me. I order through www.petdeli.com.au and recommend their service too. Really I 'm just a satisfied customer that was going bananas trying to solve my dog's itching. I'm not claiming its all gotta do with the diet but it seemed to have helped a great deal.

Well i went to the vet and bought some stuff called "Fooey" (the bottle says "the most bitter stuff on earth". wasn't cheap either. well my little boy wasn't put off in the slightest! just kept on licking despite the bitter taste. And yes I tasted it to and its revolting. I guess he'll drive me batty to-nite. i might try the sock idea.

i order eaglepack thru www.petdeli.com.au

I think Eaglepack would come close.

That's funny. Maybe i'll lace the coffee mug of the mean person at work with it.

I have a liitle fella with a sore paw. He has lost a bit of the layer on the pad between the pads. I took him to the vet yesterday & he seems OK with it. Said it would heal in about a week. But he keeps on licking at it & it drives me crazy. I thought there wasa bitter spray of some description that you can spray on to stop him licking. Does any one know of it? Do you have to get it at a vet? Thanks

Eaglepack fish formula has ground brown rice & oatmeal as the main grains.

I use Eaglepack fish formula. It dosen't have nay chicken. I found many other products (even if its a lamb formula) use chicken fat as a flavouring i think.

I was at a phase of not going past a pet supply place without buying a soft toy. I'm over that phase now after she destroyed so many. I have a drawer ina cupbaord of destroyed soft toys waiting to be repaired. She also get quite possessive about them and growls at her brother.

I started feeding mine Eaglepack salmon sardine & anchovy because is uspected a food allergy. they have responded really well to it, so now I even add some tinned unsalted pink salmon too asa treat. they luv it & its rich in good oils too.