Polgara's Shadow

Vulcan has daily meds for his allergies. The tablet is big and a liquid capsule so I can't break it up and it would be very hard to hide in anything. I open his mouth with one hand and put the med right at the back of his mouth with the other. Then I hold his head up and stroke his throat to help him swallow. I follow this up with half a teaspoon of manuka honey. He loves the honey so much as soon as he hears me popping out a tablet he's by my side waiting for the meds. With smaller tablets (like the comfortis flea treatment) I feed him a few bits of cheese to get him excited. I throw them at him and he catches and swallows in one gulp. Then I'll press the tablet into a peice of cheese and toss it to him - he gulps it down. Mince meat works too if I have some, but cheese on always in hand at my place. Occasionally he'll taste the tablet and spit it out - if that happens I'll start the process again making sure I cover up the tablet better, sometimes I need to break it up into smaller peices and wrap cheese around the different bits for him. I hope you find something that works!

Hi Little Gifts, yes we have thought but not bought any - yet. In fact we have throught about a lycra suit with boots :laugh: because it's not just his feet that get itchy . We discussed this with the vet - his opinion is that he is reacting to both inhaled and contact allergens (so covering his skin won't completly fix the problem). I'm not in love with the idea of putting him on a medication like Atopica for the rest of his life to be honest. But if he gets releif from it I'll have bought some time to keep exploring options (rather than putting all my efforts into keeping him comfortable).

Just popping in to give an update - been a busy few months! His itching decreased with the change in diet but I was also not walking him - when I started walking again the sores came back. Vulcan has had had blood tests for thyroid and environmental allergens. I ended up going with my own vet. No thyroid problems, but he is allergic to all 13 of the grasses they test for . He's also allergic to Melaluca and Casuarina trees - which we have heaps of - and four weeds. I was expecting him to be allergic to grass - but not all of them . I have Jean Dodd's saliva test kit now which tests for various meats as well as environmental allergens. I'll get the sample and send that off in the next week or so. My vet tells me we have two options for the environmental allergens: a medication (Atopica) or desensitisation injections. Both very expensive options. But he's definitly gotten worse over the past yer so we're going to trial the Atopica first to see if that has any impact (aparently it works for some and not others) as he can be on that while we explore desensitisation injections with a specialist. I'll also do the Jean Dodd's (hempopet) test and put the results of that into the mix too. Hi scarletrose - thanks for sharing your experience :) .

Bugger about the lamb bone episode and totally hear what your saying about not knowing whether it was the culprit! Vulcan has been itchier today, is it grass or is it beef, or something completely different? So pleasig to hear his reaction has been mild though..good sign his system is much more resilient

Hey Erny, just saw this thread. So pleased to hear Mandela is doing well on the Augustine Approved. It's so heartbreaking when they are not thriving. I hope you have continued success with it!!

Heartfelt condolences from Vulcan & I Airedale.

I'd just bought the 2.2 kg bag so we'll be feeding AA for while yet. I've fed VAN complete mix before with the skin formula and omega blend - he was on that before switching to AA. I haven't tried to just add VAN skin support and omega blend to a grain free diet. I've still got the 2.2kg bag of AA so I'll continue with plan A and feed that through for a full six weeks and then do the allergy & thyroid tests. We are only two weeks in to trialling the AA so anything could still happen with Vulcan. I am however dissapointed to find the owner of the product is publically spouting (what I beleive to be) nonsense and after loosing someone to cancer recently it has really hit a nerve. Did someone tell you to go and this diet and then do the testing? Usually you do testing whilst eating your normal foods. Ie you have to be eating gluten when you get tested for gluten intolerance. Or do you mean you are going to add foods back in after the 6 weeks? I had a very itchy dog and wanted to give him relief asap. AA was suggested, I read ingredients and decided it was worth a try. We've been through an elimination diet before, several years ago so know what most of his triggers are, however I suspect he has developed a sensitivity to something else in commercial kibbles. I switchd to AA as I could do it faster than I could get tests organised. Now I think I should wait till his system gets used to the new AA diet before doing the testing i.e. 6 weeks (well, 4 now). My priority was and is releiving his discomfort, which the AA seems to have done very well to date. Then ethical dilemma above came up. That is good to know Maddy, thanks for sharing! It's only been 2 weeks for us, but itching has reduced dramatically here too. Not gone altogether, but definitly better! Fingers crossed here for you!

I'd just bought the 2.2 kg bag so we'll be feeding AA for while yet. I've fed VAN complete mix before with the skin formula and omega blend - he was on that before switching to AA. I haven't tried to just add VAN skin support and omega blend to a grain free diet. I've still got the 2.2kg bag of AA so I'll continue with plan A and feed that through for a full six weeks and then do the allergy & thyroid tests. We are only two weeks in to trialling the AA so anything could still happen with Vulcan. I am however dissapointed to find the owner of the product is publically spouting (what I beleive to be) nonsense and after loosing someone to cancer recently it has really hit a nerve.

Having lost someone to lung cancer recently after they had lived the most natural and healthful life possible I'm quite horrified to read that webpage. It smacks of crazy. I doubt I would have bought their superboost if I had read that beforehand. However I also have a itch free dog sleeping contentedly at my feet after two weeks on the AA diet. Feeling conflicted!

Hi everyone, I thought I'd check in and let you know how we are getting on. After Erny's suggestion I decided to switch foods to Augustine Approved. This required buying a blender (which took a while to arrive) - but I'm now enjoying smoothies and Vulcan is being fed the AA recipe. We've been on the new diet for two weeks now and I'm feeding the AA recipe mixed up with beef or kangaroo mince (depending on what's available). Vulcan looves the new food! He is also getting beef bones each week. He is only getting walked twice a week when I can take him to the beach (to avoid walking on grass). Vulcan is also getting 2x weekly calendula rinses. I've stopped using the malseb baths and cortizone cream altogether. Vulcan's itches are 95% better. The sore that wasn't going away is now covered over and his hair is growing back in. I plan to do thyroid and allergy tests but will wait till he has been on this new diet for at least six weeks first. Tomorrow I'll start walking around the streets with Vulcan again and see what impact that has. I told a few friends at work that the $600 blender I just bought was for my dog and got some bizarre looks - so thankful I can come here and discuss this stuff with all of you

I've just started using it. One week today. Vulcan has a number of food and environmental allergies. He gets frantically itchy to the point of bleeding when he is at his worst. He was particularly bad a month or so ago, I posted on here about it. AA recommend blending together zucchini, beetroot, carrot, lentils and coconut oil. This veggie purée is combined with the super boost powder and meat of your choice. They do say you could omit the meat and feed the veggie purée and superboost as a vegan diet if your dog has problems with all meat proteins. I understand they sell this prepared at a market but for people who want to try it but can't get to the market their website provides instructions on how to prepare the mix. Vulcan tolerates kangaroo and beef very well so I'm mixing that in. It's still very early days but Vulcans itching is 90% better one week in and he scoffs it down. I suspect he has developed a sensitivity to something in commercially prepared diets as no matter what we fed him over the past 6 months he was still itchy. I plan to do a number of thyroid and allergy tests on him once he has been on this new diet for 6 weeks. So sorry to hear of your pups health issues and hope you can find solutions

VislaMomma you made me laugh! I don't think he would have done well in the show ring but not being show quality meant he was available to us and we think he's fantastic. Just quietly he melts my heart every time I look at him. I often feed Vulcan VAN complete mix with kangaroo or chicken mince along with the omega oil and skin & coat formula. It's been a reliable part of his diet over the years, but haven't used it for a little while just because the Nutro Chicken & rice kibble has been just as good and a bit more convenient. Thanks everyone for your help . You've given me comfort that I'm managing these flare-ups the best I can (and that I shouldn't panic and get heavy handed with the Malseb!). You've also given me confidence that it is possible to reduce the flareup's by finding out exactly whats going on with him and improving his immune system through diet. I think I have enough leads to do my own investigations (based on what you've given me) but always keen to hear more!

Erny Vulcan is now 4.5yo so should be fine with the thyroid test. Allergies became apparent pretty soon after we brought him home at 8wks. He was a rangy scabby little pup until we got on top of his food intolerances by about 6months. I'll look into the tests and try and find a vet who will work with me. VizslaMomma It is very distressing to see him so uncomfortable. I am however thankful he has pretty mild symptoms all considered, he has never been in a state like poor Chase on page 1, even at his worst. I put some of the probiotic into his dinner tonight and hope this helps over the coming weeks. He isn't itching anymore so just need to keep him off the sores till they heal. The second Malseb bath so soon after the first was a bit of a desperate measure really BTW - I won a photo shoot with Ruthless a couple years ago :D here's the thread where I showed off some of the photo's. I hope they show his brindle colors better. Vulcan still looks like this. Vulcan's Ruthless photo's

Haredown Whippets Apology accepted. He is very dark - I guess the sun shining off his coat in the second photo makes him look a bit blue? He had all his puppy vaccs and now just gets the three year booster - I think he got that last year so won't have any for awhile. His did have a KC vacc a year ago as we thought we might need to board him on our trip around Australia (he came with us), there's no need to repeat that this year. Just went shopping. I picked up some roo mince from the supermarket and will put that with Vets all Natural complete mix while his skin settles down as I know he does well on that. We did just try a new food, Natures Gift chicken kibble, the ingredient list looked devoid of triggers but maybe there something in there not agreeing with him. Thinking back - he hasn't had sores like these since we were working out his food allergies years ago so maybe the new food has contributed ? I also picked up a probiotic from the health food store thinking to add it to his food. Is giving this to him helpful? If not we can always use it ourselves.

Vulcan isn't blue. He is dark brindle and white. What gives you the idea that he is blue? He came from a reputable registered breeder after careful research. His lines have no history of allergies and neither are there any blue dogs. None of the other pups in his litter have allergies either. I've tried all food combinations... including with and without grain. The only difference is when we introduce lamb, fish or pork which is when the itches increase significantly. Food is easily managed however and he usually isn't itchy. Itching to the point of breaking skin is happening now, but thankfully it's rare. Erny I guess I put the why down to genetic variability, managed it the best we could and thanked our lucky stars he hasn't been too badly impacted. But the occasional flare ups do happen and I would like to reduce their intensity and even extinguish them altogether if this is possible. Are you aware of a Vet on/near Mornington Peninsula that would work with us to get the tests you mention done and follow through with supplements/dietary reccomendations? I've exhausted my own vet's expertise (and probably patience too). These days when I ask what more I could be doing they simply tell me I'm doing a great job and to keep it up. essentialdog & WreckitWhippet Thanks for the anti-histamine info!