trinabean

Wow grade 5 sounds quite severe, it's good that he is ok and doesn't need medication. I feel a bit silly worrying about grade 2. I think it was just the straw that broke the camels back yesterday. A sort of 'oh no, not another thing!' moment. Thank you. My non-dog friends/family are not as understanding.

Hi triabean sorry to hear about your boy, just thought I'd warn you that quinoa although its considered a super food with tons of vits and minerals it's also very high in oxalates which can bung up their kidneys if feed in too high amounts over a period of time. Brown rice or pure oats may be a good alternative with lots of veggies too. I like the sound of goat where do you buy that I've always thought that dogs would love rabbit too which I once saw at my local supermarket but not since. What do you regularly feed him? I find with my dogs if they eat really fatty food they get the runs most likely messing with the pancreas pressure cookers are really great at keeping lean meat moist palatable and tender plus they intensify the flavor which dogs love. To be honest Bingo I know very little about quinoa. I'm just giving it under the direction of the vet as it's a carbohydrate Bruno hasn't had before. Goat is a meat he hasn't previously had either. The elimination diet is for the next 6-8 weeks. We couldn't use rice or oats for the diet as he has had them before. Goat I can get for $5kg (Victory pet meats), so it's cheaper than the quinoa! I'll keep the pressure cooker idea in mind, especially if he tolerates cooked better than raw. :)

What a great update, well done Jelly, Nekhbet and Roo. I hope things continue to improve. :)

Thanks Amymattasha, yes IBD is one of the possibilities the specialist mentioned yesterday. Unfortunately the RC Hypoallergenic didn't seem to agree with my boy, and I could barely get him to eat it. It's been an uphill battle the last few weeks. He is looking very skinny.

Not so much a kibble, but a dry food that might be woth looking at is Ziwipeak. It's more like a jerky and is grain free and I *think* preservative free ('naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols'). The bag I have here is the venison one. It's expensive but you need very little. A pug would need far less than my boxer too! Might be worth a look? Best of luck with your dog's chemo. The ingredient list seems very good: My link

Thanks for the well-wishes Tintin Jack. Well, hopefully Bruno's murmur will be like that too. Fingers crossed.

My 2 year old dog has had ongoing health issues ever since I got him at 8 weeks old. We've recently had him allergy tested through a canine dermatologist and he is having immunotherapy to desensitize him to his worst allergens. He has atopic dermatitis and is allergic to 9 common local grass pollens, house dust mites, mosquitos, flies and storage mites. He also has always had gastro-intestinal problems and seems to be sensitive to a number of foods. He can't have beef, lamb and has recently become sensitive to chicken. He also is sensitive to all commercial dry foods so far including the hypoallergenic ones. The dermalogist referred us to another specialist to try and work out what is going on with the GI symptoms. Bruno has just started on an elimination diet (goat and quinoa) and while the specialist was checking his heart he also detected a grade 2 heart murmur. I suppose that's not too bad really, I just didn't want to hear about yet another thing wrong with my beautiful boy. So for those of you with 'dud' dogs, be it allergies, heart murmurs etc. did there come a point where things turned around and improved? Did you find the answers that helped your dog? I'm hopeful that a grade 2 murmur is not much of an issue. We have enough to contend with! Just interested in others experiences...

Zoomies are an outdoor thing here. Our wood floors are too slippery for Boxer zoomies anyhow. Yes, there is a 'bog lap' track in our backyard, and a skid zone/ cooling pitstop under the trampoline. I'm not sure that the grass will ever forgive us and grow back there. There are morning and late afternoon zoomy displays, and most frenzied of all...post-bath zoomies. :laugh:

Or a responsible person full stop. Slinking away with his dog is not unlike the driver who flees a hit and run accident IMHO. By the way your newly-adopted dog looks very sweet (but I don't see staffy either). :)

Oh that is good news, I'm glad a home has been found for her. And don't be shy with the Rolf photos. I'll probably never get to own a Dane, but this is one of my favourite threads! Rolf is looking good, I love the Dane beach madness. :D

OSoswift I just started Bruno on some Ziwipeak late last year as his night meal (he was getting raw in the mornings). I was looking for a high quality, shelf-stable food that he could tolerate. He has GI and allergy issues and is a picky eater who refuses to eat kibble. He loved it and his gut tolerated it. It costs a bomb and he is a large dog, so I was still going to feed raw for one feed of the day to make it more economical. That said, it is nutrient dense and doesn't contain filler, so the quantities you are meant to feed are quite small. It seemed to have high-quality ingredients. I liked the lack of filler as I have a dog who is underweight and a poor eater, he never seems to eat enough/ get enough nutrients out of regular food. I would still be feeding it now except that he is having allergy/GI issues of his own and is on a restricted diet (nothing to do with Ziwipeak though). :) Edited to add: I found it worked well as a non-messy training treat too. Yay, clean hands!

RIP little Elfie. What a sickening thing for her family to witness. I hope the bastard with the aggressive dog will be identified and made accountable. And Mymatejack, words fail me....

Very good post and advice Nic oh lah. :) And to the OP I'm sorry that you are going through this difficult time.

It could just be that the boiled chicken with kibble was a bit too rich for his tummy after antibiotics and diarrhea? I would be inclined to try chicken and rice and slowly introduce the kibble once his gut settles down. I would keep up the probiotics too, they will help re-balance the gut flora. If you were worried about giving rice because it's a grain what about the grain in the kibble? Or is it a grain-free kibble?

Run free Daisy. What sweet grey face. I'm so sorry for your family's and your brother's loss KelpieHoundMum.

The manky mud hole monster would have been a sight, did you get a photo? :laugh: Yes, hopefully it was just something gross in the mud that irritated his skin short-term.

Oh poor Ziggy. Our dermatologist has us using QV wash instead of Aloveen to wash allergens out his coat (I was using Aloveen until recently). I do find the QV wash milder/ more suitable for my itchy dog. And Revolution is the spot-on we are using, although I don't know if it has the same active ingredients as the spot-ons you've tried? edited to add: I found Polaramine didn't really help at all. The antihistamine Bruno has been prescribed is working well though, 'Hydroxyzine.' Might be worth seeing what Ziggy's vet thinks. Good luck, it's awful seeing them really itchy and uncomfortable.

I feed morning and evening meals. My dog is always a bit underweight and isn't a big eater though. Sometimes he sniffs and walks away from food, (particularly in the mornings) and I wonder why I bother. :laugh:

Your post seems full of contradictions Tralee. Many breeds go to their new homes at 8 weeks, so surely it is the new owners responsibility to have plans in place for the pups care from then onwards. In this case it sounds as though the breeder was due to go away after homing the puppies (heaven forbid a breeder should have a life). I know many breeders will accommodate helping out puppy buyers but in this case perhaps the breeder really can't? In any case, Mini girl has offered to help out her friend and the puppy buyer by boarding the pup at a very reasonable rate. I think the puppy buyer should be grateful, I know I would be. I do agree though that all bases need to be covered and there needs to be clear communication about responsibility for vet bills etc.

I feed twice a day. A combination of chicken, roo, some vegies and fish oil. He gets plenty of meaty bones, especially chicken frames. So far this works best for him. He's not very interested in food and prone to being a bit skinny. Raw food is the only food that reliably tempts him to eat. I'm trying him on Ziwipeak venison at the moment too, I'm hoping his allergies don't flare on it. I've yet to find a dry food that he does well on (or that he'll even eat). If this one works for him, it would be convenient for when he's boarded over Christmas. So far so good.

Mantis, I'm so glad you are able to have a dog again after all you've been through. :) And jerry lee, as for any 'gang' here, there are plenty of diverse views on DOL. Perhaps you are just in the minority on this particular view?

Huga, Sid does Amazingly Cute very well. :D

Mine doesn't do anything that amazes me. I still love him though. Puppy Sniffer your two look very sweet, being all gentle and careful. :)

Hoping Hairy Harry Huge improves some more today, poor boy. How frightening.

I have no idea about the rocks, sorry. Hopefully others will be able to answer that question. My boxer was a poo-eater when he was younger. I found sprinkling unsweetened pineapple juice on his food did help to put him off, and he hasn't done it since.