Loraine

My Zedley had a 'yeast' problem. Very itchy (would bite until he bled), smelled of yeast, itchy ears, red fur around toes. After a couple of years on and off various drugs it was discovered that he had a low thyroid problem. Since being put on Thyroxine his itchies have gone, he no longer smells of yeast and is much happier. Pror to this I did the various diet eliminiation things, various wonder shampoos. I did find that he is actually allergic to oats . His first thyroid was missed as one number was high and the other was normal, however, the vet (a year down the track) checked with the laboratory and discovered that his heart rate was low, this together with low thyroid first number indicated low tyroid funtion. This may be worth a mention to your vet.

Oh poor Millie, I am just catching up on this thread and thinking she had come good and now this. I will be keeping her in my prayers. Hugs for your Mum and yourself.

Keeping my fingers crossed that it is only a mild gastro attack and nothing more serious, hugs for Sasha. Give that Chloe a hug too from an ex-cush mum

Great news Mooper that Jack's in the pink again and his disease is under control. Takes your worry monitor down a notch when the meds do show an improvement in the condition

Puggy, his thing is not too serious. The vet did talk to me about operating on him to shorten the palate, but as he does not snore or have any other throat concerns she advised leaving it as post op he would have to be kept quiet for 6 weeks - HA he is a terror terrier and quiet is not in his vocabulary. I will keep an eye on the boy and see how we go. Obviously if it gets worse then operation will be looked into. The vet also noted how good his coat is looking at the moment. This is since she found the thyroid problem and put him onto thyroxine - his itchyness appears to have cleared up and he is no longer smelling yeasty

OK we saw my favorite vet today. She did not want to xray the lad. She had a look down his throat whihc today was not as aggravated as it was on Saturday, and came to the conclusion that he has an extra long soft palate which from time to time touches the trachea and closes over. Thank dog it is something and nothing. Whenever he has another episode I am to feed him and that will separate the trachea and the soft palate. Whew!!!

Thank you all for your prayers. Zedley is 6yrs old. Puggy you have reminded me, the vet will be putting a tube down his throat to look at the trachea. Whilst they have hum under I will be having them clip his enormous nails (they grow like the very devil) and pluck all hairs from his ears. I do them regularly but I can only get so far down the ear duct. Might as well get as much bang for my buck as possible Might also have his brain looked at he does have some nuerotic nights (only kidding here).

Four or five times since Christmas Zedley (Wire Haired Fox Terrier) has had something similar to reverse sneezing. My mini poodle (RIP) had a heart problem and often had reverse sneezing where a rub on this throat area helped him. Zedley has these 'episodes' that sound partly like reverse sneezing, partly like he can't breath through his nose, partly can't catch his breath. They last anything from 30 minutes to an hour. He was sleeping this afternoon and woke up having one of these episodes. He always looks distressed and there is nothing that I do that helps. I called my vet and rushed him up there. The vet has no idea what it can be, she gave him some cough syrup and we sat for a while, but he continued with his problem. The vet has suggested (after she had done all kinds of things to the lad) that I take him in on Tuesday morning for an xray os they can have a good look at his lungs, heart and all that stuff. I know this is not caused by food (he had not eaten since dinner last night). I am hoping that there is nothing there, but ya know how worried us parents get

Nasty diagnosis, but very treatable. Just goes to show we need to watch the behaviour patterns of our dogs. I'd rather go to the bet and be called an idiot (that has happened ) than chance missing something serious. :rolleyes:

Thanks for your answer Charles. I would think it might be rather dangerous done on dogs.

Totally agree if it is Adrenal Cushing's - operation would have been my choice. With Pituitary Cushing's I have heard of some vet in the US doing surgery to removed a Pit tumour, I have not found any in Australia who would do it yet. do you know if any vet in Australia has chanced an op to remove a Pit Tumor??

After much research there is no natural remedy to assist with Cushing's disease. My Mini Poodle was diagnosed at 12 yrs old, got him to 15.5 and had to PTS due to unrelated kidney failure. I had him start with the chemo drug Lysodren and he did well for a good length of time, then I moved him onto the new (then) drug Trilostane. The most costly part of the disease is the constant (every three months minimum) blood testing and ACTH testing. I am guessing that over all I paid over $3K for my heart boy. He had Pituitary Cushing's. Those dogs with Adrenal Cushing's can have an operation to removed the adrenals. Some vets will oversee giving the dog an overdose of Lysodren or Trilostane to knock out the adrenals (they push the cortisol), some times permanently. Then the dog become Addisonion and has to be on cortisone tabs for life. Cushing's eats away at the muscles, these include the heart and other internal organs. Left untreated the dog will remain incontinent and have a revenous appetite. I do know of a person who chose not to treat. IMO I would rather PTS as the agony inside the body of an untreated dog would be awful. I have a friend who had Pit Cushing's, had the tumor removed and then ended up having to have her adrenals removed and now is Addisonion and has to live on cortisone. If you would like more info you can contact me at [email protected].

Meats do not contain yeast, but some meats can give a dog an allergic reaction which makes the dog's skin itchy and smells of yeast - is this what you mean? If so the dog needs to go on a food elimination diet. My boy was put onto a meat he had never had before plus boiled pumpkin or sweet potato, for 6-8 weeks. My vet said that if there is no improvement after that time then cortisone was the next step. After full bloods and T4 we discovered it was his thyroid that was under acting. Since he has been on Thyroxine his skin and smell have cleared up. ETA I also found that my boy is allergic to oats which are a cereal and are in many of the proprietary dog foods.

I have absolutely no advice, but I am curious as to why a pup is on glucosamine. I thought that was only used on arthiritic older dogs.

My mates maltyshoo licks his feet and she bathes them in Malaseb, leaves it on for 5 minutes and now he has lovely white feet.

I Just had a chat to the vet about the weekend's blood draw. His T4 is right in the middle, so is good. I told the vet that He (IMO) may naturally have a low heart rate. [i have a temp that is always 2 degrees lower than most humans ] We have decided to drop his thyroxine back down to one a day and have him tested again in a months time. I actually did not give him one last night and we all had a decent night's sleep {except for the heat}.

Now that is interesting as I have just paid my vet $118.00 for a titer and I live in Perth. My vet actually told me that this is what Vetpath charges them. I have decided that next year I will phone around the vets to get the best price.

Thank you all for your various and enlightening insights. Been to the vet today and had a blod draw, will know the results on Monday. His heart rate was down again until she let him sniff a treat then it increased. Che is reasonably certain it is the meds, but I am to continue with the increased dose until Monday. I'll come back and let you all know what the outcome is.

Persephone the vet just about wet herself when I told her I thought he was becoming a wereworlf

My dog is on thyroxine (sp) My vet has told me, if i increase the amount too much she will become aggressive and unsettled. She gets tested on a regular basis to maintain the right amount. Also i used to know that when i would be at dog school during the day she would be fine with me. But when my OH would take her to the night lessons she would play up! People aid it could be something to do with the vision at night. But who knows? Scout Scouty he was tested last week, hence his meds were increased. The vet has just called me and we are going back tomorrow for another blood draw to test his T4. She has confirmed what you wrote about him being overdosed and that would be making him unsettled. He is sleeping a lot during the day which I had put down to my walks getting longer, but it may be that has to do with his thyroid too. All will be discovered tomorrow.

Lack os sleep is awful, Miss Helena and I take meds at night so my patience level gets rather low - so will the dog if I have to dig a grave for him I am waiting for my vet to call me back to see if they can relate this to upping his thyroid meds

Drew Masters at My Best Friend Vet Surgery in Leederville (opposite Kalis Bros). He looked after my mini poodle and let me take in notes from the internet regarding his Cushing's disease. He listens and never tries to talk over you. If you took in literature I would read it and act on it. His best mate is the chief endo for dogs at Murdoch, so he can ask the higher up folks for assistance should he need it.

Thanks for responding Puggy he is 6 and when we are out walking etc., he does not appear to have a problem with his eyes (we were at the vet for a check up last week). I think he is turning into a werewolf ETA I will not be able to sleep if there is light of any kind in the bedroom.

Last week Zedley had his thyroid meds doubled, he also had an ear infection so had gluggy drops which I think makes him a little deaf. (I have had a deaf dog in the past) He can be asleep on the floor and not notice that I have left the room The problem - he has always slept on the bed on his own blankie, the last few nights he is driving me insane. We go to bed, I read for 1/2 hour or so then lights out. Whilst I am reading he is snoozing, the minute the light goes off he starts to shiver (not shake, just shiver) when gets off the bed and goes to the window and tries to get out (he has torn more than one flyscreen. The moon is very bright at this time of the month/year. He starts digging at the window surrounds and wakes me up. Last night I removed him from the bedroom and took him to his own bed in the lounge. All Ok for a couple of hours, then I need to visit the loo. Dog is outside (he has his own door), hears me and comes happily in and jumps on the bed, as soon as I am back in bed and lights out he is at his nonsense again. He appears to be fascinated by the bright light of the moon, or even the moon itself as I have seen him just staring into the sky After I had taken him to his own bed and returned to mine, he is at the bedroom door scratching and whining , so I have to get up and take him back to his bed with a few choice words. I could really kill the liitle sod at 4 in the morning. Has anyone any ideas what I can do that does not involve wringing his neck. TIA

. . . she told me that Vetpath charges them $118.00 which I do not necessarily believe. I don't have the facts, but it's quite possible that VetPath gives low rates to regular users of their service and high rates to occasionals. That is, everyone may be telling the truth. What koolietas was referring to earlier was that her vet had never done titer testing previously. so this would be her first time for testing, hence should be no cheaper than my vet