zayda_asher

What suburb exactly - that might help people know if they can get there or not... Near the city still covers a huge area, if someone drives through on their way home or something, then they may be able to stop :)

And be aware that the more different foods you throw at him you a) limit the ingredient options you have when you do a real elimination diet with the derm, and this will leave you with only the exotic and more expensive options like venison and emu and b) exposure to more foods opens you to the risk of him developing more allergies / intolerances to these foods, which can leave you forced to feed the exotic and expensive options in the long term. Speaking from almost 11yrs of experience with two allergy dogs I can tell you that foods like VAN with its large, multi ingredient list is just shooting yourself in the foot until you know what you can and can't have. Here's a flow chart of a correct elimination diet:

I'll pass this info on to people in my network... I've got a letter, just needed to dig up the contacts to send to, so that's a handy list you've given, thanks :D It might also be worth including relevant federal people to send to, as they were talking of going federal. I'm also planning to send mine to the Gov Gen, etc. as they were getting involved.

Here you go This should take you to the right group. Have a look at the list and books and see how you feel... There is a detailed walk through of how to do a diet in the archives (maybe in the files too?). Getting her to formulate your diet is definitely a good option - she is a wealth of info!

You can also get Monica to formulate a diet for you. Of course it costs a little, but any specialist service does. It's well worth it IMO and the follow up care you get is meant to be excellent. I'm going to get her to formulate my next pup's diet, as puppy diets need to be spot on Edit: sorry about the typos in my first post.. Hard to change on the iPad...

No worries It's good to read them both together, they cover some similar ground, but complement each other well. I would probably pick K9 Kitchen first if you could only get one. But if you want to crunch your own numbers, then you want Optimal Nutrition as she got permision to reprint the NRC nutritional requirements for adult dogs. I think there are a couple of recipes as examples in each one, but one of the things you will learn is that each dog is individual and does best on a diet tailored to them, so she doesn't give a lot of recieps. If you look at her site though, there are a couple of pamphlets that have some general recipes in them and she does have some breed specific pamphlets too that address some of the common health issues in particular breeds and what you can do to help prevent those occurring, address them if they have occurred, etc. do you make up your dogs' meals based on her theories? how have you found the process? is it cost- effective? Hey Scruff Yes, I believe any additions are included and will change the balance. she has a yahoo group you could search for more info (k9 kitchen). I'm not as up on the kibble stuff, as we don't feed it, but you would find discussion on this in the list archives, I'm sure. I have used her formula and will do so again in the future. At the moment we are struggling through rechallenging foods with one dog for allergies, so once I know what both dogs can et again for now I will crunch the numbers again. It's a bit of work, but worth it IMO. I aim for balance over time, rather than being anal about it on a daily basis. If you are math challenged (that would be me) it is handy to have a mathy friend on hand to help. I personally don't find feeding home prepared any more expensive than feeding a premium kibble, but even if it was I'd have to suck it up, as there in no kibble my dogs can eat due to their allergies.

Good luck with the appointment! I suppose what they might do to test it would depend on what the vet felt it was. Some things you can do a fine needle aspirate on, they stick a fine needle into the site and get a sample of cells to look at under a microscope. Somethings might need a more invasive test, like a biopsy, and other things they might be able to visually ID. So I'm sure your vet will explain what they are going to do and why, if not don't be afraid to ask them

Did you find out what it is yet?

No worries It's good to read them both together, they cover some similar ground, but complement each other well. I would probably pick K9 Kitchen first if you could only get one. But if you want to crunch your own numbers, then you want Optimal Nutrition as she got permision to reprint the NRC nutritional requirements for adult dogs. I think there are a couple of recipes as examples in each one, but one of the things you will learn is that each dog is individual and does best on a diet tailored to them, so she doesn't give a lot of recieps. If you look at her site though, there are a couple of pamphlets that have some general recipes in them and she does have some breed specific pamphlets too that address some of the common health issues in particular breeds and what you can do to help prevent those occurring, address them if they have occurred, etc.

The best sources to read on this topic are Monica Segal's two books K9 Kitchen and Optimal Nutrition. They're easy to read and have all the formulas for number crunching and working out kilo/cals etc. You can add extras to dry, I think Monical Segal says no more than 1 third of the meal, or you will disrupt the balance (I would have to check that though, as that is on memory and may not be correct).

It could also be something like a sterile pyogranuloma that he's licked a lot and infected. Does this dog have any allergy / immune issues?

It looks like a Histiocytoma, which is benign. Most common in young dogs and Bull Breeds seem to get them a bit. Vet should be able to do a fine needle aspirate and check. They are generally self limiting and clear on their own. However, having said that you MUST get it checked, as there are other malignant cancers that can look very similar. So I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, but do get it checked to make sure

Cant see why the Nutro helped though as it has grains in which many are allergic to Maybe because the dog doesn't have a problem with grains. Thats the problems with allergies, so many people make assumptions. Yep, allergies are very individual... some dogs will have problems with some things and not others... It's only very recently (in 10 years of dealing with allergies) that we've had a problem with any grains here... certainly some grains can be common allergens, like wheat, as it's so commonly used in dog food / treats but that doesn't mean all dogs will respond to it and other grains that they have never eaten may still be fine for them. In the case of allergies what is good for the goose may not at all be good for the gander ;)

Me too.. there's only so many years you can bang your head on the wall, hey?

Specialists always cost a bit of money... maybe you can find out who is in your area and compare prices and then save it up? Going to the derm with my two certainly isn't cheap, but I'll tell you what: it's saved me from wasting and spending EVEN more money, which many people do by trying to go it alone / do it without the specialist It's not a problem that is going to go away, so managing it with your Vet whilst you save up the money could work My derm was really excellent at helping us work out a plan that allowed us to save when we were low on funds at one point: "We'll do ABC whilst you work on getting a new job and then XYZ can be done when you have the funds..." PS: Glad he's feeling better and maybe chat to your vet about the antifungal... if they felt you needed it, then it could be a very important part of getting his skin under control