DianeMcA

Day 4 and feet are looking good, kangaroo and sweet potato for tea, 550grms veges and 850grms kangaroo meat, what a huge feed !!! But he ate it, went for a walk this morning , no feet protection , I let him run, he was twisting and bucking , washed feet down with rain water and thoroughly dried them , that was hours ago and feet still look good , it is not raining today, so I'm heading out in the front yard to mow the grass, I will keep him inside, my vet said that if I keep him off the kikuyu he will likely develop an allergy to another grass ,some of you may not believe the vet said that and that I'm making it up to cover another of my ideas , he also told me to keep up with the omega oils,VC and acidophilus

Just went for a walk , I wrapped his legs in plastic as there is long grass around the edges of the road , his feet look pinker than before but I think maybe they got hot

OMG what a process , Ralph's feet look fantastic ,it's day 3 with no grass contact, I will work with my vet and discuss the next process but yes , I have spoke about blood tests with him before and he's not that keen

Blood tests for allergies ,not sure how they check it, maybe for deficiencies ?

Blood test for what, in particular?

How do I get in contact with you about green tripe ? Do you know anywhere closer to Bega where I could get it ?

The vet advised me to try a protein he hadn't tried before and suggested kangaroo ,human grade no additives,also the blood tests are almost $500.00, so I am trying one thing at a time ,off the grass and very basic diet , fingers crossed

So much going on & so many things tried that will not give you a clue. You have been all over the place. Thing is your dog may be allergic to kangaroo or even sweet potato. Maybe even Calendula. I was allergic to Aloe Vera & it was advised for my skin complaint. You or even the vet have no idea. The blood tests do not always show an allergy but its a starting point & they may show something so its best to have them done & you may get some clue. You may not but try it. Stick to one food for a few days it won't harm him. Maybe beef & beef bones. Stop all chemicals including flea stuff. No chemicals around the floors either. Hot water with a little white vinegar in on hard surfaces & no carpet fresheners etc on carpets, only vacuum daily. Any commercial dry food is no help as it has all sorts in & you would never know what exact ingredient was the culprit if aggravating. Keep a diary & note reactions & introduce new things one at a time. Don't put anything on his feet at all. Its a slow methodical process of elimination if you have the patience. There is no quick fix to these type of things. Good luck.

I edited my reply as I only put plastic on his feet to go outside for a walk , the shoes he has only really cover a short way past his foot and we have had non stop rain and the grass is way higher than that on the side of the road when we go for a walk , I try to stick to the gravel road but he likes to pee on the grass , he was so loving his walk today , it was raining lightly and he would do this whole body shake , starting at his head , moving down his body and finally his whippy tail, he is really content tonight laying stretched out on a leather lounge next to the cat, he normally chases the cat , wish I could put photos on here, he's just gorgeous ,also I have 5 dogs,one is 16, so I do know how to look after dogs, Ralph is my first with allergies, and I was upset with a post earlier accusing me almost of abuse of him and suggesting I give him to someone else for him to spread his wings , :-(

I have acted on the advice , I have removed wandering jew , but there is none in the front yard that is fully fenced and that is where he has been kept and not going up to the stables, I have rang a dermatologist and asked what would be involved in the consult and Sydney being 5 hrs away , I spoke to my local vet and the blood tests can be done here, and sent away, I have had him the last 2 days inside and before going out for walks ,I have been wrapping his feet in plastic and putting on non skip slippers over the top and he has had 3 good long walks today and in the rain, I am not giving him any additives only kangaroo and cooked sweet potato , I am spraying calandular tea on his legs and he is very content at the moment, I am only wanting the best for this dog ,I am under the guidance of my vet and following what he says, he does not believe blood tests are that accurate, I am trying to avoid the use of steroids and it is looking like a contact allergy so far, in the front yard we only have kikuyu and shrubs ,so it maybe the kikuyu,I spoke yesterday to a local nursery about getting rid of the grass and putting gravel down ,I think I am doing enough and I am sure Ralph would have had a dose of antibiotics by now if I hadn't been so persistent and obsessed with the prevention of his condition worsening, I have been to 2 different vets,one that dosed him up to the eye balls with cortisone and now a holistic vet , and if the vet at home can't sort him out ,then yes , we will make the trip to Sydney , and I appreciate the advice and that is the beauty of these forums ,to get a variety of opinions and knowledge from people that have been through this before and act on what I consider good advice.

We have a good fenced front yard with no wandering jew in it, I kept him only in that yard on Wednesday it has kikuyu in it , the grass is a bit long at the front as we have had rain for a good week, well his feet and back of legs went bright red and warm to touch, and lick lick chew chew, so from lunch time on I kept him inside and walked him out on the road with boots on, Today his feet have calmed down and I have been walking him with boots and plastic wrapped around the bottom of his leg as it is raining again, he is still sometimes licking them but not as much he is a lot happier, but this morning his legs are dry and some scabs that started to bleed , I put calandular ointment on them , I also got some calandular flowers yesterday and made a tea and sprayed over his legs last night, with his legs being dry and cracked should I just leave them ? I will keep him inside tomorrow as well, but yes as we suspected it is most likely a contact allergy, hopefully not food as well, I rang my vet yesterday about blood tests , he said they weren't that accurate , it's lucky I have a few days off work and I can keep an eye on him , gees what do you do with a hunting dog with grass allergies ? Can you ever cure that ? Or do you just manage it ?

I appreciate all the advice , we had rain for 4 days and he hardly went outside and his feet looked the best they ever have, I thought you beauty !! They started to look better when I started the ivermectin (vets advice) he has had it 5 times , so I didn't know if it was not going outside or the ivermectin that helped , anyway you will get mad at me , but I thought he wasn't gaining wright with his kangaroo raw vege diet so I spoke to the vet and put him on Sciience diet for large puppies plus kangaroo meat, I spoke with the nutritionslist at SDiet and it made sense , I have been gradually adding it, day 3 today, so yesterday evening we went for a big walk around the old race course feet look good ,got home and washed them with neem oil soap, he was licking them a bit , well during the night licking and going on and today very red and some little pin prick size of blood he has a red spotty rash on his belly as well , so what now? What was the ratio of the ACV wash ? and do I just pour that on him and then rinse followed by calandular tea? he is still having omega 3,6,9 and VC and acidophilus , I don't think boots would help as he is in and out all day and I work .