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Skin Problems


Kavik
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I've made a vet appt for Thursday, so will enquire about tests then.

Vet is going to be sick of all my questions :laugh:

Yes - good luck, Kavik. I hope they can come up with some positive directive. And don't worry about the Vet getting sick of questions. If you don't ask, you won't know and the Vet should respect the fact that you want to know. Vets and dog owners need to work as a team, IMO. :thumbsup:

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I've made a vet appt for Thursday, so will enquire about tests then.

Vet is going to be sick of all my questions :thumbsup:

Hope it all goes well Kavik,really wish you BOTH some relief :laugh:

Tomas.

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OK just got back from the vet. Had some blood tests to check liver and pancreas? Did skin scrape and got skin sample on sticky tape - no mites or yeast infection. Vet thought symptoms not indicative of thyroid or other metabolic problems.

Sent home with antibiotics and antihistamines and bathe twice a week in Malaseb. Recheck in 2 weeks.

Not cheap though, OH gonna kill me :laugh:

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OK just got back from the vet. Had some blood tests to check liver and pancreas? Did skin scrape and got skin sample on sticky tape - no mites or yeast infection. Vet thought symptoms not indicative of thyroid or other metabolic problems.

Sent home with antibiotics and antihistamines and bathe twice a week in Malaseb. Recheck in 2 weeks.

Not cheap though, OH gonna kill me :laugh:

That's all good,you now have ruled out many things and have maybe an idea of what you are dealing with.

O.K so it is possibly food related (though I know you discounted that) or an allergy in the environment...

If you are giving antibiotics,I would look at giving a probiotic also,a pill is better than yoghurt. Billions more cells to help the gut.

Other than that,I know I would switch 100% raw and go from theer,but we have disussed that. So you need to think elimination diet. Others here will have great ideas for that. Chicken and rice spring to mind. Someone will have a formula close to hand to give you I am sure.

I wish you all the best Kavik,I really hope you can get this sorted asap!

An idea I had to deal with the flaky skin was 1:1:1 mix of distilled water,Alpha Keri Lotion and Listerine (the gold kind) this will eliminate odour,moisturise the skin and also via the Listerine give some anti bacterial and anti fungal help :laugh: You could also try TEP or Thornits powder brushed or rubbed by hand through the coat...

http://www.tep-for-pets.com/acatalog/info_40.html

Tomas.

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Kavik - Sorry to hear of your troubles - I can sympathise with you and god knows I've been there with my Stella when she was younger. What I had to learn for myself was that I was actually exacerbating her condition following the advice of so many others trying to help me.

During her first year, her skin was constantly red, inflamed and permanently itchy. She'd scratch and bring on secondary infections (tiny white pustules of bacteria) through all the scratching, not to mention the thump, thump, thump in the night of her scratching herself reverberating on the floorboards!! To say, we were totally being driven nuts by it is an understatement!!

I tried it all.. and it only got worse!! Malaseb, cortisone tablets - fine while she was on them otherwise she'd be itchy again. Basically, my best advice is find what works for you and do your own research. The worse thing I did was put Stella on Hills Z/D and bathe with chemical rinses like Malaseb and Pyohex....they were just making it worse for her.

Bit by bit, I tried different things - today, she has a glossy coat and with careful management is hardly every itchy. I have her on a natural raw diet only, some yoghurt, sardines and egg but mostly raw meat and RMBs, some small amounts of offal (not more than 5% of total intake). I bathe her in a natural skin cleansing solution that I got from this website:

http://www.naturalanimalsolutions.com.au/

If you say you have trouble keeping the weight on your dog - two words - Chicken Wings!! Does wonders... and you have the benefit of good meat to bone ratio for each piece.

Not sure if this helps but I am glad I didn't continue with my Vets advice of all the chemical washes and drugs and dry food - in my opinion - that just kept me going back there time and time again spending large amounts of $$$ for little to no return.

Good Luck! :thumbsup: it is a very frustrating thing to go through..

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I swear by Vets all Natural. Tried everything with my Stafford, last result Cortisone injections. I tried this and have not looked back. Within a week I had a new dog!! I now feed this to both my show dogs and will continue to feed in the future.

Mixed with fresh Roo. No chicken No Beef. Bones roo or lamb and occational fruit. A very strict controlled diet can only improve things to some degree. Hope you find something that works for you

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Blood results back - all normal :laugh:

So that's good news.

Still not sure why he needs 5 times as much food as Kaos though :cool:

That is good news :laugh:

Did you discuss with your vet the amount of food he is eating? Perhaps as some have suggested feed a raw diet for 2 mths and see if comes good on that! Best of luck! :laugh:

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I'm going for a recheck at the vet in 2 weeks so will see how he is going by then with the antibiotics and antihistamines. I'm going to look into alternate meats to use for an elimination diet and check prices etc to see if there is one that is not too expensive, and may do that if little improvement. Vet suggested to use rice or pasta as the carb as the starch in potatoes can cause problems with some dogs?

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Kavik, the only problem with using rice and pasta, is that its unlikely to be a novel carbohydrate source. Most dog food contains rice, and most probably has some same ingredients as whats in pasta too. It's possible it could be rice, so using it in the elimination diet isn't going to help you.

Here's the link to BURNS - they have horse muscle meat and horse brisket. They have duck frames too.

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I was thinking that too Stormie :laugh: and asked about using potato or sweet potato, as even Eukanuba has a skin food that is fish and potato. Vet thought most likely problem a protein source. But would make more sense to make the carbs novel too.

ETA: Those prices look good! Will talk to OH

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From the website:

Option 2: PREPARING A BAKING SODA RINSE and TOPICAL SPRAY

Using a final rinse of BAKING SODA AND WATER for the pets body after shampooing can be very effective to reduce the overall itchiness and smell. Mix two (2-4) teaspoons of BAKING SODA per gallon of water; make sure to mix it so it completely dissolves.

SPRAY BOTTLE

Mix one (1-2) heaping teaspoons of BAKING SODA with 8 oz. of water. Use this with a spray bottle or cotton ball for the itchy rashes areas. Reports show that it is quite helpful with the overall itchiness, skin problems and inflammation. Soaking a cloth with this baking soda solution and leaving it on the more severely affected areas can be helpful to soothe the skin and reduce inflammation.

This sounds good and doable :happydance2: How long do you reckon you could keep the spray for? Would you have to make a new one up each time? Could you use it between baths to keep them looking/smelling fresher? I gave him a bath today but we are having guests next weekend, trying to think of what I can do to make him look and smell OK for them.

Is that baking soda the same as bi carb soda ?

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