SSDreamin Blessings and curses

Britesea said:

What kind of food are you giving your dog? We had a Healer cross years ago that had that problem and for years we were told he was allergic to fleas. Then a friend suggested that he might be sensitive to the soy in the dog food we were giving him (a lot of dogs have problems with soy). We switched to a premium dog food that didn't have soy in it and voila! The problem went away over a couple of months. He also gained a lot of energy and put on weight. At the time, he was 10 years old and I'm convinced that the change to a better dog food is responsible for the 5 more years of life he enjoyed before finally contracting cancer.

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We had him on a prey diet for quite a while. He exhibited symptoms, even then. We were told to stop the prey diet and try a quality food, so we put him on Taste of the Wild. Not extremely pricey, but not cheap either. No fillers or soy. Things have gotten worse for him since then (he has been on it just shy of one year, with the vets repeatedly telling us to 'give it time' ). He is on special prescription shampoo, steroids and antibiotics(not continually - although one psycho vet thought that might be a good idea!). If anything, the drugs seem to have made things worse. I tried diluted ACV, as the internet (which we all know is NEVER wrong! )said it would work wonders - he cried in pain and hid from me - DH had to wash him off, because the sight of me sent him hiding again. I also tried tea tree oil shampoo - no difference, although it didn't seem to burn like the ACV, thank goodness! I am just sick about this - he will 'cry' himself to sleep, and spends most of his waking hours scratching like mad and whimpering

My old male Westie has/had skin problems for about 4 few years. He is allergic to fleas...one bite and he's on a tangent to tear his skin off. (Benadryl seems to help some.)

However, he also had a yeast infection that we treated with everything...just like you did with your dog....shampoos, steroids, antibiotics... all of it and nothing really helped. We changed to a prey diet also. It did seem to make a difference in his overall well-being, but it's expensive and labor intensive. He's now on a grain free premium diet with lots of fresh meat, goat milk, whey, yogurt and eggs thrown in for good measure. The thing that made the biggest difference in him was....(this is gonna sound weird)...women's anti-yeast cream, like Monistat. We also tried athlete's foot cream too. I'm not sure which one worked the best for him but something helped him turn the corner. I would bathe him a couple times a week and absolutely slather him in the cream. He hated it! Then I would put a baby t-shirt on him to keep him from getting too sticky and also to keep him from licking it off. After months of trying all the other stuff he slowly started getting his hair back. I don't think he'll EVER get it back on his belly, it looks like elephant skin there, but he has hair on his back!

He was also really, really stinky too and that isn't the case anymore. He hated the ACV too...

SS, try pinching her chestnut to get her to pick up her feet.

Is it snowing in MI yet?

Poor baby on the allergies. Taste of the wild isn't as good as it used to be. I've found that with a lot of those brands they end up in main stream stores and the quality goes down. Keep trying and hopefully you'll find the key!

FEM, and a great big from Rocky!!! While he looked really strange (a German Shepard in 'T-shirt pants' isn't something ya see every day!) he is SOOOOO much better! The first day, he slept. And slept. And slept some more. Probably the first undisturbed sleep he's had in months! Now he goes outside, eats, does his business and, when we come back in, he stands and waits for more cream and his 'pants'! Thank you so much for your suggestion!

FarmerJamie said:

Is it snowing in MI yet?

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First snow due this Friday - Happy Halloween in MI kiddos!

Denim Deb said:

SS, try pinching her chestnut to get her to pick up her feet.

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That was the suggestion they made for her front legs, and it works great! Now, all I have to do is touch it on either leg, and she lifts her foot! On her back legs, they said to 'put pressure on the bursa, at the point of (his) hock' - I can't seem to get her to respond to that at all

Sooooo glad he's getting ome relief! Might need a pic of him wearing his outfit!!

On lifting a back leg... Maybe a soft cotton lead rope around the pastern so you can pull the leg forward??? Lotsa rewards when the hoof comes off the ground.

Yay for a happier pup!
The other trick I know of with feet is to tap on the fetlock with something like the handle end of a whip or crop until they shift. I had a hard time with my drafts back feet too, he's still not as good as I'd like him to be. It takes patience and persistence and rewarding for the slightest fraction of a try.