alicat613

I also have heard that veterinary care is very complicated as they have both wolf and dog physiology and may require special consideration for many things. I agree that owning or breeding these dogs is wrong.

[quote name='Wes']Old Roy? What's this? My vet told me westie is susceptible to skin allergies, so avoid chicken/beef. Any comments?[/quote] Unfortunately vets are not great nutrition advisers, in general. He most likely said to avoid chicken and beef and use lamb because lamb is considered a low allergen food. It is not a good idea to use this right off the bat or without doing your research. There are also many other foods, both chicken and beef, or other (ie duck, fish) that are good for allergy prone dogs, depending on what they are allergic to. Is your dog having problems? What does he eat now?

Sorry but Poodles ARE hypoallergenic. Yes, they have hair and slight dander. But they are one of only a few breeds that can be tolerated by people with severe allergies. That's why I'm from a Standard Poodle family. My mom can't be around other pets but poodles truly are good fro people with allergies. Chinese Cresteds, while hairless, may not have the same traits that make poodles hypoallergenic.

I don't trim it because I feel it protects the paws when outdoors, or from the weather. Some do for many reasons, looks or slipping on floors, etc. I think you just have to figure out which works for you and your dog.

If the dog is otherwise healthy (I'm not sure if there are physiological problems with the glands) they should express on their own. Make sure they have nice firm stools. It's best to choose a quality kibble (unless you feed raw or another home diet) that does not have a lot of grains. Double check ingredient splitting (where they separate grains and corn products to make them look less). Dogs should have nice firm poops and if you watch, they will often have a few drops of a milky liquid after, which is the natural expression of the anal glands. Hopefully you have a good vet that you can discuss the individual case with. Ask him how to get your dog back to the point where he is naturally expressing. Good luck!

Oh sorry! VPI = Veterinary Pet Insurance [url]http://www.petinsurance.com/[/url] What was the one you found? [/url]

What was the old food? And the new? Look for common allergens in the new one that the old one didn't have (is corn, wheat, egg product, soy, etc). Look for overall differences. For relief now, you can put oatmeal in a stocking and use that with water to soak your dog in the milky oatmeal liquid. Let it dry without rinsing. It's sticky for a bit, but then it gets nice and soft. This is the only thing that would help my kitty with her flea allergies. good luck! Hope you find out the problem soon...I know I hate being itchy!!

VPI does check preexisting conditions and is the only ins. in the US that I know of for pets. Petco and Petsmart have 'plans' but they didnt lok very good to us. Parker is about $20 a month for us to insure with additional routine care coverage. It does not prepay, you pay and then submit your claim but you can go to any vet.

I am never trying to tell people what to feed (which is why there was a smiley by raw), just for people to do their own thinking - learn about nutrition and read your own labels. Irritable bowel syndrome is not a real diagnosis. And that food is almost all fillers, which to me is a waste of money. I strongly believe that in all creatures nutrition is the foundation of life. What you put in is what you get in a way. Feeding a dog highly processed grains as their main diet is very unnatural, and especially as a 'solution' to a last resort diagnosis of a 'syndrome' rather than an illness or problem, makes no sense and they charge and arm and a leg for it! You could make a cooked diet fresh at home (and no I am not talking BARF, I don't even feed Barf but it seems difficult to get that across) or find a 'prescription' diet like the one from Whole Dog Journal, or a quality kibble that worked - all of these would be a lot cheaper and more suitable for a dog IMO.

Well my dog eats about 4 pounds of food a day at 6 months so these are out of the question for me!! But a friend recently tried the Steve's sample at a store (er, her dog did) and her dog loved it! Thanks for the link! I can never find anything at the Wysong site. Looks good - still pricey!!

The Steve's is made up here and seems to be a great company BUT it comes out to over $30 a pound. Maybe if you're feeding a mini-Chihuahua but.... I hadn't seen Wysong's freeze dried. Their kibbles are very good and well priced. Pound for pound their kibbles are about the same price as stuff like Iams and Euk, with much better prices. Do you have a link to their freeze dried stuff?

:o Where is the fainting smilie??? $60 for 40 lbs??? That's INSANE! Most raw feeders pay around .30 per pound for real MEAT. Top of the line, established pet foods like Wellness, Ca Natural etc, which are way better products just based on ingredients are nowhere near that. I believe most people should be able to find a GREAT food for their pet for about $1 per pound.

Just because you've never heard of the risks, doesn't mean they aren't there. Don't expect doctors, vets, or the general public to inform you - do your own research! [url]http://www.wholedane.com/health/steroid.html[/url] [url]http://www.communitylink.koz.com/servlet/lvrj_ProcServ/dbpage=page&GID=00027000000960304812692687&PG=01305001051018386819765735[/url] (many links at bottom) [url]http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/cortisne_ad.htm[/url] [url]http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/cortisne_wcp.htm[/url] [url]http://www.dermnetnz.org/index.html[/url] The risks and side effects of cortisone should be kept in mind and only used when advised by a medical doctor as a last resort in my opinion.

Egg product isn't as good as seeing "eggs" on the label. And potato product? I've never heard of that!! What is that? Otherwise and overall seems pretty decent. Of course the true test is feeding it! Hope it works for you guys.

Yes, and as I said I used to be a big anti-BARFer. I'm still not entirely convinced on the bones. I am still mostly doing a raw meat with bonemeal like Pitcairn suggests. I get local organic chicken and I know it is safe. But I stick to beef more.

It looks like a staph infection. Keep him clean and dry. You can use a witch hazel in alcohol or peroxide on a Q-tip to spot treat. Is it anywhere else on his body? It might also be yeast growth, in which case raw apple cider vinegar would be best. Both treatments can be used with no harm. You might consider adding grape seed or other citrus seed extract in his food. I would also add some garlic and fish oils in small amounts to help him with his immune system and skin. Please don't be so free with the cortisone! Using it just a few times actually permanently thins the skin! It also has many other side effects and should be used as a last resort only IMO.

Congratulations on making the right decision! Have you checked to see if Ben will even have stitches? I've only had big dogs who need stitches, but with my kitty there were no stitches. They made a tiny tiny incision and simply cut the cord that connects the sperm to the testicles. After a week or so, the testicles are reabsorbed into the body. Because the incision is so small, it is better to have no stitches. Maybe Ben is small enough for the same procedure. Neuters are so simple that the worst part is after - keeping them from messing with the stitches. My kitty was up and jumping around within hours of his surgery, so no stitches was very nice.

So they basically still don't know what's wrong, and their only 'solution' is to put her on EN again?

Oh I agree, but raw home feeding is much better than the real diet they would have. If you are uncomfortable with the sanitation, you can use grape seed extract as an edible disenfectant. The raw diet is more about the ideal natural diet than the real natural diet. Believe me, I was so anti-raw you wouldn't believe it. Give my dog chicken bones?? NO way!! I fed cooked for many years with a prior dog. I fed cooked with this dog...but ended up doing some 'experiments' and finding raw better. I started doing raw with bonemeal, but bonemeal lacks the enzymes of bones. So I tried big chewing bones...he gnawed right through to get the marrow. And then I tried a chicken wing...and I'll never go back. The first time he was very young and didn't really eat it, which reinforced my anti-Barf feelings. But then I tried again later, and he just crunch crunch crunched with delight and kept begging for more. My dog is extremely healthy and has no medical problems. Kibble feeders seem to have so many health issues. We did too on our last dog until we switched to cooked home food, and I feel this raw is even better.

The penn-hipp vs OFA seems to be personal preference. I have known people who prefer Penn, but OFA seems more common. I also thought I heard Penn Hipp was not going to be available anymore but that may have been just a rumor. I don't know if CERF is necessary in the breed. BAER is I believe only necessary if the genetics could possibly produce blind deaf pups. But I'm not certain on those. For puppy mill and pet shop info: [url]http://www.nopuppymills.com/[/url] [url]http://www.puppymills.com/[/url] [url]http://www.puppymillfighters.com/[/url] [url]http://www.stop-puppy-mills.com/[/url] [url]http://www.hsus.org/ace/11797[/url] [url]http://www.helppuppies.com/pmill.html[/url] [url]http://www.geocities.com/jcrowe22/puppymillitems.html[/url] has links to many sites that have printable info

We rarely have mosqitoes, and even then, we don't have a lot of heartworm (what mosquitoes we have don't usually carry it). It's odd, we have a ton of water and lakes and marshes, but something about our weather is terrible for their incubation. I plan on using natural controls as well as probably the walnut hull. It works for a lot of people but I'm not sure if there's like a site online extolling its virtues. I'll look. I read about putting out soapy water (using lemon dishsoap) and tried it when we had a warm spell this winter with some gnats and it got a lot og them. Vanilla (real) is also supposed to be a good repellant as are many essential oils and stuff like Neem. You can also buy nematodes and lady bugs at gardening centers - these are microscopic good bugs that eat mosquitoes, fleas and hundreds of other bad larvae. Good lawn care is also important - keeping debris and brush clear, no standing water, heat treating areas of concern with black plastic in sunlight. Vicks vaporub is another suggested repellant.

Dogs are made to eat raw chicken, raw rabbit, etc. If your dogs contracted salmonella you were feeding nasty chicken, sorry. Unfortunately, dogs are meant to eat healthy natural meats, and we make unhealthy unnatural meats. So it is best if you can find a good source. An unhealthy dog would benefit 10 times more from a raw diet than a healthy one. I am surprised when I see people say otherwise. It is often the reason people switch. Of course your vet is against it...no commission. But obviously they've been so helpful so far. Good luck.

Who is it made by? I have never seen a good prescription diet, other than maybe the Neura stuff but even then, I think a good diet is all that is necessary. If we would just stop denaturing all the food and putting chemicals in it and feeding them dead pets and old moldy grains, maybe we wouldn't have all these vet problems? Oh wait...then how would all those vets stay in business? Well the system works great from their perspective...keeps us all buying their food and going to the vet. I'm glad you didn't think that. I'm just very passionate about pet care and rather blunt which can sometimes come across wrong. :)

Umm.....I pretty much add some. LOL Kymythy's Schultze's book has some good guidelines on amounts per weight and it's a great overview of raw feeding. I use salmon oil, cod oil, and ground flax seeds and I only give those sporadically, not in every meal. Kelp and alfalfa in powder form, and mixed in equal parts he gets a scoop every meal. Garlic I do only sometimes, or ginger instead and with either just a little bit. A bit goes a long way. I used digestive enzymes and saw no difference but my dog has been pretty much raw fed since birth. He was weaned onto raw and kibble. Some dogs may need it. Rather than probiotics we just use yoghurt or kefir. He has a breakfast of fruit and yogurt, but some raw methods are very against dairy at all. Whole Foods, natural markets or co-ops, local farmer's markets and feed stores are all great resources for the non-meat aspects of the diet. I don't supplement any vitamins because my dog eats a lot of produce. I keep powdered calcium ascorbate (vit C) on hand for illness or stress though, and in those times I will supplement. Vit C is a pretty easy one, you can't really overdo it in the short term - all it can do is cause diarrhea.

Nothing yet Hobbit, it's not a problem here (heartworm) in the Seattle area, especially this time of year and he's only 6 months so he has only been alive in winter. I am thinking of starting him on walnut hulls though just in case before spring but many people in the NW do not use any heartworm preventatives. HW preventatives are an internal pesticide - your dog still gets HW inside, it just breaks up the cycle of them getting out of hand. There are natural things you can do as well like black walnut hull. I read something about an actual birth control for dogs but can't find that info. Not sure if it's Depo but hey, I've used that for years LOL.