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Cat1864 · May 13, 2010, 10:45 AM

Mftaylor, from the other thread: she is eleven years old and you have had her for approximately a year and a half. You came here originally asking about crating. When discussing that you mentioned her stomach and bowel issues, did she have the digestive tract issues before the crating issue. Did they clear up when you figured out what was wrong with her not wanting to sleep in her bed and then reoccur?

Has she had the itching problem since you got her (if you know her history, does it go back to before she came into your house? If it predates your home, can you get in touch with her previous owner to find out what they tried?) or has it developed since she came into your home? Has it gotten worse with the changing of the seasons as well as the food?

I am wondering if there is something she is getting into and not only having contact with but maybe digesting possibly from cleaning herself like floor cleaning products getting on her feet and then she licks her feet. Any plants that she might be getting a hold of a leaf or two every now and then?

Good luck to both you and the pup in trying to figure this out.

mftaylor2 · May 14, 2010, 12:13 PM

Thanks for all the info and advice.

Lets see if I can answer some questions. I've had Charlotte for 1year and she is now about 12 years old. I know very little of her history. She is an Italian grayhound mixed with beagle. When we got her the SPCA thought she was slightly under weight. I took her to my vet who said if she is it's only slight and not to worry about it. She's very active and muscular. She was raised on "Kibbles and Bits" dog food (I know, bad) and her previous owner said she was always skinny. She does have the grayhound look so she may look thin. We started to gradually switch her from the Kibbles to Purina Adult dogfood and some med-cal gastro formula when she's not feeling the greatest(Now I know not best choices). I would also feed her human food mixed with the bought because my opinion was that cooked chickenbreast, rice and peas was better for her then dry kibble. Ever since the first week we had her she has had stomach problems. Wet to runny stool, very gurgly belly, vomiting, and days when she doesn't want to eat. I started seeing another vet due to location and wanting a second opinion. This new vet did tests and blood work and everything came back fine. She did think Charlotte was slightly underweight and wanted her to put a little weight on so her ribs were not so prominent. She suggested all her symptoms may be allergy related, likely food. We gradually switched her to medi-cal hypoallergenic. She was pretty good for about 7 weeks. I cut everything else out of her diet, no treats or human food. Then it started again. We went back to the vet and she figured she must have gotten into something and to keep going but not to re-introduce any old food yet for another 6 weeks. She had also dropped 1/2 a pound. She hasn't gotten any better so last week the vet suggested to switch from hypoallerdenic to the gastro formula. We did that for less then a week and she was worse then ever so I've stopped the gastro completely.

After checking on-line I've noticed other sympotoms she has that suggest allergies. She is constantly cleaning her feet, sometimes sticking them down her throat. She's scratching at her ears and mouth often. She's has several ear problems over the past year that clear up with drops but come right back. She's at her bottom often although her glands are fine and no worms. She sheds A LOT. She bites at her feet and legs (no fleas). This is all in addition to the gurgly belly, vomiting, diarrhea, and lack of appetite.

I've decided to try her on another food and have been researching some brands. Today I bought Canidae dry and canned to try. It's grain free and salmon flavoured. I'm thinking try grain free and go from there. It may take some trial and error on brands and flavours but it has to better then the food she's on now. I was also looking at Wellness, Nutro and Merrick's Before Grain and Orijen.

Any suggestions or advice? I just feel so bad for her when she's not well and where she's older I don't want the food I'm feeding her to be causing problems. I'm new to this dog thing. She's the first dog I've owned since I was a child (over 20 years ago).

Also, found out the likely cause of her kennel/bed problem but her vomiting and diarrhea around that incident may have been a combination of allergies and stress.

Thanks everyone.
Michelle

Sariss · May 14, 2010, 03:41 PM

Has her thyroid been checked?

Aurora_Bell · May 14, 2010, 05:22 PM

Try the new food, from what I can see online it looks like a good brand. I almost want to put money on it being a grain allergy. The things you described are my dogs symptoms to a tee. After 1 week of grain free food, she was almost 100%. Check to see what the omega oil count is in her food. You also may want to try adding a table spoon of plain yogurt in with her supper.

Aurora_Bell · May 14, 2010, 05:22 PM

Have you had a chance to see if there is a Shur Gain distributor in your area?

mftaylor2 · May 14, 2010, 05:59 PM

I checked and there is no shur gain distributor here. That was the first food I checked. I just looked at the canidae bag and the omega 6 is listed as min of 3.7%, the omega 3 is listed as min 1%. Is that good?
Also, should I give her yogurt if I'm still not sure exactly what's she's allergic to? I use to give it to her before but stopped when the vet said to cut everything out for 8 weeks and then if she's symptom free start re-introducing different foods.

Aurora_Bell · May 14, 2010, 09:06 PM

I would never go against what your vet told you, but I would ask them if they think it might be okay to give them a table spoon of yogurt. It can possibly help with the bowl problems.

That is a fairly common omega count in a fish based food. I am actually surprised there isn't more. I would also just ask if they think adding extra omega would be okay.

You said it yourself it's going to be trial and error. I would try the grain free product you have now. If you are absolutely desperate, you could get an allergy test done. I know here in Nova Scotia they run $100-$200. I also know that NFL. Runs much higher. I have family in the Belle Isle, they pay a small fortune for their vet bills. A regular spay or neuter is anywhere from $600-$900.

Are you giving any table scraps now?

mftaylor2 · May 15, 2010, 04:52 AM

Thanks for all the advice.
No, she is not getting anything else besides the dogfood. I've started with 1/4 new food and 3/4 old and she has the hypoallergenic treats. That's it.
I expect allergy testing would be very expensive but I may look into it. She had blood tests done a few months ago and that was about $350 not including the pet visit itself.
Also, what would I add to her food to get more omegas? Vitamins, oils, etc?

Aurora_Bell · May 15, 2010, 06:19 AM

A can of sardines would do the trick, you can purchase Omega oils from your vet. They run about $12 for a bottle of 60.

Another thing you could ask your vet about is bennadryl for when she is going really crazy chewing on her feet and what not.

Lucky098 · May 16, 2010, 10:03 AM

I don't think chewing feet is a reaction from food. Don't rule it out though..

Have you changed any of your house hold cleaners? Fertilize the grass? Take her out into the country?

I once knew a horse that was allergic to leaves. During fall, he had to be moved to a different pen because he would have severe allergic reation if he ate the leaves, or even laid in them.

Your pooch may be like that horse.

When did all the itching start? Was it always like this and just got worse? Or is it something that just popped up?

Aurora_Bell · May 16, 2010, 11:03 AM

Both my staffies would chew their feet. It was a food allergy.

mftaylor2 · May 16, 2010, 11:12 AM

She's been pretty much doing it since we got her a year ago. The last few months though she is shedding like crazy and not just her undercoat which she does twice a year.
No we haven't changed anything. I have several allergies to a ton of things too so I'm aware of what's in the house.
I will admit that sometimes she's not as bad but she's had many of the symptoms pretty regular for the past year.

Aurora_Bell · May 16, 2010, 11:15 AM

Have you ever looked into the cost of an allergy test? How has she been the last few days on the grain free?

mftaylor2 · May 16, 2010, 03:38 PM

I'm waiting to talk to my vet on Tuesday. I'm going to look into allergy testing then as well as mention using benadryl and omega oils.
I'm giving her a tbsp of yogurt with her supper and she's only getting 1/4 of the grain free food mixed with 3/4 of the hypoallergenic. She seems good. Happy and playful but still itchy and shedding, I know it's too early to see a change but she's got an appetite and not vomiting, although she's still has pretty wet poops. I'm hoping I'm on the right track. I'm thinking she may be allergic to corn. The gastro food I tried to introduce for a few days last week has corn as the first ingredient and she was really ill then. Also, she would eat gastro food throughout the past year if she wasn't feeling well.

Alty · May 16, 2010, 03:57 PM

The wet poops may be because of the change in diet. Dogs don't handle sudden change to their food well. If this new diet is working, the wet poops should go away soon. :)

Please keep us posted on your progress. Also, pictures are always welcome. :)

mftaylor2 · May 16, 2010, 04:49 PM

Let's see if this works. Hopefully, here's a pic or 2 of 12 year old Charlotte.

Aurora_Bell · May 16, 2010, 04:52 PM

AWW she is gorgeous! I can't believe I forgot to ask for pics.

Alty · May 16, 2010, 04:56 PM

She's beautiful. I love her coat. :)

I don't remember if you mentioned her breed. Is she a beagle mix? I definitely see beagle in her.

She's so sweet.

mftaylor2 · May 16, 2010, 05:26 PM

We were only told Italian grayhound mix but we assumed it was mixed with beagle.
She does have a very nice, soft coat that always feels clean with minimal washing; if it would just stay attached to her that would be great.

mftaylor2 · May 26, 2010, 06:06 AM

Hi all, back again with up-date and question. Charlotte's been doing pretty good so far. She hasn't had any incidence of vomiting but she still has wet poop and many other symptoms, although some not as bad. This is last day of food transition, 3/4 dry canidae grain-free salmon and 1/4 dry Hypoallergenic + 1/3 can Hypo. Tomorrow we will be all fish and potato.
Wondering about her starting to dry heave. She has done it in the past on occasion, usually if she's at her bottom she'll urge and heave but nothing comes out. I use to say she turned her own stomach at her bottom. Haha. The last 2 days she has started dry heaving a lot especially throughout the night. She'll get up from her bed and dry heave once or twice and go back to bed. It propably happened last night about 6 or more times, and still happening this morning, although no vomit. Wondering if anyone has any ideas on this. I did introduce a new treat 2 days ago and am wondering if that could be doing it. Pure Bites freeze dried fish. It's only ingredient is fish and she loves them. I'm going to stop the treats for now to see what that does, but in the meantime does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks