Need help with my itchy dog
 

Hi Everybody
My wife and I adopted a 1 year old yorkipoo in June of last year. She was not very well taken care of. She wan't house trained, she had a yeast infection in her ears and in her skin, had an umbillical hernia, and was so dirty that we didn't even realize she had white hair on her feet. Anyway she was vomiting, licking her feet, itching terrible, had diariah, and would somtimes be constipated. I did some reading and it appeared to me she had food allergies. So we put her on California Naturals Lamb and Rice food. After 3 months of being on this food there was no difference in her behavior. Durring this period we had been giving her drops on her ears to take care of the infection, but as soon as we stopped using the drops the yeast infection would come back, and the vet said we were going to have to use this continually. I took her back to the vet and he gave me Tamaril. This took care of the ear infection, the yeast infection in her skin, and the majority of her itching. I also switched her over to Prescription Diet Z/D Ultra Non-Allergen food at the same time. Her health improved greatly although the diariah has never completely gone away, the vomiting has. Now within the last couple of months the itching is coming back and she is getting hot spots. I notice her coat isn't shiny, and it seems dry. I took her off the Tamaril last week per the vet, and I don't really like giving her the steroids. So far no ear problems. I started giving her "Missing Link" on Friday so I guess we'll see how that goes. Any other suggestions would be helpfull.
Thanks
Bob

Hi Bob, welcome to yt. Sounds like your little baby has really been thru a lot. I don't really have any suggestions because we have never had very good luck at getting relief from itchy skin problems. Thankfully Murfee doesn't have the problems but my last dog did...his whole life. My son's dogs have severe allergies. He has spent thousands on dog allergists and medications and has never had anything that completely cured it. Good luck, I hope you find something that works.

Welcome to YT , I'm glad your little girl found a loving and careering home .One of my babies was itching a lot but sense I feed them Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul it stopped. And all of my 7 furkid's are doing great on it.:D

Welcome to YT:)

Missing Link will probably make the allergies worse.
I wonder if she has a systemic yeast infection making her itchy (not just her ears)?
You could try fish oil and vitamin E for her coat.
You could also go to a homecooked diet with fish for a couple weeks to see if any of this lets up.
Out of curiosity, has her liver been checked?

No

I've suggested to the vet to have an allergy test done, but he said it may come back inconclusive. I have tried putting yogurt on her food in the past but she won't touch it. I think I'm going to buy a couple cans of Z/D and mix the yogurt with that to see if I an get her to eat it. Will any plain yogurt work?

I don't think yogurt will do enough of what you are needing it to do but certain products would (not sure of which ones). It is fine to give plain yogurt though but make sure it is a high-end kind with active cultures like Stonyfield Organics.

How about Wellness fish kibble or Natural Balance if the Cal. Natural isn't working? Z/D might work for some dogs but I'm not so sure I'd want to keep my dog on it.

By the way, my dog has allergies also but I homecook for her, so we are able to eliminate things and see what works.

When we first go her she had what the groomer called "elephant skin" on the upper part of her front leg. After we started giving her the ear drops the skin started to clear up and grow hair back. The vet said it was also a yeast infection and the medicince being absored in her ear was helping to clear it up. I also notice that sometimes her stomach is really red. She has terrible breath.

How about "Nutro Ultra" this has been sugested to me. I really don't want to keep her on the Z/D either. The first ingredient is starch, so that can't be good. Plus it is terribly expensive, which wouldn't be a factor if it was helping the problem. What do you think about "Dynovite"?

Could you get something from the vet to eliminate the yeast infection and then maybe the food problem would be solved?

Extremely bad breath is a concern if there is no tartar on the teeth causing it.

She doesn't ever get shaky after she eats or gets depressed, does she?

I don't like Nutro products at all really. A couple of their kinds of food have also been making some animals very sick, so I wouldn't feed it.

I've heard of Dynovite but haven't read up on it.
Wylie'sMom might have some ideas for you about probiotics and yeast infections if she sees this.

We had her on Tamaril since October for her allergies which also took care of the yest infections up until last week. The vet told me he doens't like to give the dogs steriods especially young ones for extended periods of time. After we started the med's and Z/D the itching really dropped off. The only time she would itch or lick her feet was at night. There was a little itching throuhout the day but not much. The vomiting also stopped. The diariah has never completly gone away, but it is usually with a solid stool. About a month ago the itching started back up,she started getting hot spots on her back, and her coat is dull. Nothing had changed in her diet. I've never noticed her being depressed, but there are times when she is shaky. What I have noticed is that when she gets shaky it usually means she is going to vomit. I recall two instances. But the one was in middle of the night and she hadn't ate for several hours.

This might get long...sorry... welcome to YT and I'm so sorry you're baby is suffering like this, I hope you can find a solution!

Okay...first, keep in mind that skin is an elimination organ - so it is showing that something is *really* going on here, from the inside - from a toxicity standpoint (meaning, the body is really out of alignment - understatement, I know :rolleyes:). Also, it is highly, highly likely that your baby has yeast overgrowth throughout the digestive tract (like what happens in humans w/ chronic yeast symptoms), so treating topical issues (ears/skin) won't do anything in the long run. You have to treat her entire system, at this point, for yeast infection (candida).

There's so much I want to type, I have to pull myself in here - bc I've been similarly in your shoes. Are you willing to make real food for her or are you firm on giving kibble/dog food? It would be the best to get her on a homecooked white-fish based diet immediately - it can bring miracles to dogs who are in *real* trouble, as yours is - it is truly the most hypoallergenic diet you can provide (white fish, mashed white potatoes, steamed/pureed green beans).

If kibble is a must - I would get her off the science diet asap and instead get her on something entirely grain free and simple like Wellness' allergy kibbles, here is a whitefish kibble meant for allergies: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_w...h_sweet_potato.

I would hold off on Missing Link for now. Once allergies subside, you could try fish oil (more on that some other time) - but no oil during diarrhea, obviously. If you are willing to homecook, let me know - as there are more details involved.

While she is stabilizing/healing, you'll want to give some quality supplements to help her system heal, normalize, repair - so that she doesn't revert back to her previous state. So, this is where stuff like quality probiotics come in - and digestive enzymes, and a good vita-mineral (and some others).

I cannot recommend highly enough the animal nutritionist I worked w/ (via phone consult) when Marcel had all of his problems last year (I'm a nurse, was at the end of my rope, spent $100's at the vet, was out of ideas). Her name is Susan Blake Davis (www.askariel.com) - and she had Marcel's poos firm after 1.5 days. I think I cried, lol! She is so wonderful. She also can recommend the right supplements to help Zoey heal properly too. I only wish I had called her earlier rather than spending more junk money at the vet. She does, btw, work at a holistic vet practice and consults nationally.

I've probably overwhelmed you - but I could write even more! :) Anyway, I'll check in - so if you have more questions, let me know!
Ann

Wylie's Mom

Thank You for chiming in on this thread. Is the homecooking signigicantly better then a quality kibble like the one you mentioned? It's just my wife and I for now so we don't cook much, and we have very busy schedules. So I usually cook up all of my meals for the week on Sunday night and just nuke them at work or at home. Is this somthing I could do with Zoey's food? Also when you say get her off of the Science Diet ASAP, should I stop it immediatley or ween her off it?

Thanks For Your Help

Homecooking would definitely (by far) be better - you could very possibly see drastic changes rather quickly (hopefully). It wouldn't surprise me. I hear you on the busy schedules - so you really have to figure out what would work for you. When we were homecooking (we now feed raw frozen by Nature's Variety, which btw, is another option to consider), I'd cook about 1-2x per week, put it in tupperware in the fridge and dole out about 3x per day to the dogs. So, you could try that option if you are willing to homecook.

If it sounds like too much, you could try the other kibble first and see if she improves. Since she is still having diarrhea, I wouldn't worry too much about doing a "careful" switch - I'd do a hard/quick switch if it were me.

What concerns me the most though is this protracted diarrhea on the dog food - and that's why I'd recommend homecooking the most - bc it would really give her system a true rest so you can find out what is going on (by then adding things back in later). But you have to do what's right for you, too.

You can also get Benefiber from the store and give her a pinch (not metamucil or anything, just regular plain Benefiber).

The bottom line is, at this point, you will get the best results from putting her on the simplest, cleanest, easiest-to-digest diet with the least ingredients (least possible allergens). :)

Heck, you could even try the cooked fish diet for a week and see what happens....:rolleyes:

We to have a yorkipoo and he to had infection in his ear and was licking his feet and look like hot spots on his body. We took him to vet, the 1st said to give him steroids. (not for my dog) Went to a new vet and she give him some antibiotic it was food allergies.How we feed him Pinnacle dog food it is trout and sweet potato formula and I add some chicken brest. He is fine now. It took about 2 weeks for the antibiotic to work. He is my best friend